The new book from Michelle J. Owens
What nobody warned you about — from lot selection to move-in day
You bought the lot. Now comes the part nobody explains: the builder, the contract, the allowances, the change orders, and the delays that cost real money. This is the straight-talk guide to getting through your first custom build with your budget and your sanity intact.
Buy on AmazonFree for readers
The companion workbook to the book: 19 printable scorecards, trackers, and checklists across six phases, from evaluating the lot through your first warranty year. The book explains what to know. The workbook is where you document what you decide.
Who this is for
Most people building a luxury custom home have never done it before. They are successful, smart, and used to making big decisions, and they still get blindsided, because the expensive mistakes happen early and quietly.
This book walks the full journey in order, from choosing the lot through your first year living in the house. Las Vegas and Henderson are the running example, and the principles apply anywhere you build.
What's inside
Why the lot decides the house, how the buildable envelope works, and what a sun study tells you before you design a thing.
HOA and architectural guidelines, zoning layers, design review, and the build deadlines that carry fees when you miss them.
Developer, builder, contractor, architect: who does what, how to verify a Nevada license, and when to bring each one in.
Fixed price versus cost-plus, how allowances really work, and how change orders turn a budget into a moving target.
The most expensive stages of a build, a realistic cost breakdown, and where a delay in one trade cascades into the rest.
Inspections, punch lists, warranties, and what to expect in your first year of ownership.
Includes "From the Field" stories from real builds, plus original diagrams that show you what the paperwork never does.
About the author
Michelle J. Owens is a Las Vegas–based Luxury Custom Home Specialist and the founder of Your Las Vegas Connection. She helps buyers navigate one of the most complicated purchases they may ever make, from selecting the right lot to assembling the right team and understanding the decisions that shape a custom home long before construction begins.
Her perspective was shaped by a career in hospitality, years in multifamily property operations and asset management, and service in the Air National Guard, where working in aviation reinforced the importance of preparation, systems and attention to detail.
She wrote this book to answer the questions her clients ask after it is already too late, so that you can ask them first.
Available in paperback and Kindle
Your Las Vegas Connection • Where Luxury Meets Connection.
Michelle J. Owens, Hadges House, NV Lic. S.0193918. This book is general education and is not legal, tax, or construction advice.