A steel building can be a big investment of both money and, if you've decided to build it yourself, time and labor. So take care in deciding on a design and consider these tips, based on our own experience with a (supposedly) do-it-yourself steel building, even before you start shopping around.

While many real estate agents know their stuff when it comes to residential and urban properties, they don't necessarily know the ins and outs of rural real estate, so it's important to do your own thorough due diligence before signing that contract to purchase and ultimately buying rural property.

We’ve been living full-time on rainwater, thanks to our whole-house rainwater filtration system that delivers clean, potable water for drinking, cooking, bathing, and laundry.

With good southwestern exposure on one long side and a growing interest in extending our planting season—not to mention protect plants from all of the elements and critters that do a good job of killing or eating them here in northern Arizona—we decided to build a lean-to style shipping container greenhouse, and it's become a year-round space for a variety of edibles.