When you have your home built by United-Bilt Homes (and perhaps by other builders as well), you can save quite a bit by doing some of the finish work yourself.

The savings can be impressive, but you have to wonder whether you’ll get good results or not. Going through the intense experience of building a custom home and then being unhappy with it because you’ve done a bad job with the painting would be heart breaking.

It’s not like doing your own electrical work or roofing, though. As long as you take reasonable care with your ladders and keep the rooms well ventilated, there isn’t any actual danger in doing your own painting. There’s creative satisfaction in doing the job. It can even be fun to make a family project of it.

Here’s how to give yourself the best chance of success:

• Use a good quality paint. Since the cost of professional painting is mostly in the labor, you can afford a good quality paint, and your results will be much better. Choose paints made with tough minerals like titanium dioxide rather than cheaper, less resilient ones like chalk. Coverage will be better, the result will look sharper, and you won’t have to repaint as soon.
• Get the right tools. You’ll need the right kind of roller for the paint you’ve chosen, brushes, painter’s tape, and a good roller pan. Don’t try to make do with what you’ve got around the house — ask the people where you buy your paint for the tools that best suit the job. Do yourself a favor, too, and have plenty of cloths for quickly cleaning up a drip.
• Make sure your surfaces are clean and well prepared. If there’s dirt and dust on the walls, you’ll be painting the dust, and the paint will come off right along with it. If the surface is damp, rough, or has holes in it, paint won’t adhere as well and your results won’t be as good.

Paint continues to be the most economical way to make a big difference in your home. Give it a try!

Today’s Astounding Fact from Freakonomics came from a paper at the National Bureau of Economic Research:

Construction makes up less than 5 percent of employment but accounts for more than 40 percent of the large swings in the job-filling rate during and after the Great Recession.

The impact of the housing market on the economy is always greater than the proportion of people working in building trades.

Why?

The National Association of Home Builders estimates that each home built creates three jobs. Think of all the jobs involved in building houses:

• lumberjacks
• manufacturers
• construction workers
• carpenters
• roofers
• plumbers
• electricians
•  truck drivers
• lawyers
• realtors
• architects
• designers

Nearly all of these jobs are in America, unlike new jobs created by other sectors fo the economy.

New homes also increase the tax base, bringing new funds into cities for schools and services. In fact, each home generates $90,000 in taxes of one kind and another as items are manufactures, sold, transported, and used.

Housing usually accounts for more than 17% of the gross domestic product.

Is this a reason to build a new home? No. The reason to build a new home is because you need or want a new home. But the economic impact of your new home is a reason to feel good about your decision.

We’ve been seeing homebuilders in the headlines a lot recently. Homebuilders, the news tells us, are still depressed, or worried, or — our recent favorite — “Homebuilders Less Pessimistic.” Like, even when there’s good news, homebuilders are still pretty dismal. We’re assured that homebuilding will hit bottom this year, or maybe in 2013.

How should this dreary news affect you if you’re thinking of building a house this spring? It might be important to investors considering buying stock in the homebuilding industry, but it shouldn’t affect you at all.

A lot of the headlines about depressed homebuilders reflect the Housing Market Index, also known as the Homebuilders Confidence Measure. In general, a score of 50 or more shows confidence. The Housing Market Index hasn’t been above 50 since 2006.

That hasn’t prevented companies like United-Bilt from building plenty of nice homes for happy families. We’re pretty happy, too. The headlines about pessimistic homebuilders are really referring to an abstraction.

Make sure the homebuilder you choose is solvent, and there is no reason to put off building your home.

Building a home involves a lot of thought about financial security. Your home can help create financial security for you. Getting a loan can make you wonder if you’re financially secure enough to qualify. The commitment of building a home can make you feel more secure — or challenge you to think about whether you’re ready for that secure, settled feeling.

You may not ever think about how financially secure your home builder is.

You should, though. A home builder that’s not financially secure may cut corners on the quality of materials. They may not be able to get materials delivered on time. They may not keep up with their insurance, leaving you liable for risks you wouldn’t expect.

In the worst case, they may go out of business and be unable to finish building your home. More than 20% of U.S. construction companies have gone out of business since 2006, so this is not as unusual as you might expect. A contractor who has declared bankruptcy may not be able to refund your money or to finish your project. Some may just leave town.

Even if that horror story is unlikely, there are other concerns. Will the construction company be around in the future if you have more questions or you want more work done? United-Bilt Homes has been building houses since 1958; for some families, we’ve built houses for three generations in a row. Not many builders can make that claim.

Here’s what to look for when you’re deciding whether your builder is financially secure:

• Good references and a solid history
• Good bank relationship and line of credit with lumberyards
• Enough workers and materials to finish the job

United-Bilt has been around for over half a century. We have put more than 35,000 customers into their dream homes. Your materials will be delivered from our lumberyard at the beginning of the job, so you can feel completely secure. When you choose a builder, make sure you choose someone equally reliable.

At a recent custom home builder’s trade show, a house designed by a closet company won the Critic’s Choice prize. There were 27 highly specialized closets — excuse us, organizational systems — in this house, and perhaps not much room for anything more.

The designers envisioned a busy family living here, and figured that plenty of shelves and cubbyholes would make their lives more peaceful.

United-Bilt Homes is not a closet company, but we know the importance of closets, as you can see from the floorplan of the Huntington, one of our most popular homes for busy families.

The original plan has a master suite with a walk through bathroom and a walk-in closet. With high shelves and closet rods on both sides of the closet, this will work for a couple (his side and her side) or for the fashionista who needs ample storage for clothing.

Option B has separate walk-in closets in the bath for couples who want their own spaces with their own individual organization (paint the insides two different colors, too!) — or for people who are happy with less space for clothing if they can have a special roomy closet for beauty treatments and cosmetics, hair care appliances and other pampering products.

Bath Option C has the classic his and hers single walk in closet — but it’s in the bedroom, which can be handy for couples who get ready for work at the same time. Having him pick out ties while she brushes her teeth can be too much togetherness.

Option C is also perfect for those who like to lay out multiple outfits on the bed before deciding what to wear.

We know you’re out there.

Did the closet company consider these relationship and behavior issues? We hope they did. This is real life.