Steven M. Washburn

Steven Washburn and his staff always hold a question-and-answer session with their clients at the beginning of a project. They’ve noticed over time that the same questions tend to come up again and again. “They’re very similar in many cases,” Washburn says. “Over the years we kept track, and thought, this is valuable information.”

In 2002, he decided to do something with the knowledge he’d gained about his customers’ most common fears and uncertainties. Working with a print-on-demand self-publishing company called AuthorHouse, he wrote The American Dream, a step-by-step design and construction guide for people thinking about buying a custom home. The book explains how to choose a builder and a designer or architect. Then it takes the reader through each part of the building process using clear, non-technical language. Washburn updated The American Dream in 2004 and may do a third edition at some point. “They take about a month to write—and 30 years’ experience,” he says. The book cost about $1,500 to put together, he estimates, including the graphic design.

The American Dream isn’t the only innovative card Washburn has up his sleeve. He also recently began using insulated concrete forms (ICFs), a building product he’d never tried before. “I like a challenge,” he says. “So I do end up with a lot of hillside projects, a lot of rock conditions.” Lite-Deck, a decking and flooring ICF product, helps him handle hillsides by reducing the required size of retaining walls. It and Nudura, Washburn’s preferred ICF wall system, both boost a home’s energy efficiency, he says. Using ICFs has helped propel Washburn into the world of green building, where he’ll no doubt continue to find new ways to improve his building experience—and that of his customers.