A couple built their home themselves to save money. Their mortgage is less than $900 a month.

• Maddy and Drew Olson wanted to own a home, but they didn't want an expensive mortgage.
• They bought a lot and built a house themselves in Washington, setting their budget at $209,000.
• Because they built the house themselves, their mortgage is less than $1,000.

Maddy Olson had never tiled anything before when she set out to tile the two bathrooms in her new home. That wasn't going to stop her, though.

Olson and her husband have been building their first home together, doing as much of the work as possible themselves to cut costs.

Through trial and error, the Olsons pulled it off. They built their home in Washington in about 9 months, sticking to their budget so their monthly mortgage payments could be less than $1,000.

Becoming homeowners has long been a goal for Maddy and Drew Olson.

Maddy, 27, and Drew Olson, 28, lived in a rental home when they got married in 2019, but they were already daydreaming of owning a place of their own.

Their landlord even offered to sell them the rental for $249,000 at one point, a price that felt out of their budget.

"We were like, 'Oh my gosh, that's so expensive,'" Olson said of the home, which sat on half an acre of land. "Now we're like, 'That would literally be a dream.'"

Still, the couple, who have a 19-month-old daughter named Campbell, had a plan.

The Olsons decided to save as they established their careers — Maddy is a content creator and owner of Over Ice Soda, while Drew works in commercial concrete — planning to buy a lot and build their own home to keep mortgage payments down.

In 2025, the Olsons finally found a spot where they could build their family home.

The Olsons finally made the jump in January 2025, buying a lot for $156,000.

Though the lot was smaller than they had hoped, they liked the location, as it's down the street from their cousin's home. "It wouldn't be our ideal, but it's been seven years of thinking about it," Olson added.

Olson also came to like that the lot size ended up saving them money as they built out their home.

"We really couldn't overspend if we wanted to," she said. "It's easy to spend a little bit more and make it beautiful without having to spend so much because there's not a lot of space to build."

Budget was top of mind for the Olsons as they built their home.

Keeping their build budget limited was important to the Olsons, as they wanted their mortgage to be as small as possible. They set their budget at $209,000 and secured a loan for the build.

The couple planned to cut costs primarily by doing as much work as they could themselves, saving money on "sweat equity." They felt confident they could accomplish their goal because Drew had some construction experience.

"It was his first time doing most of the stuff in our house, but he has a general knowledge of how to use most tools," Olson said. "Most of his family is in home building."

They hired professionals to handle tasks like installing the HVAC and drywall, but the Olsons said they did basically everything else.

"Drew works for his parents, so he has a lot of wiggle room," Olson said. "On any slow days when there wasn't work, he'd be here working at the house."

Olson also said her mom and mother-in-law were a big help with her daughter's caregiving while she worked on the home.

The Olsons based their 1,400-square-foot home on a builder's designs.

The 1,400-square-foot design features three bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms.

Rather than working with the builder, they based their design on the builder's existing floor plans, making some small changes to customize the space for their family.

"We basically used the plan except for changing minor things," Olson said. "It's such a small space that there wasn't much wiggle room, really. We could maybe cut off two feet here, add two feet there, or change a closet, but it just made sense to kind of go with what they had."

They officially started building in September 202 and lived in a rental house for much of the build. They stayed with Drew's parents for the final stretch of the project.

Olson wanted the home to feel sunny.

Olson took the lead on the house's aesthetics, saying she wanted the home to feel warm.

"I like the California cottage type of vibe," she said. "People are always like, 'If you're in the Pacific Northwest, you should go with moody darker tones and deep greens,' but I get sad in the winter."

Instead, she gravitated toward warmer neutrals in her design, thoughtfully adding color throughout the space. For instance, she added a wood beam to her bedroom to make it feel more dynamic.

She also created a DIY penny-tile pattern in her daughter's bathroom that included colorful flowers. She complemented the flooring with butter-yellow walls, creating a bright and inviting space.

"I'm obsessed with it," she said of the bathroom.

Olson had to balance her taste and her budget as she designed the home.

Because they were working with a limited budget, Olson had to be selective with her splurges for the house.

For instance, they built their kitchen cabinets themselves to save money, constructing them at home after the manufacturer mailed them.

Because she didn't have to pay for installation, Olson splurged on a Botticelli Breccia Marble countertop for the island in the same room. The island cost $5,700, a price Olson found well worth it for the pop it brings to the space.

"That is my prized possession in my house," she told Business Insider.

She also splurged on large windows to bring natural light into the space and on her gold doorknobs.

Some of Olson's favorite decor pieces were thrifted.

Olson shopped secondhand for her home whenever she could, often turning to Habitat for Humanity Restore and Facebook Marketplace to track down secondhand items.

She found tile for her primary bathroom on Marketplace for $10 per square foot, which typically costs $40 per square foot, saving hundreds of dollars. She also tiled the bathroom backsplash herself, saving costs.

Olson also found the vanity for her daughter's bathroom on Facebook Marketplace and had it professionally painted to make it feel fresh. She saved money by buying light fixtures on Amazon and affordable flooring from Floor & Decor.

She also stretched her money by making sure she could reuse pieces she bought, like the leftover bathroom tile she's giving to her mom to use in the tiny home she's building.

There were challenges to the build process, of course.

Because the Olsons had never built a home before, they didn't know when certain design decisions had to be made. For instance, they didn't know outlet locations had to be settled before drywall went up, so they weren't as intentional about where they were placed as they would have been otherwise.

They also realized their house would be darker than they wanted after it was already framed, so Drew had to go back in and cut more windows to brighten the space.

Later in the construction process, Olson came to the house to find her husband was nearly finished building their staircase. She had wanted a more custom look for the spindles, but didn't realize it was too late. Luckily, Drew was happy to take out the existing structure and change it for his wife.

"He's an angel," Olson said.

Committing to design choices was also tough.

Olson also said she struggled to be decisive, changing her mind after trying certain paints, light fixtures, or even tiles.

A video on her TikTok page shows her removing tile from a wall, looking at it after it's been professionally painted, repainting it after she didn't like the color, then painting it again after that color didn't work either.

She also told Business Insider she found herself retiling rooms repeatedly and buying light fixtures online, only to return them after she disliked how they looked.

"It was worth it in the end, but I wanted to cry every day," she said. "I'm very type B and relaxed, but when it comes to my house, I feel like I ripped out tile so many times because it just didn't look right."

The Olsons finally moved into their house at the end of May 2026.

The house is largely finished, though Olson said they are still fine-tuning details and decorating.

Her daughter's room and their third bedroom aren't decorated yet, and it will take some time to get them in order.

Still, they pulled off the renovation within their set budget, keeping their monthly mortgage payments under $900. Olson said it's "amazing" for her family.

The Olsons hope their current home enables them to build something larger down the line.

The Olsons plan to live in their home for a few years, but their long-term goal is to use the money they're saving to buy a new property and build a larger home.

Olson credits their self-build as the reason that the dream is feasible.

"We're in a really good position now where if we found a lot tomorrow, we would be in a position that we could buy it," Olson said. "We couldn't buy it cash, but we could buy it and build a house and be able to rent this out."

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