Panelized Prefab Kit Home Building Show

A: The most important first step is conducting an honest, realistic self-assessment of your personal skills, budget, and project goals. Identifying which construction tasks you can handle versus trades you need to hire out allows you to create a clear management plan and prevent costly mid-build mistakes.

A: Thoughtful home design looks beyond immediate needs to account for future life transitions, such as children leaving for college or aging parents moving in. Planning flexible spaces—like bedrooms that convert to home offices or incorporating main-floor living features—ensures the home remains functional and cost-effective as family dynamics evolve.

A: Making on-the-fly mechanical decisions on-site often leads to severe structural conflicts, such as ductwork clashing with load-bearing beams or framing not matching purchased bathtub dimensions. Resolving these mechanical and functional details during the blueprint drafting stage keeps trades moving efficiently and eliminates costly delays.

A: Successful owner-builders prioritize subcontractors who review engineering plans in advance, provide firm quotes, maintain clear communication, and show up according to the project timeline. Working with experienced trade professionals who respect the schedule ensures high-quality craftsmanship and minimizes unexpected job-site friction.

A: Direct access to an experienced designer allows you to address unique site conditions—such as steep slopes, specific window view placements, or foundation elevations—in real time. Thorough, one-on-one collaboration ensures your blueprints reflect the full reality of your land and prevents expensive engineering redesigns down the road.

Steve Tuma: Well, the best thing is to have a concise plan — not just in the actual plans for the house, but then the execution of when you want to build and make sure that things come together.

Interviewer: Howdy, everybody — and welcome to Episode 71 of the Panelized Prefab Kit Home Building Show!

On the podcast today, as he always is, sitting across from me: the President and Founder of Landmark Home and Land Company — a company that has been helping people build their new homes where they want, exactly as they want, nationwide and around the globe since 1993 — the always illuminating Mr. Steve Tuma.

Steve — how’s it going, my friend?

Steve Tuma: It’s great! You know, for some reason, it’s always a good day. There’s always challenges, there’s always cool things going on with projects — little curveballs here and there — but somehow we get them all taken care of. We get houses designed and help people build houses. So it’s pretty interesting.

Interviewer: You say “since 1993” — man, that’s like 32 years of helping people build, you know, interesting houses. They get bigger and bigger, smaller and smaller sometimes. More unique locations. More unique designs… So it keeps us on our toes.

Steve Tuma: It’s a good time!

Interviewer: So, as we’re recording this — we’re at the end of the 2025 baseball season —

So what you’re saying is you just look at the pitches, and swing when you need to?

Steve Tuma: laughs Yeah, we have a little more control in that! Typically, we know what’s being pitched. We’ve done this so many times — we understand what’s there. But yeah, every once in a while there’s an interesting situation, but we get through all of it.

Interviewer: Sure. And you — after 32 years, I mean, you should know what you’re doing by now, right? I thought today we’d follow up on our last podcast, where we spoke a bit about the questions that a potential panelized home owner-builder would be wise to ask before deciding to start building. I guess it could apply to any home, really — but especially to make sure that a panelized prefab home is right for you.

So today, let’s continue on and see what your advice might be to avoid some of the pitfalls of building your own home. In other words — how can people dodge some of the bonehead moves that we all make when taking our first steps toward a new building project?

So is that something you think we could get a little traction out of today?

Steve Tuma: Yeah! This is kind of interesting because it sounds really complicated like, “Oh, you’re building all these houses,” or, “Hey, I’m designing my own house. I’ve never built before. Maybe I built one. Or hey — maybe 20 years ago I built a doghouse.”

Or — “Hey, maybe I’m a professional builder.”

It kind of really comes down to planning. So yeah. Yeah, let’s talk about it.

Interviewer: Good. Well, we’ll start off — what would be the from-the-get-go advice you’d give someone looking to build a panelized prefab home?

Steve Tuma: You know — this is kind of interesting because someone’s probably looking for something like, “Hey, use 2×6 walls versus 2×4.”

But that’s just part of the process.

The reality is: look in the mirror and be honest with yourself. Say:

It’s kind of really understanding what the project is about and being honest with yourself about what it takes.

I get this question a lot — people say, “Hey Steve, I’ve never framed a house. Can I do this?”

Well, theoretically you could… but is it smart?

So I would say: work off your strengths.

If you know how to do electric — do it.

If you don’t know how to do electric — hire someone that does.

Or if you still want to be involved — hire someone who does and maybe you do the grunt work.

Some of our customers get involved literally with everything — they’re in the trades, their families are in the trades, their friends are in the trades — and they can build the whole house.

Other people are more removed from it and just manage good subcontractors to get it put together.

And some people are in between.

So the reality is — the time that you take to understand what you want to do, work with us to get it planned properly, make sure the house is the way you want it to be, works well with the land, meets energy codes, meets general building codes — that’s what helps someone understand it.

Where people sometimes get a little awkward is when they don’t understand, or they think they’ll figure it out.

But with us, we go through the planning process where we think all this through — so they have a kind of dry run in thinking how to build, who they’ll need, the steps it takes.

That’s a big thing — being realistic with yourself and having a plan.

Our customers often act as general contractors — although occasionally they may hire someone.

The key to it is:

Be honest with yourself.

How much do you want to spend?

What are the restrictions of the land?

How do we have to design it?

Also—be honest with yourself and say things like:

And that’s the thing: we help people narrow those ideas down.

We also have customers who are very detailed — they know everything they want, and they just need someone to help formalize the plans, work through permitting, and do the panelized process.

But all these details — they help with:

So that’s the key — really be focused and understand what you’re about to get into.

And we’re here to help.

We’ve been doing it a long time. So if someone needs a little help, we’ll gladly offer it and work through the process with them.

Interviewer: Where do you find that Landmark customers are not quite as honest — or let’s just say, not quite as savvy?

Would you say budget? That seems like a pretty important thing to be honest with yourself about.

Steve Tuma: I think just going through the process of saying, “I want to build a house” — a lot of these people learn a lot about themselves.

So I’d say 90 percent of people actually have a pretty strong understanding.

Now — they may not know the detail.

They might not know exactly the furnace they want… or the brand of HVAC — but they’ll say things like, “Hey, I want in-floor heat,” or “I want mini-splits,” or “I want conventional HVAC.”

So they’ve done a lot of research.

Sometimes the desire to build your own home is something that could’ve started when they were a kid. It’s not like someone wakes up on Monday morning at 8 a.m. and by 9 a.m. they’re on the phone with us buying a panelized home.

So to say people should be “honest with themselves”… that might be the wrong phrase.

It’s more about being realistic.

They’re not being deceptive — it’s more like they simply don’t know what they don’t know yet. And that’s totally okay.

So it’s more like — how would I decide if I want to have a 2×4 wall in my garage versus a 2×6?

What’s the benefit of a cathedral ceiling versus a regular one?

Why do I want a big window… or why wouldn’t I want one?

What’s the size of a bedroom?

All of us have lived in bedrooms — but how many people really and truly know the exact dimensions of theirs?

Interviewer: That’s true.

Steve Tuma: People say things like, “Well, I want it like the one I have now.”

Okay — but then we ask, “Well, what size is that?”

And they might not know dimensions, but they’ll say, “We have a king-size bed, a little sitting area, TV area, three dressers…”

Somehow — we work it out.

They may not know where you can put a cathedral ceiling or how doing that changes the structure — but those are things we walk through with them.

They’ve likely heard about energy codes, but they don’t necessarily know how those apply to the home’s design or how it can affect their budget.

So I would say — most customers have between a reasonable and very strong understanding of what they want in a home. They just need those loose ends tied together.

And that — I think — is where we can really help them.

Even if I were doing my own home, I’d still need a little time to think:

You know, it’s funny. It’s on the plan and makes sense…

But when’s the last time someone actually ate dinner in their dining room?

Interviewer: laughs Yeah.

Steve Tuma: So questions pop up like, “Do we need a dining room, or would a great room be better?”

And that leads to the deeper thought: how are you really going to use the house?

I had a customer today tell me they host 32 people for holidays and birthdays.

Well — that’s a different kitchen. That’s a different-sized deck. That’s a different setup altogether than a two-person household.

So we work with people to design for how life actually happens — including future-use rooms and lifestyle transitions.

Let’s say your kids are 17 and might leave for college soon.

They still need their space now, but later? That bedroom might become an office.

Or maybe grandma’s moving in — not today, but maybe in a few years.

So how do we design for that? And because we’ve done this so long — we usually have the answers.

 It just makes it easier for people when we ask the right questions.

And we’ve had all kinds of situations — like one customer in Idaho.

Their entire home design stemmed from one thing:

They wanted to put a 20-foot Christmas tree in their living room.

That’s what started it — and they wanted to take advantage of a great mountain view.

So we worked with them. And sure, it sounds simple — “I want a 20-foot ceiling.” Fine.

But then we get into the windows.

What happens to the rest of the wall space?

How does that affect the roof plan and whole structure?

A lot of people come to us with the end result in mind — and then we have to work backward and “reverse design” to make it happen.

Other people say, “Here are the 10 features we want.”

Others grab one of our plans from the website and say, “Can we make these 2 or 3 changes… or maybe 20 or 30 changes?” laughs

So even if someone comes in with a “ready-made” plan, there are always scenarios where the details still have to be worked out. That’s just part of custom home building — and we’re happy to walk them through every phase.

And that’s just part of the process — getting through the stages of design.

It’s pretty amazing. It’s a lot of fun.

I find that people really enjoy this part. They like it!

This is the “cool” part — the fun part.

You’re designing.

You’re playing architect.

You’re taking this vision in your mind… and making it real.

And that’s what we help people do.

Interviewer: laughing So this is fun. I like throwing the ball in your court —

Steve Tuma: — and making me do all the work! laughs

Maybe I’m talking myself out of a job here — but this is great.

Interviewer: So let’s keep going. OK — the next thing up for grabs here —

what’s the next piece of advice you’d give to somebody?

Whether it’s dealing with you, dealing with contractors, or just getting themselves together?

Steve Tuma: The best thing is to have a concise plan —

Not just in the physical home plans…

But in knowing things like:

So there are a couple of different ways “planning” really applies.

So, there’s the planning of the actual home design — the drawings.

But then there’s the execution plan — when to build, how to coordinate, how to stay on track.

That includes things like:

And that all comes down to one word: Communication.

Interviewer: Right — communication is what you’re talking about.

Steve Tuma: Oh, that’s absolutely key.

That’s why we have these podcasts.

That’s why we spend real time with our customers.

We don’t use AI responders.

We don’t bounce you between departments with hold music.

We’re real-life people who’ve built real-life homes and know how it actually works.

Because — what’s interesting — I’ve done this:

You could build five houses from the exact same plan, and every one of them will be different in some way.

One will be on a flat lot… another on a hillside.

One might need the garage reversed because the driveway slopes the other way.

One will be on a basement… another on slab…

One will prioritize energy efficiency more than the others.

So what that means is—every project has its own DNA.

We take the time to understand that.

Steve Tuma: So, we take the time to get to know the customer — but also, for the customer to get to know us.

That back-and-forth helps us uncover the real priorities, the full picture of the land, and the true expectations.

And if customers run into a situation that requires deeper knowledge —

Chances are, we already have the answer.

That’s part of the benefit of working with us.

Oh — and one thing I absolutely need to touch on is this:

Choosing your subcontractors.

Some of our customers do parts of the work themselves,

Others hire subcontractors for everything —

But either way, working with good, reliable people makes a huge difference.

There are a lot of subcontractors out there…

But some are just leaps and bounds better than others.

You want the ones who:

Construction always has some organic movement — weather, supplies, minor adjustments.

But when you’re working with the right team, your life is just easier.

And your project turns out way better.

Interviewer: Well, understanding what you’re building seems like a big thing, right?

You don’t have to know everything, but previewing it — walking through it mentally —

and then knowing you guys are there if they want help… that’s huge.

Steve Tuma: Right — and that’s exactly it.

You don’t want to do real-time house-designing during construction.

You don’t want someone on-site calling mid-day saying:

You want to know that those decisions have already been made.

That we’re not scrambling for info or guessing — we’re executing a well-thought-out plan.

Now look — we’ve spent a lot of time on this podcast talking about design.

Here’s one reason why:

People often think all home plans are equal.

They think just because a local guy in town sketches things up that the plans must be good.

Maybe they are.

Most likely, they’re… not.

Because knowing how to use software doesn’t mean you understand architecture.

Or structural loads.

Or energy codes (especially today — they’re tough!).

Or how local site factors change construction.

And that’s where Landmark comes in — we bridge all of those pieces.

So sometimes when people have those plans — whether they’re from a local designer or found online — we use them as a jumping-off point.

They’re nice as conceptual ideas or rough layouts. But then we go in and actually engineer, code-check, and make it buildable.

That’s one of the most important things:

Know what you’re building.

And none of this is meant to scare people.

Homes are built every day — all over the country.

And we know how to do it right.

We’re just saying — if you want to avoid mid-project disasters, if you want to stay on budget and stick to a schedule — this is the kind of stuff you address now… not later.

We’re happy to walk you through it all step-by-step. That’s what we’re here for.

So a customer doesn’t need to know everything to work with us.

We’ve had customers — and I’m pretty convinced some of them have never even picked up a hammer. I don’t mean that as an insult — just that they’re not “in the trades.” That’s not their background.

But you know what? They want to be involved. They want to manage it. And they do an amazing job.

Because what it really comes down to — especially at a certain point — is project management.

You don’t need to be good with a nail gun…

You need to be good at keeping things organized, asking the right questions, and working with a team that supports you.

If you work with us to:

…we’ll do whatever we can to support you and help you through it.

Interviewer: You know what I think when I listen to you talk about working with customers? I feel like you’re part designer, part builder… but also part psychologist.

Steve Tuma: laughing Well maybe! I’m not saying I’m literally talking people off ledges…

But yeah — after 32 years of doing this, you learn how to keep people calm.

What you realize over time is this:

If you look at a situation that caused problems during the build — and then you reverse-engineer it —

Most of the time, it happened because someone didn’t think about something a month or two earlier.

It was completely avoidable.

So our job is to help people think that far ahead.

To guide the process in a way where you’re not making on-the-fly decisions at critical moments.

For example — let’s say someone wants their lighting to line up perfectly with a section of the ceiling…

…but there’s a large beam in the way that no one accounted for.

And that might not be the perfect example — but you get the point.

If we’d discussed electrical layout weeks ago, we’d know.

Same with HVAC design.

Same with plumbing.

Same with structural details.

And that’s where mistakes — or better yet, stress — come in when people aren’t fully prepared.

Even something as simple as a bathtub can create challenges. You’ve got:

If you draw up a plan based on one size — and then buy a completely different tub — now you’ve got a problem.

It’s even in the little things.

Take doors, for example.

Which way does the bathroom door swing?

Does it hit the vanity or another door?

Can it open fully?

These might seem like tiny details — but they matter in how a home functions.

Sometimes those decisions were overlooked, or rushed. Other times, people just assume everything will work because it looks good on a sketch.

But in real life? That door needs space. That bathtub needs to fit. That fridge needs to open without hitting something.

So what we’ve found — and what we’ve built into our process — is this:

Do a good set of plans

Walk through every room virtually (on paper or CAD)

Think about every decision upfront

Give the customer time to absorb, review, and reflect

Sometimes they need to just sit with it — sleep on it. Walk through it mentally. Maybe even walk their lot.

And that kind of breathing room helps avoid big headaches down the road.

Interviewer: And I imagine things even change during the process, right?

Steve Tuma: Absolutely. Even I — with decades of experience — sometimes change things when it’s my own home.

So yeah — even with all the experience I have, sometimes you don’t think of everything the first time through.

Like — a customer might say, “I want a 4×4 picture window.”

Then they go walk their lot… take in the view… and think,

“Why did I only say 4×4? I need a whole bank of windows — I paid for this view!”

So, the design evolves. That’s totally normal.

It’s kind of like unpeeling an onion —

You get deeper into the layers as you go.

Customers start with the big picture:

“I want a 2,500 square foot ranch with a 4-car garage and a pool.”

Great! But then we start asking:

Because every person uses their house differently:

Whatever it is — our process is flexible.

You can go back and forth.

You can refine your ideas.

We’ll work with you as many times as it takes until all the design details are truly right.

And honestly — I think that’s what people appreciate most.

It’s happened a lot recently — probably once or twice a week over the past six months — customers telling me:

“Steve… the panelized kit is cool. But it’s the support, planning, and understanding that made the real difference.”

They’ll say things like:

“You’re the engine behind the entire process.”

We’ve even had customers tell us, “Without Landmark — without you, Steve — we wouldn’t have been able to build this house successfully.”

Because we’re not just dropping off a pile of lumber and saying:

“Good luck — hope it looks like a house when you’re done!”

We’re providing:

That’s a team effort. And people feel it. Some of our customers are experienced builders. Others are professionals in careers you’ve never even heard of — but across the board, they’re successful in building.

Why?

Because of planning.

Because of support.

Because we collaborate.

That’s what makes this work.

Interviewer: You know what’s sad about all this — and I say this as a consumer like everyone else — is how rare real customer service has become.

I mean, every company claims to have “award-winning support,” but half the time, you call in and wait on hold forever. You get a vague answer, or worse… no answers at all.

Steve Tuma: That’s why we do things differently.

When I start working with a customer — they get my direct cell phone number.

They can call me directly. And I answer the phone, often right away. Here — I’ll give it out right now:

708-205-2043

If I’m awake, I answer. If not — I call back. Sometimes customers are walking their land after hours, with family around, saying, “Can we do a lookout basement here or does it need to be a walkout?”

They don’t want to wait two days for a reply.

And honestly — that’s what this whole thing is about. We’re helping people achieve a dream. This isn’t just materials and specs — it’s a life-changing milestone.

I love getting photos from customers mid-build.

“Steve, check this out — the first wall’s up!”

“Here’s the framing done!”

“House is finished, and it’s beautiful.”

That’s just amazing. It really is.

Interviewer: You know, I don’t want to overstep my bounds here… but I’m going to go out on a limb and say:

It really sounds like you love what you do.

Steve Tuma: Oh yeah — it’s fun.

It is a lot of work — there’s no doubt — but when you buy into a project and become part of it, it’s exciting.

I always tell people:

“Mr. and Mrs. Customer, it’s your house… but it’s kind of ours, too.”

Because we put pride into it. We care if it turns out right.

And nothing beats when a customer says,

“Hey, friends came over, asked how we built this, and we told them to call Landmark.”

That’s so cool. That’s what it’s all about.

Here’s a quick story — just a few months ago, I checked my email on a Saturday afternoon, and I get this message from a family in Virginia, right?

They say:

“Steve, 20 years ago you helped us design and build our home. We’ve weathered three hurricanes, a tornado — F4! — and even a small seismic event.”

And I’m thinking… uh oh. What’s this going to say?

And then the email goes:

“All the outbuildings on our acreage were destroyed. The neighbors’ homes — gone. The church steeple was found two miles away.”

Then they send me a picture — absolutely beautiful — and finish with:

“We lost three shingles. That’s it. Thank you for helping us build such a strong, safe, and beautiful home.”

And I was like: wow.

That’s the ultimate compliment — especially 20 years later. It means we did our job, and their house protected them.

Interviewer: Man… that’s incredible.

Steve Tuma: And we get that kind of feedback often, in one form or another. Because we care.

People choose Landmark because they want to be involved in the process.

They want to understand where their money’s going.

They want quality.

This is a major life moment. And it’s just awesome to be part of it.

Interviewer: Well this has been so much fun, man. I really enjoyed this conversation — not that I don’t enjoy all of them, but this one was special. I liked letting you just roll with it.

Steve Tuma: We started this company 32 years ago — not just because we needed a job, but because we love what we do.

When customers send us that first photo of a wall going up… or let us know the job’s finished… there’s real joy. You can feel it. It’s rewarding.

Interviewer: Alright — before we wrap up, tell everyone how they can learn more about Landmark Home and Land Company.

Steve Tuma: Sure! The best place to start is our website:

 LHLC.com — again, that’s LHLC.com.

You’ll find house plans, videos, details on the panelized process, what we supply, and helpful info on working across different states.

You can even pick out a plan and write in saying:

“Hey, how much would this plan cost?”

Or just send us a message asking how to get started.

You can also give us a call at:

 800-830-9788 — again, 800-830-9788.

Michael will help with early ideas, pricing, and questions — and when you’re ready, I step in to go over the next phases in depth.

We work at our customers’ pace — big homes, small homes, ADUs, multigenerational — anything.

We enjoy helping. That’s what we do.

Interviewer: One of my favorite things about the website — you can listen to the full podcast archive right there.

Steve Tuma: Yeah — some customers have told me they’ve listened to every single one!

Even customers who have built five or ten homes with us — they keep coming back because each episode offers something new, helpful, or inspiring.

Interviewer: Well, that wraps up another great and informative talk with Landmark Home and Land Company President, Steve Tuma.

And as always, we want to thank you all for taking the time to listen to The Panelized Prefab Kit Home Building Show.

We hope this helps you feel just a bit more prepared, a bit more confident, as you make your way toward building your own kit home.

For Steve Tuma and myself — have a great week ahead.

We’ll see you next time!

Steve Tuma: Thank you — have a great day!

A: You must verify whether water, sewer, natural gas, and electric connections are located directly at your property line or if they are situated a half-mile away. Bringing distant utilities to a build site or installing off-grid solar and well systems can significantly increase your site development budget.

A: Subsurface soil testing uncovers hidden ground conditions like solid bedrock, high water tables, or poor load-bearing soil before excavation starts. Knowing the soil composition upfront allows structural engineers to design the proper footer depth and prevents costly delays caused by unexpected excavation blasting or structural settling.

A: To eliminate visible dropped beams in large open-concept rooms, structural engineers and truss designers can increase the number of plies on shorter, multi-ply engineered beams. This approach supports necessary ceiling load paths while allowing the framing to sit flush within open-web floor and roof truss systems.

A: Contractors give loose estimates when bidding from basic sketches because they cannot see critical cost variables like rebar spacing, footer dimensions, corner counts, and load-bearing spans. Providing a complete, stamped set of structural blueprints enables trade subcontractors to submit firm, competitive bids with zero hidden contingencies.

A: Urban infill lots often contain buried debris or intact concrete foundations from previously demolished structures that were never fully removed. Additionally, tight property lines require careful planning to manage stormwater drainage, protect neighboring foundations, and route utility lines without trespassing.

Steve Tuma: There’s a lot of professionals in this business — that might be a pro, they might have been a contractor, they might have been building, they might have been in and around the trades — but they may not have been in the designing and engineering and why was a house built a certain way.

Interviewer: Hello everyone, and welcome to episode 70 of the Panelized Prefab Kit Home Building Show!

On the podcast today, as usual, is the president and founder of Landmark Home and Land Company — a company which has been helping people build their new homes, where they want, exactly as they want, nationwide and around the globe since 1993 — the always incredible Mr. Steve Tuma.

Steve, can you believe we are on episode 70 of the podcast?

Steve Tuma: It is kind of amazing. But when you think about it, there’s a lot of topics we can cover. We could probably get a few hundred more. I guess we’ve got to keep going.

Interviewer: I wasn’t planning on stopping — I don’t know about you.

Steve Tuma: It’s just one of these things. You get in there talking about this and we have a couple ideas, and then it’s like — “Hey, but what about this?” or “What about that?” Or midweek, you come up with other ideas. There’s always a detail.

So I think what we’re trying to do is give people an idea of what it’s like to work with us, be an owner builder with our panelized home packages, how we help with plans and everything. So — just a lot of stuff to cover.

Interviewer: Well, that kind of leads us into this episode, because I was thinking today — we might address some of what you, Steve Tuma, feel would be questions that anyone considering becoming a panelized homeowner builder would be well advised to ask… before getting started. From the get-go, if you will.

So if you’re ready to go?

Steve Tuma: Yeah, let’s do it.

Interviewer: So, let’s just say we’ll start with building sites. Is there a building site that’s too challenging to build on? Or, I would say there probably isn’t anything too challenging. But when you look at building sites, you look at the more challenging and the simplified ones — slopes, flood zones, hurricanes, earthquakes, snow loads, civil engineering requirements.

Interviewer: What would be a good way to start off? What questions would you say that a future owner-builder might want to ask when it comes to those topics?

Steve Tuma: That’s an interesting question because as you think about the geography around the country, the Midwest is theoretically flat — compared to the Rockies or the Sierras or Cascades or any of the mountain ranges in the Northeast and Southeast.

So there’s a lot of situations that come up with, but in general — if you have a flat piece of land, in general it’s going to be easier to build on.

Just because — sides of hills and mountains — the foundation, you need to have a lot of work done to just design a foundation for that.

But on the other side, if you’re on the side of a hill or a mountain — maybe you could do a walkout basement, which then becomes an enhancement to the design.

So it’s kind of one of these things — that every lot has the method for designing it. But generally, everything can really be overcome.

What I found is — hey, people who live in mountains aren’t used to flat land. So to them, building on the side of the hill is normal, and they understand it, because they’ve been in homes that were built there, that have been built on the side of a hill — sorry to say that laughs — but there’s a lot of things that come into it with each different situation.  And by the way — even with flat land, you can run into interesting situations.

We’ve worked with groups that will do redevelopment in the cities — and there’ll be infill lots. They buy a lot to build a home, or the city has some program to get homes on the tax rolls where they work with existing lots in cities.

And then people find out, “Hey, there’s an existing foundation. Someone just knocked a house down — they didn’t pull the foundation out.”

So that’s more of an infill in an older town.

So a lot of these details I’m bringing up as points of discussion — but people shouldn’t be scared of them. We can help people through the processes and understand. I’m just trying to give people a scope of ideas.

Generally, when you have land, the question is — are utilities available?

And sometimes someone will say, “Yes, they’re available,” but they’re a half mile away — and you have to bring them in. Or there’s a big cost. Or — are the utilities literally at the front of the lot?

Is electric there? Gas? Water? Sewer?

Or do you have to bring things in?

Or is it an off-grid situation where you’ve got to do your own solar systems or whatever it may be?

So you want to check on stuff like that. And it’s generally available through the different public works departments — water, sewer departments, electrical companies — to find out what’s there.

But then there’s the details. And recently we’ve come up with this — flood zones. Someone might say, “Hey, you know, we’ve had this land forever. Hey, it’s never flooded.”

And then you check, and the land is in a flood zone — which might require some different fill work or different foundation work.

There’s always, you know, the very obvious — how do you work with hurricanes, earthquakes, high snow loads?

That’s more of a design situation where we would work with a design to make sure it works, and also the structural engineering, to make sure that the house can withstand the forces that it’s designed for.

So the basic challenges can also vary by building department.

So if you’re on a hill, say, in the Carolinas or a small mountain — building departments may or may not ask for grading and drainage plans, which a civil engineer would do.

But in the Rockies, the Sierra, California — where it’s more obvious — they typically always demand it.

So we end up in a lot of unique situations, where the best thing to do is give us a call and review these different building conditions so we can get an idea of what you need — the type of foundation — and then details that you should move forward to research on the land.

Or, if you already own the land, just understand how we have to work with it.

So it’s kind of deep to get into one, you know, one conversation that kind of encompasses it.

I think the point I’m trying to get across is — we can work with you. If it’s flat land, the side of a hill, if it’s on the side of a mountain, if you’re in a hurricane zone or whatever it may be — there’s a whole variety of situations, and we’re always happy to talk to you, help someone along.

And we’ll do this as a courtesy up front — just to give people an idea of what they need to research on their land.

Because it’s just good to know — if someone’s buying a piece of land, there’s two pieces of land, and they’re watching their budget, there might be one that’s a little more affordable for them.

Interviewer: Do you find when customers — like, a potential customer — calls, do you find that it’s, you know… I know I’m this way. Sometimes I will want to ask questions, but then I don’t want to look stupid.

You know, and you’ve got a lot of experience with this and dealing with potential customers — how do you kind of feel out what the customer needs, you know, informationally?

Are you able to kind of feel out what questions they should be asking even if they don’t ask the question?

Steve Tuma: Yeah, that’s part of it. I mean, we’ve been doing this — well, last Monday was 32 years. We’ve got experience. We’ve worked all over the country and in some foreign countries, working in a variety of different situations.

So if someone says, “Hey, I’m building on a hill in Iowa or on a mountain,” that’s a lot different than if you said, “Hey, I’m in Leadville, Colorado.”

So we understand the general geography. We could look it up on Google Earth, look to see what a building site is like, get ideas, and then lead the conversation.

So the idea of, you know, the “stupid question” — I jokingly tell people the worst that’s going to happen is I’m going to have a funny answer.

You know, we just like to take it easy and work through these processes.

But the reality is — there’s a lot of details that can come out, and we can help the customer go through. And by these discussions, they’ll understand the process, the project better. They’ll understand what needs to be done.

And that’s what a lot of owner-builders want to do. They choose to be involved with this — but they need a starting point.

Interviewer: Sure.

Steve Tuma: They need some point to go. So you know, you could do a little research online — and yes, some of it’s right, some of it’s just not right.

But we can work with someone to find out exactly what works for their exact situation — for the exact building site that they’re on.

So, all we really request is: people give us a call, and we’ll talk about it. We’re experienced — probably in a little 20-minute conversation, we could give them enough answers and things to pursue, to check out, so that then we could work together to do it.

Because what’s interesting about this — a lot of times people say, “Well, my building department doesn’t require that.”

And that’s great. I mean, the building department may not exist. They may be very simple. They may be very sophisticated.

But ultimately — it’s your house.

You’re paying for it. You’re living in it. Your building department isn’t.

So in some of these states or areas where they don’t ask for these details, it might be good to go check it out yourself anyway.

Interviewer: Sure.

Steve Tuma: Just because — it’s like, if you build in a floodplain and your house isn’t high enough, you’ll never get insurance.

So that’s why we can work with it. We’re always available. We’re willing to take the time. We enjoy taking the time to talk to people to find out what it is that they want to build.

What type of house? Where is it? What’s the land like?

And a lot of these things — we can get ideas. They can snap a picture, text it to us, email it to us, and we can get the conversation going.

Just with the address — there’s information online.

So the idea of a “stupid question” — it’s not really there. Because people are just asking for help.

And we probably have the answer to get them on the right path to get it taken care of.

And we’ve helped people in, you know — desert situations, mountain situations, alpine villages, oceanfront, lakefront — you know, there’s a variety of situations.

So I think we’re a good resource to help people go through and do this.

Interviewer: I always find, especially I think with the way you work with customers on the phone, it’s — I like to start off when I’m not very knowledgeable at something, just say: “Talk to me like I’m a third grader.”

Because I’d rather get all the information in a concise way than me beating around the bush, trying to act like I’m a little more savvy than I am on any given topic.

Steve Tuma: Well, what’s interesting about that is — there’s a lot of professionals in this business that might be a pro.  They might have been a contractor. They might have been building. They might have been in and around the trades.  But they may not have been in the designing and engineering — and why was a house built a certain way.

Interviewer: Right?

Steve Tuma: So we have some customers that are professional contractors. So they know how to drywall a house. They know how to frame a house. They know how to roof it.

But they don’t know why a structure was put a certain way. They don’t know why the foundation’s at a certain height. They don’t know why a footer system is designed a certain way.

 So some of the questions that we get — even from people in the trades — are kind of entry-level questions, because even they aren’t exposed to all these details.

So it’s not a big deal. I mean, to us, it’s actually — when someone asks a question, I’m intrigued by it. Because it shows they’re buying into being serious about it and wanting to do it.

You know, so when someone calls up and says, “Hey Steve, I’m building in Iowa City,” or, “Hey, I’m building in Tallahassee, Florida,” or, “Hey, I’m building, you know, in a beach community in California or Oregon,” or something like that — it gives us an idea of what we’re looking for.

Because each of those areas will be a little bit different.  And there are different regulations for different types of building sites — even building department to building department, sometimes even building inspector to building inspector.

So the idea that someone’s going to know everything — hey, we’ve been doing it 32 years, and every once in a while, we learn something. You know, just something that comes up that is just rather… rather interesting, or you get a unique thing.

The key to it is — we’ve done it. We have access to the questions. If for some reason, you know, the answer doesn’t pop up right away.

Interviewer: Well, you’ve been doing this a long time, and from your experience — where do the surprises typically come from when it comes to, like, especially new customers? What sort of things set them back a little bit — that like, they weren’t expecting?

Steve Tuma: What I have found — in my own projects and over time — any surprises generally have something to do with touching dirt.

And I’ll tell you why: you can’t tell what’s under dirt.

You know, so if you’re in a geotechnical situation — like, you know, someone says, “Hey, I don’t want to get a geotechnical report.” Then they excavate… and they hit granite.

You know, there are ways to do that — get a geotechnical report, and then we get a better idea of what’s there. But it’s not a 100% guarantee.

So that’s what I’ve found. You know — hey, what type of septic has to be there? Where can the well go?

You go into certain parts of Colorado, and it’s like — they drill a well and hope to hit water. There’s no guarantee.

And that’s what I found — the variables are of the unknown. But we do our best to work with customers to suggest geotechnical reports, getting the septic design, doing all these details, checking to make sure that — you know — your water connections are close, your sewer connections are close, if those services are available.

If you know you’re building on a tighter lot, make sure that there’s space for all these details. Where do they come in? How do they come in? And make sure that it’s properly planned.

That, in my sense, is the biggest.

Once you install the foundation, frame the house — it’s kind of controllable. You have our plans. You know how many windows. You know how many square feet the house is. You know how tall the ceilings are. You know how much roofing you’re going to need.

And it’s easier to go through and do it.

One thing — which I’ll throw in there, it wasn’t really part of my typical answer — but sometimes the surprise is the customer themselves, when they say, “Oh yeah, you know, we want to add this, we want to change that — it won’t be a big deal.”

And you’re like, “OK… so where’s that extra three thousand dollars coming from?” laughs

You say that ten times — it’s thirty thousand dollars.

So the point of being honest with yourself up front, and realistic in the design phase — to make sure what you’re thinking about, and making sure that the house you’re building is what you want — will really help avoid surprises.

Interviewer: Sure.

Steve Tuma: Surprises to the wallet aren’t fun.

So the more work we could help a customer do up front to walk through these — it’ll just make it a more enjoyable process.

Interviewer: So do you ever find yourself doing gymnastics with people who aren’t sure what they’re looking for? But you know they want to design a home that’s really — let’s face it — their dream home, no matter what the price is.

But do structural details affect the overall architectural design? And how do you walk people through that process?

Steve Tuma: Yeah — well, you have a couple of questions there. On how to get someone’s ideas and then the structure together.

And yeah, we do work with it. Like you say — the “gymnastics.”

So if someone’s kind of not fully decided —

Interviewer: which is going to be most of us going into a big deal like this.

Steve Tuma: Right — it’s something like that. And then some people — their ability to visualize — if you tell some people, “Hey, this is a 12 by 12 bedroom with a 3 by 5 window facing north,” they can’t picture it.  Other people — snap! — there it is. You know?

So sometimes we’ve got to work with people to have the understanding of — how can we communicate with them to go through to make sure that they get the house they want.

So they’ll go through and — like a typical thing with a foundation — we’ll say, “Hey, what type of foundation are you looking for?”

What I’m asking for is: Is it a basement, a crawlspace, slab? Is it on pilings? Is it some combination? You know, whatever it is.  And sometimes the people say, “Hey, it’s cement.”

And so — just to work with them on the understanding of why a different foundation would be used in different areas — and helping them understand.

So we’ll take the time so people understand.

We’re not sitting here saying, “Hey, here’s a panelized home — figure it out.”

We’re saying, “Hey — let’s work together to understand your home, to make sure you get the house you want.”

And that leads into the second part of the question — where you’re saying, “Hey, where does the architectural and structural part of the house kind of come into play — or potential conflict?”

And this happens, generally, on more complex homes — some of the very modern designs that we do — where the engineers will say, “You need an 18-inch beam to span across…” say, a big living room, you know — big open space, big great room in a house.

But the floor system is 14-inch floor trusses.

Or — I’m sorry — open-web floor trusses.

And the customer will say, “Hey — but I want flat ceilings. I don’t want any beams hanging down.”

So that’s when we have to work the architectural design, the customer’s requirements, the structural engineers — to figure out, “Hey, how can we embed the complete beam in there?”

Is there a way to get more plies of a beam that are 14 inches tall, instead of having less plies at 18 inches tall?  And then working through all these different details and working the load paths.

So yeah — there are situations where people’s requests kind of conflict a little with the structural design.

But that’s why we take the time to go over this.  I just did this today on a house going to Wisconsin. Jake — hi Jake, if you’re out there listening!

But it’s a big house. He’s got a unique design, where a second level — kind of a bonus room level — is a future in-law living space.

And the way we originally structured the roof, it was a beam and rafter system, but he wanted a flat ceiling at 9 feet.

So suddenly that was a little different than our initial drawings.

We went through to change it. I had to work with the architectural designers, the customer, the structural engineer, and the truss designer.

To make sure that structurally the house was put together properly, to make sure the customer’s designs were there, and make sure that it’s something that would also pass the codes.

And that’s something we have the capability to do.

Since we have our own design team, engineering team, and truss design systems, we’re able to go through and tie these things together — to know that the plans we’re drawing up will actually work.

That — it sounds weird — but not all plans are the same.  A lot of people say, “Hey, I bought my plans from the best architect in town. He wins awards. I met him at the fish fry.” laughs

And then we look at it, and we’re like — “What’s going on with your wall-to-roof connection? How is this floor system beamed up?”

And some of the people’s responses are, “Well, you figure that out on site.”

And I’m like, “Well… do you want real-time design and building to be happening at the same time?”

I mean, the contractors are going to do what’s there — but at some point, you might be cornered.

So it’s better to take the time to design it right.

We’ve probably talked a lot about this and the different aspects, but I can’t emphasize this enough — the time it takes to do a proper design is well worth it in the long run — for your sanity, your budget, your inspections, your schedule — everything like that.  So — let’s loop back to where you asked about surprises. Surprises are in the things that aren’t thought through.

Which is why we take the time up front to think through a design and help someone understand it — because that also affects their budget, their schedule, and, you know, sometimes the subcontractors they want to use.

Interviewer: Well, speaking of subcontractors — that brings us to the question of how to best utilize a design that you pick — let’s say off the Landmark website.

Can you use plans to get better bids? Like subcontractor bids, things like that?

Steve Tuma: Oh, definitely.

And, you know, a lot of people have their own design ideas. They’ll sketch it up and text it to us or email it to us — or they’ll get a plan off our website and then we’ll draw it up.

But what ends up happening is a lot of people will just say, “Hey, I talked to my foundation guy, you know, I see him around town — and I asked him how much a 2,000-square-foot foundation is.”

And the guy — wanting to help and give an answer and be courteous — throws out a number. 

Well, then he gets the plans and — hey, there’s 20 corners. It’s got this. It’s got that. It’s got a variety of different things — and the price changes.

So some contractors will lowball it to keep you interested. Others will go a little higher, just saying, “Hey, I’m not really sure what this foundation looks like.”

So the idea of having a complete and accurate set of plans — a budget and a timeline to build — is the contractors will take you seriously.

They’ll say, “Hey, this guy’s organized. They’re on top of it. I want this job.”

Compared to just being stopped in the grocery store and someone saying, “Hey, how much is a foundation?”

So when you have a complete set of plans with all the details — the rebar, the footer sizes, all these details — a contractor can then give you a sharp price and work with it.

It eliminates problems down the road. It eliminates moments as to “why did something cost ten thousand dollars more?”

So that’s why the planning process is there — so that a customer understands it, if financing is involved the lender will understand it, the building department will understand it, we understand it, and then subcontractors will understand what they need.

Interviewer: It sounds like what you’re saying is — a detailed and complete set of home plans is kind of important.

Steve Tuma: It’s very important.  It’s, you know, kind of one of these things — there might be things that are real time, like playing a video game.

You know, you’re sitting there — “Hey, do you do this? Or do you do that?” — and it’s kind of fun.

But in building a house — when you’re trying to control a budget, keep to a schedule, schedule people properly, stay sane, you know, enjoy the process — you want to know what you’re doing.

You don’t want a lot of situations where people are calling from the site going, “Hey, what’s happening at the staircase? How does this connect?” Or “Hey, this turret — how does it get framed?” Or “Hey, we’re about to pour the foundation — what rebar do we need?”

And — amazingly — a lot of the plans we get from people are missing extremely important details.

That’s why we spend the time to go up front, to make sure that everything is clear. So that when a customer goes out and uses the plans for bids or permitting or inspections — it’s there, very clear, as to what’s to be done. So someone can get accurate help.

Whether it’s permitting, getting bids — whatever it may be — we want to minimize the unknowns.

Interviewer:  And the surprises.

Steve Tuma: Oh, exactly. You know what’s funny is — I know people in the trades, and they’re like, “You know Steve, how do you stop this?” They almost expect the surprises.

And I call that lack of planning.  Now, you can’t predict everything — right? But the point is — if someone’s calling you up saying, “Hey, how long is the kitchen cabinet?” — someone didn’t do the plans right.

So that’s why we add those details — so people can get these details worked out, pre-plan it, pre-budget it, understand it, kind of visualize the process, so that when they’re building — they’re executing it.

And it’s amazing how many customers we have that are like, “Steve — this is fun. I want to do it again.”

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Tuma: Because it’s planned out.  You’re not sitting there, you know, shooting from the hip — you’re sitting there following a design that makes a lot of sense and is well thought out.

Interviewer: Well, that’s gonna wrap it up for us today — but before we let you go, Steve, as usual, please let our listeners know how to find out more about Landmark Home and Land Company and what you guys are doing over there.

Steve Tuma: Yeah — well, we’re sitting here and we help customers design and build their own home nationwide.

You can contact us by checking out our website at LHLC.com — again, that’s LHLC.com. We’re Landmark Home and Land Company.

You can also call us at 800-830-9788 → again, that’s 800-830-9788.

Mike will work with you on the preliminary steps of just finding out what you need, getting you details, some pricing — and then if it’s something where you want to move forward, you and I will have a conversation and we’ll go through and get into the details of the process.

So our website’s a great place to start. There are plans, there are details on what we supply, there’s some videos explaining some of the things that we do, there’s some pictures — it’s a good place to get a feel for it.

And right there, you can find a plan and send an email and say, “Hey, how much is Plan XYZ?” And then we’ll start the conversation.

But — by email or people can call in, either way — we’re here to help people.

We’ll take the time to get to know our potential customer, understand their project, and help them through the process.

Interviewer: Perfecto. So that wraps up another great and informative talk with Landmark Home and Land Company President, Steve Tuma.

And we want to thank all of you for taking the time to listen to the Panelized Prefab Kit Home Building Show. And we hope we’ve been able to help you feel a bit more confident on your path to becoming a kit home owner-builder.

So — for Steve Tuma and myself — have a great week ahead, and we will see you next time!

Steve Tuma: Thank you — this was fun.

A: Designing a home with fewer exterior corners and a simplified roofline containing fewer hips and valleys significantly lowers foundation, framing, drywall, and siding labor costs. Keeping standard eight- or nine-foot ceiling heights instead of fifteen- to twenty-foot walls also eliminates the need for expensive structural beam engineering and heavy shear wall bracing.

A: Flat building sites require standard excavation and straightforward foundation pours, whereas hillside lots demand stepped foundations, specialized retaining walls, and civil engineering grading plans to manage soil stability. Mountainous or sloped terrain also increases site development costs for foundation accessibility, drainage systems, and steep driveway access.

A: Achieving high energy code compliance, such as R-48 roof insulation, requires structural framing and raised-heel roof trusses designed with enough physical depth to house the insulation. If structural rafters are undersized, the roof cavity will compress the insulation material, reducing thermal performance and failing building code inspections.

A: Yes, custom home plans can be scaled back, simplified, or redesigned during the preliminary drafting phase before structural engineering is finalized. Adjusting overall square footage, standardizing window shapes, or simplifying rooflines allows owner-builders to align their blueprints with realistic subcontractor estimates before ordering materials.

A: Every custom home blueprint can be tailored to match a family’s exact daily lifestyle, regardless of whether the construction budget is $150,000 or several million dollars. Pre-construction drafting allows you to customize practical room layouts, kitchen workflows, garage workshops, or private in-law suites without paying premium architectural fees.

Steve Tuma: So it’s not just about building a house, it’s building an environment for the family. The effect that this has on people — whether it’s a couple hundred-thousand-dollar house or five-million-dollar house — is tremendous.

Interviewer: Hello everybody, and welcome to episode 69 of the Panelized Prefab Kit Home Building Show. I’m joined today, as usual, by the president and founder of Landmark Home and Land Company — a company which has been helping people build their new homes, where they want, exactly as they want, nationwide and around the globe since 1993 — the always illuminating Mr. Steve Tuma. Steve, how are you, my friend?

Steve Tuma: It’s another great day. It’s interesting — every time you ask me that, I think of it and go, “Man, look at what we did today to help a customer get a house, or get through some issue with a building department, or whatever it is.”

So it’s always — our experience always helps. But then it’s also just the attitude to sit here and go, “Hey, let’s work on each custom home for each person, in their own building site, with their own building department, with their own financial needs.”

It’s kind of a neat combination we figured out to help people get a good house.

Interviewer: Customer connection — that’s what Landmark Home and Land Company is all about.

Steve Tuma: It’s also a little bit of passion and having fun and experience. And it’s just kind of cool when people call up and say, “You actually know what you’re talking about… You answered my question.”

It’s like, “I didn’t stump you!” It’s as simple as that. You answered the phone. Or hey — if they did leave a voicemail because I was helping someone else — we’d call them back right away. And the customers are like, “Wow, this is cool.” And it’s fun.

It’s rewarding for us as well.

Interviewer: After 32 years — if it wasn’t fun, you probably wouldn’t be doing it.

Steve Tuma: Yeah. Well, it’s invigorating when someone’s sitting here trying to figure out, “Hey, how do I build this house?” Whatever.

It’s a first home. It’s a retirement home. It’s a family’s growing home. It’s a home for the in-laws — whatever it may be.

It’s kind of a neat challenge. So even though we’ve been doing it for 32 years — since ‘93 — every project is an individual, cool challenge that we have to get taken care of.

We’re not doing cookie-cutter boxes for people. We’re doing the home that they want, on their land, with their particular needs. And it’s pretty cool.

Interviewer: Today’s episode — I wanted to get into the subject of affordable home design, if that works for you. Can we talk about that a bit?

Steve Tuma: Yeah. You know what’s interesting is — when you say “affordable home design,” I bet you most people think entry-level, cheap… $200,000, $100,000, $150,000. I don’t want to say “cheap,” that’s more “inexpensive.” It’s a quality home — it’s just less dollars.

But in a lot of places, an affordable home is two million or three million. So it’s not just how many zeros are involved in the number — it’s, for the budget someone chooses to have, what can be done?

Because we’ve worked with people in a lot of different economic classes and understanding what they want. And we’re finding that the people building a $150,000 or $200,000 home have the same problem as the two million- and three million- and five million-dollar homes. There’s still a limit on the money — but the dream or the idea is sometimes a little bigger than the wallet.

Interviewer: That’s pretty good.

Steve Tuma: Isn’t that odd in today’s world?

Interviewer: Right. So, let’s just talk about some of the design elements that would make a home more affordable. And how does Landmark help people make those decisions?

Steve Tuma: Well, what’s interesting about it is — a lot of times, people think, “Oh, it’s the house. How big are my ceilings? How steep is the roof? Do I have a two-car garage or a six-car garage?” And that’s part of it. And we’ll get into that.

But a big component of it is — where are you building?

So if you’re building on a flat piece of land — you know, whether it’s in Iowa or California or Florida or Montana or North Dakota or New York — in general, a flat piece of land is less expensive to build on.

So, if you’re building on the side of a hill — you know, a little knoll, that’s one thing. If you’re building on the side of the Rockies, the Cascades, the Sierras — you know, the Mountain Ranges and the Smokies — you know, you add a couple different elements on building a foundation that has to crawl down the side of a hill.

So sometimes it’s not just the actual house design — it’s where are you building it?

Because if you took a house, say in Tennessee — you wanted to do a very affordable, 1,000-square-foot, very boxy home in Tennessee — and you took that exact same home and put it on Key West, even though the house is the same, the nature of building in that site is completely different.

So one of it is site selection — and where. And not just flatland, but where.  Is it flatland on the front of the ocean in Florida? Is it in Iowa? Is it in North Dakota? Is it somewhere along a beach? Is it in a flood zone? Is it in a protected area where animals are protected, or historic regulations?

So that’s a lot of concern — but I don’t want to overload people on that. Sometimes you can get an analysis paralysis, but people are going to build where they want.

It’s just — if someone’s sitting here saying, “Hey, I gotta shave every penny,” you might not want to do it in a hurricane zone if you have a choice of living somewhere else.

But that being said, we’ve helped people build in hurricane zones — and houses, for what they’re trying to do, are very affordable, because we’re able to work with them on the design before they commit to things, to understand the dollars, so that then they can go forward.

So let’s just say a budget comes up of $800,000 — that’s what they say they need to build at — but for some reason, it ends up being a million.

There’s different things that can be done to work through a design to work towards bringing the cost down.

So the affordability doesn’t just mean a simple boxy home on a flat piece of land. It’s also for people building $1 million, $2 million, $3 million and $5–10 million homes. It’s the same situation of: “How do we make this work?”

And it’s not just affordability of building — it’s affordability of energy efficiency, maintenance, and quality-of-life types of things.

So we’re able to look at it with customers and what their priorities are to help them — to help them through.

And we’ve worked with some people building very unique, high-end custom homes. It’s the same situation. They want to spend two million — not two and a half.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Tuma: Now some customers are like, “Hey, no big deal.” But you know, eventually there’s a point.

So in the affordability, what we do is we work with the customers just to look at the design, the building site conditions, the building department conditions, different details on what’s necessary in there — and then have general conversations where, once we draw the plans up, the customer can then work to verify their budget.

Since they’re the owner-builder, it’s their project. And then we can work with them.  One thing we will do for people — if, you know, they get us a deposit, we’re moving forward — if we draw a house up, and in the preliminary plan stage they find out that, hey, it’s still coming in a little too high? We’ll do a big redraw, or even a new house, so that we can get them into a house that’s in budget.

And that’s something that is extremely important — is our teamwork effort to work with people. Because a lot of design places — design houses, architects, whoever it might be — you pay them to draw a plan. And if you just dream yourself, or they change your dream into a bigger home of, “Oh, it’s only another $10,000,” and you do that 20 times, you know… suddenly it gets expensive.

Or we’ll work with you to scale it back if for some reason the costs do end up being there.

Now that being said — on the ground, the land conditions, the building site — there’s also situations on the actual design of the home, and in general rules of thumb — and these are general rules of thumb — the less corners, the less expensive it’s going to be for everyone: the foundation, the siding, the drywall, our design — everything.

Also, generally, less corners means less ridges and rooflines — sorry — ridges and valleys in a roof system, and that generally makes it less expensive.

Also, taller ceilings cost more. Eight-foot, nine-foot are generally typical — some areas nine feet and ten feet — but getting into 15-, 20-, 25-foot-tall walls, getting walls with a lot of glass in them to take advantage of beautiful views or let light in — those things cost more.

Because you just need different engineering to hold a 20-foot wall for the forces coming down — like snow or whatever it may be — but also seismic concerns. And a lot of what people don’t think about — other than hurricanes — is the force of wind against a wall, where it can push against a wall and bow and crack drywall and just create other issues.

So if someone wanted to go as baseline as possible — keep it to 90-degree corners, a full roof pitch — and that’s about as inexpensive as you’re going to do it.

Stay with an eight-, nine-, possibly ten-foot ceiling if it’s customary for your area.

If you’re someone that’s building a million- or two-million- or three-million-dollar home and there’s a cost control element there — and every customer has it. We’ve only had two customers that have said, “If it goes over a million or two, it doesn’t matter.” But for most people, no matter what the price range is, we can work with them and model through different situations and different ways to design the roof, make the roof structure, work with them on insulation, carry load paths — different ways to minimize the higher costs of big beams and big expanses.

So that’s something that we do — and just the nature of the world — things get expensive.

We’re always monitoring better ways to design, different ways to do things to get the same effect. And a lot of these are just conversations with customers.

They may find a plan on one of our websites, saying, “Hey, you know, I love this house,” and it happens to have 20 trapezoid windows. So sometimes we say, “Hey, do you see there’s 20 trapezoid windows?” They may say, “We don’t want those — make them square top, or get rid of three of them.”

You know — so what I see in a picture of a house may be different than the husband or wife and the kids see.

So sometimes we’ve gotta go through the details of the design to say, “Hey, what’s important to you?”

You know, sometimes they’ll pick a design and not realize it has a 20-foot ceiling. They’re like, “I don’t want a 20-foot ceiling. I don’t want to paint it, and I don’t want to heat it.”

But looking at the floor plan in a 2D version, it’s not always known.

So that’s what we can do to help people with different situations — to work with them. And the nice thing is, we’ll take the time upfront to work with people, to have an understanding of this, so that when they decide to move forward and work with us — you know, get us a deposit and sign a contract — we’re on gear to work on a project that makes sense for them.

Interviewer: Yeah. You know, human nature is always going to… I do it myself. People are going to say, “Well, if it’s more affordable, maybe it’s not as good.” You know, affordable homes gotta still be structurally sound, correct?

Steve Tuma: Oh, yeah. There’s a code that’s there — but also, in our case, it’s our reputation. We design a good home. We have good design plans. We have good structural design. We have good energy — I should say, great — processes to develop the plan set.

So we’re not here to say, “Hey, here’s the cheaper house, you know — go do it.” Our customers that are building $100K, $200K, $300K, $400K — they still want a good quality home. Their home is their castle.

We don’t like working with people that are like, “Just give me something.” I’m like, no — we want to give you a good house.

Because you know, getting over the budget is one very important thing — but being happy with your home two years, three years, four years, five years down the road — knowing it’s well built — is also extremely important.

So we’ve got ways of working with different situations to do our best to get it together. And even though it’s a customer’s home — it’s still kind of ours. You know, our name’s on the design and making sure it goes together, and the customer service.

So we’re going to give a person a very good quality home, because we have a lot of customers — whether they’ve built entry-level homes, super affordable homes, or super expensive — we like to know that they’ll call us if they build another, or if they have a friend.

And the way to do that is make sure that the job’s done right — through the design, the plans, and the panelized home package. We have a good reputation. We work extremely hard at it. And we want our customers to be happy — and help them where we can to get the best home possible.

So yeah, it’s not just structurally sound. It’s energy efficient. It’s a good-looking home. It’s a home the people want. You know — it’s a floor plan that works for them: windows in the right place, the garage in the right place, the kitchen laid out the way it is — you know, the bedrooms and bathrooms laid out the way they want it.

So that’s — that’s the key element. And that just takes a little bit of time, but it’s all part of our service. It doesn’t cost more to spend time to design the right house.

Interviewer: Right. You hit on energy efficiency. So I’m assuming that just like the structurally sound home, even though it’s sort of affordable, it’s still got to be a certain structural element to it, right?

Steve Tuma: Yes.

Interviewer: As well as energy efficiency?

Steve Tuma: Yeah. So, energy efficiency — that’s… buying an affordable home — or building an affordable home, I should say — it’s still… you’re still meeting certain standards, I would imagine. You want to keep it affordable in your monthly energy bills.

Interviewer: Sure.

Steve Tuma: Yeah, so that’s the thing. And that’s why we do the energy calculations, draw the different insulation in the home plan so people can go through there and see what insulation they have.

Some customers are like, “I’ll just call my insulation guy — give him the energy codes.” Others kind of microanalyze it to figure out, “Hey, where do I get the best air infiltration?” — this and that.

And one thing which people never think about is, some of these building departments — you want R48? You need a lot of space for that to fit in there. You’ve got to make sure your roof trusses, the roof design, and everything’s right so it’ll actually fit in there.

And that’s part of our architectural and structural design — to make sure that the members are there to properly accept the insulation for the insulation type that a customer wants to put in.

But there’s a lot of different insulations — there’s the batt insulation, then there’s different blown-in insulations, little recycled materials, open-cell, closed-cell — so there’s a whole variety of different situations.

And customers will typically have a preference as to what’s there. Sometimes the preference is, “Hey, whatever’s code and is cheapest.” Others, it’s like, “No, I want this open-cell here, I want this closed-cell here, I want this batt insulation here.”

And we have to make sure it fits. Because sometimes a structural engineer will say, “Hey, you can do this roof system under these loadings in a 2×8.” But the 2×8 doesn’t have enough space for the R48 insulation. So we have to make that a lot bigger.

Interviewer: So at Landmark, you guys do a lot of consultation. I mean, that’s basically your thing — is the actual design of a house. And on the website, there’s such a gamut of designs to choose from — all of them customizable.

Steve Tuma: I think 6,000 — sorry for interrupting — but I think 6,000 plans. It says 1,600, but it’s kind of grown a little.

Interviewer: Right. But I’m sure that, you know, the actual — somebody buys the — I don’t want to say the lower end — but just the more affordable end of the design plans that you guys have available. But is the sort of lower end — is that — are those designs, are they customizable just like the more higher-end ones?

And how do you guys come to that — with the customer — come to that agreement that maybe this is better for your budget, but we can still give you exactly what you’re looking for?

Steve Tuma: Well, everything’s customizable. Even though the plans are on a website, we draw them up from scratch for each customer’s exact building site, their building department concerns, and their all needs.

Okay? Because there’ll be different structural things if you’re designing, say, a house with a big glass wall in it for South Florida than if you do in North Dakota.

So there’s just different things that we have to be concerned with, because there’s different forces — snow loads, winds, seismic — whatever it is.

And we’re a believer that whatever the budget of the house is — is that family’s castle. So if someone wanted to build a $100,000, $150,000, $200,000 house, we’re still going to take the time, make sure the windows are in the right place, make sure the garage is right, make sure the bathroom’s laid out the way they want, make sure the kitchen’s laid out the way they want — try to put that little extra something in there: the cathedral ceiling here, a tray ceiling there, different overhangs — give them a certain architectural look so that the house is something that people are happy and willing to put the time into when it’s rewarding.

You know the coolest thing is — when someone calls, like, two years later and goes, “Steve — thank you. This was a cool house.”

We actually got one about three months ago — we got an email like 2:30 on a Saturday afternoon from a customer and they said, “Steve, do you remember us?” And they went on in their email saying, “You helped us build 20 years ago. A friend just came by and we told them how happy we are with it. We told them all the design work and everything that we did. And we’re sitting in this house 20 years later and we just wanted to say thank you.”

“It’s an amazing house. It’s gone through three hurricanes, an F4 tornado, and a small seismic situation. Every outbuilding on the lot fell over, our neighbor’s house fell over, and I believe they told me the steeple of the community church was blown — well it was either two blocks or two miles away — and they said their problems were: three shingles blew off.”

And they said, just sitting back — realizing how amazing this was. First of all, for them to remember us 20 years later, reach out and tell us…

Of course I had to call them and say, “Hey, thanks!” and just, you know — we caught up again. But it’s just an absolutely amazing situation.

And that was a nice, modest home. Beautiful home. They finished it with the details they wanted — the colors, the interior and exterior finishes. It was their palace.

And to see that, 20 years later, they’re still proud of it, telling their friends — and then turn around, come up to us — is like the ultimate pat on the back.

Interviewer: That’s pretty cool.

Steve Tuma: Yeah. Yeah.

So the thing about it is — every home is a person’s castle. It’s where they’re going to raise their family. It’s where they’re going to — you know — birthdays are going to happen. Holidays are going to happen. You know, good times are going to happen — Fourth of July fests, different things like that.

So, to take the time to make sure that they have that extra something in their house that’s of value to them.

And sometimes that something is a garden window. Sometimes it’s a bigger garage. Sometimes it’s energy efficiency. Sometimes it’s a convertible room — just in case the kids come back for a weekend, or hey — mom’s got to move in.

Sometimes it’s that basement for the once a year where 20 family members come over and have, you know — watch a movie together or a championship pool game, or whatever… whatever they choose to do.

And that’s the thing about it. So it’s not just about building a house — it’s building an environment for the family.  The effect that this has on people — whether it’s a couple hundred-thousand-dollar house or five-million-dollar house — is tremendous. It’s… it’s amazing.

Interviewer: So that, you know — just how do you explain how important a home is to people? You know, unless it’s your home, you just — you can’t really feel it, I would think.

Steve Tuma: But when someone gets to go through and say, “Hey, my wife and I like to cook.” Right? “You know, my kid likes to do this.”

We have some families with kids with special needs, so they want a different wing for that person. And sometimes it’s a special needs kid. Sometimes it’s an elderly or a family member that needs help — they still want their own spot.

So they have their own, like, little suite off to the side — you know, with their own little bathroom, their own little TV area — so that the people can maintain their own life and dignity and their whole life.

But then the family’s there, where they’re there — instead of shipping them off someplace where they’re not part of the family unit.

We had one family — this was a little while ago, in Prescott, Arizona — she was into baking pies. And the husband was into tinkering in the garage and helping the kids fix their bike — the flat tire, learn how to ride a bike, you know, do whatever.

And so we worked on a special design that flowed with her for the kitchen, so she could build her pies and have an unobstructed view of the two-acre backyard — so that when the grandfather’s out there playing with the kids, running around with the dog, fixing a bike — whatever — she could still be part of it.

And then the kids could come in and do it. And then he had a special garage where he had his little workbench, so he could do different things.

So, in that particular case, it was a garage workbench, the kitchen to bake pies, and a view of the yard that made the whole house. Everything else could be — you know, we took our time to design — but those three components were what it took to really set this house off. It was a very modest, nice retirement home — and the people loved it.

We spent time, and it’s an amazing feeling to see someone work on that — but them also know that they have a source like us, where we’ll take the time to do it.

Sometimes the people thank us saying, “Hey Steve, sorry, sorry, sorry, I’ve redesigned the kitchen eight times.” And I’m like, “Hey — you’re going to live in this house for 20 years. Let’s take the time to make sure it’s right. It’s going to make that 20 years more enjoyable.”

Interviewer: Sure.

Steve Tuma: So…

Interviewer: Well, that’s about going to do it for us today. But before we let you go, Steve, let our listeners know how to find out more about Landmark Home and Land Company.

Steve Tuma: The best thing to do is check out our website at LHLC.com — LHLC.com, like the initials Landmark Home and Land Company.

I guess the “A” isn’t in the LHLC.com — but there it is.

Interviewer: They’ll figure it out.

Steve Tuma: Yeah.

And on there, we’ve got — these podcasts are on there. There’s different videos. There’s different write-ups on what we supply. There are options for plans — those 6,000 plans we talked about.

Yeah, hopefully that’s enough. Hopefully you can find something in there! But, you know, it’s amazing — in all the time, we’ve only had one person build the plan exactly to the design online.

In 32 years — everyone has done changes.  Right. And that’s — that’s pretty cool. It’s pretty cool that our customers get into it, they want to do that.

So yeah — I’m sidetracking — but yeah: LHLC.com, or you could give a call — 800-830-9788. Again, that’s 800-830-9788.

Mike will take the call, walk you through the process, help you out. And then at a certain point, when you’re ready to go, he’ll transfer you over to me.

We’ll have a conversation, figure out what it is that you need for your project, and get you taken care of.

We’re here to work with you at your pace. If you want to move fast — that’s fine. If your project is a year out, two years, three years, five years out — we’re still here to help you through the process.

We want to work with good people that enjoy the process, pay attention, and want to build a good quality home, understand their budget, and — you know — get a cool house.

You know, we need more people like that email 20 years ago — or know that we just got from someone we helped 20 years.

By the way — we constantly have people that call us back to rebuild. Some of them — 20, 25 years ago — they call us up and say, “Hey, we’re retiring, can you help us?” Or — “Hey, we had a kid, the kid’s getting married now, they need a house.”

So whatever we can do to help someone — we’re here to help people along and have a good time building homes.

Interviewer: Every time I talk to you, the thing that comes through the most is your passion for doing this. It’s pretty — it’s pretty impressive, I gotta tell you.

Steve Tuma: Well, it’s — when you sit here, the fuel is the customer. The customer’s sitting here going, “Steve, I’m trying to figure out how to build this house, in a budget that works for me. And I can do this. My dad can do this.” Or, “Hey, I can do this.”

Or some people say, “Hey, it’s going to take me three years. I got this much money now, I’ll get a little more next year, I’ll get a little more in the next year, and finish it.” Other people are like, “Hey, I have the cash. I just sold my other house. I’m ready to go.”

And we work hard to get customers that are looking to really do it right. Take the time to think it through. Work with us. Exchange ideas to get a set of plans that turns into a house that they’ll be proud of.

We don’t look at it as a race. If someone wants to move fast — that’s fine. But the design time that you take up front to pay attention will make it a lot easier to get permits, and make it a lot easier to build, and it’ll make the whole process more enjoyable — so that when the house is done, you look back and go, “That was cool.”

And that’s when I say — “Hey, you wanna do another one?”

Interviewer: So awesome. Yeah, it’s fun.

And there we are — another informative chat with the Landmark Home and Land Company president Steve Tuma.

And we want to thank you all for taking the time to listen to the Panelized Prefab Kit Home Building Show, and we hope that we’ve been able to help you feel a little more confident on your path to becoming a kit home owner-builder.

So, for Steve Tuma and myself — have a great week ahead, and we will see you next time. And thanks, as always Steve.

Steve Tuma: Yeah — thank you. This was fun. A lot of fun. Cool stuff.

A: Standard insurance policies often calculate rebuild costs based on outdated historical estimates rather than current construction market conditions. Following a major natural disaster, regional material shortages, contractor demand surges, and updated building safety codes significantly increase the per-square-foot cost to rebuild.

A: Code upgrade coverage, or an ordinance and law rider, provides additional funding—often 25% to 50% above base policy limits—to comply with modern safety and energy regulations. When replacing an older home, updated requirements like solar mandates, wildfire ignition-resistant materials, and reinforced shear walls must be met to obtain a certificate of occupancy.

A: Municipalities frequently offer expedited plan reviews if you rebuild a structure substantially identical to the original permitted footprint, typically within a 10% variance. However, if previous structures contained unpermitted additions or unpermitted ADUs, the application is routed through the standard, full-length review process.

A: Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) standards require specific exterior home-hardening features, including ember-resistant roof assemblies, non-combustible soffits and fascias, multi-pane tempered glass windows, and ignition-resistant siding. These building elements eliminate vulnerable entry points where wind-blown embers can penetrate and ignite the structural framing.

A: Many insurance carriers permit policyholders to apply their verified total-loss claim proceeds toward purchasing land and building a new home in a different municipality or state. This flexibility allows displaced families to relocate if the original disaster area presents insurmountable rebuilding costs, long-term utility disruptions, or prohibitive local permitting hurdles.

Steve Tuma: These developers are going in and buying two or three lots to put up bigger houses. Something’s going to happen economically with the comeback of these homes. It’s an opportunity in a way.

Interviewer: Hey everyone and welcome to episode 68 of the Panelized Prefab Kit Home Building Show. With me today as usual is the president and founder of Landmark Home and Land Company, a company which has been helping people build their new homes where they want, exactly as they want, nationwide and around the globe since 1993 — Mr. Steve Tuma. Steve, how are you doing?

Steve Tuma: I’m doing great. It’s been a great time. You know something interesting — I just remembered it — Landmark turned 32 years old last Monday.

Interviewer: How could you just remember that? That’s an important date.

Steve Tuma: Well, we celebrated a little last Monday and here it is, you know, it’s just a busy day today. But yeah, it’s pretty amazing. Thirty-two years of helping people design their home, build their home, work to find out if their land is easy to work with or a little harder — you know, get over the challenges of land, work through details with the building departments — you know, just making sure we give our customers what they need so that they have a successful build.

You know, owner-builders — they have a different set of needs, and we’re completely set up to help them through the process, as are we with contractors, if they want to go use our services for plans and building department issues and the panelized package. It’s just a lot more control and understanding and makes it easier for our customers.

Interviewer: 32 years — it’s a long time. So congratulations anyway.

Steve Tuma: It’s amazing. You look back at all — just all the changes in the building industry, the ups and downs of things going on in the world. But one thing’s constant — have a good time, take care of customers, help people build a better house than they could get anywhere else. And it keeps on working. So if I live another 32 years — we’re going to be here.

Interviewer: That’s reassuring.

Interviewer: Today I thought we’d address some of the issues facing those who have, you know, such as the devastating fires and hurricanes we’ve seen in the U.S. over the past few years — and including the Southeast and Los Angeles and Hawaii. And I know with your knowledge, you’re the one person who can help us weed through all the information and misinformation and give us some insight into the ins and outs of building and rebuilding in these areas. Can you dive into that?

Steve Tuma: Oh yeah. The disasters — you know, whether it’s a flood, a hurricane, a fire, you know, big snow — you know, a localized fire to an individual house or something where a whole community gets wiped out, or like in Hawaii with the lava flows — you know, they’re each tragic.

But the reality is, is the solution to all of them is kind of the same, and the processes that have to go through.

First of all — people, insurance. It’s one of these things where sometimes people go out and, you know, buy insurance and their agent’s like, “Hey, I got you a low price,” which is great — but typically, the insurance is there for the bad day, where you want to know that coverage is there.

And what a lot of people find in these is that they paid for insurance, but what’s covered or how much is covered — under what terms?

And that’s something that people should really learn when they’re purchasing their insurance, because hopefully you never have to use it. You know, insurance is kind of one of those things — you can’t afford it either way. You can’t afford to pay for it, but you also can’t afford not to have it.

But the thing that comes into it is, sometimes people go through and say, “Well, it’s a cheap price.” Well, okay — so if you bought a house for $200,000, or say $400,000 ten years ago, and your coverage is still for $400,000 plus a little bit of a perception of a bump for yearly inflation — you may or may not be covered, because the actual cost to build, the insurance company may have different opinions… or code updates Or if you’re in an area like Paradise, California was way back — and still kind of is — or Los Angeles, where there’s a big thing, people aren’t building at cheap market rates. Things get expensive. There’s only so many contractors and material suppliers to do things. You know, how can you get it done? And code updates.

So people — hopefully you never have to experience it — but check your insurance. And even if your agent says, “Hey, I got you a low quote,” ask them in detail what it means and how much it covers. And if they say, “Well, your area should cost X amount to build…”

Well, I had a customer whose insurance agent told them it cost $250 a square foot to build in Southern California — which, hey, maybe you could do under certain conditions, in certain neighborhoods. But if you’re building along the coast, or mountains, or any other place — $250 is exceptionally hard to meet.

With owner-builder projects, you might be able to get close to that depending on the design and costs and what’s covered. But the point that I’m getting at is — really understand the cost of building a home.

Now, different places… you know, if you go build in Iowa and a house burns, the cost can be considerably less. Some customers have done it at $90, $100, $120, $150 — depending on the design. So each area is different.

But in general, these disasters are, you know — like in Florida, the hurricanes on the East Coast — the fires are more in some of the Western states and the ones that border the Pacific.

So I’m telling people — look at your insurance, make sure that it’s covered, and check it for yourself.

And some of these companies have things where they’ll insure it for a certain price and then add 50% for just higher costs — you know, code updates, demand updates, whatever it may be. That’s one of the things that people should look at, because you’ll hear about people and they’re like, “Oh, I’m not going to rebuild. My insurance is screwing me or hurting me.”

It’s like — well, I don’t know if their insurance is right or wrong. But if you insured your house for $400,000 and it costs $700,000 to rebuild, that’s not having the right policy. So I don’t want to take sides on if insurance companies are right or customers are right. I’m just saying — look at it for your situation to understand what is going on.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Tuma: And also things — these coverages generally aren’t resolved instantly. It could go on for a while, and it’s an emotional toll. And make sure that you have some way of living someplace else. And some of these policies will pay you — will give you X amount of money to find alternative housing.

The point that I’m getting at is — it’s not just the issue of rebuilding. It’s the emotional toll that the people go through.

Interviewer: Oh yeah, of course.

Steve Tuma: So it’s not just the toll of — your house is gone, your pictures are gone, your important papers are gone, your car melted or got blown away or washed to sea or whatever it is.

It’s the whole situation of actually going through and navigating the details with the insurance companies, and navigating the details of knowing what you rebuild, what’s on site, the twists and turns of the building department.

Now we can help you on getting a clean design, get things worked through, work with you on our pricing so you understand what’s going on.

But a lot of the big things that I see is — people think, “Hey, they’re going to get this insurance person. The adjuster was just a nice happy person…” But then as they go through the process — the reality of what they have to rebuild…

And we’ve actually run into situations where someone has a home, say insured for a million or a million and a half — and they had an older home that was 3,000 square feet. So they think that, hey, they’re going to rebuild a house for 3,000 square feet.

Well, after they get the cost for the million dollars, maybe they can only do 1,500 or 2,000 square feet.

Interviewer: That’s a hit.

Steve Tuma: Yeah. Well, that’s one of the things that we help people navigate. Because a lot of times they have this idea of, “Oh, insurance is there — just this happy group of people are going to come out and just throw money at me and make sure that I’m fine.”

You know — really check your insurance. There are some companies that my customers have said have been very smooth. They work with you. They get it taken care of.

But I’m also thinking that some of those people maybe paid attention to their insurance policy up front — to know that they had coverage, kept it updated as costs went up, or just different things happened in insurance. So it’s pretty interesting.

States also have, like, uninsurable properties — by the publicly available companies. A lot of states have a state policy — like their FAIR plans — where they will help insure uninsurable properties. But sometimes there’s limitations.

So if you have a $7 million home and their FAIR plan only comes up to $3 million — there’s a downfall. So there’s a lot there.

So I don’t want to, you know, be a grim reaper on stories, but it’s kind of better sometimes to do your homework up front — make sure you’re covered — so if you hit that unfortunate situation, it’s a lot easier for you to get through.

And then the emotional toll. A lot of people, they go there and they’re like — in Paradise, I remember that — people said, “My car melted.” You know? And they sent pictures.

So sometimes it’s like — okay — so in a town like that, or the big hits in Los Angeles — who rebuilds? Do the houses show up, and then the gas stations? And then the schools? And then the roads?

And then when they look at the problem, it’s like, “How does this go?” So there’s also a little bit of jockeying and sorting things out.

You’ve got to be fair with the government. They’ve got a big problem. Hey — do they have to have new fire hydrant systems? Do they have to have new water systems?

How do you clean up 10,000 burned things with the environmental issue?

So I would expect in any disaster that it’s going to be a bumpy road, and people should be prepared for that — the emotional hit, the situation of dealing with the insurance companies, the situations of your understanding of what can be rebuilt.

And the person rebuilding — our customer — also has to be realistic in the expectations. Just because a hurricane blows your home over, doesn’t mean that they’re going to give you all this money to give you this mega palace.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Tuma: You know, it’s got to work within the confines of the insurance and whatever cash you choose to put into the project.

So — don’t want to be a grim reaper. We’re positive people. But sometimes there’s a reality focus. Avoid the issue up front. Get the right insurance if you’re in one of these places — or have enough money yourself to cover it, which most people don’t.

So that’s it.

And we can help people through the process, and our understanding on, like, the building department requirements and different things like that.

So it’s interesting — in a lot of places like Los Angeles, you know — the Palisades, Altadena, all those communities — there’s a lot of the building departments in the state have said that, hey, if you’re building a “like” home, they will supposedly fast-track it.

Now, we’re going through a couple of those now, so we’ll see what this quote “fast-tracking” is. But there’s little catches on that.

You can build the same or, like, maybe up to 10% bigger. But we’re wondering — hey, does it have to be the same design? How are you counting this 10%?

And then, where the catch that people are coming into is — that’s of permitted properties. So, if you had, say, a 2,000 square foot home with a 500 square foot garage, that’s 2,500 square feet. In theory, they’ll let you go 250 square feet bigger — 10% — but maybe it’s only of the house, not the garage.

But whatever — say 2,700 square feet that you can build. And say there was an unpermitted addition, or there was an unpermitted ADU in your backyard — you’re going through the whole regular process.

And if you have to deal with Coastal Commission or other situations, it could be a little bit of a ride.

So I’ve watched those things on TV where everyone says, “Oh, we’re going to fast-track it. It’s great.” But the last thing that I heard about it is, like, a couple hundred permits have been issued — out of what I’ve heard is 10,000 buildings that have burned.

Now, not everyone’s going to rebuild or move that quick. So I would just expect a little bit of a bumpier ride.

But hey — at Landmark we’ve been through the different building departments. We understand their processes. We can tighten our processes up. We already have great processes.

But just do things to try to streamline it so that they have less checklist items if they choose to bounce something back.

I just don’t know — with this huge amount of building permits, are they actually getting more people to process the permits and do the permit reviews? Are they going to go there and double and triple their people to have a better process?

So that’s something that we’re going through right now with some homes. But the point is — it’s going to be a lot of hard work. We’re all set up for it. I would expect some bumps along the way, but we have the full architectural, engineering, energy code, green code — for any disaster in the U.S.

We’ve already done a bunch of hurricanes and prior fire ones, and we’re getting involved with the Los Angeles ones now.

So it’s like any other time. You just have to find out the procedures, the different processes that might come up, and potentially little curveballs — develop a plan and methodically work through it. So that’s how we can help.

Interviewer: Yeah, what you said earlier — nobody wants to be a party pooper. But when the actual party is a gale-force hurricane that blows your house over — better to listen to the party poopers earlier than later.

Steve Tuma: Well, the thing about it is — you hate to hear these people, that they just paid off their 30-year mortgage, or they’re halfway through, and they had this equity… and because of a lack of insurance policy review, they’ve essentially been set back 20 years.

It’s painful to hear.

We still do everything that we can to twist and turn and get them a design and get the house that they want. Sometimes you’ve got to say, “Hey, we’ve got to simplify the roofline. We can get you the square footage, but we can’t get you this grandiose design.”

But we still work with them and make sure that it’s a design that they’re happy with.

And then a lot of people come through and say, “Hey, we’re rebuilding it. We’re doing this. We’re doing this. We’re set. Insurance company has been pretty flawless. We’re going to get this going.”

I guess what I’m getting at is — we have thick skin and an understanding of these types of situations. And even in times without disasters, building departments can sometimes be interesting. So we’re completely set up with our architectural crew, our structural design, our green codes, our energy codes, the site planning — to really, really work through this and also look at the rebuild regulations.

Oh — one thing which is interesting that people should know — some of these older communities, if you have a community from the ’20s, ’30s and ’40s, their setbacks — building setbacks — might have been different than the current setbacks.

Or adding ADUs, which they really didn’t do 50, 60 years ago. Adding an ADU into a project — suddenly setbacks can be adjusted here and there.

So there’s still something where we’ve got to look at each project individually. And that’s what we’re here for. We’re willing to do it — talk to people, get an understanding of their project, get them a quote, get them the exact price of our services and products — so that they can then understand how we help and see how it fits into their plan to move on and get their house project going.

Interviewer: Right. Let’s go through the permit process. After an area is hit with a disaster of sorts — how difficult can the permitting — even to build on your own land that’s been burned through — is that a difficult situation?

Steve Tuma: What we’re finding is — there’s the politics of the area. Right now — especially when the fires were going on — you could watch TV and no matter what side of the fence you’re on, you could see there’s a little bit of mayhem.

So the reality is — the building departments already have processes. Generally, they’re the same. You still have to have, say for the Los Angeles fires — Altadena, Palisades — you have to have your architectural designs, your structural designs, your energy codes, your green codes.

They’re saying they’re going to streamline it if you’re building the same or within 10% of square feet. But that’s just begun — so we have to see how it comes out. Because a lot of these places — like when they were doing ADUs — they say that they’d fast track and they’d issue permits real quick.

Well, if the building department personnel work the way they do, they may or may not actually speed it up.

There may be other concerns, like grading plans, or different things that affect it.

And a lot of these — there’s the environmental cleanup. You know, cars melted, paint and whatever’s there — and some of these communities are really specific on that. So we’re set up to make sure that whatever guidelines are required, we can take care of it.

What we’ve seen so far in our own projects is — the guidelines aren’t that much different. It’s more the capacity of the building department and how can they process this.

And then also the miscommunications or understandings of what can be rebuilt. Just because it’s a disaster doesn’t mean you can go double the size of your house and the building department’s going to fast-track it.

From what I understand, they’re only going to fast-track it if you are building the same or within 10% of a permitted structure. So — kind of like I said before — if a property’s got unpermitted things or other issues, they stick you back in the regular process.

Now, we’ll see how this all comes together. But the key to it — in all of our design elements, whether it’s a house that is part of a disaster, not part of a disaster, whether it’s in a place where permitting is simpler, or even in places that are still there in the country where they do not have building departments — we still go through and have a methodical method of making sure that our plans are accurate for building departments, financing sources if they’re involved, our customer, and their customer’s contractors.

So, we have a certain standard to make sure that this is put together — and we’ve been very successful at working with any building department we’ve run into in 32 years, which is a lot of them.

So I actually am not too worried about the fire situations, because we’ve gotten through every other issue where we’ve helped people in disasters — and just sometimes just plain out goofy building departments.

We have a process to get this all taken care of.

So I’m comfortable and looking forward to it, because we’ve got a system that we’ve developed for 32 years — where we look at each project individually, the customer, their needs, the contractor’s needs, the building department requirements — and make sure that the details are on the plans, and then that allows it to move along.

And a lot of these building departments — even though sometimes I like to pick on them — they’re usually pretty good at communicating on what the issue is. It’s just… what are they looking at? Sometimes they’re nitpicking things that you wonder why they’re even nitpicking. It’s just like, “Hey, move it along.”

But either way, if they have a nitpicking weird thing — that’s fine.

And then we could also work with the customer on the guidance of how to work a design and then work with them on different costs and having a good set of plans so that they can work with contractors.

That’s also another thing which is of big concern. We’re in a capitalistic society — supply and demand. Low supply, high demand — costs can go up.

So I’m not sure what’s going to happen on all these costs. I don’t know.

I think that there’s some contractors that my customers are finding — it’s interesting — if the contractor lives in the community, chances are he’s seen you going to church or the store. Some of these are very tight-knit communities. These people have been pretty good. It’s everyone helping everyone because everyone was impacted by this.

And we’re here to help. We want to help people. It’s fun.

Interviewer: We touched a little bit on insurance issues, but I’d like to dig a little deeper into that. I mean, over the years you must have watched a lot of people go through the insurance maze when rebuilding after devastating circumstances.

Let’s see if we can get you to dig in a little more on what kind of issues people are going to run into with their insurance after a natural disaster.

Steve Tuma: The biggest issues that— well, I guess one thing that I found — the general thing is, some people say, “Hey, my insurance people — they’re great. They took care of it. They managed it, and it went through.”

And then there’s some people that are like, “Man, they’re fighting tooth and nail to get anything.”

And I think sometimes there’s a little bit of a misunderstanding on insurance. Some people think their $2 million, 3,000 square foot home burns — that the insurance company’s obligated to give them that exact house with newer toilets, granite countertops, just all the new features — even though their home might have been 30 years old.

That’s not the way it seems to work. It seems to work more that it’s a financial thing — of hey, your house is insured for X amount of money. Whatever gets built for that X amount of money is there.

So they’re not necessarily there to replace everything that’s there. They’re there for a financial covering. And that’s a little bit different.

And then some of these companies seem to have situations where you could add 50% for just upgraded costs — code compliance.

If you took a house — say you took a house with 20-foot ceilings and there was a beautiful view and a lot of glass — the code 30 years ago for the support of the wall around all that glass was a lot different than it is today.

It’s going to cost more to build that. Also, the windows of today and the code requirements cost more. The energy efficiency, the need for solar — all these things.

And that’s why people — hopefully — they have that additional rider where they can get coverage.

So first of all, what I can tell people — and I’m not here to debate what insurance company is good or bad. I actually don’t know all the details. I can only tell you what people said.

But get a quality company where the agent explains to you and takes the time to answer your questions — instead of like, “Hey, I got you a good deal. You should take it. Everyone buys this.”

Well, everyone’s finding out now that they might not get their house rebuilt.

So that’s the key thing.

And then you need to have a methodical set of plans. You need to have a methodical budget that’s detailed — so you can justify every cost — because different insurance companies are going to pay out different ways.

And then also check with these insurance companies — some customers have told me if you don’t rebuild, they don’t give you the money.

So, if you have a million dollars, and you have some deductible that you can’t do or you choose not to build — they don’t just cut you a check.

So there’s a lot of tricks to this. But that’s something that you should review with your insurance people. And my belief is — if you’re organized, you understand what you want to build, you get them the information you need, and you get a good adjuster — you should be okay.

But I would caution people to frame what it is they want to build, because it may not be the dream where they’re sitting there going, “Oh, now I have a 3,000-square-foot house with 10-, 20-foot ceilings all over it. The insurance company is going to do it.”

No — they’re going to say you were insured for whatever — a million, two million, three million, seven hundred thousand — and what you can build for that money is what’s going to be available.

So I guess it’s like any other — being a good consumer. Learn about what you’re doing, understand the situation, and then hope it all works out.

Interviewer: There must be — I mean, what really are the basic issues which can cause people to just throw their hands in the air and say, “You know, we’re leaving”?

You know — people migrating away from areas after suffering a natural disaster. And what would you say are the best reasons to stay and rebuild? What are the pros and cons of both situations?

Steve Tuma: Well, the way a lot of people leave is sometimes the reality of the insurance process. And sometimes it’s just an emotional thing.

During it — after it — they’re like, “Yeah, we’re going to rebuild, we’re going to rebuild,” but then when they go through and see that, hey — the church is gone, the school is gone, the grocery store — is it coming back?

You know, sometimes there’s an emotional hit.

And sometimes what happens in a lot of these areas is — the developers come in.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Tuma: And say, “Hey, your insurance company is going to do this, going to do that. Maybe you can or can’t rebuild. We’ll give you this money.” And then the people just skip to a different town or state and move on.

A lot of our customers from Paradise, California — at that fire a little while ago — ended up in other states. Arizona. Because in some cases, they were able to take that insurance money — where they couldn’t afford to build in California — but that same money the insurance company would give to them to build someplace else.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Tuma: So that’s kind of the situation. I think of what it is.

And a lot of times, why people keep on building is — they love where they’re at.  They’re in beautiful places. They’re in communities.

Some of the projects we’re involved with in Altadena — these are generational houses.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Tuma: People are tied to it, tied to the community.

Well, it’s also something that — not everyone that lives in a two, three, four, five million home could afford to buy it today. It was that grandpa bought it in 1960 for $60,000. And it’s just been passed through the family. And then that’s how the family has it.

And they’re like, “Hey, it’s a beautiful place. My family’s here. My church, my kids, the school, the butcher, the newspaper guy — whatever it is.”

That’s something why I think a lot of people choose to stay there.

We’ve got customers that are very excited to rebuild — and actually energized. They’re like, “You know what? This is my chance now. I can get that ADU in my backyard.”

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Tuma: “Hey, the garage was unattached and it was too small.”

“Right. We have four cars now — not two little Model T’s in our 18 by 18 garage.”

So it’s kind of odd. The phoenix that comes out of this is sometimes something that’s very interesting to people. And they’re actually rebuilding.

One thing which will be interesting — which people don’t think about — is the tax base. A lot of these inner-family and homes that have been held for a long time — specifically in California — they’re locked into tax rates way back. Well now, if you rebuild, typically they charge you more.

So that’s one of the things that I think is currently being worked out.

So we’re here to help people get through the process. It’s not a race. It’s not like, “Hey, you’ve got to do it today.” We understand that these issues are here — whether it’s California, Colorado. We’ve done a lot of the fire houses — Northern California, Washington State, Arizona — different things. The hurricanes on the East Coast and Florida.

We’re here to help people through.

We’re helping a family with a marina in Florida — because it’s a commercial project. It’s on three or four years of getting things taken care of. And a commercial project is different than a residential home.

So I would tell people — if you’re going to rebuild, let’s do it. We will help. We’re on your team. We’re here to be supportive. We understand there’s going to be curveballs and ups and downs. But we’ll do everything we can to help a family through it.

And if insurance is a little squirrely — where you’re not getting everything you want — we can somehow work on a design or something so you can still get most of what’s available to make sure your house has it.

Because especially if it’s an older home, this home is going to be structurally superior, better energy efficiency, and a design for your lifestyle today — instead of a 30-, 40-, 50-year-old home that may have features that are just obsolete for today’s.

So in a sense, I don’t want to make it sound like it’s worth going through a disaster — but if you’re going to recover from it, there’s a lot of good things that can come out of this.

Interviewer: I think the saddest thing in a situation like that — because you were talking about the rising phoenix, and I could see how people might get excited about, “Well, you know what, this is a fresh start, and it’s too bad it happened, but let’s make the best of it.”

And I think the most sad thing is when you see elderly people who just walk away because — you know — what are they going to do? Where can they go?

Steve Tuma: Yeah, and they’re not going to be rebuilding a house that they’re only going to live in for maybe a very short time.

Well, I do have to say — we did a house in Paradise before the fire. It survived. A Landmark Home survived the Paradise fire.

Interviewer: The Paradise fire?

Steve Tuma: Now, I want to say that, hey — we’re so exceptionally great and, you know, we’re just such geniuses that we’re invincible. But I’d say there’s a little bit of luck involved there.

Interviewer: Sure.

Steve Tuma: Because that customer sent me pictures and it was just ashes everywhere.

And I was like, “Wow.” It almost looked like a Photoshop picture — but it survived.

And a lot of that’s because of the WUI — the Wildland Urban Interface — the hardening: the right type of roof, the right type of window, the right type of fascia, soffit, and sidings that make it harder for fire to engulf a house.

So that’s one of those things. So we’ve got some experience in this, and if someone’s up for it, we’re here.

We’ll take the time — understand compassionately, you know, the process that the family’s going through — and give it our all to make it smooth… to, you know, get back on track.

Interviewer: It’s good stuff, man.

Steve Tuma: Yeah. I mean, if you’re going to go through a disaster, it’s going to be a drag.

Steve Tuma: You’re going to hit some bumps. But I think Landmark is going to be able to help you through the rebuilding process. And that’s what you guys do — you help people.

Interviewer: Well, what’s interesting about this is — these developers are going in and buying two or three lots to put up bigger houses. Something’s going to happen economically with the comeback of these homes.

Steve Tuma: Right.

Interviewer: We don’t know what, but that economic situation could be tremendous — you know, a couple years down the road.

Steve Tuma: Yeah. It’s an opportunity in a very strange way.

Interviewer: Well, that’s going to wrap it up for the podcast for today. But before we let you go, Steve — as usual — please let our listeners know how to find out more about Landmark Home & Land Company.

Steve Tuma: Well, the best thing to do is check out our website at LHLC.com. Again, that’s LHLC.com, like the initials — Landmark Home & Land Company.

You can see everything there — our plans, our processes, videos, details like that. You can look through plans, send us an email and say, “Hey, what about this house?” — and we can help you.

You can also call 800-830-9788. Again, that’s 800-830-9788. Mike will work with you, review your project, see what’s going on, and kind of help the process.

And at some point, when you’re ready to go, Mike will pass you off to me. I’ll work with you directly through the whole project on the design, the engineering — whatever it takes for your house.

And that’s whether it’s a disaster situation or regular, you know, regular new construction situation. We’re here to help. That’s the best thing to do.

And, you know, we’re always available. Whatever we can do to help someone — we’re there.

Interviewer: Awesome. And congratulations again, Steve, on the 32 years. That’s a big deal. Congrats, man.

Steve Tuma: It’s just the beginning.

Interviewer: There you go — another informative chat with Landmark Home & Land Company President Steve Tuma.

And we want to thank all of you for taking the time to listen to the Panelized Prefab Kit Home Building Show. And we hope we’ve been able to help you feel more comfortable on your path to becoming a kit home owner-builder.

So for Steve Tuma and myself — have a great week ahead, and we will see you next time.

Steve Tuma: Thank you. Interesting topic.

A: While an estate home typically focuses on a large parcel of land, luxury amenities, or prestige, an heirloom home is built specifically with the multi-generational intent of keeping families connected and passing the property down through future generations. Heirloom designs emphasize flexible gathering spaces, high durability, and sentimental value rather than pure square footage or luxury status.

A: Long-term adaptability is achieved by planning multi-functional spaces, such as large children’s bunk rooms that can later be converted into private home offices or adult suites. Pre-engineering wide basement spans without intrusive support posts and roughing in mechanical systems for future spas or separate living wings allows the home to evolve as family dynamics change over decades.

A: You can achieve dramatic open-volume spaces without expensive heavy timber beams by utilizing pre-engineered scissor trusses or parallel chord roof trusses. These structural truss configurations create soaring cathedral and vaulted ceiling lines with superior insulation depth at a fraction of the framing material and site labor cost.

A: Organic architecture designs a home to harmonize with its natural topography by following hillside contours, preserving existing trees, or aligning the structure around natural rock formations. Incorporating passive solar orientation, strategic window placements, and cross-ventilation overhangs allows the home to blend seamlessly into the environment while lowering heating and cooling expenses.

A: Multi-generational and heirloom homes experience fluctuating occupancy during family holidays or extended visits, making single-zone HVAC systems inefficient. Designing zoned mechanical systems with mini-splits or smart thermostats allows homeowners to condition guest wings, large bunk rooms, or basement entertainment areas only when they are actively in use, keeping daily utility bills manageable.

Steve Tuma: Hey, we’re a panelized home company — which is what a lot of people probably find us online as, you know, “panelized homes” — but it’s really the reality of: anyone can sell you a piece of wood and call it a house. It’s how do you put it together so you achieve your goal?

Interviewer: Howdy everyone and welcome to episode 67 of the Panelized Prefab Kit Home Building Show. We’re here today, as usual, with the president and founder of Landmark Home and Land Company — a company which has been helping people build their new homes, where they want, exactly as they want, nationwide and around the globe since 1993 — the always interesting Mr. Steve Tuma. Steve, how are you, buddy?

Steve Tuma: That’s pretty good — doing great actually. So it’s illuminating, I like that.

Interviewer: Since 1993 — does that ever blow you away? I mean, it’s over 30 years… well over 30 years now. Thirty-one going on thirty-two years!

Steve Tuma: Yeah, it is pretty amazing. Because the growth of the company has been pretty amazing — getting into different markets, growing… There are always ways to improve, get better, offer more products and services for customers — especially as permitting and building sites and different things just get more complex. So yeah, it’s pretty cool actually.

Interviewer: I just think it’s amazing. I mean, how many people can say they’ve been running a business for 30 — almost 32 — years?

Steve Tuma: That’s it. Unless you think about like… there’s a company called Zildjian, that I think is in Turkey. They’ve been around for 600 years or so.

Interviewer: Oh yeah, I heard that’s the oldest company — the cymbals, right?

Steve Tuma: The cymbals, yeah, they make cymbals.

Interviewer: That’s pretty funny. Well, we’ll eventually get there. We just have… what, another 570 years to go? But we’ll do it — we’ll do a podcast on that one day.

Steve Tuma: Exactly.

Interviewer: You know, I thought we’d talk today about what would be designated an “heirloom home.” And I want to start out by having you run down just what constitutes an heirloom home — as opposed to, let’s say, an estate home. And what is Landmark’s experience in this area of home design and building?

Steve Tuma: Well, it’s kind of interesting because I kind of created that word “heirloom home.” I’ve never really heard of it that way.

Interviewer: I saw it on the website, so that’s what I was thinking.

Steve Tuma: But over the last 10–15 years, we kind of noticed that there were a lot of people building homes for other purposes — other than just, “Hey, I need my direct family to go in there.” It was actually after the economic crash that we started noticing it more — where people had land, say that grandpa bought decades and decades ago, and it’s just been in the family, but no one built on it. So now that the family… one kid’s here, one grandkid’s there, grandpa’s here, grandma and grandpa are there… they’ve been building homes so the family could get together.

Interviewer: Sure.

Steve Tuma: So it’s not meant for one family — it’s meant for the whole family to get together, still know each other, live a life beyond just text and social media and quick hellos in the driveway. It’s about actual get-togethers where they’ll have space for a family to live — or it’s meant to be for, I don’t want to call it camping — but more of a situation where there’s a lot of space for people to sleep, and then there’s also open areas for people to mingle, get together, and also use the land.

The intention is more long-term — something that’s going to be handed down through the family. We have a couple of them going on now, where people do them for different reasons. They fund them in different ways, or the families get together — maybe four or five different people — and they each know how to do work or help fund it. So it gets done.

Some of the homes, even though “heirloom” might sound like some big thing, sometimes they’re simple homes — and the thought’s just there. It’s like, “Hey, this is what we can do so the family stays together.”

Steve Tuma: Sometimes heirloom homes are more extravagant. Sometimes they’re in exceptional pieces of property that grandpa bought way back when land cost two cents and no one wanted it — and now it’s a pinnacle property. So we’ve helped a lot of people do that, and it’s really, really kind of interesting to see the reasons why they do it.

It’s just because — even though supposedly we’re the most connected society, because you can text someone on the other side of the world in half a second — on the other side, do people really know each other?

So it’s kind of an interesting process where people are like, “Hey, I’m doing this so my grandkids know who I am. I’m doing it so that the family can get together.” Because this person’s traveling, that person moved across the country — and they’re able to bring everyone together.

And some of them are — we did one off of Washington State, on an island, where it was just a recreational haven. You know: bike riding, kayaking, everything right there on the ocean. So it was really a place for people to also be active.

And then others are on big properties — a couple hundred acres — if people are lucky enough to find or have such a big piece of land. And some of them have been in the middle of cute little cities, where there’s just a lot — and something where the community makes sense. Someone grew up there when they were a kid, it was where they went with the family — or to the beach, or the little town.

We helped a man build one — he moved from the Napa, California area to a very rural part of Texas because that’s where his great grandfather taught him how to go fishing. So he always told his grandpa, when he “made it big,” he’s going to build a fishing house. Well, grandpa’s not around — but the thought’s there. And he built a fishing house — quite the fishing house in fact — so he could go bass fishing.

So it’s kind of one of those things where people are coming back to what I call just being human. You know, it’s like, “Hey, all this work is great, all this stuff is great, but what about my family? What about the wife? What about the kids? What about the grandkids? What about me?”

And as I think about this, we’ve actually done a lot more than I would have thought off the top of my head. We did one in Prescott, Arizona where the lady just loved baking pies. And she wanted to make sure that her friends and family always had pies — so we helped her do a very simple but custom-designed kitchen just for baking pies.

And the husband wanted a workshop so he could tinker with things, fix things. So I guess the bottom line of those types of homes is they’re built with the intention to pass on to other generations.

Interviewer: Right. Because when you hear — when I first saw the word heirloom home, I thought estate. And that’s why I asked: what’s the difference between an estate and an heirloom home? And I think it’s the intent of the builder, right?

Steve Tuma: Well, it’s the intent of what people are doing. I think — sometimes estates vs. heirlooms — the heirloom home is meant to be passed on. Whereas an estate… well, I’m sure there’s some formal definition somewhere, but I think of it as a bigger piece of land, something that someone might have for entertainment, or hobbies, or lifestyle.

And sometimes it’s a lifelong dream. We have one going now in the South — he woke up one day when he was 15 and said, “I’m going to retire on 300 acres and have a big house.” He searched the East Coast until he found that spot — and now he’s got 300 rolling acres, with streams, bridges, big old trees… and we’re working on his house so he can do it.

So that, in a sense, will be an heirloom home — but it’s also kind of an estate. It’s the estate of what he wanted. There’s a spot to go walking, a spot to go fishing, a spot to work on his car — a spot to sit and contemplate.

We’ve done different projects like that. Where people have equestrian projects — horses. We’ve done them for people who collect cars. We’ve done hangars for people with airplanes. For people who live in RVs or have different off-road vehicles and need access to live the lifestyle they want.

Or just outdoorsy people that say, “I want a house in the woods — but I don’t want to affect the woods.” You know? So it’s really about being customized. It’s not just “Hey, give me a house in a subdivision, and I need it cheap.” It’s more like, “Here’s my vision of how I want to live.”

Interviewer: Hmm. Well, that kind of cleared it up for me. Because when I was thinking heirloom — and the difference between heirloom and an estate — when I think of an estate home, I think of what’s at your “Downton Abbey.”

Steve Tuma: Yeah! I mean, it’s not palaces like that, but the concept is the same. It’s a place that makes a statement and adds to a certain lifestyle.

I remember once — this was way back in the early 2000s — a guy called up and he said, “Steve, I just had a lot of really bad things happen to me.” And I said, “Oh really? What’s going on?” He said, “I just want to build what I’ve always wanted. I’ve always worked for the man. I’ve done everything for everyone else. It’s time for me to do something for me.”

I wasn’t sure what he was getting at. Well apparently when he was a kid, he had a go-kart. So he built a house with a dirt go-kart track in the backyard. So him and his friends could drive around like madmen and have a good time. He goes, “I just want to get back to living.”

It’s the first — and only — house we’ve done with a go-kart track in the backyard! But that’s the point. If someone has a specific need — whether it’s about family… or, okay maybe that go-kart thing was more desire than need — whatever the passion or dream is, we can do it.

Steve Tuma: You know, whether it’s for equestrian use — we’ve done homes where people wanted stables or areas to ride — or someone who restores cars or collects them, we’ve done all kinds of these more customized spaces. We even had a project for someone who had their own airplane and needed a hangar worked in, or others with off-road vehicles who needed storage, access, or a wash-down area.

We’ve designed homes for people who are just outdoor enthusiasts who say, “I want to live in the woods, but I don’t want to hurt the woods.” You know? So the home blends in. The point is—it’s about making something very personal. It’s not just, “I need a house.” It’s “What’s my dream? What do I do with my life? What do I want others to remember or share?”

Interviewer: Right. And that’s, again, the meaningful difference. Because when we think about heirloom, we’re thinking legacy, right?

Steve Tuma: Exactly. And here’s another fun one. We did a home for a couple who had two cats — these were cherished cats, like family. They made a room just for them. I think it was about a third of their house — maybe 400 square feet — a big “cat room” with an observation window, almost like the ones you see at a zoo. It looked out from the living room. It was done beautifully.

And then you go from that to people who live off the land. They grow their own food, can it, store it in root cellars — basically living like it’s 1840, but by choice. Self-sufficient. Sustainable.

So it’s really fascinating how varied the motivations are. Our job is just to listen, understand the person’s vision, and then make the home work. With our design team, engineering team, knowledge of energy codes, and site planning — we help customers bring it all together.

Interviewer: And I guess that’s where Landmark gets more credit than “just” a panelized home company.

Steve Tuma: Right. A lot of people find us online searching for “panelized homes,” which is fine, that’s the delivery method. But anyone can ship you some sticks and call it a house. What we do is help you put those sticks together in a way that lets you live the life you envision.

Whether it’s in a city, where someone just wants a small, clean, high-functioning floor plan… or in a rural area, where someone wants space for family gatherings and a three-car garage… we help people put form and function behind their dreams. That’s exceptional, and it’s what we love doing — whether it’s a simple starter home or a massive estate.

Interviewer: I thought it was really intriguing what you said earlier about people wanting to build a house that just kind of blends into the natural surroundings — like it becomes part of the topography.

Steve Tuma: That’s a concept rooted in organic architecture. Think Frank Lloyd Wright — designing to harmonize with the land, not dominate it.

People don’t always want to flatten a hilltop and throw up a lit-up mansion that glows at night over the whole neighborhood. Some people would rather tuck the house into the hill, keep the land as untouched as possible. We’ve had people who wanted to build around a big boulder they love, or camped next to as kids. Others designed around a favorite oak tree. The house becomes part of the place.

We also help people take advantage of natural sunlight for heating and air flow for cooling. Passive solar design. Cross-breezes. If someone’s really into those ideas — and more and more people are — we can help them incorporate those efficiencies into the home design itself.

Interviewer: Are there structural or architectural differences when someone wants to build an heirloom home — anything that separates it from just “a normal home”?

Steve Tuma: Generally, yes. For heirloom homes, people often want taller ceilings, larger shared spaces, or layout customizations that make the home more usable for extended families and gatherings.

For example, on one home we’re building right now in the mountains, the homeowner specified window placements not just for a rolling valley view — but also for stargazing. So we needed to support very tall walls and a large wall of glass — but also minimize beams that would interrupt the view.

Other people will say, “I want room for a 20-foot Christmas tree,” so we work in the structural elements for that. And those require strong exterior walls that can handle wind loads, reinforcements for large openings where windows go, and so on.

Sometimes the site itself creates needs structurally — like building on a slope for a walkout basement, which requires engineering for drainage, retaining, soil compaction, access, and safety.

Interviewer: I’ve seen some of those cool Victorian-style builds with turrets too. Have you done those?

Steve Tuma: We have, actually. Some people want decorative turrets just for curb presence. Others want fully functional turrets inside — circular rooms, higher ceilings, that fairytale shape like a witch’s hat. Those require thoughtful structural framing and custom roof angles.

Other heirloom-type homes focus on space. Like we had someone say, “I’ve got 20 grandkids! I need bunk rooms.” That became a full wing of the home.

And what’s become really popular more recently — even in budget-oriented homes — are basements used as entertainment or rec spaces. So we make sure structural posts are placed where they don’t ruin the room’s flow.

Because — and I say this from experience — the post is always in the worst place after you’ve installed a pool table and a projector!

Steve Tuma: So we work with people to design basements that are open enough for group events, family gatherings, big TVs, bar areas, whatever they need. Sometimes those finished areas happen right away, and other times, they’re left for the future.

We’re seeing more people adding spas inside their homes—saunas, hot tubs, gym areas, home theaters. All of that affects how we structure the ceiling, the load paths, and how those systems are installed. So even if they don’t build it right away, we’ll engineer the home with enough space and flexibility for future upgrades.

Interviewer: Yeah, it seems to me like Landmark Home and Land Company is able to answer so many questions that the average builder or homeowner might not even think to ask. That’s got to be a good feeling—someone calls you, and they know they’re going to get real answers, not a bunch of vague talking points.

Steve Tuma: Absolutely. A big part of the satisfaction comes from simply understanding what people are trying to do. A lot of our customers are owner-builders — they’re not hiring a giant construction company. So they want to understand the process, the design, the mechanical systems, the structure. They want to know why things work the way they do — and that’s where we come in.

We’re not just selling a kit. We’re helping people design a home that suits their vision — and a big part of that is being available, listening, and explaining along the way. People go into this thinking they’ll need a lot of money, or a huge construction team, and realize they can do this affordably, with support and intelligent design choices.

Interviewer: And sometimes they get ideas from those magazines or TV shows that feature gigantic million-dollar homes. That’s miles from most people’s reality, though.

Steve Tuma: Right. And it’s important for people not to get discouraged. Case in point: I had a guy, he was a finance executive in New York visiting a friend in Santa Barbara. He saw a home that cost, I think, $20 or $30 million and said, “Steve, that’s exactly what I want.”

So I asked him, “Okay, what is it about that home you like?” He said, “I love the feel, the flow, the openness. The whole experience of it.”

Then I asked about budget. He said, “I’ve already bought the land — I want to spend $500,000 on the house. It’s just my weekend home.”

I told him respectfully, “Well, we probably won’t get the same result at 1/40th the budget… but let’s look at what you like about that house.”

He liked the minimalist styling, the blocky modern structure, and the accordion-style glass walls that let the house open up to the outdoors. So what we did was focus on the essence — the feel — and created a smart, simplified version of that home that stuck to his budget. He loved it.

So rather than just say no, we asked questions, helped refine his ideas, and built something he’s thrilled about.

Interviewer: That’s really cool. Because a lot of people have a vision. They just need someone to work with them to bring it to reality.

Steve Tuma: Exactly. People often know what they want — they just might not know how to describe it technically, or how to achieve it cost-effectively. We’re able to walk through it with them and help transform their ideas into a real house — with real plans, real approvals, real contractors, real budgets.

Interviewer: And that really applies whether you’re building a small cabin or a massive heirloom estate.

Steve Tuma: Absolutely. Like you said — to everyone, their home is their castle. Whether it’s a simple 500-square-foot home or a multi-million dollar estate, we take every project seriously and give people the attention they need to do it right.

Interviewer: Before we wrap this up — let’s talk a bit about mechanical systems for a moment. First, what does that actually mean?

Steve Tuma: That’s a great point to clarify. Mechanical systems typically mean plumbing, electrical, and HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning). But these days, it can also include smart home systems, security wiring, and even integrated solar or battery backup systems.

So, for plumbing — it could be something straightforward, or it could be more personalized, like an outdoor shower, dog wash stations, or even tack rooms for horse properties.

Electrical can involve traditional wiring, or more and more often, smart home tech that can be controlled remotely — lighting, thermostats, blinds, etc.

The HVAC portion is also growing in complexity — mini-splits, zoned systems, systems that let people only heat and cool the spaces they need when they need it. Especially in heirloom or larger homes where different areas are used differently at different times.

And garages are being heated more now. People are finishing basements differently. So mechanical systems may not be the flashiest part of a build — but they are absolutely critical. Especially for energy efficiency and comfort.

Interviewer: Yeah, it’s not sexy — but it’s the stuff you feel every day in that utility bill!

Steve Tuma: Exactly. That bill shows up like clockwork. So we always walk through those systems to make sure they meet the user’s needs without draining their wallet.

Interviewer: Speaking of costs — when it comes to heirloom homes, is there a difference in how people approach budgeting for them?

Steve Tuma: Yes. Sometimes heirloom homes are more emotional projects. People might want a grand staircase or cathedral ceilings or a big fireplace — not just because it’s practical, but because there’s a legacy or dream connected to it.

And when that happens, we work with them to find cost-effective solutions to still get the effect without blowing out their budget. For example, we can use scissor trusses instead of beams to create dramatic vaulted ceilings at a fraction of the cost. Or adjust wall heights and angles to create volume without getting into custom roof geometry.

We might go with a parallel cord truss, which gives you an open vaulted ceiling but with a more efficient build method.

We think of these upgrades during the design stage, which saves both upfront cost and future headaches. We can also prep homes for additions later — finishing basements, spa areas, big fireplaces — even if they don’t go in right away.

Interviewer: And I imagine if someone’s hoping to pass down a home in 30–50 years, they’re thinking about adaptability too, right?

Steve Tuma: Absolutely. A lot of people designing heirloom homes think about the long term. They want flexible spaces — for example, a bunk room now that could be split into offices later… or rec rooms that can become bedrooms if someone decides to live there full-time in the future.

They want enough bathrooms to handle 10–15 guests. Enough living space for people to eat together on the holidays. Places to park. Workshops. Home offices. Porches. It’s all very thoughtfully done.

And these homes aren’t typically thought up overnight — some people have envisioned this kind of build for decades. They’ve saved, planned, thought about what holidays or life experiences they want to make possible for their family. Our role is to translate that into reality.

Interviewer: Well this has been a real interesting episode. I thought we were just going to explain the difference between an estate and an heirloom home — but it turns out there’s so much depth to this.

Steve Tuma: There really is. And again, it’s not just about big homes. We’ve helped people build the first home anyone in their family has ever owned — and we take just as much care with those as we do million-dollar dream properties. Every home is someone’s dream, and we try to honor that.

Interviewer: Well that’s about all we have time for today. But before we let you go, Steve, as always, tell our listeners how they can find out more about Landmark Home and Land Company?

Steve Tuma: Best thing to do is check out our website at LHLC.com — kind of like the initials for Landmark Home and Land Company. You can look at plans, get more information, or send us an email through the site.

Or call Mike — our Initial Project Consultant — at 800-830-9788. That’s 800-830-9788. Mike will help them through those early stages, whether they’re building in a year or five years. Once everything is in place, then they’ll get passed to me and we’ll go into the full-on planning and design.

Interviewer: Excellent. Well there it is — a very informative chat today with Landmark Home and Land Company President Steve Tuma. And we want to thank all of you for taking the time to listen to the Panelized Prefab Kit Home Building Show.

We hope we’ve helped you feel a little more confident on your path to becoming a kit home owner-builder. So for Steve Tuma and myself, have a great week ahead, and we will see you next time.

Steve Tuma: Thanks — this was a great one!

A: You can keep construction costs low by starting with a clean rectangular footprint and a simple gable roof, then incorporating high-impact architectural details like nine-foot ceilings, arched hallway openings, breakfast nooks, and rear decks. Strategically placing windows and upgrading the master suite creates a custom, high-end feel while avoiding the framing and foundation expenses that complex corners create.

A: Square footage costs fluctuate significantly depending on the mechanical systems and interior finishes required in each space. Building a standard open garage footprint is far less expensive per square foot than constructing an intricate kitchen or a master bathroom filled with custom cabinetry, plumbing fixtures, and premium stone surfaces.

A: Panelized framing allows builders to easily configure floor plans with private bedroom suites—each featuring its own bathroom and kitchenette—centered around shared communal living, dining, and cooking areas. This layout provides independent, accessible spaces for aging adults within a standard single-family residential structure, reducing individual living expenses while encouraging daily social interaction.

A: Real estate investors utilize custom panelized packages to lock in guaranteed material costs, shorten on-site framing timelines, and eliminate general contractor markups on multi-unit rental developments. Pre-engineered wall panels and roof trusses ensure multi-family plans strictly comply with local fire-separation, sound-attenuation, and utility-metering codes before materials arrive on-site.

A: International custom builds must navigate stringent local energy standards, sustainability mandates, and metric engineering requirements while maintaining the appeal of classic American architectural designs. Pre-engineering the entire structure allows manufacturers to ship complete framing packages in shipping containers, often resulting in lower landed costs than purchasing local European building materials.

Steve Tuma: Well the affordability thing is basically, you know, if you look at a design, the simpler it is, it’ll more likely have less of a cost.

Interviewer: Hello everyone and welcome to episode 66 of the Panelized Prefab Kit Home Building Show. On the podcast today, as usual, is the president and founder of Landmark Home and Land Company, a company which has been helping people build their new homes where they want, exactly as they want, nationwide and around the globe since 1993. The always illuminating Mr. Steve Tuma. Steve, how’s it going?

Steve Tuma: It’s a great day. I think I always say that because it is. It’s been kind of interesting lately with all the different projects we have and different, more complex designs or building departments that just want to be extra picky, you know, so it’s always something that keeps you on your toes. It’s really fun. We get through all of it.

Interviewer: Being on your toes is not such a bad place to be.

Steve Tuma: Yeah, so it’s pretty cool actually. It’s a lot of fun.

Interviewer: So I wanted to start off today with the complex and non-complex aspects of building and creating affordable housing and all that subject encompasses. It seems like it would be easy to define affordable housing, but maybe not so much. Can you give me your thoughts on that?

Steve Tuma: Well, affordable housing… it’s kind of an interesting situation. It’s different in different places because some parts of the country are just extremely..

Interviewer: I’m talking of course from a builder’s point of view, right?

Steve Tuma: Yah

Interviewer: Oh okay, you did get that.

Steve Tuma: Yeah, so yeah you’re right. I mean a lot of it’s the location, but the actual cost — the affordability thing is basically, if you look at a design, the simpler it is, it’ll more likely have less of a cost. So if you have a simple — like the typical American ranch — just a rectangular home, maybe 24, 26, 28 feet deep by 30, 40, 50 feet long, it’s kind of simple. Because there’s generally eight or nine foot ceilings, four corners, and a gable end roof. So that’s about as simple as you can get, because each corner adds a lot of money. People don’t think of it, but it’s like — hey — you’ve got to make the corner of the wood, you have to make a corner in the foundation, you have to make a corner in the siding, run wires through corners. Your drywall’s got to have corners. You might have corner cabinets. And then that corner may create a ridgeline and a couple of valleys in the roof system. So it can become very complex.

So the affordability is in the actual design, but it’s also — sometimes people don’t realize — it’s in what you put in that design. So it’s kind of funny. People call up and say, “Well, how much is a house per square foot?” And I’m like — man — it kind of depends. And they’ll say, “Well, we want to put just average stuff.” Well, that can still have a big situation. And I jokingly will tell them, “I’m like — well, we want to give you answers so you understand —but that question is kind of like calling a grocery store and saying, ‘How much is dinner?’”

I’m afraid, you know — so there has to be a situation where people can understand the affordability of something. And all of us have been in homes that are more simple. They’re very nice, but they’re simple. And then we’ve been in homes that are extravagant. So in general, if you want to keep something affordable — minimize corners, keep a simple roofline.

And then also look at the interior finishes. More expensive finishes are of course going to cost more. Carrera marble is going to cost a lot more than a laminated floor or carpet. Having a more intricate kitchen or more expensive materials are going to raise the cost considerably. So sometimes people think that, hey, a house is a cost per square foot no matter what the square foot is. Well, if you’re expanding your garage, a square foot of a garage is less expensive than a square foot of a really intricate kitchen.

So it really comes into the overall design, but in simplistic terms, something that people probably understand is just keep it a simpler design — more of a rectangular, boxy design with a gable end roof system.

Now we’re not saying that everyone should go build a simple home. Some people — the nature of the community, their own desires — want to go through and do it. So you can do things to dress up affordable homes and give them that extra pizzazz, to dress it up in ways that are more affordable. So sometimes people go to a nine-foot ceiling, they’ll add a three-car garage — just in the floor plan changes — putting little arches in hallways, adding a window, maybe taking a little extra time to design the master suite.

We can go through and give it some features that still keep it in the affordable range but give it that luxury feel. You know, sometimes something as simple as a nice deck on the back, a little barbecue spot, a breakfast nook — things like that — you can really, really spice a house up and do it.

We always work on the structural design — kind of the stuff that people don’t always think about is how do you make a house stand up? How do you make a cathedral ceiling? There’s always expensive ways to do it, and then there’s always more affordable ways to do it. But those are things that we can work on with a customer on a case-by-case basis to see what they want.

Because, like in the case of a chalet design, someone may want a big, really steep interior pitch for the dramatic effect. And other people might say, “Hey, I just want a steep pitch but I got to do it at a lower cost.” So sometimes we can use scissor trusses.

So I think the point that I’m getting at is we’ll take the time to review what it is the person wants and the end result of what they’re looking for. And then we could work with them in the budget to get it taken care of. And I think that’s one of the great features we offer — the time to really work together one-on-one to make sure that the details of the home are the way a person wants it.

And you know what? Sometimes people call up because they’ll be doing a home — $200,000, $300,000, $400,000 — and they’ll be like, “Steve, hey, I wish we had more money.” You know what — we’ve done houses that are millions of dollars. It’s the same problem. It’s just — how many? You know, so it’s like, “Hey, can I do this? How can I put my airplane underneath? I got to control the cost of the hangar in my home.” You know, so it’s kind of just different problems that we have to work through.

And we always get it taken care of. It’s just a matter of understanding. So, you know, people shouldn’t be worried about asking questions. We’re here to go through. If someone says, “Hey, I got to do the most basic, most affordable home, but I got to put something in there and make it special for me,” we’ll figure out a way to do it.

And then on the other side, if someone has their exotic car collection and they have to have a 17-car underground garage that’s all climate controlled and with certain access and security — we could work with those situations as well.

Interviewer: And you’re so good at this that you knew what I was talking about when — I apologize, I’m laughing because I hit you with, “Hey, what do you think about affordable housing,” and I was thinking — what does that mean? You know, I mean, what’s Steve’s opinion on the world of affordable apartments or something? And I did mean in the aspect of building, of course.

Steve Tuma: Yeah, well it’s interesting because you go to different places, and what’s high-end in some communities is affordable in others — but there’s still certain standards. So you get into some of these areas where the affordable home is $600,000. You know, there’s still certain concerns with homeowners’ associations or just what people want, so you kind of blend into the neighborhood.

And then there’s a lot of, you know, more and more typical “quote” affordable type things. And you know what? We run into the same situations. If someone’s doing a $5 million home, it’s the same thing — “Hey, how do we make this work? How do we control the costs? How do we get the design that a customer wants? How do we make it work within the land?”

So we always have the attitude of do it right. We don’t want to make something expensive just for the purpose of it. You know, so we always look at — how do we do this and get the end result in a financially reasonable way while also getting the architectural and structural results that a customer is looking for?

And sometimes you have to look at it in different angles, and it’s actually pretty cool because I’ve had people do homes that are in the multi-millions — that are watching every penny just as if they were doing a $300,000 home.

Interviewer: Sure, well I’m glad you picked up on in the correct way what I was asking. So now going back to that, let’s talk about the different aspects surrounding the building. And I say again, building up for rental communities for like, you know, short-term, long-term vacation uses there. What are the differences in how you approach building a low — sort of affordable — housing in different areas for different usages?

Steve Tuma: Well it’s kind of interesting because we’re having a lot of customers that come back, and they made some money and they appreciate what they did with their main home with us. And then they come back and say, “Hey I got four lots, I want to build on them,” or “Hey my cousin’s got four lots, what can we do?”

So we’ve had a lot of customers come back and say, “Hey, we’ve got an individual lot in the city or in a rural area — could we just put an affordable home?” But what’s happening is some of these are like, “Hey, I could put some duplexes up,” or “I could put a little eight-unit up,” sometimes one story, sometimes two stories.

And then we’ve also had some people go through and say they’re doing the senior co-habilitation. So it’ll be like a three-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bath home — but each bedroom is its own suite. So each senior citizen lives in their own suite, but then they’re in a shared community thing in a single-family home. So it controls the cost. They have their own individual space, their own little kitchenettes and everything.

So I think there’s the affordable home as far as “Hey, I need an affordable home for me to control the budget,” but there’s also affordable home in the case of if someone wants to spec build, do short-term rentals, long-term rentals, Airbnb — whatever it is — where we’re able to work with them on designs.

We’ve also worked with different groups like Habitat for Humanity, different private groups like that. And then sometimes church groups will come together and say, “Hey, we need to do something for our church members to give them affordable housing to get them on their feet or do whatever it is to help them.” So it’s been pretty interesting.

But the cool thing about it is it’s still a solid structure. It’s still energy efficient. And it’s still designed for the particular inhabitant to make sure it’s comfortable. So it’s not just boxy ugly places. It’s places with a little zing. So no matter what your budget is, you can have a house there that’s got that little extra something. So it goes from just being a house — a place to live — to more of a comfortable home.

Interviewer: You hit on something pretty interesting here. I’d like you to elaborate a little bit more on your thoughts on the senior combined living spaces and your experience. As the owner of Landmark Home and Land Company, you must have had — you’ve got to have — some solid opinions on this through your experience.

Steve Tuma: Well, I think it’s interesting because the whole affordable housing, senior living, even first-timers — it’s how do you do it? Interest rates are a little different than a few years ago. There’s all these different situations arising in costs — cost of permits, cost of stuff — and people’s incomes aren’t following the expenses. So people are trying to put it together.

So I think it’s very good. You look at the senior — it’s not just affordable. It’s — hey, you’re socializing, you’re around people, you’re in a community, you’re in an area where like-minded people with similar life experiences are around to live. So it’s not just the actual space. It’s the ecosystem you’re living in.

Are you happy? Are you talking to people? Are you getting together, making dinner together? Are you laughing? Are you going for walks? Are you exercising? And that’s what’s really cool about these places — they’re not just boxes to live in. They’re kind of set up to lead to a reasonable lifestyle.

Interviewer: There’s something I was going to ask you — slightly off subject but not really — people building homes to actually use as Airbnb. And I’ve noticed a lot of communities are starting to limit the amount of Airbnbs in a certain area. Have you run into any customers who have started out wanting to do that and then changed their mind or moved their location just because of the restrictions on Airbnb builds?

Steve Tuma: No, the people that have done those have kept on. But what we’re seeing more in the — I’ll call it the Airbnb — whether it’s like an ADU (more in California, parts of Colorado), those people continue on because there’s advantages to the value of the home and the help in the community.

So sometimes the Airbnb or short-term rentals are controlled, but sometimes they do it by three months, a month, a year — whatever — to help them. Whatever their attitude is — whether they want to do short or long-term — the people go through and get it taken care of.

Usually what I’ve found is that the people want to be an investor in that. Whether it’s short-term or long-term, sometimes they think, hey, the short-term is more profitable, but sometimes they do it and then after a while they’re like, “Hey, long-term’s easier.” You know, “I can just get one reliable person in there and do it.”

But what’s happening more is people getting together — you know, fathers, sons, uncles, friends, cousins — saying, “Hey, let’s put this house up, let’s make it, and keep it as rental units for the income.”

Because there’s definitely a market there with the changing economic situations, where for some people it’s harder for them to own a home or they need to wait a little while for whatever reasons to get going. And we’ve had some people — they do the rentals, and then they sell them to the people that rented from them.

Interviewer: Right. Yeah, I was kind of curious though about that — because I know there’s probably not a lot — most people who are wanting to start an Airbnb type of thing buy houses already built. But I just wondered if there were customers of Landmark that actually went into it going, “We’re going to build this and then we’re going to use it as an Airbnb.”

Steve Tuma: Yeah, yeah, they do that. And then sometimes they’ve had little suites — little in-law apartments. So there’s different stuff. I don’t always know if they’re actually going to use Airbnb, or there’s different services or different methods. But the intent is there.

What I do know is that the people — you know, I keep in touch with customers even later just to see how they’re doing — like, “Hey, do you want to do another one?” type of situation. And invariably they’re very happy with the way it works out, the cost control.

And by them being able to design and build their own place and control the costs, it makes their return better. And also by having a well-designed home, they’re able to get a better tenant, which of course makes it better. They generally want someone who will stay around a while — it just works better for them.

Interviewer: You know, I know that Landmark has done things like this in the past, so you have the experience in, you know, developing — people coming to Landmark who want to, I don’t know, just build like small duplexes or big apartment complexes. Give us a rundown on your experience developing, let’s say, apartment buildings in general.

Steve Tuma: Generally we’ll work with people that want to do like smaller complexes — you know, duplexes, a couple duplexes, a four-unit, an eight-unit. We don’t generally get involved in the 500-unit megaplex type things.

You know, it’s more someone saying, “Hey, I’ve got extra land,” or “I have these lots,” or “I’ve got a way to make it happen, and I want to gain the equity we gained in our home, but we want to do it in a duplex and then have income or a retirement plan or a flipping plan.”

So we’re able to work with them to do it. And sometimes when you get into multi-housing, there’s different code issues: different noise, fire situations, setbacks potentially, and likely different zoning situations. Also, how utilities are metered and things like that. And then also necessity for off-street parking and a lot of detail. So the site plan also becomes pretty important. That varies community by community, but that’s something we could always check out and figure out a way to move forward.

And the nice thing about it is we can kind of come up with a design that makes sense for the market. You know, if someone’s in a more ritzy area, you can have a ritzy-looking apartment or duplex. Or if someone needs to keep something simple to keep it affordable, because that’s what the neighborhood demands, we can do that as well.

But it’s something that we’ve gotten into more recently in the last few years when a lot of our customers came back and said, “Hey Steve, that was great with my house. I got some equity.” It’s like, “If I could do the same thing, I could build a rental unit cheaper, and my return goes up.”

Interviewer: Oh yeah, that makes sense.

Steve Tuma: Yeah, yeah. And you know, they’ve learned on the first one. They learned some of the ins and outs and were able to go through and get it taken care of. So it’s kind of a neat compliment to us that someone comes back and goes on to a bigger project.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Tuma: It’s kind of cool. It shows that we provided a very good value for them, for them to take that step forward.

Interviewer: Yeah, I know you guys have done some international stuff too, and you’ve been involved in helping to develop stuff. But usually when people think, “Hey, I want to build in Europe,” let’s say — it usually, in my mind, I go, “Oh, they’re building some big gigantic resort in Tuscany or whatever.” I would imagine even in foreign countries, there are people who are developing things like apartment complexes and duplexes and stuff. Do you run into anything internationally that’s completely different in the, you know, the requirements for building, etc.?

Steve Tuma: Well, yeah. Europe — we’ve worked in Europe, and that’s a whole different level of bureaucracy and games, and energy codes and different situations. So yeah, we worked on some developments over there — some little commercial units, some residential projects, and also, you know, the “glamping” — where some people had a vineyard and they wanted to put real custom-made little units in there instead of people camping in a tent, where you’d have a, you know, kind of a modernistic-looking home.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Tuma: You know, real sleek, minimalist type of design is what they happen to like. So yeah — when you get into foreign countries, it’s just kind of different rules. The general concerns are the same. It’s how they go about doing it that’s different.

So in Europe, there’s a lot more of a demand for solar, sustainability, different things like that. But — and a lot of the time the reason they work with us is they want the Americana out of it. You know, it’s an American product, American design, that type of thing. So it’s kind of cool.

And what’s really odd about it is we can ship to Europe and our final cost, landed, can be less than what they can get in Europe themselves.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Tuma: It doesn’t make sense, but when you see the effectiveness of what we’re able to do, it makes a lot of sense.

Interviewer: I’d be real curious as to how much — I don’t know how to put this exactly — but it seems like Landmark and you, Steve Tuma, are almost having to be like a — I don’t know — a therapist. You know, when people call and say, “Hey, I’m thinking about doing this. What do you think?” Do you try to stay away from getting too much into the personal reasons for building?

Steve Tuma: No, it’s kind of interesting, because we enjoy working with our customers. Sometimes, if you know the why or the how — or what makes this drive — you get into it. So that’s a really interesting perspective as to why people do it.

Some people do it because it’s just a way to afford it, to get some equity and avoid a long-term loan — whether to avoid the loan completely or reduce your loan significantly. And if you multiply the savings out over the course of a 30-year loan, it could be hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars. So for someone to design a home and work like crazy for a year to save hundreds of thousands of dollars in interest over the course of a 30-year loan — it’s exceptionally smart.

So we have people that do it for financial reasons, sometimes because they’re kind of stuck in the position, sometimes because they just really understand money and go, “Hey, I could do this and save hundreds of thousands of dollars over 20 or 30 years.” And then they can use that money to invest in other ways. It makes a lot of sense.

We also have a lot of people that just understand construction and say, “Hey, I want to know what my house is being built of.” Because a lot of times, if they work with contractors, they can’t see the house. Or there’s just hassles, or the amount of change orders — or whatever it is — it’s not something they really want to go through.

So they’d rather go through, know how it’s designed, know exactly what’s there. And working with us, our customer has control of the project. We don’t just say, “Hey, here’s a set of plans. Go build your house.” We work with them to understand how the house is designed, what it’s designed for, what the features are, and all these things. So our customer has control. We’re just kind of the gears doing the work to get them to that point.

So, a lot of people just want to do it because they value the quality, and they want to know where their money’s going.

Interviewer: Well of course…

Steve Tuma: You know what — that’s true whether you’re doing a $120,000 little house or you’re doing a $5 or $10 million one. It’s the same concern. And I’ve also had people that are like, “Steve, I’ve dreamed about this since I was 12. I’m 60, I’m retiring, I’m going to do this.” And you know what’s weird? A lot of people might say, “Hey, that’s always guys doing it.” There’s a lot of women building their own house — or if they have a conventional household where they are spearheading the project.

So it’s an amazing situation to see how and why. And by understanding our customer and having a conversation with them, it kind of helps us fill in the blanks of where they need help or just kind of understand the thrust of what they’re trying to achieve.

Some of the coolest ones — they’re all cool projects, every one is interesting to us — sometimes families will have younger kids and they’ll let the younger kids kind of manage it. Of course the parents are hovering over them, but so that the kids understand — hey, a door costs this, hey you gotta get an electrician, hey energy calculations do this, that make it. So it can really, really be an interesting situation as to how people just do it because it’s cool.

The funniest — I had a customer in Prescott, Arizona, he said, “Steve, I’m 78 years old. I’ve been married for 60 years. I told my wife when we got married that I’m going to build her a house.” And he said jokingly, “I’m 78 years old. I better do it before she kills me.”

So we’ve had customers from, you know, 20, 21 on into the low 80s build their homes.

And one person — an exceptional person in Florida — he was retired, he thought he had an exceptional life. He was adopting two kids in his senior years, and he wanted to make sure they had a beautiful home to live in — where they had a pool, different situations, each had a bedroom, a place in a community where they could live. And to him, that was the place of giving back.

We had another person in Colorado, Scott — he went through a variety of life situations, and he wanted a place where him and his military buddies could get together. So he has a crew of friends — they all have passes to get into the house, the keys or the codes — and it’s just there for “Hey, you need to get away,” or “Hey, you want to get away with the guys.”

We’re always here. Thirty-five acres just in a valley surrounded by mountain range where he put this house up. So it’s kind of interesting to see what the motivations are.

Sometimes it’s the equity, sometimes it’s quality control, sometimes it’s an heirloom home that you want to build and pass on to your family. Sometimes it’s like, “Hey, the world’s getting weirder every day, I need a spot for my friends and family to come by and go fishing or play cards or barbecue and laugh.”

So it’s kind of interesting when you see the different motivations. It’s not all money like people may think. It’s kind of more a fulfilling part of life. And it’s just really, really interesting to get a call or an email or text or something from a customer that we’re currently helping — or a customer we helped five, ten years ago — where you just get a picture saying, “Steve, remember me?”

Like, “Yeah, I remember you.” And then, “Hey, we finished all the landscaping. Look at this beautiful view,” or “Hey, look at this — a bear walked through our yard last night. Here’s the security cam picture.”

And it’s just really, really heartwarming to see that you’ve done something like that.

One of them, we’re working with him now — Chad — he’s in the military reserve, National Guard, and there’s a military coin that they pass out to people that they respect in their life. He sent me one and it’s just kind of — oh man, that’s — you sit here and go, “This person protects us so we have an ability to do what we want,” and then in kind of today’s world not really even think about it.

You know, we can go, “Hey, we can go to the park. We can shovel snow. We can take vacation.” You know, we can do stuff. And to see that there’s people out there helping us.

So we always like to return the favor in that — to military customers, first responders, or people that just do really interesting things in the world that none of us think about.

So I guess that’s the long answer to “Why do people do this?”

Interviewer: That was a great story. That was a perfect way to end the podcast today, actually. That’s really cool. But before we let you go, Steve, please let our listeners know how to find out more about Landmark Home and Land Company and all that you guys do over there.

Steve Tuma: I think the best thing to do is take a look at our website, because we have a whole variety of plans on there, reviews of what we supply, some videos. These podcasts are posted there. And the best thing to do is take a look at it at LHLC.com — that’s like kind of the initials: Landmark Home Land Company — but LHLC.com.

You can look at plans, you can send emails into us and check everything out and go from there. The best thing to do is take a look at it, submit an inquiry, you know, we can answer the questions and get you taken care of.

Interviewer: Well, all right. That wraps up another great and informative talk with Landmark Home and Land Company President Steve Tuma. And we want to thank all of you for taking the time to listen to the Panelized Prefab Kit Home Building Show. We hope we’ve been able to help you feel more confident on your path to becoming a kit home owner-builder.

So for Steve Tuma and myself, have a great week ahead and we will see you next time.

Steve Tuma: Yeah, thank you. This was interesting. It’s fun. Thank you.

A: Yes, panelized homes can be built on virtually any property, whether on raw rural acreage, suburban subdivisions, city infill lots, mountaintops, or private islands. National building codes apply universally across jurisdictions, allowing plans and structural framing packages to be customized to meet specific local site regulations and environmental loads.

A: While the kit home provider handles the full architectural design, structural engineering calculations, and code compliance paperwork, the homeowner typically completes the formal permit application, pays local municipal fees, and uploads the plans to the city portal. The design team coordinates directly with local plan checkers if technical clarifications or site-specific adjustments are requested during review.

A: No, being an owner-builder does not require you to physically swing a hammer; it can function strictly as a project management and general contracting role. You can perform sweat equity on tasks you are comfortable with or hire and schedule licensed trade subcontractors to handle framing, plumbing, electrical, and foundation work while you control the budget.

A: Most owner-builders complete their custom home construction within six to nine months, though timelines can range from 60 to 90 days for simple builds up to a full year for complex designs or seasonal mountain climates. The schedule is primarily dictated by how quickly subcontractors are scheduled, local inspection availability, and whether the build is financed through a construction loan or funded out of pocket in stages.

A: Enlarging or relocating a window is rarely a simple cosmetic change because it directly impacts structural load-bearing headers, exterior shear wall requirements, and local energy code calculations. Modifying openings can also alter interior ceiling height clearances, trim spacing, and wall insulation depth, requiring integrated coordination across all plan disciplines.

Steve Tuma: You know there’s not a magic button on anyone’s computer to just magically have a house show up. You have to understand what you want, think through the process. It’s their project. It’s their financing. It’s their design.

Interviewer: Hello everyone and welcome to Episode 65 of the Panelized Prefab Kit Home Building Show. We’re here today, as we usually are, with the president and founder of Landmark Home and Land Company, a company which has been helping people build their new homes where they want, exactly as they want, nationwide and around the globe since 1993. The always illuminating Mr. Steve Tuma. Steve, how are you, buddy?

Steve Tuma: I’m doing great. As I always say, it’s a great day. There’s been a lot of different projects coming along, a lot of situations we’re helping customers through. Every day’s a new day. We help people, and we’re on over into our 31st year of helping customers design and build their own home, which is pretty cool.

Interviewer: Yeah, it’s very cool. We’ve been doing a series here on going over some of what we may consider really basic questions, but a first-time panelized homeowner builder would be interested in knowing. If you’re good, I’m going to continue with that little trail we’re on and ask you some questions that might on the surface seem very simple but inquiring minds would like to know. Let’s just start with where I can build a panelized home. If I have land already, it’s already purchased, I’ve had it in the family for a while. Can I build a panelized home on my own land?

Steve Tuma: Yeah, that’s the cool thing about it. It’s not restricted where it’s like, hey, you have to build in our community, you have to do this. Basically, your land, in the city, in the country, way deep in the country, on raw acreage, on ranch land, on equestrian properties, airplane communities. We’ve helped customers on every piece of land that they’ve had or are about to purchase. That’s the cool thing. People can choose the environment and where they want to live. It’s not restricted to say, hey, you’ve got to live in this subdivision. You can basically go anywhere. We’ve helped people on islands, oceanfront cities, mountaintops. The answer is yes, I can build a panelized home on my own land no matter where it’s at.

Interviewer: Yeah. That’s a little long way around to saying yes. Yeah, we can. We’ve helped people in foreign countries too.

Steve Tuma: That’s interesting. Yeah. We’re able to help them. A lot of people say, well, how does that work? How do you know the codes? We understand them. We’ve been around so long. We understand the different nuances to what a building department needs. Every building department’s a little different, but we understand the processes. If they come up with something a little funky or weird, we’ll get through it. We’ve done it at every other house, so we’re able to help. That’s the key thing is that sometimes people say, well, how do you know the codes in my town? You’re not here. It’s like, well, you don’t need to be in your town to know the codes. It’s a national code with specific applications to building sites. It’s also just based on experience and our desire to continuously learn and get better every day to make sure that our customers are supported properly to get through the issues. Yeah. Any piece of land. We also help someone way back design a home that’s going to go on a barge.

Interviewer: Oh wow. Wow. Yeah, I guess we can even do it when it’s not on a piece of land. Just interesting to me because I imagine, well, you’ve been at this 31 years now, so you’ve probably had everything come your way, but I mean, I’m sure that building in Spain or Italy, it’s got to be some differences when it comes to building in the U.S.

Steve Tuma: Yeah. It is basically the codes and different things, and then putting it in a container and shipping it off overseas. It’s a little different process, but they’re still building departments. They’re still making sure the directions are right, making sure plans are clear for people to build a home and understand what’s going on. It’s pretty cool. It’s communication. It’s a lot of effort, a lot of good thinking, and a lot of well-intentioned methods of helping customers get the home they want.

Interviewer: Cool. Well, let’s stay stateside for the moment.

Steve Tuma: Okay.

Interviewer: And on this planet, right?

Steve Tuma: Yeah. So you never know, with all the stuff Elon’s doing, Landmark Home and Land Company, your grandchildren may be building homes on the moon. You never know.

Interviewer: Yeah, or even farther.

Steve Tuma: Yeah.

Interviewer: Yeah. So I can design my own home, is what you’re saying, wherever I wanted to build it. So the design process we kind of covered in our last podcast episode, but if you don’t mind hitting on that again, designing my own home working with Landmark, how is that process?

Steve Tuma: Well, we’ve got a full design team: architectural design, structural design, mechanical design, electrical design, plumbing, energy codes, green codes, site plans, and we can interact with people’s local civil engineers if they need one. So we’ve got the full design, and it’s basically communicate. Some customers have design ideas they can send to us; others work off of our website and pick a plan and do alterations to it, but we can help them through the whole design process, delivery of the panelized home package, and other components of building if they do need our help. So what I think they’ll find to be important is that we’re the one-stop shop.
What people don’t always realize is they could say, “Hey, can you make that window bigger?” Well, sometimes it’s really easy, and sometimes it’s a little more complex. It could affect your structural engineering, it could affect your energy codes, it could affect ceiling heights, it could affect a whole variety. How the trim is installed in your house can be affected if you make a window bigger or smaller or whatever it may be. So that’s where we’re able to help them, is to go through and say, “Hey, if you do this, we can get it taken care of, it’s not really going to have a big effect,” or “Hey, it’s going to be a bigger issue here, and we should move forward and get them taken care of.” And I think that’s an important part, is the knowledge and the support to help a customer go through and do it.
So with our full design team, our knowledge, our experience, our understanding, and then our positive attitude to want to be proactive on a project, the design phases, they take a little bit of time to do it right, but it’s time well spent to make sure the house is just what a customer wants.

Interviewer: Well, just the overall help from Landmark. I have a feeling that with Landmark Home and Land Company, no matter how simple, like we’re going over some simple questions here, but I would imagine there’s no too simple or too stupid questions for you guys.

Steve Tuma: Well, you know what’s funny? Simple can become complex, and complex can be simple. We had a customer in Newport Beach, California, kind of a high-rent district, beautiful area, and they said, “Steve, my building department’s asking how the drip line, the condensate line, leaves the house so that it doesn’t create a little drip line down the side of the house.” Which I can kind of see it. It’s kind of like, okay, why are you worried about it? It’s just a little detail you deal with on site, but they wanted to make sure that the houses were done right and easy to maintain. So we had to work with them for this little condensate line to have a little gutter to go down. So it sounds simple. It’s like, why are you even worried about the condensate line? A little drip comes out every once in a while. Well, hey, if it’s down the side of your cream-colored stucco, eventually you’re going to have a discoloration there. So a little simple thing like, oh, is that really a big deal? It can be, but we can work to that level of detail if a customer needs our help to get through it. So it might be simple to us, it might be hard to us, but either way, it’s taking care of the customer. That’s the important part. And that’s why people come to us as owner builders or self-builders because they know they want to build their own home, but they also know that they don’t know everything. So with that, we’re able to fill in the blanks and help them through the process. Now, I don’t want to sit here and say we know everything about everything all the time. More people do. We have great 31 years of experience doing all different types of houses all over the country. So I think that we’re an excellent knowledge base to go through and make sure that customers are supported properly in a very proactive and positive way.

Interviewer: So if you don’t mind another kind of what might seem like an idiot question, when I purchase a Landmark Home and Land Company kit home, who’s actually working with the building department? Is that me? Is that Landmark? How does that work?

Steve Tuma: Well, that’s an interesting one because a lot of times our customers will have the details from the building department of what’s required. They’ve researched it. The building departments typically have a webpage or a PDF explaining what they want. Some of them it’s extremely detailed. Some of the building departments will just say things like “get us plans,” you know, “plans.” It’s like, okay, so what do you want on the plans? So if a customer has that information, it’s great. Otherwise, I can contact them, find out what they need, and work through the process. So that’s the initial contact just to find out what they need and then make sure that our plans include that information. And then also there’s the secondary part of actually the submittal. We develop the plans, get it to our customer, and our customer actually does the application. They’ll have to fill out different details, maybe pay some fees, set up a portal online where they can submit and go through. So it’s kind of a little bit of a team effort. We’re always available to help a customer if they need it, but that’s the general process that we go through.
The building departments, a lot of people get intimidated by them. They’re generally just people wanting to make sure that the home fits a certain standard for construction safety, and that’s generally what they’re looking for. And so far, every single customer where we’ve developed the plans, they’ve submitted them has gotten permits. So we’ve gotten through a whole bunch of different situations, a variety of different scenarios. You know, some of them very complex, some of them simple, and some of them just plain out goofy requests that they may have. So, and that’s fine too. It’s kind of an interesting situation. You know, if someone’s in an area that may have a very sophisticated building department, you know, we’ve worked with different building departments like that. We know what they need, and to us, it’s clear-cut. But what might be a little cloudy or hazy for someone that hasn’t done this, to us, we’ve done this before all over the country.

Interviewer: So what you’re saying is the building departments aren’t always the boogeyman?

Steve Tuma: Well, some of them are, you know, they’re vague. You know, like what I said before wasn’t really a joke. I kind of laughed at it. But where they say, “just get us plans,” I’m like, so do you want windows on there? Do you want dimensions of windows? Do you need energy codes? Do you need structural calculations? But most building departments are pretty succinct in what they want, and they do have a process. Every once in a while, you run across a group that just disorganized, doesn’t understand their own job. But either way, we’ve worked with those as well, and we generally know what they need. And even our most basic plan set, I think, is beyond a lot of those building department requirements. So, you know, that’s the thing. We pay attention to what’s going on. So I could contact the building department, get the information, go through, get the details, and get the customer the plans. But in most places that we’re working, you know, where people choose to live, the building departments are pretty clear. Someone might say, “Hey, I heard that my building department’s the worst,” or “These people are just hard to work with.” It’s, yeah, if you’ve never done it before, it is hard, you know. But for us, we’ve done it so many times that we can get through the process and do it. Most building departments, they ask for the same stuff. It’s the last 20% that can be, you know, totally different details. But we’ve seen it before. Chances are we’ve seen it, we’ve done it before, we’ve experienced the situation, we’re able to move forward and help people along. So people shouldn’t be intimidated by building departments or, you know, find it annoying to work with them. You know, we’ll sort it out and get it going. We’ve got a great set of plans. Because I believe our plans are actually beyond what most building departments want. You know, we want to make sure it can be built right. We want to make sure the details are right, the specifications, the sections, any schedules are there so that, you know, it’s easy for everyone in the project to understand what’s being done. That includes the financing source, the family building it, the building department, the contractors, us, anyone else, homeowners association, historic boards, different things like that. We can get it put together. And it’s all just part of the service we supply, which is kind of amazing. It’s a lot of stuff where we’re able to help people. We don’t want to leave our customers out hanging. You know, we want to be able to help them through the process. So we provide that support in a proactive and fun way.

Interviewer: Here’s another one for you. The perception some people might have of a kit home or a panelized home is who does the work? Does the owner-builder actually do all the work? Or are they able to subcontract most of that work?

Steve Tuma: Well, you know what’s interesting about it is a lot of customers, their friends and family are in the trades. So they will literally build the whole house, you know, them and their team. Other people are more, you know, kind of remote general contractors. They’ll act as a general contractor. They won’t do any of the work themselves, but they’ll coordinate knowledgeable people to do it. And then we also have people in between. Some people do some of the work and they hire some of the work out. So that’s the cool thing about being an owner-builder is someone’s able to control the project, control the budget, control the schedule, and then also be able to do the work they want, which can be a tremendous financial savings, not just the cost that they have there but also if they have a mortgage, the interest that they pay over the life of the loan. So, you know, we’ve had customers come from any angle, whether they want to do it all themselves or hire it all out. Like I say, someone in between. And that’s the cool thing about it. So a customer can work from their strengths. We’ve had people that have never built homes and don’t really understand the trades do it because it becomes a management job. You know, so if you had a job, you know, working at some place, you might be a manager coordinating the people that know the specifics of a job. So it’s kind of interesting to see people like that. We’ve had people live across country and build a house in a completely different state. With the right people, they can do it. And then they pop in every once in a while and look at it. We have a couple of people doing that with retirement homes now or these kind of family estates. What I say kind of heirloom homes, you know, where the family’s getting together to build on land that grandpa bought 100 years ago or just land that together they said, “Hey, you know, we can have a beach house or a mountain house if we all pool it together to get it.” Or people that are doing multi-generational homes. So there are ways to get to the end result no matter what position a customer’s in now compared to where they want to be. And we can help them through the process.

Interviewer: So what are the pitfalls of being an owner-builder? I’m sure there are some. There are negatives to everything. I don’t want to say negatives, but what are the sort of landmines when it comes to being a panelized home owner-builder?

Steve Tuma: Well, building your own home, it’s an effort. You have to—you know, there’s not a magic button on anyone’s computer to just magically have a house show up. You have to understand what you want, think through the process. We may ask questions like, “Hey, you’re asking for this garage. You live in a big rural area and you have a 20 by 20 garage. Are you sure you don’t have any bikes or lawnmowers or, you know, yard equipment? Do you want a bigger garage?” People have to think and make decisions. So we can work with someone on that to help through the process. They have to understand that it’s ultimately their project. They’re acting as a general contractor. It’s their project. It’s their financing. It’s their design. But it’s pretty rare that a customer really runs into an issue with that because they’ve set up to it. They’ve thought about it.
I’d say one of the pitfalls is it’s a big project. And it can be stressful. It can take a lot of time. But I’ll tell you one thing, it’s extremely rewarding. I had a customer, she was a single lady, newly divorced, in central Michigan. This was 20 some years ago. She said, “Steve, you got to tell people this story.” She said, “It’s kind of like having a baby. Making the baby’s a lot of fun. The nine-month gestation, you know, the six to nine months it’ll take to build a house, you’re sitting there going, ‘Why am I doing this? This is a lot of work. I can’t get away. I’ve got to pay attention to my house. There’s this, I got to take care of this, I got to make sure this happens so that next week we can do that.'” The scheduling is like the gestation period. And then once the kid’s born, it’s the best thing on earth. And that’s what she said is the personal reward for building it. We’ve had families where their younger children run the project, you know, with the parents overlooking. They’re running the budget. “We’re going to schedule this. Who do we need out there today, tomorrow? What equipment do we need? What things?”
So the personal reward and growth, I think, is why a lot of people do it. Just the pride of, “I built my house. I controlled my budget. I saw it get built. I know the quality of it. And for the money they put in, they got the house they wanted, with proper energy design, the windows they want, taking advantage of the view.” But to get that put together, it’s a lot of work. So I would say that that’s—I don’t know if I want to put it in a pitfall in a negative way. It’s just part of the excitement of going through and building it. And I would say in our 31 years of doing this, most people grasp onto it. We’ve only had a couple where I think it becomes a little overbearing. And generally, it’s outside forces that affected them on something.
So when someone sits back and goes through and talks about it, and we’re very straightforward talking about it, we’re not sugarcoating stuff. Yes, it’s a lot of work. Yeah, it’s always fun to design. It’s always fun to go to the store. Which cabinets do you want? Which lights? But then there’s the actual execution of building it. There’s a lot of things that can happen. And I think it’s like anyone’s life or job; the way they are is the reality of, “Hey, if you have a problem at work or a problem in your own life, you don’t try and solve everything all at once. You prioritize, you take care of it, and go forward.” And we’re always available to help if someone needs some ideas or guidance on getting it done.
But I would say that there’s a huge portion of people that come back and say, “I’d love to do this again. This is great. I can do this as a business.” And the reward part of it, I think, is something that they really, really enjoy, is looking back at it and say, “I just built a house for my mom. I built a house for my family. I built a house for my family and I saved $100,000.” And over the course of the loan, that’s like saving $300,000 of interest.

Interviewer: Wow, yeah.

Steve Tuma: So when you look at that, the way people navigate it is, yeah, it’s a lot of work, but that’s life. So it’s a good job. So is this. So they go through and do it. And there’s a certain fulfillment of it, I think, that fuels them when they’re getting the house. We’ve had married people, we’ve had grandmas and grandpas, we’ve had newlyweds, we’ve had single people, we’ve had newly divorced single people build houses. And it’s all just in them. They just want to do it. Sometimes it’s the financial gain, sometimes it’s the personal pride, sometimes it’s the knowing that it’s done right, and sometimes it’s like, “I want my house and my land the way I want it.” I think that ultimately is what’s in people’s plans.

Interviewer: So if I’m hearing you right, hurdles might be a better word than pitfalls?

Steve Tuma: I think, yeah, pitfalls, hurdles. Either way, I don’t want to sugarcoat it. There’s the reality of anything you do. You go out, and you go buy a birthday cake. You go to the store, they don’t have double fudge chocolate. It’s like, “OK, I gotta go with strawberry or vanilla or something.” So there’s always something there. It’s in the management of it. And people have to be realistic with themselves. You can’t sit here and fool yourself that, “Hey, I’m going to win the lottery next week. Let’s build a $5 million home.” There’s got to be a reality check to what’s going on to make sure that people develop a plan that makes sense. And I’m not saying an architectural plan only, but the plan for their execution of the building. They gotta be honest with themselves. You know, “Hey, it’s going to be a lot of work and a lot of thinking, a lot of coordinating people.” And what I ultimately tell them is, work with good people that do what they say, and your job will be a lot easier and a lot more enjoyable, and the quality of your home will be a lot better.

Interviewer: Sound advice. So you had mentioned the gestation period. So how long would you say it takes to build a Landmark Home and Land Company panelized kit home?

Steve Tuma: Well, that’s the interesting thing because a lot of that is really controlled by the individual owner-builder’s desire. Some people are building a simpler home, and they’re just very coordinated and then they can get it done quick. And then other people intend to take a longer time. They’re paying out of pocket, or their schedule, or sometimes there are situations where you’re in certain parts in the Sierras and in Colorado and northeast where there’s a shorter building period. You can only build so long. But I would say most people take six to nine months to build their home. Sometimes it goes a year. It all kind of depends on what they’re doing and how they’re doing it. But I found that even our customers that hire a general contractor to do it, the general gets it a little bit quicker. But it’s not necessarily like a general contractor is going to do it in two months and an owner-builder is going to do it in six. So I would say that that’s generally the timeline—six months to 12 months to get it done. I don’t always look for records or whatever, but someone did one in, what, 60 or 90 days once, kind of simple. And they were just in gear. They knew the contractors and their family was it. So they just really hit it, hit it. And then other people, if it’s something where they’re paying out of pocket, they got weather issues because of where the building is at, sometimes they’ll go over a year. But I would say most people, the reality is six to nine months. You do want to work on it methodically. You do want to do it right. And you do want to move it along just so that you can see the progress. It’s kind of rewarding. “Hey, the foundation’s in. Hey, the roof system’s on. Hey, the windows are in.” There’s that little reward that just kind of keeps people motivated. And it’s just cool. Probably every week I get random pictures. It could be eight in the morning. It could be 10 at night on Sunday of customers going, “Steve, look at what we did!” And there’s nothing better than a family out there saying, “Hey, here we are. We’re moving in,” or “Hey, we built the doghouse first,” or “Hey, the garage is up. We can put all our equipment in, all our parts and stuff while we build,” or whatever it is. “Hey, we got the framing up, and we’re going to continue on finishing the exterior and interior.” So I’d say six to nine months is typical, maybe a year. And I think that’s reasonable because our customers generally have other things like families and jobs and birthdays and holidays and stuff they have to do. And it’s a payoff. And when they look at what it costs to build a house with our system compared to other quotes they’ve got, it’s an exceptional financial return for them. And that’s really, really cool. We have a lot more people just working out of pocket to completely avoid financing and banking fees and different situations that might not be advantageous for them.

Interviewer: Well, if you can do it, why not?

Steve Tuma: Yeah. So the key to it is to have a plan and a realistic target. I tell people it’s not a race. Yeah, it might be great your neighbor told you they built their house in four months. Great. The idea is to build the house you want, on the budget you want, and control quality. Most of these other stories aren’t true anyway. But the thing is to have something that works for you, to go out and make sure, say, “Hey, our intent is to do this, our intent is to do that,” and then logically plan it out and be real with yourself. And it comes together. And we’re always available if someone needs help or a little guidance on how to schedule something or if weather kind of throws them a curveball or whatever—we’re here to help them navigate. It’s fun. We’ve become a lot of friends with our customers. It’s interesting to see the development of them and the family and seeing pictures. I’ve gotten pictures of three-year-olds helping to sweep a porch off or move rocks out of the yard or something—the family. So it’s kind of interesting.
And then we’ve also helped people 78, 82 years old build their retirement home.

Interviewer: Wow. It’s cool. It’s amazing. I hope I can put off retirement until I’m 82.

Steve Tuma: Yeah, but it’s kind of cool. They’re just doing it because sometimes they need to move closer to the family or into a different weather situation or whatever it is. And some of these people, it’s really cool. It’s just a life goal.

Interviewer: Yeah, of course.

Steve Tuma: Yeah, so I think you asked about the timeline. That’s generally, I think, the way it would go—six to nine months, sometimes a year. But everyone develops their schedule. We’re not breathing down their neck. We’re enhancing the situation and being supportive of it through the process.

Interviewer: Well, that’s going to do it for us today. But before we let you go, as we usually do, Steve, tell our listeners just how they can find out more about Landmark Home and Land Company.

Steve Tuma: Well, the best thing to do is check out our website at lhlc.com. It’s like the initials of Landmark Home Land Company. On our website, you’ll see these podcasts—well, you’ll hear the podcasts. You’ll see videos. You’ll see a variety of different plans, some low-cost ones, some where there’s just a selection of thousands of plans, discussions on how we can help building in different states and different details. And that’s what we’re able to help our customers with. And that’s the best thing. They can send an inquiry through the website. They can send an email directly through the website. And some of the plan selections, they can send an inquiry right there with questions. And if they always want to, they can call direct. Mike will answer the phone at 800-830-9788. Again, that’s 800-830-9788. And by the way, we do answer the phone. We don’t have some crazy voicemail system. The numbers you’re calling end up at people’s personal cell phones where they can answer the phone, get you taken care of. If you do get voicemail, we will make sure you leave a message with your phone number, and we will call you back right away. And if someone wanted to talk to me, just talk at a higher level of different details, specifics on their land, they’re always able to call me on my direct cell phone at 708-205-2043. And we can talk specifics, details, generalities just to kind of set a path that makes sense. Because every customer has a different house, different need for them or their family, different piece of land, different building department requirements. So we listen to what the customer wants and then formulate with our customer a plan of action to build a house and then also start on developing the actual plans for the house. It’s pretty cool. It’s kind of customized. It’s not a one-size-fits-all. It’s, “What do you need, and we’ll help you through it.”

Interviewer: Perfect. Well, there you have it, folks. Another informative chat with Landmark Home and Land Company President Steve Tuma. We want to thank you all for taking the time to listen to the Panelized Prefab Kit Home Building Show. And we hope we’ve been able to help you feel more confident on your path to becoming a kit home owner-builder. So for Steve Tuma and myself, have a great week ahead, and we will see you next time. Thanks again, Steve.

Steve Tuma: Thank you. This was a good one. It was a fun one. Hopefully, it helps people.

A: The process begins by establishing your financing budget, securing or evaluating your land, and drafting your conceptual floor plan ideas. Connecting with a custom home designer early helps you determine how specific lot conditions, utility access, and local building codes will impact your initial design and overall construction budget.

A: Generic stock plans purchased online provide general conceptual layouts but include legal disclaimers requiring local code, site, and structural engineering reviews. They lack location-specific wind, snow, and seismic load engineering, energy code compliance calculations, and foundation adjustments tailored to your parcel’s exact topography.

A: Developing a complete, permit-ready custom plan set typically takes two to four months from initial concept to finalized engineering. Preliminary floor plans and revisions usually take two to five weeks, followed by three to eight weeks for stamped structural engineering, mechanical layouts, energy calculations, and site plan integration.

A: Fabricating wall panels and roof trusses directly from the municipal-approved blueprint set ensures the physical framing delivered to the job site matches the exact dimensions reviewed by local plan checkers. This direct integration eliminates framing discrepancies, prevents failed building inspections, and ensures on-site trade contractors have clear, uniform assembly instructions.

A: An accurate site plan verifies that your foundation is positioned correctly within legal property lines, adheres to required zoning setbacks, and avoids underground utility easements. Proper site planning also ensures proper driveway grading, positive water drainage away from foundation walls, and safe positioning relative to localized flood zones.

Steve Tuma: It’s a great day. It’s another good day. It was a really interesting day. A lot of interesting projects, people building retirement homes, first homes, and some people doing mega mansions. So it’s one of those days—a lot of different projects coming from different directions.

Interviewer: I’d like to have a mega mansion. That’d be awesome.

Steve Tuma: Do you want the mega mansion price?

Interviewer: Yeah, I’ll take a Mic mansion right now. The past few episodes, we’ve been going over some of the more basic aspects of how and what it takes to be a panelized homeowner builder. So if you’re good to go, let’s continue to explore some of those basic informational facts and myths on the kit home building process. So shall we hit it?

Steve Tuma: Yeah, let’s do it. It’s an interesting process. A lot of people take it from different directions, but we can help.

Interviewer: Sure. Well, that’s what you’re here for. You’re here to help. Okay, so let’s say I’m thinking of building my first-ever panelized home and I’ve just recently heard about panelized homes or I haven’t heard about them at all. How do I begin the journey, as so many Landmark Home and Land Company customers already have, to being a panelized homeowner builder?

Steve Tuma: Well, it’s kind of interesting because people approach it in different ways. Some people want to know they have their design first. Other people want to know they have the land first. Other people are like, well, I’ve got to get the banking in line before I buy the land. So there’s a variety of different approaches that people may take, and they all work. It’s just a matter of what works for a particular situation that someone’s in. Basically, you’ve got to have the money to do it, you’ve got to have the land, and then the general ideas to the design. So what we can do is help a customer kind of understand that process. Sometimes they do or don’t know details about land, what makes land easier to build on, what makes it harder and possibly more expensive to build on, details like country areas generally don’t have sewers, so there’s septic systems. And then also how does a particular house fit on a piece of land. So we can talk to potential customers at that point to find out exactly what it is they need and what’s of importance to them to guide them through the process. So that’s kind of the initial phase, is the formulation of the idea to just figure out, I want to live in this area, I want a two-story home, a ranch home, whatever it is. And then generally what customers do is they’ll contact us and have a plan idea, a plan that they sketched or thought of, or maybe they found something on our website that’s close that we could customize for their particular needs. And then from there, we just kind of begin the discussion to figure out the design work, to make sure it goes on the land right and contact the building department, find out what their details are. And then from there, we just get into the process. So to start the process, someone just needs to kind of have the idea and desire to move forward. Now, as an owner-builder, a lot of our customers do it to save money. In addition, they get to look at the quality, know the quality, see the home get built, know exactly what it is. A lot of people do it because it’s an educational thing. It’s just a life dream. It’s a desire, you know, whatever it may be.

But a lot of it, it’s really just control of the cost and understanding what’s there and knowing exactly what is getting built. Our customers generally aren’t the same type of people that would buy a tract home. Our customers want to see what’s in the house, control the design, get the design they want, and detail it out. So, yeah, so I guess to backtrack a little, basically contact us, let us know your ideas, let us know where you want to build, what type of house you want to build, and then we could help develop the idea from there. Some people come to us with some very good plan ideas. Some people are literally at the first step where, “Hey, I’ve been thinking about this for a while, how do I start?” The key to it is we’re very customer service-oriented. We want to talk to our customers. We want to help them through the process and also understand some of the pitfalls and the extreme benefits of doing the owner-builder process.

Interviewer: Well, you’re talking about design and plan, so there’s a good place to start. You know, go on the website. You guys have a ton of plans on the website—I think 6,000. It says 2,000, but we haven’t updated that tab. So how do you begin that process, just picking your plans?

Steve Tuma: Generally, people have an idea of what they want. They’ll say, “Hey, I need a 2,000 square foot ranch home with three bedrooms and two baths.” Or they want a two-story, or if it’s hilly land, they want, you know, a chalet crawling down the side of a hill. So people, in general, have an idea of what they want. Maybe they need a little help finalizing that idea. Right. So going through and, you know, let’s just take the example of a couple thousand square foot home with a two-car garage. They might have different ideas of how their family eats. Maybe they want an island. Maybe they want a peninsula. Some people want a formal dining room, you know, for family events. So we can help them formalize it.
Now here’s the key thing that people don’t understand. And it’s something kind of weird. But not all plans are the same. So a lot of people say, “Hey, I had this guy in town. He drew it up. It was $500. He wins all the awards. The newspaper said he’s great.” And we get a set of plans that might look good as a conceptualization, but it doesn’t have all the details. It doesn’t have structural details. It’s just missing a lot of information. So people have to understand that not all plans are the same even if your building department may have given you a permit. There’s a difference between obtaining a permit and being able to build a house. Generally, building departments are looking for, you know, safety issues, code issues, but they’re not looking at the buildability of the plans and the completeness to it. So sometimes we have people, they’ve spent tremendous amounts of money for plans that just aren’t detailed. They aren’t finished. They aren’t complete. They don’t have the right code details. And in some cases, it’s not even what the customer wants. Someone says, “Hey, I was kind of sick of paying this architect to draw this up. And it just got to the point of whatever. It’s just a bill and bill.” So we have a system where we can work with the people—and I think we probably talked about this a lot in other podcasts—to work with the people to get the exact set of plans, detail the plans out, make sure all the details are there. So the customer understands what they want. So the contractors understand, the building department and us understand. No, and financing sources as well. If financing’s involved, the banks usually want to take a look and see what’s there. So we can have a full set of plans. So it’s very clear as to what’s to be built and then how it gets built. You know, we’ll get a lot of plans, and it’s funny. People spend a lot of money, and we tell them, “Don’t do it.” You know, but the perception of, “Hey, I’ll just go online. I’ll download these plans for $1,000. They’re ready to go. But there’s a lot of disclaimers on there as far as needing code updates, structural reviews. They might not be right. They should check a lot of the elements of the home. And that’s what we do, is we go through those details. So the plans are actually buildable and usable and clear. So sometimes for first-time or even second-time builders, people may not realize that. They may not realize that not all plans are the same. They may not realize the little disclaimers on the plans that say you still need to finish them. You know, so like for example, a simple one that I think people understand is they’ll buy a set of plans for a house that’s meant to be on a flat piece of land, and then their land has a slope to it. And they’ll say, well, you know, they can just adjust that on site. And I’m like, well, they can. That’s kind of like saying, let me open my wallet, take what you want, and hope it ends up being what the family wants.
So we suggest working with our planning service, which is part of our service, part of the One Stop Shop and the Panelized Home. We can help do the preliminary plan set, do a bunch of changes, updates, detail everything out so the home is just like the customer wants it to be right on their piece of land. And then we finalize the plans, do energy codes and all the details for their exact situation so their building department gets an accurate set of plans and they know what they’re building. It’s kind of odd, but not all plans are the same. Just because they’re stamped, just because you bought them from somewhere that has great ratings doesn’t mean that they’re detailed, doesn’t mean that it’s there. And you can always see the disclaimers right on the plan. So we want to go through and work with a complete and accurate set of plans. And we find that doing what I say, doing our homework up front, do the plans right, makes the permitting and building processes much easier.
We’ve got a great design process. People are welcome to call us. We can go through the process, explain to them how we do it, explain to them how the structural design affects the architectural design, is affected by the house, by site plans, by green codes, by energy calculations, and how it all needs to be brought together. Now that sounds like a lot of stuff, but we do it every day, so it’s easy for us. And I think that’s one of the main reasons people enjoy working with us is the planning process.

Interviewer: Yeah, it seems like maybe it seems a little daunting to someone. “Oh, I got to plan this all out.” But it can actually be part of the fun of building a new house.

Steve Tuma: Right.

Interviewer: Yeah. So we talk about things on this show like energy code calculations and site plans. We talked recently a lot about civil engineering, other details like that. How do I know if I even need those things?

Steve Tuma: Well, that’s an interesting thing because a lot of people will say, “Well, my building department doesn’t need it.” I’m like, well, that might be fine. They may or may not realize that it’s an important component. But we just find that the better information we have to develop a better set of plans, the customer is able to stick to the budget better, stick to the schedule, and get the house that they want. So some people—energy codes are the classic thing—they’ll say, “Well, my building department doesn’t require energy codes. Why should we do it?” Well, your building department’s not the one paying the energy bill every month. You are. So let’s make sure that the house is energy efficient so that when you’re installing the insulation, you know that you’re doing something that’s of benefit to your project. So I consider the building department important in that they’re doing their level of review to review the plans for a permit application. But ultimately, it’s your house. You should understand what’s being done and how we help and make sure that everything goes together. So that’s why site plans are important, just so you understand what’s being built, so that the foundation’s put in the right place, so zoning’s adhered to. I have run into situations where people are like, “Well, I’ll just pace off 20 steps.” And I’m like, “OK, you can do that. But how do you know that 20 steps is on your land?” You should know that you’re putting your house on your land, the foundation is in the right place. Make sure zoning setbacks are right and details like that. And we spoke about civil engineering a podcast or two back. That more involves situations where there’s slopes in the land, maybe more extreme slopes, big flood areas, things like that. So we can make sure that the house is accessible. You know, you can easily access your driveway, your front door, any patio areas, but also make sure that it’s out of flood areas. And customers work with civil engineers. Some states have green codes to make sure that you’re building a “green” home. You know, sometimes it’s just little stuff, like low flush toilets. You know, are you dumping your garbage properly instead of someone throwing it on the side of the road, that it’s actually going to a dump. And if you’re in a state that has codes like that, you know, we can get them developed so that you’re ready to go. So the plans are an extremely important part. And that’s what we are fully set up to do, is develop a complete set of plans. And we’re willing to take the time so a customer understands what’s going on in their project.

Interviewer: Let’s talk about Landmark’s ability to give customers bang for their buck. What all is included in a plan set for building permit applications?

Steve Tuma: Well, that’s an interesting thing because every building department is different. There are areas in the United States where you can build a house without a permit. Others, they’re very simple. You walk in, you give them some money, and you walk out with a permit. Others are in between that, where they are a little deeper, where they look at your plans for a week or two, stamp them, and give it to you. There’s in-depth processes that can take a month or two or three or four to submit plans. They come back with checklist items asking for more details, and on and on. So most building departments are pretty easy to work with, but we’ve done so many of these, even the more complicated ones are there.
So what comes with the building plan set for our owner builders? First of all, we’ll contact the building department or ask the customer to get us the list of what’s required. And we’ll supply what’s required. Generally, it’s architectural plans, energy codes, maybe site plans, maybe structural engineering, maybe green codes, maybe some mechanical details. Plumbing and electric details we always supply. But then sometimes there’s things where they want electrical load calculations, gas pipe design, and sometimes you just have building departments that really just have far-out quirky things. It might be rare, but we actually had one where they needed an analysis of the homes next to the home being built to make sure that someone’s window wasn’t looking straight into the neighbor’s window or bathroom. So hey, it’s not a big deal that we’ve had other places where they dictate where the mailbox goes. You don’t just put it in the front yard. It has to be there in a certain way. When you talk to the building department, you’re like, “Wow, this is a little extreme.” But they have points because sometimes people put mailboxes in areas that create a blind spot so that you can’t see when you’re coming out of a driveway, like a little kid’s on a bike. So either way, whether it seems to be a little extreme or more simple, we’re able to do it. But our base plans first of all start with our preliminary plan set where we draft the first set of plans based on what a customer wants, do all the changes they want, and then we could go through a few sets of revisions just to update those plans and fine-tune them to make sure everything’s right. Because designing a home, even if I were to do my own, I couldn’t really come up with everything the first time around. You draw it up, then you fine-tune things, then you fine-tune things again, make adjustments, and go through. So that’s the preliminary plan stage. We’ll do the floor plans, floor elevations, a roof plan, and a foundation plan.

Interviewer: Mm hmm.

Steve Tuma: And then once a customer’s done with changes, we go through the final structural design, energy calculations, final architectural plans, any mechanical details that are necessary, site plan if they need it, and then also the details that a specific building department will want. And then we could send the plans by electronic form or paper copies. More and more building departments are going to electronic submittal, which is nice. And that’s where we work. The key to this, though, is it’s not just the plans. It’s the customer support, the knowledge, the responsiveness. So if a customer needs help, we’re there to help them through the situation.

Interviewer: Mm hmm.

Steve Tuma: We’re on their team. And that is the key element. Because I joke with people, I’m not that great of a cook. Someone could give me a cake mix, I could still burn a cake. Every once in a while, you need that call to say, “Hey, what do I do with this? What happens with this?” And it kind of helps people go through. So we’re always available. And I actually think that’s the biggest component. Not all customers ask about customer service, responsiveness, and they kind of make it happen in a positive way attitude. But once they get going, I think they really, really appreciate it. Because they see all the little nuances of what it takes to really design a home and help them build the best home possible.

Interviewer: Right. It seems I know it’s not as—there are just so many elements to it. So there’s a difference between something being complex and something just being concise. But let’s talk about the time frame in all of this. How long does it really take to develop plans before you can start building your new home?

Steve Tuma: Well, that’s an interesting question. Because a simple home will be faster, a more complex home will take a little bit longer. It also depends on how many changes a customer has along the way to do it. But in general, the first set of plans, the preliminary plans that we develop, take 7 to 10 days. Any revisions after that are typically 3 to 5 days, depending on the complexity. So I would reasonably think that a 2 to 4 or 5-week period to go through the preliminary plan stage is there. Customers always call and say, “Hey, I want them fast. Can you do them fast? You know, I could buy these online and I could get them in 10 minutes.” I’m like, “Yeah, I know you can. But they’re not complete. It takes time to do it right.” So I think customers, once they see the value of making sure the plans are done right when we work with them and help them through the process, they’ll see that taking a couple of weeks to fine-tune the preliminary plans is very valuable for the long-term benefit of the project and the enjoyment of the home. Once we’re done with the preliminary plans, the final plan stage, where the customer said, “Hey, we’re not doing any changes,” they let us kind of get to it with the finalization of the architectural plans, mechanical details, and structural design and other details. That generally takes, say, 3 to 6 to 8 weeks, depending on the complexity of the home—is full structural engineering required—and kind of go from there. If you add that up, you could say, give or take, 2, 3, 4 months to get through the planning process. Now, some people, that’ll turn them off. They’ll be like, “Well, the guy down the road told me he could do it in a week.” I’m like, “Great. I’m sure he’ll do something in a week. But I doubt that it’s a complete set of plans with all the details your building department wants with also details that are put together. And it’s worth taking the time to make sure it’s done properly up front. You don’t want to rush the project. Schedules are important. Everyone wants to get into their house quick, but the time you take up front to properly design your home will save you a lot of time, headaches, and money during the building process. People that are concerned about, “Well, I got to do this, I got to do this,” it’s important. But you got to make sure it’s done right. Just starting something and creating problems isn’t the way to do it. Doing it right, moving along methodically is the way that we found it makes sense. And customers understand it. Fortunately, I think a lot of our customers have really thought through the concept of owner building, building their own home, self-build, whatever words they use. And I think that they find out that there’s a big value to taking the time up front to plan what they want so that the home comes out better.

Interviewer: Yeah. Well, it seems to me that there’s so many aspects of this. But, I mean, Landmark, if you come into Landmark, you guys are there on the phone. So anything to me as a customer that seems like it might be a little daunting, you have the answers to help get us over that hump and into that planning process.

Steve Tuma: Right.

Interviewer: And that’s Landmark, you know, the one-stop shop of Landmark Home & Land Company. It really is important, especially in this day and age. We don’t get a lot of customer service anymore. Not like when we were kids, you know, that was a big thing. Now it’s less and less. So when a company like Landmark comes along and you can actually make a phone call and somebody picks up the phone, it’s like a blessing, you know.

Steve Tuma: Right. No voicemails. Push two for this. Push one for this. Push eight for that.
Yeah. You know, and that’s the thing. We answer the phone. People call me on my direct cell phone. I answer the phone. We get them taken care of. And if I’m awake, I answer the phone. Nights, weekends. And sometimes it freaks people out. They’re like, “Steve, what are you doing? It’s 10 o’clock Sunday night. Why are you answering the phone?” And I have a great relationship with customers. I say, “That’s a funny question. Why are you calling me?” But hey, we’re here. You know, we’re here to get you taken care of. That’s actually the cool part because we get to know our customers. If someone needs help, we’re here to help. And I think that’s what I’m trying to put across: Not all plans are the same. Not all permitting processes are the same. Not all customer service is the same. Not all panelized framing systems are the same. And I think that’s where we stand out. We put the package together so that someone understands it. And then we’ve got the solid team to really support our customers to make sure that they do the best job possible.

Interviewer: Yeah, that is funny when that happens. “I was expecting to get the voicemail. What are you doing picking up?” That’s funny.

Steve Tuma: Yeah, well, that’s it. I mean, I’ve got phone numbers of customers from 15 years ago on my phone. You know, when these smartphones started coming out. So it’s kind of an amazing process. So sometimes when customers say, “Well, you know, I could buy this online, you know, this plan set.” Yeah, but you’re not getting the details of what you need for your land. You’re not getting the what-ifs. You’re not getting someone looking forward to say, “Hey, you will need…” You know, that I think is the important thing as to why it’s important. If someone wants one of our panelized packages, to go through our planning, engineering, you know, full plan set process.

Interviewer: Right. So how important is it that the plan set matches the panelized home package that I as a customer would get from Landmark Home and Land Company?

Steve Tuma: It’s extremely important. And no one ever asks about that. This is one of these little nuances, you know. So we develop a set of plans like we just described a little bit, you know, to our customers’ needs, the building department needs, and then also just make sure the details are there so that they can build it properly. And that’s one of the key elements. We take the approved set of plans, and that’s what goes into production for the panelized package. So you end up with less of a chance of an inspector coming out saying, “Hey, the plans show this, but you built that.” You know, it matches. So it’s faster to build. It’s faster and easier for inspections. It’s less stress. It’s easier for you to control the project. It’s easier for the framing contractor to assemble it. And that’s one of the key bridges there that’s there is to, you know, the one-stop shop. So everything matches up to make sure that the process goes smoothly of getting the framing system.
We’re really supplying the idea from the conceptualization of “Gee, I’d like to build my own home” to the framing system being there. We bridge that gap and all the processes and different home building disciplines and the design and the manufacture of the panelized home package where people will see what it is. We’re delivering an extremely complex home this week. And I think the customer and the framers are like, “It was worth the time.” Let me give you an example of a house we’re going to be doing in the south. It’s a couple thousand square foot home. The customer has been involved with building the same plan in other methods. So it’s basically his friends built it, and he wants to build the same house or some situation like that. But he’s seen this house get built two other times. We’re calling him with different things saying, “Hey, what do you think about this? What do you think about this? Hey, this beam needs to be here. And you know, this needs to be this way, you know, for structural reasons or energy code or whatever it may be.” He said something like, “You guys really pay attention to this. I don’t think that if I just gave these to a builder that all these concerns would be there.” And it’s kind of true because there’s a certain point, and I think people will experience this in their regular life, you know, whether it’s a car mechanic, going to dinner, or a doctor’s appointment. Some people sit down and, let’s take the doctor for example. They sit down and say, “Hey Mr. Customer, how are you doing? How are you feeling?” You say your knee hurts. They’re getting to know you to see what the real issue is. Instead of just saying, “Oh, here’s a guy, he rock climbs, he’s 50. He does this, this, and this. This must be the problem,” and make an assumption.
Instead, we’re the type of people that go in and really look at the nature of the situation, the site, to make sure that it’s done right. We’re in the business of doing it right the first time once instead of hoping something works and then guessing and doing it wrong later. So it’s the, you know, consciously pay attention to a project, the customer’s needs, the land situation, the building department, and the design as to why I think it’s there.
So, you know, I was emphasizing before that not all plans are the same. They aren’t. And there’s also a situation of how you apply that, how you apply it to a project and move it along. You know, customer service isn’t the same. I believe we provide excellent customer service, and we’re actually like consciously looking at plans to say, “Hey, you know, we should adjust this,” or “Do you really want this? Do you realize what you’re asking for? Does it make sense?” You know, that type of thing, so we can go through, or if there’s a particular concern where something’s a little more complex to engineer, we work the details out so that a customer gets the design they want. That might be a little confusing to people but what I’m basically saying is we’re paying attention to your project to make sure the end result is right It’s not just you know a production line, you know, pump houses out. It’s, “Hey, let’s pay attention to what we’re building, helping the customers with to make sure that they get the house they want.” And that’s just one of the qualities. We care about the designs. We care about the house, and we really care about our customers, and we want to have fun doing it.

Interviewer: So you’re saying Landmark is not an assembly line home builder.

Steve Tuma: No, exactly. It’s not like, yeah, it’s not like, “Hey, there it is. Hope you enjoy it. You get a choice of this.” Right. You know, it’s more, “What do you want?” And then we fill in kind of the blanks in situations that they may not understand or bring points out to them and do it. Sometimes there’s just different traits that we’ve seen some people have. And they’re like, “Yeah, I want to add this. I want to add this.” I’m like, “Hey, wait a second. You said you wanted to build a house of this size at about this price. Do you realize that you just added another $10,000, $20,000? Do you realize it?” You know, so we try to keep things in focus. We try to keep things in line so people understand it because it’s a lot more than just the panelized home package and a set of plans. It’s making sure the project goes.
One of my customers said, “Steve, I couldn’t have done this.” His name’s Mike in Phoenix. Built a house, multi-generational house for his family. He said, “Steve, you’re really the engine of the project. You make it happen. You’re not just here saying, ‘Hey, here are plans. Hey, here’s a stack of wood. Good luck.’ You’re helping drive it so people understand what they can do.” And it’s pretty cool. That’s a huge differentiating mark on what we supply.

Interviewer: Well, all right, that’s going to wrap it up for this episode. But before we let you go, Steve, please tell our listeners just how they can find out more about Landmark Home & Land Company.

Steve Tuma: Well, the best thing to do is check our website out. You know, we’ve mentioned that there’s plans there. There’s videos. There’s a lot of these podcasts. There’s different conversations on what we supply and different details. Our website is LHLC.com, kind of like the initials Landmark Home & Land Company. And on their website, they can email us. They can look at plans, submit inquiries. And they could also give us a call. First, they’ll call and talk to Mike. He’s at 800-830-9788. And Mike will help them through the process of just kind of understanding how we can help, just kind of preliminary discussions. And when the family’s ready to move forward, I would jump into the process and get more detailed on actually getting the plans going, all the specifics, all the details for what they’ll need for permits, all the details of what they’ll need for, you know, the right plan set and for us to develop the proper panelized home package. And people are always welcome to call me direct if they want to call and talk and just say, “Hey, how does this work for me? How does this work for my family?” We’ll take the time. My direct cell phone is 708-205-2043. And, you know, we can take some time. It’s no obligation. It’s just a discussion so we can each get to know each other. Just like our customers want a good supplier and designer, we want to know we’re working with good customers that are serious about building a good house. That’s an important part of it. Very important part.

Interviewer: Makes sense. Thus ends another great and informative talk with Landmark Home and Land Company President Steve Tuma. And we want to thank you all for taking the time to listen to the panelized prefab kit home building show. And we hope we’ve been able to help make you feel a little more confident on your path to becoming a kit home owner-builder. So for Steve Tuma and myself, have a great week ahead. And we will see you next time. Thanks again, Steve.

Steve Tuma: Yeah, this was cool. I hope people really enjoy these, and they’ll give us a call or submit an inquiry, and we can get them taken care of. Thank you.

A: A panelized kit home is a precision-manufactured, custom stick-built skeleton engineered from your exact architectural plans and assembled on-site, allowing complete freedom for floor plan changes, high ceilings, and unique room additions[cite: 1]. Modular and HUD homes are mass-produced on factory assembly lines with rigid dimensions and metal frames, offering very limited customization and often facing restrictive local zoning and financing rules[cite: 1].

A: Excluding interior finishes and exterior siding allows homeowners to personalize their home’s aesthetic, select climate-appropriate materials, and directly control their budget[cite: 1]. Supplying the structural shell while allowing owner-builders to source their own fixtures and finishes avoids rigid builder packages and lets owners spend their money where it matters most to them[cite: 1].

A: A standard panelized package includes pre-framed 2×6 exterior walls with sheathing and rough openings in place, interior partition walls, second-story floor systems, and engineered roof trusses or stick-built rafters[cite: 1]. It also supplies the necessary roof sheathing, sub-fascia, and all specified wood-to-wood structural metal hardware required to assemble the weather-tight shell[cite: 1].

A: Blueprints can be customized upfront with wider hallways, zero-threshold entries between the garage and living areas, main-floor master suites, and pre-blocked bathroom framing for future grab bars[cite: 1]. Planning these accessibility details on paper and selecting low-maintenance roofing and siding ensures the home remains comfortable, safe, and easy to maintain throughout retirement without expensive retrofits[cite: 1].

A: Yes, lenders appraise and finance panelized kit homes as conventional custom stick-built construction because they meet identical international residential building codes[cite: 1]. Unlike modular or manufactured homes that can trigger higher interest rates, stricter loan terms, or mandatory resale disclosure stigmas, panelized homes appreciate identically to standard on-site builds[cite: 1].

Steve Tuma: It’s not always clear to people what a kit home is but what we do as our one stop shop is make it cheaper, easier, and more controlled for our customer to get their home.

Interviewer: Greetings everyone and welcome to episode 63 of the Panelized Prefab Kit Home Building Show. I’m here today, as usual, with Steve Tuma, the president and founder of Landmark Home and Land Company, a company which has been helping people build their new homes where they want, exactly as they want, nationwide and around the globe since 1993. Steve, how’s it going my friend?

Steve Tuma: It’s a great day. Great day to build a kit home, a panelized home, yeah.

Interviewer: Just looking at the numbers since 1993, that makes this your 31st year of being in existence. Congrats!

Steve Tuma: And still having fun and a lot of customers coming back building another home or retirement home or home for their kids. We’re still having fun. Yeah, keeping ahead of the wave.

Interviewer: I think for today we’re going to, I don’t know, sort of backtrack a little bit and go over a few of the things we may have missed or we may not have hit upon enough. That’s just the basics of kit home building and ownership. And you know, like I said, even though we might cover a couple of points here we’ve already talked about in this podcast, I think especially for some of our newer listeners it’s never a bad idea to offer a refresher course from time to time. But we’ll also be going over some things we haven’t talked about before now, which is always good. So if you’re good to go, Mr. Tuma, let’s chat about some of the basics of kit homes and the process of designing and building a kit home. Shall we do it?

Steve Tuma: Yeah, you know, this is an interesting concept because, you know, a lot of words are used or a couple words in this case that people understand it. But if you were to ask them what is a kit home, they may not know or what’s included in the kit. And what I’m finding is it’s not universal.

Interviewer: Yeah.

Steve Tuma: It’s not like saying hey, I’m going to go get a gallon of milk and it’s in this plastic jug and it’s a gallon and it comes from a cow and it’s been pasteurized, you know. So the concept of kit homes, panelized homes, owner builder homes, self build homes, manufactured homes, those are different. It needs clarity.

Interviewer: They’re confused by the terminology and the verbiage. But a lot of people, and I’ve talked about this podcast and panelized kit homes, they say is that like a mini house or is that a tiny home? And it’s like no, no, no. You have to kind of go into it a little bit and then they go oh, okay. And they start to realize, you know, exactly what it is that we’re talking about.

Steve Tuma: Exactly. And that I think we can add some clarity to what it is and how it works.

Interviewer: Let’s start with cost, shall we? Is it actually cheaper to build a kit home?

Steve Tuma: Well, this is what’s interesting about it. Like I just mentioned, it’s not always clear to people what a kit home is but what we do as our one stop shop is make it cheaper, easier, and more controlled for our customer to get their home. And I’ll tell you the reason why as a one stop shop we’re able to combine the architectural fees, the structural engineering, the energy codes, the site planning, and then get you the plan set for a building permits and then also supply the panelized home package that matches the approved plans. So that kind of A to Z help and those processes makes it way more affordable for people to get involved with the design. And it’s not just is it cheaper. It’s also a situation where it takes less of their time. They don’t have to talk to 10 people and hope they all get the job done right.

Interviewer: That’s nice.

Steve Tuma: Yeah, so they work with us. We work through the plans, make sure everything works. If they have questions, we can answer in a kind of a holistic over the whole project instead of one certain discipline. So it’s been shown that our panelized home systems are very affordable for people whether they’re building a less expensive home or a very complex home. And a lot of it is it gives the customers the chance to be involved with their own home, do some of the work themselves, understand the quality, know what’s going into the home, touch the home themselves or hire someone to do it and still kind of have control of it. So they’re able to go through and cut the general contractor fees out of it. And that’s basically the element. And also go through and get the home that they want. You know, they can pick the cabinets, they can pick the windows that they want, the flooring, the siding, the roofing. So the understanding of the house and by them being the general contractor they don’t have to pay for it. And if they choose to do some home and some of the work themselves there’s a savings. But also I believe in the process of us bundling the package together, getting it taken care of, we have kind of a streamlined process where us as one unit are taking care of the complete design, engineering, energy codes compared to hiring different people and hoping they communicate and hoping everything comes out uniform. So I think it’ll help them in the overall budget, the scheduling, and stress control.

Interviewer: Yeah, that’s important.

Steve Tuma: Yeah, just make it easier and more enjoyable.

Interviewer: Yeah, you know since we’re talking about the basics of all basics here’s one. Are there any restrictions to where you can build a kit home? Are you pretty much free to build them anywhere in the United States?

Steve Tuma: Now our kit home which is basically we do the plans and then supply a panelized stick built framing system we’ve never run into a place anywhere in the country in 31 years where it’s been restricted where we haven’t been able to. There are other systems, modulars, HUD homes, that they’ll try to keep them out either just by directly saying it or talking about certain delivery or certain manufacturing or certain design elements. But no, we’ve never seen it. And it’s also a situation it’s not just where you can and can’t build. It’s the financing. You get into some of these HUD homes or modular homes the financing is different. And then a lot of places when you sell it you have to disclose it and it doesn’t always carry through the appreciation that our panelized homes and our kit will do which is more like a conventional custom stick built home. So no, we haven’t run into a situation where we haven’t been able to help a customer where they want to build. And we’ve worked all over the country, worked through historic districts, worked through homeowner association requirements, worked through banking guidelines, worked through zoning, working through just building department situations. So it’s worked and we’ve done some amazing projects, worked with great customers to build some amazing homes. So the concept of the kit home being restrictive it’s actually an enhancement to people. And I think that’s because people don’t always understand the word kit home in itself is kind of generic.
It’s not specified. There might be other people that do similar types of processes. None of them are like Landmark. But what’s involved in their kit may be different where we take care of the design and sending the panelized home package to an owner builder or contractor for the custom home that they want.

Interviewer: Well, you hit upon something about you have to disclose what the house is. And so people might be concerned whether or not a kit home would retain its value, especially in the resale market if for some reason they want to sell their house later on.

Steve Tuma: They’re classified just like a custom stick-built home. It is a stick-built panelized home. The process is the same. And if you put what someone might see as a conventional stick-built next to our panelized stick-built, most people wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. They might say, hey, yours is beefier. The beams are stronger. We engineered it. We added a lot of structural components that someone else may not have. But there is a significant difference. And when you talk about the financing, I believe it has to be disclosed if a home is a modular or a HUD home. And there are some banks that won’t finance those, or you pay more. So the perception of lower cost doesn’t end up working out in the long run. So with the Landmark’s kit home process, the plans and the kit home, I think we supply the best of what’s there. We don’t supply windows and doors and cabinets because those are personal items where people might want different colors, different textures, different materials, different parts of the country. There’s just things that are better use. So we basically take care of the skeleton which, once the home is built, you can’t see. And then the customer can design and personalize the home to be exactly the way it is, the way they want it, the colors, the look, the feel, the ambience of the home.

Way back in the late 90s we used to supply the complete package, windows, siding. And what we found is our customer base really enjoys the process of figuring out which siding is better for them, figuring out, you know, do they want stone on a house? Do they want brick? You know, do they want to put stone on the foundation? Do they want a crawl space? Do they want hardwood floors? Or hey, maybe they have to do this now for the budget but in the future they will do it. And they really enjoy it. And it’s kind of getting more for the house. If you’re going to spend the money, you may as well choose the types of windows. If you want more expensive windows for a reason, put them there. If you’re not concerned, you still want an energy efficient window but you can do a window that’s less expensive and works in your budget. And that’s the situation that comes through is it allows customers to on their own specify the quality of the home and the finishes that they want. And that’s the real key thing to it is get the house that you want instead of a house that someone’s giving you because of, you know, some perceived benefit when in the long run it really isn’t a benefit. We don’t believe it’s a benefit in the long run. Our customers want to know that they’re spending the money for certain things or getting the house they want. And you know the type of siding is important. The type of metal roof that they choose or the asphalt roof is important to them. The type of garage door, the type of garage door opener, it’s very important. And you know what? It’s not really a burden to them. They enjoy it. They enjoy going through the kitchen design, envisioning how the family’s going to work.

Interviewer: It’s half the fun.

Steve Tuma: Yeah. And that’s the cool thing about it. And it’s a benefit to me when someone’s building a house, whether it’s a more affordably priced house or it’s a very expensive intricate house, that the people get a choice in what it is. And that’s why people are owner builders and that’s why they work with us at Landmark to build the home themselves, be their own general contractor. And by use of our kit, it just streamlines it for them. It’s just easier and I believe more enjoyable.

Interviewer: Yeah. Well here’s one of those things I was talking about which is, you know, things that we’ve gone over a little bit in the past and we may go over again. But I think it’s important, especially in this episode, that we talk about the difference. Everyone talks about modular homes. Let’s talk about the difference between kit homes and modulars. I mean kit homes are not modular homes.

Steve Tuma: They definitely aren’t modular and they definitely aren’t the HUD homes. The HUD homes being the ones with the metal frame underneath them. They’re not different. And I think where that comes through is the generic terms. People say hey, kit homes, prefab. They say it but if you were to ask them what is a prefab, they probably couldn’t really come out with a concise definition. So it’s just kind of used so that’s where we help them. And what’s interesting about it is someone could go through and have a prefab HUD home, a prefabricated modular, but you could also have a custom stick-built home with a prefabricated roof truss. So in a sense, the word prefab is so generic it’s kind of like saying hey, I want dinner compared to hey, I want chicken and macaroni and cheese with a little jalapeno in there. You know, that type of thing. So that I think what we’re trying to clarify is that our kit homes are basically the complete planning service, architectural design, structural engineering, energy codes, site plans, whatever details they may need for permitting. And then we supply a panelized package that matches. Modulars, you can’t change. I mean they might even have options of switching to master suite or better, but you can’t really go in there and say hey, I want to do my custom design. You can’t go through and do big, big changes because just the way they’re made, the production line may not allow for it. So that’s why there needs to be a distinction on what kit homes are. Our kit home is more of the process where we get some of the hardest parts, the design, the engineering, and the structure. So then the customer can finish out the home that they want. I believe it provides a better bang for the buck just in the pride of ownership knowing what you’re spending the money on and also getting the custom home that you want. And when I say custom, it doesn’t mean it costs more. The features cost more. If you have a 20-foot ceiling, it’s going to cost more than an eight-foot ceiling. But because it’s custom, we don’t charge more. It’s what we do every day. We’ve been doing this 31 years, and I think about 22 or 24 years ago someone actually did a house plan without changes. Everyone changes whether it’s dictated by the land, their choice, the way they live. Hey, I want a five-car garage. I need an airplane hanger in my house. I need a greenhouse. I need a craft room. I need a game room, whatever it may be. Home theaters are coming in.
So we’re able to get the people a house they want. That’s the cool part. And that’s why Landmark’s kit homes I think are a better fit and a better size for someone that really wants to be involved and spend their money wisely and get the house they want.

Interviewer: We talk about kit homes as though it’s almost like an inflatable home, but it’s really an intricate process what Landmark does. What all is included in a kit home?

Steve Tuma: Well, in ours I’ll start with customer service and a helpful attitude.

Interviewer: And I should have started there. What’s included in a Landmark Home and Land Company kit home?

Steve Tuma: That’s what I’m trying to differentiate because I don’t want people to think that everyone’s a gallon of milk and everything’s the same or a pound of sugar. It definitely isn’t that. So what we do is we have a caring attitude. We care about your project. We founded the company. All of us are still here. We work with every single customer personally and individually to find out exactly what they want in a home. So that’s the key thing. I’m also going to end with that because what’s interesting is customers hear that upfront but until they’re in the process, they don’t realize it’s real. It’s not just a claim. In today’s world everyone, you know, there’s companies out here with awards from who knows where, an award for this, an award for this. And then you call for customer service and you get a generic email back four days. That’s not customer service. That’s someone brushing you off. So that’s, you know, I will work with every customer to make sure everything’s taken care of. We will understand their project and help them through it.

But as far as the other parts like we’ve mentioned, architectural designs, changes for whatever they need in their home, make the bedroom bigger, add windows, make the porch bigger, make the garage bigger, make it a steeper pitch roof, make it a flat roof. Whatever it is that you want, the structural design, the energy calculations if they needed a site plan, green codes, different energy codes for different parts of the country, sometimes details for historic review or homeowners associations. And then we get the plan set so that a customer could submit to the building department. Now that’s the key. A lot of people think oh I submitted to the building department, I get a permit. A lot of places that’s true. A lot of places it’s just normal to get a checklist. Just the way they are. They’ll come back with a checklist. So we’ll work with the customer through the checklist items to get all the questions answered so that then we could submit it up until they get a permit. Generally, it’s first time through, sometimes second. Occasionally on very extreme projects or in some building departments around the country where they just like going around three times because of just the way their process is. But most it’s first and second time through. So it’s that customer service and helpful attitude and knowledge base to get through that process. Then once permits are approved, it’s the actual panelized framing system, the quote kit, which is in our case it’s the rough wood framing, floor systems, panelized walls, two by six walls, 16 on center with the sheathing applied, rough openings installed, interior panelized walls. If it’s a second story home, a second floor floor system which can be dimensional wood like two by tens, two by twelves, I-joists or open web trusses and then roof systems which some are stick built roofs depending on the designs, cathedral ceilings. A lot of times, most times it’s also roof trusses. Then we supply the roof sheathing, sub fascia and any metal, any of the connectors that our designers dictate that are wood to wood connectors. So that’s the key thing. Basically, the wood structure is what we supply. And again, it’s the customer service. It’s the answering the phone. It’s if you need help, we are there. I got a call last night at 9:30. A family wanted to talk about something in their fireplace. They didn’t quite understand. They went to the store and I was still working. I talked to them. We got them taken care of. They’re excited now that now they’re getting into it. So it’s the customer service and not just in a generic answer. It’s in a tailored answer to your specific question about your project. And that I think is the key thing because you know all of us can, you know, go, you know, pick some certain situation going to a doctor and the doctor could say hey you should lose weight. Who’s ever heard that? Like almost everyone. But how many doctors have said let me help you through it to explain how you do it and then follow through to help you along the process to achieve the goal. Well, we’re that group of people that help you through the process. We’re not just here giving you quick little answers that are kind of senseless. We’re here giving you answers for what you need so that you understand what’s going on. So it just makes it more enjoyable.

Steve Tuma: A lot of people work with us to build their home just because it’s a dream. They want to do it. They’ve seen a show when they were a kid. They said I want to build my own home, whatever it is. It’s just like a personal life goal. Other people do it for the money savings. Other people do it to control the quality so that they can see it themselves. They’ve heard stories and they want to know it’s done right. They want to know why a window is picked and they want to pick the window. You know, they want to pick the cabinets. They want to know why a tankless hot water heater might be better. What types of fuels might be better for them? What types of fuels are available? And then how does it apply to their house on their land under their building department’s requirements? And I think that that’s where it is. So that’s one of the things that I say is if you someone were to have a discussion with our customers they didn’t even think about, hey the support and stuff because people aren’t used to it. They’re not used to help at the end. A lot of them will say Steve it’s the help that mattered. The kit home is great. It went together well, but it’s the help and the guidance and the navigating things that people find. They understand why we spend so much time doing our custom home plans for our kit homes because they then see that a well-designed home with the right details makes it easier to budget, stand schedule, avoid issues on site and those moments. And that’s really what it’s about. So in our case, the kit home is the product they’re buying. It’s the service around it that I think is what they really, really like. And in the long run, when they’re sitting back at their house, sending me that text saying Steve thanks for the help and then you get a picture of the house, the family with their dog up there, the new puppy they got or moving in for the first holiday season or their first big summer party. It’s kind of an amazing field to see that it’s really the guidance and help and support that we supply. That people are there along with a top-notch very well-built panelized home package.

Interviewer: The one-stop shop man.

Steve Tuma: Right, right. It is. It’s kind of one of these things, the one-stop shop but also with knowledgeable people that care and have been doing it for a long time. Right.

Interviewer: Yeah, you know we just hit a little earlier on preconceived notions of exactly what a kit home is, but I think a lot of people probably think, oh, it’s probably just a box, four walls, and it, you know. But you had mentioned on an earlier podcast, maybe it was the last podcast, about a Victorian home you’re doing. And then I go on the website and I’ve seen like Southwest Adobe looking ranch houses. And there’s…

Steve Tuma: Oh yeah, Mid-century moderns.

Interviewer: Yeah. So that’s gotta be the fun part, is to get a customer on the phone and they look at the designs and go, holy moly, there’s a lot of stuff we could do here. And I just, I imagine that’s gotta be the fun part, is when you really are able to walk somebody through exactly what a kit home is.

Steve Tuma: Right. Well, that’s also the custom, the customization and a custom kit home plan set. So people might see this and, you know, there’s a lot of people doing these modern designs, kind of boxy homes with single pitch roofs, taller ceilings on one side, and they look at it and they’ll be like, oh yeah, but I want this but I got to do this. And I want this. And then I got a view here and how do we put a garage on it or, hey, I’m building it on a flat piece of land, you know, say in the desert areas or, hey, they’re building it on the side of a hill and there’s a particular view they want to take care of. Or a lot of our younger customers, hey our family’s two people now, a couple of years it’s going to be four. How do we design this so that we don’t have to put an addition on in the future? What do we do to make it kind of a, kind of grow with us type house? Also, aging in place, kind of a new little buzzword which has shown up where people are like, hey what, well it’s kind of interesting because with our customization capabilities for our panelized home plans we can put details in there. So it’s easier for people to navigate their home as they age. Little things like grab bars in the bathrooms, hallways that are the right width that are easier for people to go to, easier for people to go from the house into the garage, easier for people to go from outside to the inside. There’s a lot of different details and sometimes it’s a design element. I also say it’s a maintenance-free part of it. Getting the right types of materials, getting the right, you know, the right roof system, the right siding. So that if someone lives in their home and they’re 90, they’re not out there every year painting the house. So we can really work through.

And what’s interesting about our customer base is we have a lot of people that are professional builders. We have a lot of people that want to build to flip or sell. I don’t like the word flip, but they’re building to sell a quality home to their customer and they have a business, but there’s a lot of people that are looking at these homes as I’m going to live in this for 10 years, 20 years, my forever home. And we’ll take the time to go through and make sure the details that are necessary are there. And what’s interesting about this is a lot of people say, Steve, we’re only going to do two sets of changes, three sets of changes. I said, hey, we’re here to help. If you need a little more just to tweak it, let’s do it now. Well, it’s on paper actually a PDF, you know, make sure that it’s put together. Cause if you’re going to live in a house five, 10, 20 years, you know, let’s put the right design so that you’re able to live in it and enjoy it and not have to have the expense of changing it later or rebuilding parts. You won’t have to rebuild our framing system, but sometimes people want to, they’re like, hey wait a second, I should have had a three-car garage or hey, I should do this or I should put an exercise room in or, or hey, you know, telecommuting is inevitable, people working at home, let’s do a convertible room, a home office type setup. So that’s where we can take the time. The key to this is taking the time upfront to know our customers, understand our customers, and see what it is that they need. Every customer needs a different level of help. Some people are very skilled. A lot of people have never built a home, so we’re able to guide them through and give them the details and the plans, the panelized package to control their project, understand it, understand the budget, understand the schedule, and understand why certain things are done in their home. It’s kind of cool. It’s kind of like a life step for a lot of people. We’re right now currently working on a lot of houses. We’re in one case, the man said he had a vision when he was 15 that he needed 300 acres and a big Chalet style home. Well, he’s retired, he found 330 acres undisturbed with a couple of little paths and he’s putting his house up and we’re detailing everything out which we’ll do. Hey, if someone wants to do a simple little house in the city, it’s just as worthy to go through and take the time to make sure that it’s put together, whether it’s a basic, you know, 500 square foot ADU or it’s a five or 10,000 square foot mega mansion and, you know, the super high rent districts, we believe it’s important to take care of because, you know, each person’s home is their castle. And that’s the cool thing about it. Our job’s done when someone sends a picture when the house is done or even five and 10 years later saying, Steve, check this out, we had a kid, or hey, we got a new dog, or hey the parents moved in, or hey, I finally got my hot rod and I’m building it in my garage, or hey, look at it, the family’s baking dinner, making dinner, whatever it may be. So it’s pretty interesting to see this in the relationships we’re able to develop with people and help them out. So that’s the key. You know, we have great quality product, we have a great set of plans, but caring, getting it done, and actually being proactive and making things happen and pushing things along at the speed that the customer needs so that it’s the best home possible at the budget they want, schedule they want, and then with a big enjoyment factor.

Interviewer: Well, this has been one of the most fun episodes we’ve done in a while. Just to go back sometimes and just talk about the basics is always good. And I really enjoyed this. So we’re going to wrap it up for today, but before I let you go, Steve, as always, please let our listeners know how to find out more about Landmark Home and Land Company and how to get ahold of you guys over there.

Steve Tuma: Well, they can find us on our panelized home kits at LHL C dot com. Kind of the initials of Landmark Home Land Company, LHL C dot com. And on our website we’ve got videos, we have these podcasts, we have thousands of designs, we have general discussions on how we can help, what’s included in the kit. People can email us from the website, they can find a plan they like, send us an email, or they can give a call. The phone will be answered by Mike at 800-830-9788. Again, that’s 800-830-9788. And they can talk to Mike about the processes. And then once they get to the point of wanting to start, I’ll get involved and I’ll work directly with the customer on every single detail to make sure they’re taken care of properly, building department concerns are taken care of, and they get the right panelized home package. So it’s pretty cool. Yeah, hey, if someone wants to call just to talk to me about their project or they’re running into a particular challenge or something that’s just weird, or they’re like, hey, how do we navigate this? Chances are we’ve seen it more than once. My direct cell phone is 708-205-2043. And you know, we’ll do everything we can to help a customer or future customer. It’s all part of what we do.

Interviewer: This really is your passion, isn’t it?

Steve Tuma: It’s a great time. I mean, you look at it and you look at how a new home helps a family. It’s an environment. It’s the way you live. If you like where you live, if you designed it, you know it’s a well-built home, your money’s being spent right. There’s just a pride, there’s an enjoyment. It makes the birthdays better, the holidays better, you know, and that’s the cool thing. Makes the energy bills better too, you know, just the pride. And then when you sell it, you’ve got a quality home and you know it’s a quality home. But while you’re living there, it’s the home that you want. It’s not a home that someone said there it is, take it or leave it. It’s a home that you want. And they’ll find once they look at this that I believe the dollars are very, very competitive and advantageous for the owner builders.

Interviewer: Well, another great episode with Landmark Home and Land Company President Steve Tuma. And I want to thank all of you for taking the time to listen in to the Panelized Prefab Kit Home Building Show. And we hope we’ve been able to enlighten you a bit more today and to, you know, just feel more confident about becoming a kit home owner builder. It’s important that you go into something as big as building your next home and have all the information and the emotional and mental ammunition you can use. And so I hope this podcast does provide some of that. So for Steve Tuma and myself, have a great week ahead and we will see you next time.

Steve Tuma: Thanks, have a great day!

A: Building a home theater beneath a garage utilizes heavy precast concrete floor planks to provide natural sound deadening between levels. This solid structural barrier isolates intense bass, vibrations, and high audio volume from carrying into the main living areas or neighboring properties.

A: Designing a dedicated pet wash station requires integrating dedicated hot and cold plumbing lines, specialized drainage traps, waterproof wall backings, and non-slip floor finishes into the mudroom or utility entry. Framing the station with a raised curb or low-threshold access keeps outdoor mud and water contained before pets enter the main living areas.

A: Equestrian home designs incorporate specialized transition zones—such as mudrooms with dedicated utility showers, changing areas, and secure tack storage—directly off secondary garage or barn entries. This layout allows homeowners to clean up and change out of work gear before stepping into primary living spaces, keeping dirt and odors out of the home.

A: Replacing an underutilized formal dining room with an expanded kitchen island or built-in media lounge repurposes existing interior square footage without increasing the home’s exterior footprint. This design shift eliminates redundant furniture expenses while delivering everyday functional entertainment value within the baseline construction budget.

A: Providing contractors with fully engineered blueprints specifying exact footer dimensions, rebar spacing, wall heights, and drainage requirements eliminates guesswork during bidding. Having clear structural dimensions upfront enables trades to provide firm, accurate quotes rather than adding costly contingencies or issuing price increases once excavation starts.

Steve Tuma: You know, we work hard, and we like to know at the end of the day it’s a good, fulfilling day, helping the customers. And in turn, we believe if a customer is going to work hard to save money, get a mortgage, or do whatever it is to get the house, they should pull up to it at the end of a hard day and be proud of their home.

Interviewer: Hello, everybody, and welcome to Episode 62 of the Panelized Prefab Kit Homebuilding Show. With us today, as he usually is, is the president and founder of Landmark Home and Land Company, a company which has been helping people build their new homes where they want, exactly as they want, nationwide and around the globe since 1993. And that’s Mr. Steve Tuma. Steve, how are you doing, my friend?

Steve Tuma: I’m doing great. It’s another great day helping people build houses. And 1993, you said that is when we started the company, and Landmark just turned 31 years old. It’s 2024 now, but yes, 31 years old on October 13th. It’s kind of an amazing situation to see that we’re growing and continuing to grow and adding different methods of helping people and services to design and build their own home. It’s amazing.

Interviewer: Yeah, trying to shave years off the age works for us as humans, but for businesses, you want those numbers.

Steve Tuma: Exactly. Yeah, well, it’s the accumulation of experience, knowledge, great attitude, and fun time.

Interviewer: I wanted to utilize our chat for this episode to allow you, as the Landmark president, to run down just why, well, firstly, why a new home builder should consider a panelized home over a standard stick-built home, et cetera, and second, why Landmark Home and Land Company should be the first choice for those who make the decision to build a panelized home. Why don’t you run us through your answers?

Steve Tuma: Well, basically, the panelized home packages, the kit homes, prefabbed, whatever word someone might want to use, it’s basically an efficiency situation because people want to build the houses. Sometimes there’s weather restrictions, budget restrictions, availability of labor, or just the desire to build a home quicker. The panelized home allows us to build basically the structure in a controlled environment within a production facility so we can give a guaranteed cost, have quality control, and then there’s less labor done on site. You can have one main framer and a couple of laborers and put the house together, so it’s a more cost-efficient process. It’s more controlled, less waste. That’s why Landmark’s panelized home process has been good, and as I’ve spoken about in other podcasts, it’s not just the package, the actual wood structure. It’s the process we go through to make it easy for people to design their home. We do all the designing, the structural engineering, energy calculations, site plans, whatever else might be required for building permits to make it easier for a customer. I guess a way to put that together in three words is one-stop shop. So you can go through, and a customer can call us, and we can help them directly according to their specific house, their design for their family, and their specific piece of land. And people may not realize they need that help, but the idea of looking at the complete project instead of a bunch of individual pieces I think will really help them understand why.

I think you asked why we should be the first choice. Well, they should consider us and take a look at us to make sure that it’s there, and I think what it really comes down to is the perspective and knowledge base and also kind of the DNA that we have in us of wanting to do the right thing and help a customer understand their complete project, help them through the plans for permitting. Instead of helping with one component, we have the perspective of looking at the details of the project but also the project as a whole, kind of tying everything together. And I think that’s where it is. Doing this many years, all the different types of homes, it’s the knowledge base, the support, and kind of the passion I’d like to say that we have for really helping people get the best home possible. Some customers say, “Hey, build a house,” and we say, “Hey, we can do this, we can do this, make it better, more energy-efficient, better design, whatever it may be.” And then I think that’s where the value is. So it’s not just the plans, it’s not just the panelized packages, the support, and understanding and help through the complete process that I think they’ll find to be very valuable. The one-stop shop, it’s easy. You call us, we answer the phone, we get you taken care of. And we’re proactive.

Interviewer: Right. I saw on one of the landmark videos that “one-stop shop” keeps coming up, and I think that’s what people are looking for. Simplicity is the best, and if you only need to go to one person who has all the answers, it just makes it easier.

Steve Tuma: Right. Well, there’s also the financial benefits because things are expensive. So sometimes people say, “Hey, I could go build this house.” They get a quote from a contractor. Let’s just say, for example, the contractor says $400,000, and they budget it to build for $300,000. It’s more affordable for them, but you also look at the savings of that $100,000 difference. It’s not just the $100,000; then it’s if you have a mortgage, the compounding of that. If you had a mortgage, that might be like saving you $200,000 or $300,000 over the course of the loan. So it’s a financial situation. We have more and more people paying cash on situations like that. A lot of them still use banks, which is fine. But that’s why even if you do go with a mortgage, your mortgage should be less. So that’s one of the things. And a lot of people do it because of the financial savings. A lot of people don’t realize that. They’re like, “Hey, can you help me with this? Can you engineer a home? Can you help me with the site plans?” And we bring up, “Hey, look at the money you can save over time.” It’s that mystery money that you don’t see in the compounding of interest over time. And then also, I think a lot of people do it because it’s pride in controlling their project and knowing how it’s built. So if they understand electric or drywall, they can do the parts of the project that they want and go through and control the quality and understand exactly how the house is being built. That’s the key thing. You know what you’re getting for the dollar you’re spending.

Interviewer: And just the financial thing is really important, but just having the feeling of controlling what you’re building, you know, rather than having a contractor who just comes out and tells you what’s what. I mean, to have some kind of control over your new home seems like an important thing.

Steve Tuma: Right. Because all of our customers are interested in customizing their home. They want the garage they want for their big truck, the workshop, lawnmowers, bikes, barbecue equipment, whatever they have. They want to know. They want to know the kitchen’s right for how they eat. They want to know the bedrooms are right. Sometimes people are in shift work or different work, or they have kids that are noisy. So they want one bedroom on the other side of the house that’s insulated to keep sound out. So there’s a lot of details that we can get into. And you know what’s interesting is it’s not that much harder just to add these little details to make sure that it’s there for the long-term benefit of someone being happy with the home that they want. You know, it’s kind of interesting. Sometimes people are like, “Oh, I just need a garage that’s 20 feet deep. My car’s only 17.” I’m like, “Yeah, but you don’t want to open your car door and hit your other car. You’re going to have lawnmowers or bikes or a barbecue or something.” So we can work with them through it. Now, sometimes in some places, a 20 by 20 garage is huge, you know, because of limited space. But we can work those details with people. A lot more people are going from the formal dining rooms to islands with eating areas. There are peninsulas or different things like that. Gaming rooms, theaters, home theaters, and things like that. So we’re able to really take the time and support the customer to make sure that it’s put together. But yeah, you ask about the benefits; I think basically it’s the desire to listen to a customer and help them get the best house possible.

Interviewer: Yeah. Let’s stick with this control thing because I’m interested in controlling costs, controlling how you work with your contractor, controlling the timing and the longevity of your project, how long it’s going to take to build, etc. But what about quality control, the overall quality of the house? How can Landmark help a new homeowner builder control the quality, the actual overall quality of their project?

Steve Tuma: Well, that’s interesting because it actually starts in the initial conversations in the design phases. So when a customer understands their house and we talk to them, the conversations get a little deeper. At first, they might say, “Hey, I want a 12 by 12 kitchen.” But then after we do the plans and they start thinking, “Hey, where’s the microwave? Where’s the stove? Where’s the sink? Where’s the dishwasher?” We can work on these details. And then eventually they get to the point of like, “Hey, wait a second. Is my house going to be cool? Is it going to be warm? What kind of cabinets do I want? Where does it make sense for me to spend a little more money? Where does it make sense to scale back?” So what we’re finding is when people understand the process, it just kind of naturally comes out where they take an interest in it because they see that with our system they do have a choice, so they can go through. But they also have a knowledge base in us where someone could call and say, “Hey, I went out and talked to my window guy and one guy says this and another guy says that. How do I process this? How do I understand what needs to be done? Do I want a vinyl window? Do I want a wood window?” And we could go over the energy calculations to show them what it is. So by being supportive and being there to help the customer, then it’s kind of interesting. I think they actually get into it where they can then go through and be a better consumer to know how they’re spending their money. So by having a good set of plans, knowing the products that they’re working with, they’re then able to have better control of the schedule, the budget, the design so that when they act as the owner builder, which pretty much all of our customers are now, some of them will get a job coordinator or a contractor to do it, but they’re ultimately controlling it. I think they just get a pride. People want to build their house because it’s something that they personally enjoy. It’s a life goal. It’s a money-saving situation. It’s a quality of the product. And I think that’s the case because yes, there’s always inspectors, you know, that inspect your house. But generally, it’s like a safety thing. You know, make sure hallways are the right size, make sure ceiling clearances make sure the structure is right. But no one’s really there checking to make sure that your cabinet drawer is done right or your shower drawer is right.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Tuma: That’s something that’s kind of just left up to the consumer to do it on their own. So I think the process that we go through of supporting and helping a customer makes them realize that, “Hey, I’ve got some help here where we can do it.” And like, let’s get to our planning. You know, in the case of kitchens, we can detail dimensions out so they know the space they have. You know, something like garage doors, they know the height of the garage door, the size of the garage door, the windows will give them a complete list. So when they’re shopping for windows, they have a list of the exact amount of windows, the type of window, and the size of the window. So they could be a knowledgeable customer for whatever other products they’re getting. And I think when people are organized, they have a good set of plans, and they have an understanding, people take them seriously.

Interviewer: Sure.

Steve Tuma: Which leads to getting better contractors, getting better suppliers because they’re like, “Hey, this is a serious person that knows what they’re doing,” and it helps them move forward. So it’s kind of an evolution on it. And then like I say, we’re always available to help people. So it’s kind of interesting. And what’s interesting is about this is someone will say, “Well, I’ve never built a house. It’s intimidating. It’s scary.” I would say a big portion of our customers have never built a home. Some of them may not have ever picked a hammer up, but they understand the management of the process. So sometimes it’s a management project just as much as it is technical. So we’ve worked with all different types of customers to figure out, you know, to be supportive of them so that they could figure out the best approach for their project.

Interviewer: Right. Well, it’s interesting what you say. I mean, it’s, you know, you get the right people on the job. What do they say about the tide raising all boats? You know, I think that falls into line with when you’re working with the best people, you know, and you’re confident in them. And everybody, you know, your electrician, your contractor, everybody comes in and they’re all doing that great job, you know. And I’m sure—I don’t know—you guys at Landmark don’t really have anything to do with who a person chooses or decides to hire as a contractor, say. But it seems to me like having you behind them, like sitting on their shoulder when they make those choices as to who they hire, it’s just going to make the project better overall. And I think it’s just building confidence in a customer knowing that they can go to you with a lot of answers that maybe somebody else won’t have.

Steve Tuma: But it’s also the complete and accurate set of plans we supply. The details are there. So if a contractor says, “Hey, how big are the footers? Hey, do you need drainage around here? How tall is your basement? How many rebar need to be in a wall?” The answers are right there on the plans. So this makes it easier for the customer to communicate with the contractors. But it also makes it easier for the contractor to remember what needs to be built. It’s right there on the plans.

Interviewer: Yeah, that’s important.

Steve Tuma: You know, that type of situation really clarifies it. So then when a customer gets a quote, it’s for an exact set of plans. It’s not a situation where it’s like, “Well, it’s about this,” and then when you put the foundation in, the price is different because something changed. No, the plans are accurate. So I think that’s where it comes together. And like I say, we’re always available if a customer’s got a question. Every once in a while, you know, in different parts of the country, people do things differently. You know, some places, cement block is more common than poured walls. Other places, sometimes people like to use ICF foundations, which is a foam kind of block that can get filled with cement. So sometimes customers will be like, “Hey, Steve, should we go ICF? Should we do this? Should we go block?” You know, we could talk to the ins and outs of each one and see how it is because sometimes those different materials will affect the design of the home. It’s pretty interesting. So we’re able to kind of catch things like that. If a customer wants to try a different type of product or something that they may have heard about, we’re able to talk to them about the ins and outs as to why something may be of benefit to them for their project. And then our customer can make a decision on what they want. And that’s control of it because as they gain knowledge and understand it, it’s fine. But we also have a lot of customers that are very knowledgeable. Some are professional builders. Some people have built homes before. Some people have helped friends build homes. But I think what they like is that we unify everything together. And you know, we’re looking at the individual details, but we’re also looking at the broad scope project. It’s kind of cool. Look at the details, look at the big picture.

Interviewer: And that’s—I was just going to use that phrase—the big picture. To have Landmark, as I said, on your shoulder, and just the confidence to actually be able to look at the big picture and important stuff. Speaking of importance, we talk a lot on this podcast about the importance of design. But let’s go through it again just so people are clear, especially people who haven’t heard the show before. Now fill us in on how Landmark Home and Land Company works with the customer to work with that, build the design and floor plan that they want. How do you guys make sure that that gets done?

Steve Tuma: Well, there’s a lot of it in figuring out a custom home design, a custom panelized home design. It’s not just the design of “Hey, I want a bedroom this big; I want a garage this size with two windows in it,” and whatever. It’s making sure that it works with the codes. It’s making sure that it’s reasonable and makes sense for what you’re intending to do. So there’s a lot of details on the architectural design so it meets codes, so it gets what the customer wants. But it’s also the design for energy efficiency, fitting on the land, the structural engineering, other details that are involved. And not all customers are going to understand all those details, much less how they all flow together. So that’s how we work, so that when they’re developing their project, they get an understanding of it. And I’ve done—I don’t know how many houses we’ve done over 31 years, but the point is, I’ve been directly involved with every single one. So I’m a great knowledge base for people to understand what they need, ask questions, how it applies to their project, and move it forward. Design can also really affect the cost. A lot of people call up and say, “Hey, how much is a house per square foot?” And it’s like, “Well, what does your house look like?” And I jokingly eventually say, “That’s like calling the grocery store and saying, ‘How much is dinner?'” Yeah, it’s kind of funny no matter how many times I say that, it still brings a chuckle because what are you eating? Are you eating day-old bread? Are you having steak? Are you having salmon? Right? You can’t just say, “Hey, how much is a half a pound of dinner?” It’s what’s in it. So if someone says, “Hey, I got to build this house for this price range,” there’s certain elements that we have to look at. So in general, the more corners, the more expensive it is. Right? The more ridges and valleys in a roof, the more expensive it is. The taller it is, you know, because taller walls and taller roof, the more expensive it’s going to be. It’s just because it’s more materials, you know, so you can see that if you ordered a six-ounce steak, it’s going to be one cost. If you order a 12-ounce steak, it’s going to be another cost. So the way that a home is designed and the features of it can really affect it. So some people want a big house just because they need space for the kids. Other people want a smaller house that’s just way more intricate. Sure. So those are each going to have different costs, even though they may look the same or resemble each other. It could be a significant part of it. So that’s something that we talk about, depending on what a customer’s perspective is and what they’re trying to achieve. Some people have budgets that are a little more flexible. Other people are very tight on their budget, and they need specific ideas. So that’s the key thing, is kind of looking at it. But amazingly, a lot of customers have it down pretty well, like, “Hey, I’ve figured this out. I’ve done some research. I’m going to do a 2,000 square foot two-story with a full basement and a three-car garage off to the side.” And they have it. They just need us for design. But the design elements are there. And you know, sometimes we talk about the design a lot, but it’s kind of one of these things where it’s like the pre-planning of the project. There are different ways to do things. There’s different ways to take advantage of a beautiful scenery. You know, someone’s got a great view of a mountain, a tree, a field, the water, the ocean, whatever it may be. There’s different ways to do that for people to get what they want but also control the cost.

Interviewer: Sure.

Steve Tuma: And that’s what we’re able to do. So if a customer is still kind of like, “Hey, do I do a two-story, a one-story? Do I do a bi-level? Do I do a basement? Don’t I do a basement?” We can kind of model the concepts out and work with them to understand what’s there.

Interviewer: You know, this all always comes back to customer service and just you’re being available when somebody calls, the odds are you’re going to be there to answer it. Or if you’re not, it’s a matter of just minutes or an hour or whatever just to get back to them instead of waiting for days. But again, Landmark, as we always say, is known for its remarkable customer service. But I believe you guys go far beyond that. It’s the details of a project that seem to be of the utmost importance to you and your company. Details, you know, from the beginning to the end, like through the whole project, things like building on the—well, just building on the land of your choice or land that you already own just to help customers build exactly as I said at the beginning of the show, where they want, how they want. You must be proud of your ability to help your customers with details like this.

Steve Tuma: Yeah, it’s kind of in our DNA because you know, we work hard, you know, and we like to know at the end of the day, it’s a good, fulfilling day. And it was a good day helping the customers. And in turn, we believe if a customer is going to work hard to save the money, get a mortgage, do whatever it is to get the house, they should pull up to it at the end of a hard day and be proud of their home.
Sure. Yeah. So the concept of making sure that it’s a home that they want, works for their family, works for their land, is in their budget, and financially makes sense for them is a very, very important part of that. We’re fortunate to get a lot of repeat business. Customers will call up and do a retirement home or their kids will want to build, or they’re building a weekend home or whatever it may be. And some of them want to add on to the house. It’s kind of cool. And that’s kind of a nice pat on the back where we know that we’ve done a great job.
So it’s the passion for the project and the full understanding. We’re not just a material supplier that says, “Hey, you bought a 2000 square foot ranch panelized home. Here it is.” It’s like, “Hey, let’s make sure it’s right for you. You know, let’s make sure that it works. Let’s make sure that there’s other concepts you may not know about or understand. Let’s look at them.” Sometimes customers come to us with very wild designs. I just got one a couple of hours ago of very extreme designs. They’re like, “Can you do this?” And we look to help them through the process. So that’s kind of the key to it.
Our customers kind of become friends. We work with them. We joke about stuff. We help each other through if they run into a problem where they’re stuck in a corner. You know, something doesn’t make sense. It’s not coming together. Something odd happens on site. We can kind of guide them to it because chances are we’ve seen a problem that a customer may run into or a question that they have. We’ve already navigated it before, so we can show them how to get through or understand a situation. And I think that’s where it really comes through. And that’s all part of our service.
And it’s kind of one of these things where I think we just have a pride in it. We started this company. It’s our blood, sweat, and tears, as we tell people. So the concept that, you know, just selling, you know, what I’ll jokingly say is a stack of wood, you know, compared to like a home that is specifically built for one family on their piece of land. It’s absolutely amazing. It’s an amazing feeling. And it’s pretty cool.
People can look at our Better Business Bureau reviews, and I think, you know, the customer’s comments, which are a result of how we’ve helped them, just reflect that tremendously. They can go to our website, and right at the top of the home page, there’s a Better Business Bureau label. They can click on it and see the reviews. So it’s going that extra mile every time, all the time, and just considering it part of the job.
So that’s—and it’s communication. It’s accurate communication. It’s complete answers. It’s answers that apply to the customer directly to the question they’re answering. We don’t have AI responders. We don’t have canned answers. It’s a customer, you know, Joe Smith, who’s building in Wichita, Kansas. You know, he has this particular question and really looking at giving the answer in relation to their project. And that’s a result of us taking the time to talk to them and understand the situation so that we can give them the best answer for their particular situation instead of a standard canned answer, which may not really have an answer in itself. So I think that’s the point.
You know, we answer the phone. We take care of people, and we want to enjoy it. We work hard. Our customers work hard to afford their home. So we want to make sure they get the best house possible. And it’s also really cool when they call us back five or ten years later and build another one. It’s kind of neat.

Interviewer: Yeah, 31 years, man. That’s got to be amazing. Just to think about that, that you’ve been around, the experience after 31 years of helping people build their homes. I mean, on a personal note, that’s got to be satisfying when you guys are able to bring someone’s new home building dream to life. I mean, even after 31 years, it can’t—you’re, I doubt very much, you’re very jaded about this, about the whole process.

Steve Tuma: Oh, it’s an absolutely amazing feeling. I don’t know how many homes we’ve done. I kind of wish we kept count, but it’s an amazing feel. Every single house, sometimes I’ll be sitting there, you know, relaxing on a Sunday, and I’ll get a ding on my phone, and a customer will send me a text, “Steve, we moved in. Steve, the house is framed. Here’s our dog running around in its own backyard. We’re not in an apartment anymore.” You know, just little stuff like that. Or, “Hey, look at this sunset,” or “Look at this amazing mountain view.” One guy sent a picture. He had, man, 30 or 40 pronghorn antelope in his yard. Wow. Just looking at this stuff. And then sometimes you get pictures of our first holiday, kid’s first birthday, and you’re like, “I remember designing that living room.”
You know, so there’s something a little deeper than just selling a customer something. There’s something a lot about people going through a different stage of their life. You’re affecting their life, and we want to do what we can. So it’s a great memory for them to see it. We have actually had people from 26, 27 years ago contact us to build again. Wow. It’s kind of weird to think that over a quarter of a century ago, they remember us and call us back. And we’d like to think it’s because we did a great job and we continue to improve every day.

Interviewer: Good experience is a good experience. It’s going to bring people back, you know.

Steve Tuma: Right. And that’s—we’ve got a great support system and the team that we have of engineers, architectural designers, different suppliers, different systems that we have, and that it allows us to run a good company with great people that enjoy working here, that enjoy the challenge of helping every customer to go through it. And, you know, whenever I get a picture like that, even if it’s 10 o’clock on a Sunday, I send it out to the team and go, “Look at this. This family just sent this to us. Check it out.” It’s amazing to see the responses from the team. You know, it’s kind of working behind the scenes to say, “That’s pretty cool.” You know, it’s just neat.
You know, for families that celebrate Christmas, there’s one we did in Idaho. They wanted a 26-foot tall ceiling so that they could have a tall Christmas tree. I got a picture of a 25-foot Christmas tree inside of this house. Wow. That’s all lit up. Right. What was interesting about it is this lady built it on land that had been in her family forever, in a little town that she grew up in. Now her life has gone on to live in another part of the country, but she felt it important to pay homage to the family and build this house where the now scattered can get together. There’s something kind of cool about that.
Very cool. There’s something kind of cool about helping a guy that built—he built the replica Shelby Cobras and he said, “Steve, I need a Cobra den.” The minute he said that, I knew exactly what it was to see a guy that designed his own garage, which actually matched the main house. It actually looked like a guest house. This thing was so cool. But we had to work to get the lifts right to make sure that the lifts would work. There’s enough clearance. He could get the cars in and do whatever work.
You see people where a man in Colorado wanted to make sure his kid understood certain things—working with his hands, taking care of yourself. And his weekends were with the son restoring a car and making a hot rod. You know, to sit there and see this 1930s Ford get built over time in a garage that we helped him with, and he has all of his welders and the space and the lift space and access, you know, for what he needs. It was kind of cool to see that.
Then people in their craft rooms—one of the more heart-touching ones was a family. He was 78 years old, and he said, “Steve, I’ve been married for 60 years. I told my wife someday I’m going to build a house.” He said, “I’m 78. I better build a house before she kills me.” Yeah, we both laughed. It was in Prescott, Arizona. And the wife is a master pie baker. So she wanted to have a view of their couple of acres out of the kitchen windows from anywhere in the kitchen so she could see the grandkids running around and the grandfather playing with them. And he wanted a workshop where he could fix their bikes and do different things with them. So it’s kind of amazing how there are certain things that, you know, that particular family was—a garage workshop, the kitchen, and the view of the couple of acres. So when the grandkids are running around, the dogs are running around, they can enjoy it.
So it sounds kind of weird to spend that much time making sure that through any place in the kitchen, she could see out the window to anywhere in the play yard that they had. But that’s what made it. Sure. And that’s what it was. So it takes a little time. Now, sometimes we end up in situations where building departments ask for things that may not be asked anywhere else in the world. So we also take the time to go through and do it.
In one particular municipality, we had to work with their planning and public works department. I was on an hour and 43-minute Zoom call on how to locate a mailbox. Wow. By a curb. And I was like, really? So we can’t just say “mailbox”? They said, no, you have to specifically detail. So they say, “Hey, you put it a foot and a half from the curb.” And I said, “I don’t want to sound funny, but which side of the curb?” They actually had rules. The inside of the curb—you had to go from here to here to here to here. And it had to be a certain height. And you couldn’t have landscaping on it that was going to be more than two feet off the ground. You had to document the plants. And I said, “Well, I kind of understand why, but what’s your purpose?” And it was very valid. Some people put big trees at the end of their driveway, so you can’t see a kid on a bike or you can’t see a car going through. Right. And it was a semi-congested, skinny road. So it made sense. They didn’t want people innocently putting a big mailbox with bushes around it, and then you can’t see the neighbor’s kid riding their bike down the street.
So there’s a lot of stuff. But those are the details we get into. And to tell you the truth, it’s really cool. It’s like, wow, I never heard of that before. But you understand it. So over the 31 years, we’ve gotten all these concepts together. And I think ultimately, it’s the right attitude of really helping people and understanding what they need in their home. And that’s just cool. Yeah, it’s fun.

Interviewer: When 31 years ago, when you started, did you have a plan of where you thought you’d be in 20, 30 years? And where do you think you’re going to be the next 20, 30 years with Landmark Home and Land Company?

Steve Tuma: We had a plan. It’s kind of my crystal ball wasn’t that good. It didn’t have a new set of batteries. But in general, the crystal balls—and, you know, we had a good discussion. I’m like, we just want to build houses for people where they’re happy in it because I’ve seen a lot of people buy tract homes, buy other homes, or just buy homes. And I’m like, really, you paid this much for it? Or they’ll be like, well, we didn’t get this, but we got that. I’m like, the bottom line I heard is they weren’t getting the house that they wanted. And it was just kind of weird.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Tuma: So the reconfirmation of this is just as the company grew where people said, “Hey, can you help my friend in California? Can you help my brother in Florida?” And we just grew, and we built this system that allows us to take care of it. So where will we be in 20 or 30 years? I don’t know. Helping people build on the moon, maybe Mars, you know, we’ll see. We’ll see where it is. But I’ll give you the answer. It’s going to be determined by what the customers ask us to do.
Sure. Because this whole evolution has been derived by customers saying, “Steve, can you help me in the Florida Keys? Steve, can you help me here? Hey, we want to develop a winery outside of Venice, Italy.” And I’m like, well, what’s the difference between Venice, Italy versus Venice, California? Same name. Well, it’s a world of difference. But it’s through working together that we’ve been able to do it by trying these different things. It strengthens the company and our mindset and our history.
So I envision that somehow we will have some type of evolution to housing that makes sense because of just the nature of the way it is. Codes are getting tighter, just building processes are getting possibly more complex. We will have better systems so that a customer can understand it, still control, and understand the processes. I believe we’re going to get more into possibly some commercial stuff, apartments, little office complexes. I also think that we’re going to work on figuring out better designs that people can do at a very controlled cost just because, as all of us see on the news, things are expensive, but pay isn’t getting any higher. Banks are banks. They loan at whatever the interest rate is. So it’s kind of a mathematical calculation as to what people can afford.
So every once in a while, we have calls from politicians saying, “Hey, we want to redevelop this part of town. How do we do this? How do we do this?” And I tell them, “Hey, I don’t want to be too direct. And with all respect to your position, at some point, you guys got to give programs. If you want affordable housing and communities, you got to make your part affordable. You know, you can’t sit here and say, ‘Hey, the contractor should work for less. By the way, our permits are forty thousand dollars.'”
So I think there’ll be efforts where we can do that—to get stuff taken care of and not just in trying to figure out how to do things more affordably but also keep the cost of owning the home and energy efficiency. I think it’s going to be a bigger and bigger thing. In some states, it tightens up every couple of years. Other states are a little more lax. And I think there’ll also be new products that come out make it easier for people to maintain a home. You don’t have to paint it every five or ten years, you know—something that’s longer so people can put that together. And then I think as people’s lifestyles are different, where single professionals and retired people, there’ll be different designs for different stages of life. And I’m thinking that there’s going to be a lot more home offices, kind of convertible rooms that might be the spare bedroom but also the office. And I’m also finding a lot more recreation—home theater, gaming rooms, or recreation of, “Hey, let’s build a doghouse in the garage for the new dog,” or, “Hey, you know, a kitchen so that we can control our food costs but also eat more nutritiously,” outside barbecue areas, patios where people can enjoy stuff.
I’m seeing more in areas where people build basements, finish basements with entertainment for the family to come over. You and I were talking earlier—it’s like, for a family to go see a movie, 15, 20 bucks each for a ticket for kids, 80 dollars plus popcorn. You’re like over 100 dollars to watch a movie. Right. People are like, “OK, I can go buy a big screen for 500. I could go buy a sound system for 500. For a thousand bucks, we can entertain ourselves like crazy at home.” So I think that there’s different things where just the, you know, the times change where people are going to be looking for better ways of still having what they need in a home.
So I guess that’s a pretty long answer to your simple one-line question, but I think we keep our ears open, and we’re constantly listening to what can be done, and we have our own ideas. But ultimately, I believe our customer tells us what’s important to them, and then if we’re not already doing it, we figure it out to get them taken care of.

Interviewer: All sounds fantastic. Yeah, I mean, it’s buy that big screen TV and Netflix subscription.

Steve Tuma: Right. Change the dining room into a home theater. And there you are. There you go. And what’s funny—I mean, hey, we’re kind of joking about that, but that’s what people are doing, and it doesn’t cost any more. Yeah. So by getting rid of the dining room, they’re actually saving the money on the entertainment. They typically eat in the home theater, or they have an island in the kitchen, which they’re already paying for. So the use of the house is becoming more rewarding. But the cost to build, it’s the same.

Interviewer: I imagine nowadays you guys are getting more and more design fixes to where people are asking you to help them put in home theaters for just that.

Steve Tuma: Oh yeah. That’s got to be an interesting aspect. We’re doing one now, a house in northern Michigan. And we’re under the garage. Wow. We’re basically—there’s going to be a home theater with a cement floor like a Span Creek where the cars are on that, and then it’s below. And it being a cement room, it’s kind of a big sound deadening feature. So I guess it was always a problem where the husband’s down there, you know, rocking out to a video or watching some crazy movie. You know, you go watch like Top Gun at full blast. You know, it rocks the neighbor’s house too. So that’s what we’re able to do. We’re seeing more of, “If I’m at home, let’s enjoy it.” Yeah. You know, type of thing.
And that goes even to the equestrian projects, you know, the horse properties we’ve spoken about. There’s people that have mini tack rooms, changing rooms. So you can go live in the horse world, take a shower, get clothed, and come into the house without being full of dirt. Right. There’s more people doing dog baths. Yeah. And like little dog entryways. As dogs become a bigger and bigger part of life, it’s kind of an interesting process. And what’s really cool about that is people are like, “Well, I want dog bath model one, two, three from this company.” They’ve researched it. Now it’s got to have this shower head and do this and do that and do that, and you know this type of a floor system. So we’re seeing a lot of that.
And then we’re also seeing a lot of people doing what I’m calling heirloom properties, where they’re building them to pass on to the family, or it’s their home and their dreams are finally being fulfilled. You know, we have one person who always—he told me when he was 15 he dreamed about 300 plus acres and a big house on it. So he’s 65 now, and he found his 330 acres. And we’re designing a home with every detail to a T of his dream from when he was 15 and give it 50 years to brew into what we have now. So there’s a lot of people that have had these long-term life goals, and they want to achieve it so that there’s a legacy for the family. It’s an amazing, amazing situation to talk to customers and find out why they’re doing something.

Interviewer: Sure. Well, this has been a really fun episode. I’ve really enjoyed this. I haven’t laughed during an episode this much, I don’t think. And we do a lot of laughing.

Steve Tuma: Was it the crystal ball thing?

Interviewer: Yeah, that was part of it. So yeah, another great show with Landmark Home and Land Company founder and president Steve Tuma. So before we let you go, Steve, as always, tell our listeners where they can go to find out more about Landmark Home and Land Company.

Steve Tuma: Basically, you can look at our website, LHLC.com. That’s the initials of Landmark Home and Land Company, LHLC.com. There are videos on there, these podcasts, discussions of different items, what we include in our package, just different details, and also a bunch of plans where people can go through. You can send us an email through there. You can inquire about a specific plan. And we’re also available by telephone. Initially, some customers will work with Mike. He’ll answer the phone at 800-830-9788. Again, that’s 800-830-9788. So they can talk to Mike about the ideas. And then once they’re at the stage of really moving forward, they’ll come over and talk to me, and we’ll be able to help them through.
If for some reason they want to call me right away and say, “Hey,” and say, “Hi, hey, I heard this on the podcast. How does this apply to me?” My direct cell phone, I’m Steve Tuma, is 708-205-2043. And, you know, we can talk about your project and see what’s going on. It’s kind of an exchange. We want to know we’re working with good people that are serious about building a cool home. So let’s get to know each other and talk about it and move forward.

Interviewer: Fantastic. Well, that’s going to wrap it up for this episode. Thanks to all of you for listening to the Panelized Prefab Kit Home Building Show. And we hope you took away some great info from this talk. And we hope you feel a lot more comfortable as you move forward on your path to becoming a kit home owner-builder. So for Steve Tuma and myself, have a great week ahead, and we will see you next time. Thank you Steve.

Steve Tuma: Thank you. It was a lot of fun. Thank You.