Clients building a home in Star Valley, Wyoming almost always ask us whether they need an architect or a draftsman before we start building. Here's the answer from where I sit, on the construction side, turning drawings into actual homes.

When drywall goes up, the panels are screwed to the framing and the seams between them are taped and coated with joint compound. How many coats get applied, how smoothly they are sanded, and what surface prep happens before paint determines the drywall finish level.

When you build a smaller footprint, you aren't downsizing, you are upgrading. You are trading underutilized hallways and cavernous, empty guest rooms for the ability to obsess over the details that you actually touch and see every day.