Maine Shelter Institute

Lots of wisdom and know-​how here. I took their Small Housebuilding course. They did a great job of demonstrating and teaching as we actually built a small house together in a week. Highly recommend. SI Construction has built a lot of beautiful post & beam houses around here. They emphasize good insulation for the tough winter climate. They also have a fun shop where you can learn about and buy lots of useful tools, eco-​friendly products, basically everything you would need to build or maintain a house– handsaws, excellent construction book selection, composting toilets, you name it. SI Realty service combines an intimate knowledge of the area and solid understanding of construction principles. All around very helpful, knowledgeable people– a terrific resource on all levels.

It has always been a dream of mine to design and build (or supervise, to be more accurate) my own house. So eight years ago my honey and I spent three weeks with Pat and Patsy Hennin learning the ins and outs of how to design and build homes. Pat does most of the instruction. He doles out his wry French –Canadian wit generously with his teaching aplomb. It never really felt like school. In fact, it was amazing how easy it seemed to use the formulas to size post, beams, joists, rafters. The course covered all aspects of the home building process with more emphasis on some elements than others. They have now moved out of downtown Bath to their dedicated facility a few miles North. While I have not yet got to that dream project, this was a great experience! We went in October and, while chilly, it was a beautiful time of year to be in a beautiful place. Now that I write about it, I may just try to stop in one more time before we put hammer to nail ourselves.
These guys have been doing this for over thirty years now and they really have it down. Pat has a hilariously uproarious finale to the course. He pulls together a little self-​mockery and sage advice into the funniest «class» I have ever witnessed. You probably need to spend three weeks with them to make it seem this funny, so that you pick up all the idiosyncrasies well enough that he can lampoon them to best effect! I guess you had to be there!!!