Welcome to the new and improved Buildwise. A website for anyone navigating the frustrating building industry. Let’s face it, home is the one place we all need. It’s more than a tax shelter. Home also provides physical and emotional shelter. Yet, building and maintaining a condo or house wisely today is more difficult than ever.

Visiting a construction site might lead you to believe home-building is the last bastion of handicraft and local production. Looks are deceiving. In reality it has become an opaque mega business – industrialized, highly regulated and technology dependent. Timely information no longer reaches homeowners and local pros. So traditional practices haven’t kept pace. And the old “rules of thumb” rarely apply.

Our goal at Buildwise is bringing transparency back to home-building, plain and simple. We strongly believe every owner or renter has a right to the latest information about building, maintaining and financing a place to live.

While other websites feature flashy photos for dreaming of homes that will never be built. At Buildwise, you’ll find practical information critical for creating and maintaining a real home. But don’t just take our word for it. Buildwise is unique, we rely on readers to weigh in on home building topics of all kinds.

How Buildwise readers stay informed and inform others:

• Posts – Read our editor’s posts about everything home building related. Readers can comment on any post. If we’re out of line or behind the times, let us know.
• Reviews – We review anything home building related because no one else does. But reviews aren’t just rated by editors. Ratings also come from readers. Everyone has an equal vote. Readers can also leave comments.
• Q&A – Can’t find the answer to a burning question anywhere on this or other websites? Then search our question and answer forum. Still no luck, ask a question. Have faith, someone will answer.
• News – Stay connected to industry news and media coverage about home-building. Our editors scour news feeds for the latest trends and topics. We flag the new, cool and weird so you can stay informed.
• Dictionary – Hear a construction term you don’t understand. Search our “Unauthorized Dictionary” of words and terms. This isn’t your typical glossary. While we include typical definitions. You can also get the inside scoop and dirty laundry of the industry.

So let’s all design smart and build wise!