DAVE: We're building our dream home out here in Missouri.
STEPHANIE: This is not gonna be your typical cabin
in the woods.
DAVE: This build is as remote as you could imagine.
We don't know what to expect.
I'm not sure we're going to be able to make it.
STEPHANIE: Mother nature apparently has other plans.
Whoa.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!
Unbelievable.
I'm looking at a hydraulic leak on our main boom.
Keep going!
STEPHANIE: Out here, off the grid,
there's no fire stations nearby.
Oh, my gosh.
I was not expecting it to go all the way to the top yet.
Fire is not something to play with.
DAVE: I probably am scared of heights.
- No! - Whoa!
No!
Ah!
You have got to be kidding me.
It's not even close.
This project is gonna be the death of me.
Let's hope for miracles.
NARRATOR: Are you ready to go off the grid?
[music playing]
Vincent van Goat!
Kevin Bacon!
Look at all of them!
Pig tails!
Piggies!
Come on!
Come on, piggies!
We just sold our home in the city.
And we are here full time, which is a little different
than what we're used to.
Hi, Vincent van Goat.
Hey, you guys are a bunch of pigs.
We don't know what to expect.
Here, come on.
There you go.
How dare you, goat?
Oh, Kevin.
DAVE (VOICEOVER): I'm Dave.
STEPHANIE (VOICEOVER): And I'm Steph.
DAVE (VOICEOVER): And we're building
our dream home out here in the Taum Sauk
Mountain Range of Missouri.
They were hungry, weren't they, Sutton?
Yummy, yummy.
I love this food.
DAVE (VOICEOVER): We're a family of four.
Mama's gonna get you!
DAVE (VOICEOVER): We have a beautiful one-year-old daughter
named Monroe and a five-year-old son named Sutton.
Five going on 15.
Sometimes.
The build site is located in southeast Missouri, about
three hours from St. Louis.
This build is as remote as you could imagine.
We got 500 acres here.
It's an amazing piece of property.
We got pastures.
You have mostly forest.
And you have a lot of ridges, steep hills,
a lot of creeks running through it.
So really, it has everything but desert.
STEPHANIE (VOICEOVER): It's just an untouched area
that has a lot of beauty to it.
What makes this land really special,
though, is the fact that it's been in my family
since the 1950s.
My grandparents first purchased this
so they could have a place to raise their family
and then eventually retire.
They started the farm, and they made it their home,
along with my uncle John.
The land has been in our family about 60 years.
But my grandfather recently passed away and handed
it down to the next generation.
Good job locking the gate.
STEPHANIE (VOICEOVER): We're building
a modern cabin off grid.
It's about 2,000 square feet.
And it's got nearly 900 square feet of outdoor living space.
When you walk in the door, you are
gonna feel like you are in the city,
but you're actually in the woods.
You're gonna to see a coffee bar where
you can sit up, cafe style.
Straight back, you'll see a galley-style kitchen,
spiral staircase, two bedroom, two bath, and an art gallery.
DAVE (VOICEOVER): Some of our off-grid features
are a massive solar array.
And that's gonna power us just like we were in the city.
We have a well pump.
So we're able to pull water, no matter what.
And finally, we have a fireplace to heat the house.
It's a perfect combination of what
we wanted to have the creature comforts of living in the city.
For the past 10 years, we've been
running a home design company.
So we're definitely no strangers to construction.
But this will be a first for us.
So our budget is $162,000.
And our project is fast tracked on steroids.
I think we have two months and one week
to get this build done.
It's a big build to get done in a short amount of time.
But we're looking forward to even the challenges
that are gonna come our way.
DAVE (VOICEOVER): First step, clearing the land,
getting ready for concrete.
STEPHANIE (VOICEOVER): We broke ground.
It's actually we cut the ground.
Oh, he's schooling me.
We cut the ground.
We didn't break ground.
DAVE (VOICEOVER): We cut it away.
STEPHANIE (VOICEOVER): We cut it away, OK.
[music playing]
How much dirt did you put in there?
I was working.
[laughs] We need to get you some tighter shoes, then.
OK, this just means that we have been productive.
DAVE (VOICEOVER): I agree with that.
STEPHANIE (VOICEOVER): OK?
That shows that we've made a lot of progress.
[music playing]
DAVE (VOICEOVER): After getting the site leveled
and the foundation trench dug, we're
able to get a concrete truck to the site to pour the footings.
STEPHANIE (VOICEOVER): You know, so we're cruising right
along, making good progress.
But mother nature apparently has other plans.
We got hit with the remnants of a massive hurricane
down in the Gulf Coast.
Seven to eight inches of rain came down in just a few hours
and caused a ton of flooding.
DAVE (VOICEOVER): We're heading to the site for the first time
since the storm hit to see how things are looking.
And I'll be honest, I'm a little nervous.
Things are not looking great.
So let's try to be positive.
You said you wanted a moat.
STEPHANIE: Whoa!
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!
I said I wanted a moat.
I guess I got one.
Holy...
STEPHANIE: Not what you expected?
DAVE: No.
Look at this.
This is not good.
I don't know if the trench walls now
have collapsed on the footing.
We expected walls to be going up at this point.
Not happening.
This is really deflating, isn't it?
Unbelievable.
Look at this.
STEPHANIE (VOICEOVER): We were making
good progress getting the site ready for the concrete slab.
And then a major hurricane came from Louisiana, well over 500
miles from where we are in Missouri.
DAVE (VOICEOVER): It brought us a ton of rain
the past few days.
And now we're not only stalled, but we're also flooded.
This is not good.
This puts our build way behind.
Unbelievable.
DAVE (VOICEOVER): At this point, all we can do
is wait for this to dry up and hope
it doesn't cause any long-term issues with the foundation.
STEPHANIE (VOICEOVER): It's taken a couple of weeks,
but everything is dried up.
So the build site is finally coming back to life.
We finally got the backlog poured
so we can move forward with getting the slab
and the foundation complete.
DAVE (VOICEOVER): The cement trucks
will be here tomorrow morning.
And we got a lot of underground plumbing work
to get done before they get here.
Next up, we got the site prep for the slab.
STEPHANIE (VOICEOVER): We're really
trying to fasten our seat belts here, because it's
gonna be a long ride...
We're gonna do it.
...Over the next 48 hours.
I'm losing power to my boom.
God, gotta be kidding me.
Let's just hope it's a fitting.
This is ridiculous.
So we were just starting the underground for the plumbing.
And I'm looking at a hydraulic leak on our main boom.
So the machine is pretty much dead.
I'm not sure we're gonna be able to make it.
It sucks.
Can't dig it by hand.
So we sent a guy to get his machine.
And he'll be back in a couple hours,
and we can give it another try.
We'll work till dark.
We'll get it done, though.
DAVE (VOICEOVER): We're burning daylight.
We got another excavator to come in.
So we've been out here since 6:00 in the morning.
So I'm ready to actually go to bed.
But not yet.
We still got work to do.
We got an inch and a half.
Three incher, 66.
Where's that trap at?
[music playing]
STEPHANIE (VOICEOVER): We spent the wee hours into the night
plumbing by tractor light.
We got through it, barely, barely got through it.
And we are ready for finally that concrete pour.
STEPHANIE: Woo!
It feels really good to be standing over here,
just watching that get that done.
Unbelievable.
We finally have the third and final pour.
We had footings.
We had the back wall.
As you can see, this is the final slab.
Nothing can happen without this.
And it's finally here.
So I remember, as a kid, we did this when I was like five years
old.
How old are you, Sutton?
What?
Almost five.
OK, so you're gonna do it one year before me.
There's your name.
How do you spell it?
S-U-T-T-O-N.
Oh, great.
STEPHANIE: You've come a long way.
This is so exciting.
DAVE: OK, perfect.
Look at that.
There we go.
Always remember, etched in concrete now.
Now we got a slab.
And we're ready for vertical construction.
[music playing]
You're good.
You're good!
DAVE: Now you really start to envision your rooms,
your dimensions.
Yeah, it's amazing.
You ready?
Here we go.
Keep going.
Right there.
STEPHANIE: Woo!
It's a lot bigger when it's standing up, isn't it?
Yeah.
That couldn't have gone better, actually.
STEPHANIE (VOICEOVER): While the framers
work on the house for the next couple days,
David and I decided to spend a little time on site cleanup
that we've been putting off.
Since we cleared the land, we have
this massive pile of brush.
We had to go somewhere with it.
So it all got pushed into a pile.
And the idea behind that is to burn the pile.
But we're not really experienced in that area.
DAVE: Let's do a fire line around this.
We'll cut it out.
And we'll get that thing going, because that's an eyesore.
It's a little eerie when you're out here off the grid,
and you're in the middle of nowhere.
There's no hospitals.
There's no fire stations nearby.
I mean, it would...
If I had to make a call for help,
it would take a couple hours for somebody to get here.
So we've got to be very cautious with the way
we approach situations, and especially when you're
playing with fire, because fire is not something to play with.
I have some legitimate concerns.
How many times have you done this?
Before today?
Zero.
STEPHANIE: First thing to keep in mind
is know what you're doing before you start the fire.
Yes.
I'm glad that we do.
Calm day.
I think we're good.
All right.
I don't know how to feel.
I'm excited about this, but I'm also very nervous.
Oh my gosh. The flame is getting...
I was not expecting it to go all the way to the top yet.
I thought this was supposed to start
at the bottom and kinda smoke.
I didn't expect it.
I seriously...
STEPHANIE (VOICEOVER): I'm genuinely concerned that this
could get out of hand.
I mean, really, that is blazing.
Let me cut more dirt.
STEPHANIE: My heart is racing.
My mind is going to the absolute worst.
The last thing we need is a big fire to take everything down.
Oh boy.
The flame is getting bigger!
OK, I wasn't expecting it to be this big.
You told me it was just gonna smoke.
It keeps spreading.
Since we cleared the land, we have
this massive pile of brush.
And the idea behind that is to burn the pile.
I mean, really, that is blazing.
Let me cut more dirt.
STEPHANIE: So I'm genuinely concerned that this
could get out of hand.
To keep the flames in this brush pile under control,
Dave is going around, cutting dirt
to kind of keep everything intact
and make sure that nothing spreads.
Oh boy.
The flame is getting bigger!
Growing up, when we did this out on the farm,
the fire was contained.
It was small in the middle.
I didn't see flames like this.
I wasn't feeling the heat from a mile away.
DAVE: We have cut our fire line.
Nothing's jumping.
The wind has luckily died down.
So I'm feeling confident.
It's going.
It's smoldering.
STEPHANIE: So what do you think?
It's fine.
We're good.
STEPHANIE: It's fine, yeah.
It's actually doing exactly what we wanted it to do.
So yes, there's gonna be an initial flame.
It's taking care of all the dead leaves.
Woosh!
It's gonna happen.
So we got the cycle down.
We started to understand it.
We realized that that's part of managing it.
And luckily, it worked out OK.
STEPHANIE (VOICEOVER): The framing is going up quickly.
It is so exciting, seeing those sticks take their place.
And the walls are forming.
DAVE (VOICEOVER): This is amazing, to see
them throw it up that quick.
It's pretty neat.
It's really neat, actually.
STEPHANIE (VOICEOVER): The roof joists are here.
And they are going up fast.
We have a roof overhead, kind of a big deal.
We have the outer panels up.
It feels like this is taking forever,
but also started to just fly and happen really quick.
So it's so cool that we are standing here in a place.
This place exists now.
These ideas that we went from our heads,
our visions, conversations, to a real, standing place.
This is incredible.
So this phase of where we are at is
where David and I really have to get busy getting
a lot of the work done ourself.
David is going to cover all of the electrical in the house.
We're talking over 2,000 square feet.
So he's got his work cut out for him.
I'm trying to knock out the electrical.
That way, when we're ready for insulation,
I have all my exterior walls finished,
because we have one week and two days
until we put up sheet rock.
So I'm putting in a lot of long days and late nights
to pull it off in time.
[music playing]
STEPHANIE (VOICEOVER): We've got to do the roof.
That's our next milestone.
The metal is here.
We have a full crew in place.
They are here.
And we're gonna help get that roof on today.
And we are pumped about it.
I cannot wait to see it all come together.
You are a little more afraid of heights than I am.
DAVE (VOICEOVER): I guess, is it scared if all I think about
is me falling over and over and over again?
Yeah, I probably am scared of heights, because I don't
really consider what I'm doing.
I just consider the fall.
You don't want to look down.
Just look straight to the roof.
You'll be all right.
DAVE (VOICEOVER): So with this roof,
obviously, there's a lot of challenges.
We have long pieces of the metal.
We have high roof line.
STEPHANIE (VOICEOVER): 20-foot ceilings inside.
So you can imagine that pitch is pretty steep.
It's a scary job, but somebody's got to do it.
And are they just snapping together?
They go over the other area where you fastened
it so that there's no possibility
for wind-driven rain to get in.
A little faster, honey.
You got it?
I think so.
All right.
STEPHANIE: You get to stomp it?
Can I stop it?
They work as good as they look, I promise.
Being up here and actually seeing the roof come together,
and really being a part of it up here, high pitch or not,
things are looking really good.
David, how are you doing?
I think he's a little terrified up here.
I have my cat claws out, just to the roof.
It seems like we're almost seeing the light
at the end of the tunnel.
And we say, oh, metal!
Bring it up!
How many pieces are left?
Only got two.
Are you kidding me?
How close to the edge are we?
Oh, come on.
DAVE: We got the last two pieces up, but we're one short.
Do we need to go...
DAVE: 24, 3, 3.
That's 30.
STEPHANIE: I'm not gonna interfere with your math.
DAVE: We're coming about a foot short on our last panel.
It's looking like it's about three to four
weeks on one replacement panel.
And that puts us behind the eight ball again.
So we got to figure something out and figure it out quick.
The roof is going on.
It seems like we're almost seeing the light
at the end of the tunnel.
And we're coming about a foot short on our last panel.
STEPHANIE: Are you kidding me?
It's looking like it's about three to four
weeks on one replacement panel.
And that puts us behind the eight ball again.
So we got to figure something out and figure it out quick.
Terrific.
STEPHANIE: I kind of want to go curl up in the car
and hide, because it's just been such a roller coaster,
you know?
We kind of get a high, and we get excited about it,
and then something happens, which just seems to happen
with every build project.
It kind of is what it is and comes with the territory.
DAVE: My hope is that they tucked
it somewhere in the longer pieces just to mess with us.
This has got to be it, though.
DAVE: Oh, there they are.
We found them. This is it.
STEPHANIE: This has got be it, right?
Has to be.
Please be 20.
Please be... OK, come on.
All right, we got them!
Woo!
Thank goodness, heart attack later, it's all figured out.
But jeez.
STEPHANIE: Let's get this last piece in.
Woo!
I feel good about this.
We still have a little ways to go.
But the top part is done.
STEPHANIE (VOICEOVER): Now that we've
found the missing piece of metal,
this should be smooth sailing from here.
Got it?
That ones a whopper.
Yeah, that one's a little... STEPHANIE: A little heavier.
...A little bigger than what we had earlier.
Woo, last piece!
Bon voyage.
Woo!
I can't even tell you how good it feels to look at that roof,
no panels missing, beautiful Arctic white.
And it looks perfect.
And I couldn't be more excited.
We're feeling good.
The roof is on.
The electrical work is finished inside.
And we're able to spray the insulation.
We're pretty much done insulating.
And man, it feels good to have this done.
This is amazing.
STEPHANIE (VOICEOVER): Our windows
have started to arrive...
Not one you want to break.
STEPHANIE (VOICEOVER): ...which is great,
because installing those brings us one
step closer to being dried in.
DAVE (VOICEOVER): The drywall is quickly going up.
Everything was going great until the solar panels arrived.
We've been waiting four weeks for these,
so you can imagine the excitement
and the anticipation for us to finally
get them in our little hands.
And they arrived...
DAVE:... shattered!
The irony is all over the panel.
Do not stack.
We don't have any backups for the solar panels.
So it's a really unfortunate and really disappointing
way to start the weekend, especially when we're right
ahead schedule on everything.
You know, it's like...
DAVE: Caught up.
Things are good.
Man.
It's a bummer. DAVE: Theme of the build.
Up, down. Up, down.
Up, down.
Up, up, down, down.
Up, up, up, down, down.
We have 24400-watt panels in here
that are useless right now.
If they take four weeks like this, we're past our deadline.
We are past when we need to have the entire build done.
We are not in the most conducive area for expediting material.
So I'm not counting on it.
But let's hope for miracles.
STEPHANIE (VOICEOVER): Fall is here,
so we are feeling the crunch.
The coolness in the air makes me feel really good.
And I love this time of year.
But at the same time, I feel so much pressure.
We've got the windows in the house.
But we have yet to get the doors in.
So with the weather cooling down,
we obviously want to get that sealed up.
The most challenging, though, is going
to be that double French door up to the second level.
It's big.
It's heavy.
And we're gonna need a lot of manpower
to get that lifted and sealed into place.
All right, ready?
Let's dry this place in!
DAVE (VOICEOVER): We're gonna try
to use the tractor to get it up to that second story,
support it.
We're gonna be there, holding it,
nailing, getting everything in.
All right.
All right, Nate.
Bring her in.
All right, you gotta tilt up.
STEPHANIE: Tilt it!
Tilt up a little bit.
No, up!
STEPHANIE: There you go.
Come on.
No!
Oh my... you have got to be kidding me.
This project is gonna be the death of me.
Unbelievable.
So we've got about six doors or so to get into place.
The most challenging, though, is going
to be that double French door up to the second level.
All right, you got to tilt up.
STEPHANIE: Tilt it!
Tilt up a little bit.
No, up!
No!
STEPHANIE: Oh!
Oh my... you have got to be kidding me.
Oh my... what happened, dude?
The forks came off.
This project is gonna be the death of me.
Unbelievable.
I... I don't even have any words right now.
What do you want to do?
DAVE: Let's just figure this out and move on.
CONSTRUCTION WORKER: This was custom sized for that opening?
Yes, yeah.
The only thing we can do right now is get on the phone.
That's the only thing that's gonna fix this.
CONSTRUCTION WORKER: How long did
it take you to get this door?
DAVE: Three weeks.
STEPHANIE (VOICEOVER): It was a custom door.
So getting one that fits our specific requirements
for the door jamb and the space that we need to fill
might not happen.
So we're gonna get on the phone.
We're gonna make some calls, get the area cleaned up.
We got a lot of glass on the site to clean up.
But pretty disappointed and feeling
pretty upset about this.
It's like just throwing hundreds of dollars
into the trash can.
STEPHANIE (VOICEOVER): Yesterday was a disaster.
But today, we're putting the deck on.
So I'm hoping that the bad day yesterday is gonna be made up
for with lots of happy feelings today when
the second-story deck goes on.
Hopefully things go smoothly.
We're gonna walk out on there, and we can
kind of forget about yesterday.
DAVE (VOICEOVER): We got 20-foot decking.
So we're gonna lay it across the forks that are going to firmly
be attached to the bucket.
That's gonna take that, bring it up.
And we're going to try to angle it so that it's a little
easier to get that up there.
Lift her up. STEPHANIE: Up?
Up high.
STEPHANIE (VOICEOVER): This is tractor redemption day.
We are using this tractor to our advantage.
And it is gonna help us get the deck into place.
I will not allow anything to go wrong this time.
STEPHANIE: You got this?
Yeah.
Getting tired, though.
STEPHANIE: It's not the time to get tired.
OK, sorry.
STEPHANIE (VOICEOVER): Now that we've got all the boards up
on the deck, we're just gonna lay it out piece by piece
and really get a feel.
I think this is one of our strong suits
of working together is that kind of assembly line process.
I can't get over this, honey.
Seriously.
We just added 400 square feet of outdoor living space,
coming right out of the bedroom.
Mhm.
STEPHANIE (VOICEOVER): The deck looks amazing.
Being able to walk out of this second-story doorway
to just take in the view is breathtaking.
Ah, it's all starting to come together.
I can see the light.
Now if we could just get a door.
Things are finally moving forward.
We start the drywall process.
And texturing should be on the way.
But the mud's on the wall, and the mud's not drying.
It's been up there a couple of days.
It's still wet.
And you can't put a second coat on there
until the first coat is dry.
We don't have power in the house.
It has been incredibly humid outside.
And then the doors haven't been on.
And that's causing a bunch of moisture to get inside.
So the floors are wet.
The walls are wet.
Everything is just a mess at this point.
If this mud doesn't dry, I don't know what we're gonna do.
DAVE (VOICEOVER): One little victory is that our garage
door arrived today.
We're excited.
We've seen in our head what we want it to look like... very
architectural, very modern.
Plan is, throw that thing up.
I think it comes in like four or five...
Glass. Let's don't throw it.
Let's not throw it.
Let's gently place that garage door into its hole.
Fair enough.
Oh my gosh.
This aluminum is so heavy.
Yeah.
Oh yeah.
Bring that baby in.
Now you go ahead and set yours in the track here.
There you go, right through the radius.
You might have to push in.
OK, there you go. Boom.
STEPHANIE (VOICEOVER): This garage door is
so much better than I thought.
The glass panels look amazing.
Got your rope over here.
STEPHANIE: Oh, and just like that?
Oh, I don't even... It just did it.
Oh, wait, you mean you didn't get the one with the remote?
No, I am the remote.
And you are the remote. STEPHANIE: Kidding.
- Do you want to try it? - OK.
All right.
I thought you'd never ask.
Pull the string.
How do I do it?
Just like that.
Ooh.
And then for the locking mechanism, you have a shoe.
You can push down on there.
Oh, like this?
Yeah.
Wow.
Woo!
We officially have a garage door.
This is a big day.
STEPHANIE (VOICEOVER): The other good news
is that our replacement French doors have arrived.
We waited a couple weeks.
We kind of scrambled to get a new door into place.
We disassembled it, took it apart completely.
There's not gonna be any mistakes this time.
This door is going up to that second story.
And it's gonna be in one piece.
If I start to fall, just push back.
Lock me in.
Yes! STEPHANIE: Woo!
That was close.
DAVE: Nice.
STEPHANIE: OK, feeling good.
Nice work.
DAVE (VOICEOVER): Finally, we are
on solid ground, a new deck, with our door in three pieces,
ready to be put together.
Finally, such a manageable task to get this door in.
STEPHANIE: Looking good.
All right.
Yeah, let's shut them, see what happens.
All right.
See how it looks.
Oh my gosh.
STEPHANIE (VOICEOVER): The feeling I have to see
these stories go into place...
Thank goodness.
This has been a couple thousand-dollar mistake.
And we're ready to move on.
It's in.
We lost two weeks.
But it's in.
STEPHANIE (VOICEOVER): I feel good about it.
Now I just feel the pressure to get everything else done.
Our kitchen cabinets have finally arrived.
And we are finally starting to put together my favorite part
of the build, the coffee bar.
OK.
Let's bring this over.
STEPHANIE (VOICEOVER): My vision for this is that you walk
inside to what feels like a coffee cafe,
where you can just sit down, relax, and kind of just
feel like you're on a vacation.
We're talking cinder-colored cabinets,
butcher block counter going in.
The beveled edge on your right, my left.
STEPHANIE (VOICEOVER): Kind of a rustic feel
to kind of bring in the woods and really
kind of emphasize that outdoor feel and get your coffee on.
So picture five cylinders, boom, boom, boom,
boom, that are gonna be filled with coffee beans,
and then not whitewashed brick, but kind of a German schmear.
It's gonna have a heavy... - A little thicker.
- A little thicker, exactly. - Nice.
I can't wait.
And I know that I am going to help you with every step.
[groans] Oh, my goodness.
- Should I be concerned? - No.
I should be concerned.
STEPHANIE (VOICEOVER): This is a big day.
Winter is just around the corner.
The cooler temps are here.
We've got to get heat into the place.
Finally, the fireplace arrives.
It is time to get that baby in the wall.
You're right.
OK, let's hope this fits.
Your side first.
Center.
Oh.
Holy crap.
It's not even close!
Oh no.
That's a problem.
I mean, it's...
That's not even close.
Did they send us the right one?
So the rough opening, 36 and 1/2.
39.
STEPHANIE: OK, this is unbelievable.
Oh, this is not good.
OK, let's hope this fits.
Your side first.
We're feeling good, putting the fireplace in.
Everything looks good.
Oh.
Holy crap.
It's not even close.
Oh, that's a problem.
I mean, it's...
That's not even close.
STEPHANIE (VOICEOVER): Had we whipped out that tape
from the beginning, we maybe would have avoided,
I don't know, so much disappointment.
So the rough opening, 36 and 1/2.
39.
STEPHANIE: OK.
This is unbelievable.
I mean, we're gonna have to rip the framing out.
It's really our only option at this point,
unless we're gonna start over with it.
Luckily, if I took both those studs out
on the side of the opening, we fit just perfect.
Perfect.
Oh my gosh.
Rejoice.
It's in.
Thank goodness.
STEPHANIE (VOICEOVER): Because of all the challenges
we've been facing, we are super delayed.
And we are racing to the finish line to get this wrapped up.
Our new solar panels arrived unbroken this time.
We are super excited to finally get power to the house.
STEPHANIE: We're really, really excited.
The drywall is no longer an issue.
We can move forward.
Just a lot of fine tuning still left to do but,
it's going to look so good.
STEPHANIE (VOICEOVER): With the walls dry,
we were able to do the brick wall above the coffee bar.
For that, we went with a watered-down mortar
mix smeared over the top.
Th smear was almost like art, you know?
It was just kind of me doing my thing up there.
We just really wanted that distressed look, almost
like the paint was peeling.
So I really felt like I was in my element.
We added lights.
And the cherry on top is a vibrant neon sign.
STEPHANIE (VOICEOVER): We named our coffee bar
Cocoplum Crema, because the cocoplum
is one of our favorite plants.
So we've got a few things on the list to knock out.
And we have got to get going.
We've got to tackle the staircase.
It has been weeks, and we have had
no access to the second level.
So we've been using a ladder to get everything
up there that we need.
It is time to get those stairs in place.
And we've got to figure out how to do it.
STEPHANIE: OK, so each one just needs
to be fastened into the bottom.
Yeah.
STEPHANIE: That seems pretty easy.
DAVE (VOICEOVER): We thought the spiral
staircase would fit the architectural design
of the whole build.
And secondly, her grandpa actually
had a spiral staircase.
And it reminded us a lot of him.
So it was another way of incorporating the past
into this current build.
STEPHANIE (VOICEOVER): It is a complete staircase, a spiral
one that's looking pretty good.
And next, we've got to do the railing.
This looks really complicated.
This is supposed to be the railing for the steps?
DAVE: Yes. STEPHANIE: Pull apart?
Yep.
All right.
Slowly, slowly.
And pull up, up.
You go the other way.
I'm going,
DAVE: No, OK.
It's not going anywhere.
You twist that one.
STEPHANIE: Go back in.
No, no, no.
STEPHANIE: Out more?
But this needs to go in.
That thing did not do what it was supposed to.
We were pulling.
We were pushing.
We were bending.
DAVE: You're strong.
We need some communication here.
DAVE (VOICEOVER): I just didn't think
that it was going to be as much of a divorce machine activity.
Should we stop and read the directions?
We did.
This is how funny they look in the directions too.
It shows a couple that's fighting.
You know what?
I think we did ruin it, because the loop... it did not turn out.
Shall we regroup?
Yeah.
DAVE (VOICEOVER): We may be able to salvage it.
So rather than do more damage and kink the railing,
we're just gonna try to find some specialized help, somebody
that might know better.
Of course, we have other things to tackle.
We're good.
Look at that.
STEPHANIE (VOICEOVER): Time is of the essence.
We have about a week left on this build.
And we've got to get moving on things
so we can get moved in, especially
before it gets too cold outside to be dealing with any of this.
DAVE (VOICEOVER): Going to be testing
how much an individual needs for sleep in a week's period.
STEPHANIE (VOICEOVER): Hopefully it gets done on time.
[music playing]
We are done.
It really is nice to kind of see us come to the point
where we see that hard work come to fruition.
It was such a long road.
But we are so proud of what we put together.
I am most looking forward to a long two-day nap.
I'm there.
DAVE (VOICEOVER): Once I come up from that,
I'm going to get to enjoying it.
STEPHANIE (VOICEOVER): Finally, we get to slow
down and soak it all in.
DAVE (VOICEOVER): So the original budget was 162,000.
We were closer to about 185 because of all the delays,
everything that happened.
STEPHANIE (VOICEOVER): Our timeline
was two months and one week.
And I think it took us about three months
to complete the project, which is slightly
longer than we were hoping for.
But with all the challenges, I think we landed in a pretty
good spot, all said and done.
We are showing our house to our lovely Aunt Su.
She's always so proud and loves everything we do.
So I can't wait to show her the house.
Oh my gosh.
You finished.
Aunt Su!
Hey, wow!
This is beautiful.
Look at all the windows!
Wow.
You got a phone booth!
You're the only person I know with a phone booth.
Step up on the deck.
This thing is huge.
We've got the fire going for you.
We've got the marshmallows out.
I cannot wait for you to see the inside.
I can't wait to see.
I can open my eyes?
Yes, open, open.
Oh, whoa.
I love it.
I could live here.
This is beautiful.
Yes, this is the butcher block.
David did an amazing job.
It was really tricky to put together.
And he did a seamless job.
I'm so excited for this.
Hey, seamless, nice.
Yes.
And we've got just about every coffee bean you can imagine.
We wanted the place to feel like it had some history,
and it had been here a while, so we added some brick accents.
How do you power this out in the woods?
Fantastic question.
We have a huge solar array out in front and a hybrid inverter.
And it transfers all of our energy
into alternating current.
It's pretty much the biggest battery you
can get with a solar system.
And it's powering everything you see in the house.
DAVE: It's perfect.
STEPHANIE: And then we can move into the living area here.
DAVE: Do you feel that? Do you fee that?
SU: Yeah. DAVE: The warmth?
STEPHANIE: Can you feel it from here...
SU: Yeah. STEPHANIE:... cozy fireplace?
Yeah.
That will actually pipe in and throw it up.
And then look at the big fans.
That will circulate it throughout the house.
So there will be very little temperature difference
from the high-vaulted ceilings down to where
we're comfortable.
Really, really wonderful.
Oh, look at this.
Have you used your kitchen?
You are our first guest in the kitchen.
What can I get you?
Anything you want on the menu.
You are a really good cook, so maybe you come over
and you cook for us. - I'd love to.
Right?
I'd love to.
Where does the water come from?
Where do you get your water?
DAVE: We have a well about 180 feet away.
And the pump is powered.
Guess what?
Solar.
Duh!
Kitchen came together so nice.
But I want to show you a really special room.
I'm excited to see what you think about this.
So... SU: Can't wait.
Can't wait. STEPHANIE:... let's go this way.
All right.
Come in, come in, and open.
SU: You have an art gallery.
STEPHANIE: Yes.
I was so excited to show you this, a really special room
that we did.
And most of it in here is painted by Uncle John.
SU: He was quite the artist, wasn't he?
STEPHANIE (VOICEOVER): Everything
really kind of centers around our family
and what our family is about.
And walking through there, I kind of get teary eyed.
You know, now that it's finally done,
I know that they would be so proud.
And they would love every second of it.
STEPHANIE: Are you excited to see upstairs?
SU: I am.
And then I get to slide down the banister.
DAVE: All right, let's go look at the bedrooms.
STEPHANIE: This is the kids' room, of course.
SU: So Monroe here, Sutton there.
STEPHANIE: Yes.
They love this.
They're just excited to have their own space.
SU: You did good.
This is the bedroom? - Yes.
Yes.
SU: It's huge.
I like it.
And I like the high ceilings a lot.
DAVE: And Sutton's loft.
This was David's idea.
We were in here.
We had the bathroom.
And we were figuring some stuff out.
And he says, why don't we put a ceiling over that,
cap that, and make that a little loft for Sutton?
And he was so excited when he found out that's what
we were doing for him.
And I love your view out the bathroom window.
STEPHANIE: This was a lot of work to put together.
So we're excited to see it all finished, finally.
SU: Nice-size closet, great glass door.
I like it.
We're very proud of the view.
This is what it was all about.
SU: The view is beautiful.
STEPHANIE: We wanted a view of the lake.
And being on the second story and being able to walk out
onto the deck...
SU: It's beautiful.
And this is enormous.
DAVE: There's no better place to stargaze.
Oh yeah, no lights out here.
DAVE: Nothing, nothing at all. SU: Good to know.
I'm thrilled.
Thank you for having me here.
I love your place.
I love everything about it.
SU (VOICEOVER): I think it's stunning.
I'm so proud of Stephanie and David.
They did an amazing job.
STEPHANIE (VOICEOVER): Building off the grid was challenging.
But it was so worth it.
And we finally have our dream home.
I'm too warm.
Oh, too warm?
Ooh, I think that heat feels good.
STEPHANIE (VOICEOVER): I'm so excited to just sit around
the fireplace, and start cooking some family meals,
and really just enjoying that togetherness
that we've been looking for in this off-the-grid build.
Hey, isn't this house cool?
Yeah!
Isn't it a dream come true?
I didn't dream about this.
Mama and I did.
DAVE (VOICEOVER): As far as the future
of the land and the house, there was a chapter 1.
And we are turning the page.
So I couldn't be more excited for what it has to hold.
What do you say marshmallows and chocolate,
and we go inside, and hang out, and enjoy
this beautiful new home?
That sound good?
OK.
I'm gonna get mine a little toasty first.
OK.
Ready?
Ready, Monroe?