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Mom Uses YouTube Videos to Build Her Own House—Is She Nuts?

Cara Brookins was in a bind: After fleeing an abusive marriage with her four kids, the computer analyst settled in a small house in Little Rock, AK. Her family craved more space, but they couldn’t afford a bigger place.

Then one day shortly after a tornado swept through the area, Brookins drove by a ravaged house. She pulled over for a closer look, examined the ruins, and came to a life-changing realization: Beneath the surface, the home’s basic construction appeared much simpler than she’d imagined.

“Looking at those two-by-fours and nails, I thought, ‘I could put this wall up if I really tried,’” she says. “That’s when I wondered whether I could build my own house from scratch.”

To find out, Brookins logged on to the one site she thought might show her the ropes: YouTube.

‘People thought I was crazy’

YouTube is a boon to DIY homeowners eager to learn about all kinds of renovations, from building a fire pit to repairing stucco and beyond. But can videos actually teach a neophyte how to build a whole house? Brookins decided to find out in 2008—a challenge that resulted not only in her erecting a 3,500-square-foot, five-bedroom dream home, but also writing a book about her experiences, “Rise: How a House Built a Family.”

In the hazy, crazy days of 2008, YouTube was still the Wild West, relatively speaking. Nonetheless, Brookins found a hodgepodge of videos on how to pour foundation, raise walls, and obtain the proper permits for her work. So she sketched blueprints and took out a loan to pay $20,000 for an acre of land and about $130,000 for tools and supplies.

“Once I was staring at that stack of two-by-fours, I realized there was no turning back,” she says. “I had no choice but to finish.”

Her kids happily volunteered to help after school and on the weekends.Hope, 17, did the measuring and marking. Drew, 15, wielded the nail gun and handled the music, blasting Bob Marley on a tinny CD player. Jada, 11, poured the cement, while all three siblings took turns making sure 2-year-old Roman remained out of harm’s way.

They were an unlikely construction crew, including Brookins, who weighed 110 pounds and worked weekdays at her computer gig. “It was unbelievably hard,” she says. “By the end of the weekend, every single joint and muscle hurt. Sadly, Mondays were our favorite day, since we could finally sit down. I lived in guilt and fear of my kids throwing in the towel. But they were as determined as I was.”

‘Where’s your contractor?’

When she wasn’t trawling YouTube for guidance, Brookins peppered local city officials with questions on how to bring her construction up to code. She learned that she’d be required by law to hire professionals at certain crucial junctions—like to hook up to the city water line, gas, and electrical systems. So she set aside some money for this purpose, also paying a handy firefighter she met at Home Depot $25 an hour to help with some of the more technical aspects, like leveling the foundation.

“This firefighter had built a couple of homes and was the only person who didn’t bat an eye when I told him my plans,” Brookins says. “Everyone else asked, ‘who’s your contractor?’ and were incredulous when I said I was doing it myself. They’d say, ‘oh, that’s nice, little lady.’”

Yet month by month, the house slowly took shape.

“The two months we spent on the foundation were frustrating because you could barely see any progress,” Brookins says. “On so many nights we’d leave the construction site and not want to look back. But once we started raising the walls, we could drive off, park, then look back and see a three-dimensional structure. That was exciting.”

All told, the house took nine long months to build. Then came the day of reckoning, when an inspector stopped by to examine the house and issue a Certificate of Occupancy—that is, if the house passed muster.

“It was scary. We didn’t know if we were going to pass,” Brookins admits.

Yet after scrutinizing the house top to bottom, the inspector signed off. Brookins’ family moved in on March 31, 2009—and they’ve been living there happily ever since.

“People are always asking me if the house is still standing,” Brookins jokes. “And it is.”

Building your own home: What are the risks?

Brookins’ story is actually not as rare as many might think. While touring to promote her book, she says, “I’m always shocked how, wherever I go, at least one person will come up to me and say, ‘my mom built our house.’ Often it’s more of a cabin style, or they built part of it. But I’m still shocked that I’m not the only person crazy enough to try this.”

“There is a definite trend of homeowners being more involved with the building process,” says Michelle Nelson, founder of Build Your House Yourself University. “Although most don’t want to take part in doing the labor, lots of people these days want more input about the place they call home.”

But this extreme form of DIY also raises concerns among real estate professionals who think it’s too dangerous. As Atlanta-based real estate agent Bruce Ailion explains, “I suspect you could pull your spouse’s tooth, maybe even take out an appendix from YouTube videos to save money. But I wouldn’t recommend it.”

Washington, DC–based real estate agent Rachel Valentino adds that Brookins is lucky none of her kids got hurt. “Even non-helicopter parents can reasonably expect what could go wrong when you have children around a construction site.”

Still, if you’re curious about being a bit more hands-on when building your own home, one compromise worth considering is to act as your own general contractor.

“That way, you can save money—GCs typically charge 10% to 25% of the cost of the house,” says Nelson. “Plus you retain maximum control of the project and benefit from the experience of professionals like electricians and plumbers.”

Brookins, for one, readily admits, “If someone came up to me and said, ‘I want to build my own house,’ I wouldn’t say, ‘Yay go do that.’ I don’t plan to build one from scratch ever again. The only reason I was able to complete it is because there was no way out.”

And ultimately, the rewards for her family weren’t just financial.

“It’s not just about saving money,” says Brookins. “Building a home builds character. My kids are so confident and self-reliant. That was probably the best part of this experience. I watched my kids grow along with the house.”

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