How the Barter System Helped Cut Costs on Two Home Projects

New York Times

23-05-2025

For years, Corey Fitch dreamed about building a second home in Washington's Methow Valley, where he could spend time with family and friends while indulging in mountain biking and cross-country skiing. But even for him, the founder of BuiltWell, a Seattle-based home-building company with a focus on sustainability, the cost of construction was a significant hurdle.
Mr. Fitch, 45, and his wife, Ashley Newman, 40, the owner of Union Pilates in Seattle, routinely browsed real estate listings while visiting friends in the Methow Valley, but the timing never seemed right to make such a big investment.
When the pandemic struck in 2020, however, Ms. Newman was pregnant with their daughter, Luna, now 4, and Mr. Fitch noticed a sudden uptick in interest in Methow Valley real estate. Eager to get a foothold in the region before prices spiked, they decided it was time to buy.
They had already identified a three-acre lot in the town of Winthrop as their favorite, and bought it for $90,000. After closing that summer, Mr. Fitch began putting together a budget to build a cabin, figuring that the services of an architect would be about 12 to 15 percent of the total cost.
When he mused about the challenges of building on a tight budget with his friend Ben Humphrey, a partner at Seattle-based Linework Architecture, Mr. Humphrey told Mr. Fitch that he faced problems of his own while trying to remodel and expand his family's house in Seattle.
'I had been working with a contractor who was really slow to respond and slow to put together pricing,' Mr. Humphrey said. 'And I started to see the numbers coalesce into a price that we just couldn't afford.'
That's when Mr. Fitch proposed a very old-fashioned arrangement: They could barter their services to help each other. 'I was just like, 'Could you put together a quick-and-dirty builder set for me, and I'll be your phone-a-friend on your remodel?'' Mr. Fitch said.
To Mr. Humphrey, it sounded like a good deal. 'Corey gave me his contacts and helped me assemble both the budget and the team that would ultimately execute the work,' on his house in Seattle, Mr. Humphrey said. 'I was the superintendent of the job,' which saved him about $250,000.
In return, Mr. Humphrey drew up plans for Mr. Fitch's dream cabin. 'Corey would come over with a six-pack of beer, and I had this little Tuff Shed where we would meet,' Mr. Humphrey said. 'We just made decisions while modeling the house in 3-D.'
Within a few months, they had a complete set of drawings for a 1,250-square-foot cabin with a high ceiling that provided space for two upstairs lofts connected by a bridge, as well as a building permit to start construction.
Aiming to keep costs to a minimum, now and in the future, the cabin is designed with durable materials and airtight insulation for energy efficiency. The home is clad in thermally modified wood siding, which is hard-wearing and doesn't require paint, and topped by a standing seam metal roof. Inside, it has a concrete floor — created by smoothing the top of the slab — cabinets and furniture made from plywood, and oxidized steel details.
For kitchen cabinets, Mr. Fitch sourced plywood with a custom Douglas fir veneer as the top layer. Elsewhere, like on the sides of the bridge, a built-in sleeping nook and the headboard in the primary bedroom, he used a more common grade of plywood and simply turned the best-looking side out into the room.
The ground floor includes a combined living room and kitchen with a wood stove, the primary suite, a second bedroom and a generous mudroom with open lockers and an integrated bench for easy boot changes. Upstairs, one loft space is a playroom and Pilates studio; the other is a combination media room and guest bedroom.
Mr. Fitch splurged on a few details, including windows and sliding glass doors from Fleetwood 'because they're just bombproof,' Mr. Fitch said, no matter how extreme the weather gets. He also had Alpine Welding & Equipment, a local metalwork shop, make custom steel elements including a handrail for the stairs, the base of a kitchen island he topped with butcher block and a swing-arm light fixture above the dining table.
Construction was complete in October 2022 at a cost of about $600,000, after the bartered deal helped him save nearly $100,000.
'It was a leap of faith but it feels transformative for our family,' Mr. Fitch said. 'Every time we show up, we enter a different head space.'
The benefits for Mr. Humphrey didn't end with having Mr. Fitch help out on his own construction project, either. He has since become a fixture at the house he helped Mr. Fitch design.
'We've been there with Corey and his family, and we've been there with just our family,' Mr. Humphrey said. 'And staying there has given us the taste we needed to start exploring whether we should do the same thing.'
If he does eventually decide to build his own home in the Methow Valley, at least one thing is for certain: he knows exactly the right contractor to call for help.