[Chad] We are building a tree house 20 feet in the air.
I don't think we got everything.
Where's the beams?
[Laurel] We've never done anything like this before.
No, no, no. To the left.
Go.
Stop. Watch out. Move it.
No idea where it's at.
It has to be somewhere around here, guys.
So we just found out this wall doesn't fit.
This messes up our budget, our timing.
Hold on, hold on.
It's going to be the most dangerous piece
that we have to put in.
I am very, very nervous.
[cell phone ringing]
Answer, answer, answer, answer.
I thought that was going to be done.
That's a big deal.
The build is at a stop.
[narrator] Are you ready to go off the grid?
Guys, we have to find our location for
where we're going to put this treehouse.
We could build just a regular getaway,
but building a treehouse seems a little bit unique, something different.
Who doesn't want to be in a treehouse?
[Laurel] It's pretty steep.
We wanted to be on top of the ridge,
so we have some killer views.
This has been over a decade in the making.
The real reason why we are building a tree house
where we're building it is to spend extra time with the family.
Our kids are growing up very, very quick,
and every minute counts.
I'm so excited to be able to sleep over in it
and have game nights, and it'll just be really cool.
How many friends are we talking?
All of them.
-My name is Chad Taylor. -And I'm Laurel Taylor.
And we're building an off-the-grid tree house
in Deep Creek Lake, Maryland.
The build site that we picked is perfect.
This is probably one of my favorite spots.
What do you think, Laurel?
It's beautiful.
We walked through a lot of acres just to figure out
which site was the best, and this one seemed to be
the perfect fit.
We're building on a ridge that's the altitude is about 2,200 feet.
You just have like a 20-mile view.
We're going to limit the cutting of trees
because we want to be in the canopy,
but I want to open up that view because that view
is going to be absolutely amazing.
Yeah, especially with the sunsets.
The build site is located about three hours west of
Baltimore in a little town called McHenry, Maryland.
Imagine just putting a house 20 feet in the air up here.
I've wanted one forever.
-Better late than never. -Yeah.
We are building a two-bedroom,
two-bath, three-level treehouse.
The decking is bigger than the house,
so it's all about being outside.
As soon as you walk into the treehouse,
you'll see the main living area.
Behind it's the kitchen.
And to the left is the main bedroom.
And then to the right is the kids' room.
Both have their own bathrooms.
And we also have an additional space above the main level,
which is the loft.
It's going to be kind of cool to be unplugged.
Getting Wi-Fi, right?
There's no Wi-Fi out here.
For off-the-grid features, we have a septic,
we have a well, and we also use for power a generator.
Being off-the-grid is the only way we can do it, actually.
We're looking to do this build within two months.
It's approximately going to be about
1,000 square foot inside.
We're trying to keep it under 400,000.
Two months, we're looking at prime foliage season.
I want to be in the trees at that time,
but it's completely stressing me out.
Duke. [whistles]
He's going to chase everything up here.
All the deer and bear.
As long as he doesn't chase any skunks.
We've never done anything like this before,
so we're anticipating challenges.
So we're going to be hiring some professionals.
However, I want to get my hands dirty.
I want to get in the trees. I want to help build this house.
It's definitely going to be a challenge
'cause I'm scared of heights.
I'm not afraid of heights. I just don't enjoy them.
We're both afraid of heights.
I have issues admitting things.
-Woo! -Woo!
We cleared the land, and there's not enough
large trees to safely support the treehouse.
So the team had to dig 16 footers to mount posts
for the treehouse to rest on.
We have Dylan on site. He's a great young builder.
We have full confidence that he's going to be able
to build us a beautiful treehouse.
So we're going to be working on our six-by-six post.
It's going to be holding up the back of the house.
We can't continue on until these are on
and on top of the forms that we made.
The trick to cutting these beams is consistency.
This is the most important part.
If you get these all nice and clean cut,
everything else will be smooth from there.
Just hit it out.
These are ready to be installed.
Good leg workout today.
And shoulder.
Putting the beams up right away is very important
because that is the foundation of what we're doing.
Without those up, we can't really move on.
Thanks for the help, guys.
-Get them up there. -I'll hold them up.
What they're doing now with the level is they're making sure
that it's plumb left to right and front and back.
And then they're drilling it with an RSS.
That's to keep it there nice and stable.
And that's going to ensure that when we put the beam
on that the post isn't just going to fall over.
I'm going down to check out the build site.
I get through the canopy, get down to the trees.
There's posts up.
Everything looks like it's coming together.
How you guys doing?
-You guys are making some progress here. -Yeah, we are.
Getting these posts set up so the beams can be set on top.
The big thing on the docket today
is bringing in the lumber.
It's really important to get all the materials in
because we only have two months to build this treehouse.
Let's go wait for it.
-Right there. - [Laurel] When I see the truck coming down
the road, I get super excited.
The materials are finally here,
and this is becoming a reality.
So the truck is pulling up, and I'm noticing that
-not all the materials are on there. -Hold on.
I don't think we got everything.
Where's the beams?
Those beams that we need, they're not on the truck.
I mean, I have complete faith in you guys,
-but we need to get this done today. -Yes, sir.
I need to get the beams here.
-We're on a strict time frame here. -Yes, sir.
Hold on.
This is not everything.
Where's the beams?
Those beams that we need, they're not on the truck.
We're on a time frame that we need to get this done today.
Can you get on the phone right now?
I will get on the phone with them ASAP,
-and I'll track down those beams. -Okay.
Let's unload.
Someone needs to tell me what's going on
to make me feel better about this.
I definitely can tell Mr. Taylor is a little anxious and worried.
Nothing ever goes to plan, but we have to come up
with a solution.
Because without them being here,
it's really going to mess up this schedule.
I'm just calling to check up on our lumber delivery today.
Yeah, we got a little bit of it,
but we're expecting some more.
Okay. Yeah, that sounds good. Thank you, sir.
Bye-bye.
Dylan called the lumber company.
He said that the beam's going to be here roughly around 2 o'clock.
-Let's see what happens. -Yeah.
Dylan explained to me that this is
a normal occurrence on a build site,
that some of the materials don't always get shipped on the same truck.
-Thank you. -Hello.
-Dylan, worked your magic. -Thank you, man.
How do you think we're going to get these off?
They look like a beast to take down there.
-Yeah, definitely. -We're going to need all of us.
The beams are hundreds of pounds.
I can't give you an exact weight, but they're heavy.
Watch your fingers.
There we go.
-Too bad he can't forklift them all the way down. -I know.
Seeing Mr. and Mrs. Taylor today get up on the truck
and get those beams down,
I love to see it.
It made them feel like they were part of the crew today.
I am starting to regret that commitment
to getting my hands dirty.
I don't know if I really want to lift beams all day.
Here we go.
-Perfect. -Good deal.
Beams are off the truck.
First thing I had to do was thank Dylan
because he came through.
Next thought was, how in the heck are we going
to get these down to the site?
All hands on deck tomorrow taking these down?
Got fresh legs. Hit the ground running early in the morning.
-Sweet. Let's go. -Get this done.
All right.
-Day one ever. -Yeah.
Day one.
Today's the day the beams are going up.
This is a huge step for this process.
And we have Joe to help us out.
He's a master of building tree houses,
and he's going to supervise putting the beams up.
We've got five beams to move in.
Once we move them in, we're going to set them up on the posts.
These beams are our foundation.
Getting them up at the right height,
at the right level, and square to each other
is going to set the rest of the job up for success.
Watch your fingers.
There's 65,000 pounds of materials
that are going to go into this tree house.
We have to hand carry all of that to the site
and then put it in place.
One, two, three, go.
We build 30 to 40 tree houses a year.
The size, specifically this one for the Taylors, it's big.
There's a lot that goes into it.
Got a crew of eight guys right now,
plus the Taylors, who are going to help out.
Those beans weigh between 500 and 800 pounds.
They're 30 to 40 feet long.
They are difficult to maneuver into place.
They're monsters.
You all right?
Those were the heaviest beams that I've ever lifted in my life.
I already have a bruise forming.
This hurts.
There was trees to maneuver around,
and they were so long that we had to pivot at certain places.
No, no, no, to the left.
You all right, Mr. Taylor?
It is steep when you get down to the bottom.
So when we're carrying beams, you have to really
pay attention to where you're walking.
All right, set it down.
Watch your fingers, guys. One, two, three, go.
All right, that's one.
-Whew. -Four to go.
[Laurel] Call the reinforcements.
Here we go.
You ready?
My muscles showed up.
My son wasn't here, so I was like,
man, my daughter's pretty strong.
She came right down, jumped in with the crew.
They said men built the pyramids.
-No kidding. -Yeah.
We're clear back here. Pivot.
Everyone watch your feet, please.
Good job.
-A little heavier than you thought? -Yeah.
After handling the beams and seeing how heavy they were,
Go.
...it actually made me feel more at ease about the build,
knowing that this is what's holding up the structure.
That was the first hard part.
All right, next thing is we're going to get the rigging up
in these trees, and we'll start lifting them up on the post.
Anytime we're lifting heavy things up in the trees,
it starts by climbing up in the tree to get there.
To do that, we shoot these lines up there,
we haul up climbing ropes, and then we got
a couple really capable guys on the crew
that can just zip up those ropes
and then sit up there and just rig.
We don't have any heavy lifting equipment,
so we're rigging block and tackle pulley systems.
We're going to lift one end of the beam at a time.
We're going to pin it and then pivot the other beam up into place.
When I saw the tree climber up 20 feet in the air,
I was just thinking, this is how high
this tree house is going to be.
We have to actually hoist those beams up there safely.
-All right. -Go.
One, two, three, go.
Go.
This is probably one of the more dangerous things that we do.
One thing goes wrong, they all come crashing down.
Go.
All right, one more.
Go. Stop.
-Ready for this side? -Yep.
One, two, three, go.
Go.
Three.
Okay, that's it.
It's high enough.
-Now we got to bring it in. -I'm excited.
This is amazing how this is going on.
We know these jobs are possible in theory,
but it's always nice to see that first beam go up,
get locked into place because we know
that's one domino down, the rest are gonna come.
Getting those beams up was a huge step,
but really it's just the beginning.
In the last couple of weeks, we started drilling our well,
put up a platform, built a deck.
So now we're starting to see what we envisioned
the treehouse to be.
We're on a ridge, about 2,200 feet of elevation.
We had to dig pretty deep to go to water.
-We got water. -Woo!
We were hoping that the well would be under 800 feet.
We got 700.
It's absolutely amazing because it's a lot cheaper.
Today, we're putting up the walls.
Joe had to move to a different project, but we just met Dan.
My name's Dan Wright.
I've been building custom tree houses for 20 years,
everything from backyard playhouses
to off-grid complete houses with kitchens and bathrooms.
If it's in a tree, that's what we do.
All right, guys, we have about 30 walls
to put up, and we have to carry them down by hand.
Then we have to lift these up to those guys
on the platform to be able to put them up.
Unfortunately, my wife is working today,
but me and my kids got this.
We had to put these up in order,
so we had to bring them down in order.
Does that say over there? Take a look.
We know wall A goes with B, C, D, E, F.
However, we're missing J.
Guys, look for J. I have no idea where it's at.
But it has to be somewhere around here, guys.
We are scouring the whole build site.
I don't see it anywhere.
If we can't find Wall J, the build is at a stop.
Guys, look for J. I have no idea where it's at.
But it has to be somewhere around here.
We are scouring the whole build site for all the walls.
-That's M and... -We don't see J anywhere.
I don't see it anywhere.
-Wait, I think I found it. -Is that J?
Yeah, here it is, right here.
Who in the world put that back there?
Oh, my gosh. All right, can we get it out
without moving all these walls?
Yeah, we could definitely get it out.
Watch out, watch out, watch out.
It was hidden under a stack of walls
next to a bunch of brush.
The build can continue.
One, two, three, up.
We have to take about 30 walls to the site,
which is a pretty long haul.
-Addie, you guys good? -Yeah, we're good.
All right.
Now, Chase, swing around to your left.
We want the top end of this on that platform, okay?
-Ready? -One, two, three.
There's about 30 walls.
We're really appreciative that Chad and the kids
are giving us a hand today.
We really need all the help we can get.
Okay, now let's slide it up.
Good job. Only 29 more to go.
Let's go.
We prefabricated all the walls in our shop,
and we lettered them all before we took them apart.
And we've got to fit them together like puzzle pieces.
[Dylan] Let's grab another wall.
First wall just stood up.
The rest of the day, we're going to sand up all these walls.
Good job. Two, three.
We're all super optimistic and happy that
the first one is up.
You don't really know that everything's worked out
until you make it all the way around the house
and all the angles are right and everything's square.
Two, three, up. Okay, tilt.
You know what this one is?
Wall-e.
It's Wall-E.
So sometimes it feels like you're on a roll,
and then something happens.
So we're lifting these walls up,
and I noticed one of the guys struggling lifting this up.
I'm on the other side of the platform,
and I hear this big crash.
Whoa, it's coming down. Watch out. Move it.
And I'm like, whoa, whoa, stop.
The first thing I'm thinking is, is somebody hurt?
We're good. Everyone's safe.
We do dangerous work. It's high in the air.
We're moving heavy things.
And my first concern is for the safety of my crew.
I'm glad everything worked out,
but it could have hurt him really bad.
Guys, where does this wall go?
This is the outside wall right here.
All right, let's pop it in place.
All right, are you good?
No, I'm hanging over three and a half.
This is too long.
We just found out this wall doesn't fit.
These were all pre-built in the shop.
It frustrates me that we built something ahead,
it fit in the shop, it doesn't fit here.
Yeah, we're overhanging here, Dan.
So either it goes somewhere else or it was built wrong?
I think one of these was in the wrong place.
Figure it out.
We got to figure out why this wall isn't fitting,
and we got to figure it out now.
If you find an error, you got to find out where it was made,
get it fixed correctly, and then move on
as fast as you can.
There's our 3.5 inches.
Someone put this wall in the wrong spot.
What do we got here?
Somebody pushed it out too far.
-Who did that? -I don't know.
This is supposed to line up with this.
That's our 3.5 right there.
I'd love to find somebody to blame for that,
but I think I screwed this wall in.
Well, then I guess we know who to blame.
The boss.
That's right.
So at first, this wall just didn't fit.
But we found out that the previous wall
had been installed in the wrong spot,
so it was actually a pretty simple adjustment.
All right, back in business.
A little bit of a panic in the moment,
but it wasn't really that bad, and we're back on schedule.
So we have every wall up except for the last wall.
That last wall is enormous.
On three.
One, two, three, up.
Okay. Can you guys lift up a little bit?
Straight up.
-There we go. We're up. -Got it. Okay.
Slide it about a foot to Andrew.
-Okay. -We on it.
Can we get this corner secured?
-All right, you got it? -Yeah.
All right, letting go.
All right.
All the walls are finished.
Oh, my God. It's a dream come true.
By prefabbing off-site, it makes it seem like, boom, there's walls.
And it just grows eight feet in a day.
We made a lot of progress yesterday.
The guys are currently working on the decking.
We're almost done. All the walls are up.
The next step is putting up the OSB.
The OSB was supposed to be here hours ago.
We have a ton of workers here, and if the OSB's not here,
they're just going to be sitting around doing nothing.
[cell phone ringing]
Answer, answer, answer, answer, answer.
[line ringing]
Come on, answer the phone.
The OSB was supposed to be here hours ago.
We have a ton of workers here, and if the OSB's not here,
they're just going to be sitting around doing nothing.
Hey, this is Chad Taylor from the Treehouse building in McHenry.
Can you kind of narrow down the time for me?
You said the third?
I have it scheduled for the second.
It turns out I made a mistake. It was scheduled for tomorrow.
I thought it was today.
We're going to stop.
Thank you.
Thanks. I appreciate it.
This messes up our budget, our timing,
and then it messes up the whole schedule moving forward.
It's exciting.
Today, the OSB came super early.
The guys were able to knock it out pretty quick.
It's starting to feel like a tree house.
[builder] We've gotten a lot done in the last few days.
We've got all the sheeting done.
We've put up the footers for the ramp and the posts.
We put all the framing up, and we're just finishing up all the board work today.
[Chad] This is a big day for us.
[Dan] Big day. The highest part of the roof is going up.
Our whole plan today is put up the giant ridge beam,
which is the peak of the house.
The ridge beam is very important to get right
because that's the backbone of the roof.
It's going to be holding all the rafters up.
There's always a potential for something to go wrong
or someone to get hurt, so it's going to be
the most dangerous piece that we have to put in.
[Chad] It's going to go up about 40 ft.
It's extremely heavy and extremely dangerous.
They're balancing themselves on a little platform
while holding the giant ridge beam.
I am very, very glad I am not up there.
All right. Ready?
[Andrew] This is one of the longest and heaviest ridge beams
I've ever had to install,
and because there's a lot of snow load in this area,
we have to make sure this is right.
There we go.
-[Andrew] You ready for the next one? -[builder] Ready.
[Andrew] Let's do it.
[Dan] Careful, guys.
Watch your step.
-[Andrew] Watch your fingers. -[builder] Yep.
[Andrew] We're super excited. We got the ridge beams up.
They went right up very smoothly.
We are gonna start on the next step.
We're gonna be hanging rafters.
[Andrew] How do they fit guys?
What's the matter?
[builder speaking]
Uh... Do we have this ridge up too high?
[Chad] They put the beam up there.
However, there's a problem.
We need to figure out what's going on.
[builder] Fifty four to the bottom of the ridge.
Oh, that's too high.
Who do we have to throw off the treehouse to fix the problem?
-That's gonna be me, actually. -[Chad] How big of an issue is it?
[Andrew] All we have to do is put a new brace under it and lower it.
-[Laurel] Easy fix. -[Andrew] Easy fix.
All right. Well, I'm glad you guys caught it.
[saw whirring]
[Andrew] So once we had our new measurement,
we dropped the ridge down and everything fit perfectly.
We're good here. Let's try it.
All right. That actually looks good.
So the next step is gonna be putting the rafters in
and that's going to build the rest of the skeleton frame of the roof.
How does it fit?
-Fits great. Looks good. -Good.
That's exactly what we want.
[Andrew] We got the ridge beam up.
Everything fit perfectly.
And we got all the rafters done.
So the next thing to do is to get the sheeting down and get this roof dried in.
We've hit a few snags in the last few days.
[Laurel] We are kind of at a standstill right now.
As you can see, there is no one here.
The roof is framed out and ready to be completed.
However, the weather has delayed any of the roofing.
[Chad] It's really, really wet, slippery and muddy.
Being this high up makes wet conditions extremely dangerous to work in.
Nothing we can do. It's just Mother Nature playing its course here.
[Laurel] Hopefully next week, when the weather turns, we'll get the roof completed.
[Chad] We need to get a move on.
The winter is coming soon.
[Chad] Fall is here. It is super gorgeous out.
It's beautiful. The leaves are falling.
The maples look extraordinary.
Our goal was to finish by November 1st or even mid-October.
It's not happening.
[thunder rumbling]
We had about a two week window where it just rained constantly.
[Laurel] But finally the rain has cleared up, and now we can move forward.
[Chad] We've been really, really busy.
Finished sheeting, framing, electrical, HVC,
plumbing and insulation.
How we doing, Chad?
Nice to see you, Dan.
-Long time no see. -I know it's been a while.
So I showed up to the build today and I haven't been here in a while,
and I noticed the roof wasn't on.
I thought that was going to be done.
There were so many things I had expected to be done that weren't done.
Weather really kind of kicked in.
-Uh-oh. -They promised me next week they're going to be here
and be getting it done.
As long as the weather holds out for us.
[Dan] We're so much further behind schedule than I thought.
I was panicking that this is just never
going to get done before winter.
We see fall, but winter can arrive any day.
[Dan] We do not want to be on the roof.
We don't want to be out on scaffolding or doing anything outside on the exterior
when the snow and ice are coming. We've got lots to do.
-[Chad] All right, let's get going. -[Dan] All right. Here we go.
So we have a little bit of siding left,
and we're going to get Chad out there on the pick
because he's so scared of heights.
I think this is going to be really funny to watch.
[Dan] Chad, are you ready for this?
Are you okay?
Am I ready? No. But am I willing to help? Absolutely.
You look like you're doing great up there.
-[Chad] Well... -Are you shaking?
-I don't know whether it's me or the scaffolding. -[laughs]
I step on, it moves left.
It moves right. It's shaking both side to side.
I'm very, very nervous.
This thing is moving.
Like no other.
Yes, I'm very, very much nervous.
But the more hands on deck, the faster we'll get done.
Just don't look down.
Do what you got to do and hopefully get off there safe.
[Dylan] All right, nice. And then we'll just hold this tight
and you can just go down as far as you feel comfortable with.
[Chad] So, we decided on the board and batten siding with the cedar shakes.
It looks gorgeous.
It looks natural.
It looks like it belongs in the trees.
-[Chad] Looks good. -[Dylan] Yes, it does.
You sure you haven't done this before?
I'm pretty positive.
I've never done this before.
It seems like you have.
-[man] Hey, Chad! -Yeah?
[Chad] We live about half a mile away.
We have ducks, we have chickens.
And our ducks must have got out.
I don't know how they got there.
They must have followed someone down.
Hey, we got Hash Brown and Biscuit on site.
Can you come help kind of round them up?
Chad calls me and he said, "Hey, you missing some ducks?"
And I said, "Not that I know of."
-I hope you can catch them. -I have no idea
how they wandered all the way down here.
Yeah...
Come here, guys.
[Biscuit cheeping]
Biscuit... He was kind of easier to catch, but Hash Brown?
He did not want to be caught.
-[Laurel] He's underneath of it, in the back corner. -[Chad] Oh, crap.
Oh... I thought chickens were hard to catch.
[Laurel] I have no idea what the workers were thinking.
Me either.
[quacking]
[Chad] Come on, Duke.
They're a little tougher to wrangle than I thought.
They're... They're fast.
They were pretty quick.
-Or... -Or you're slow.
I'm slow.
[quacking]
Aww, it's okay.
-It's okay. -You got it.
Just don't poop on me.
Now that the ducks are caught, we can bring them home and get back to work.
-All right, -All right. Let's get these guys back to the house.
Oh, then, back to building.
[Chad] Good gosh. I don't know how they travelled this far down.
[Dan] We have a little bit of siding left.
[Chad] You know what? My wife would handle this way better than I would.
I'm kind of done. My nerves are shot.
So, my wife wants an adventure.
So, I'm going to put her up there.
I said, "Sure, I'll give it a go."
All right.
-You got this. Get up there. -[Laurel] I'm ready.
[drilling]
[Laurel] Hmm.
-Is it shaking you at all? -Just a little.
It was a little shaky at first.
But it was something that needed to be done.
And I just I took the challenge.
Easy peasy.
Look at you. You're a natural.
I know. Better than you.
There's no doubt.
Once Laurel got up there, it was smooth sailing.
[Chad] All the boards seemed to line up perfectly in place.
Everything was cut to perfection.
I think I was the problem.
Girls do it better.
I can tell you they do.
[Chad] We're almost completed, and we get four to five inches of snow.
Winter's here.
[Laurel] It came a little too early,
caused deliveries not to be able
to be made because they can't back the trucks down the road.
They're too slippery. They're too wet, it's icy.
[Chad] So, we're trying to get everything done, but...
Weather has been a problem for us.
[Laurel] So, it took a long time.
But the great news is the roof is on.
[Chad] We finally got it completed.
-It took a while. -Took a long time.
Mother Nature didn't help because we had four inches of snow one day.
Four inches of rain I think the next day.
Finally, it cleared up.
Once we completed the roof, we were able to put the flooring down.
[Laurel] We worked on the walls.
[Chad] We chose to go with wood paneling due to the fact that it was a tree house.
The house moves with the trees.
So if you actually had drywall, it would crack the drywall.
The bathroom tile took a little while, but we were able to get that.
[Laurel] We're moving forward. The hot tub is in and that's our favorite part,
and we're looking forward to spending some time in that this winter.
[Chad] Everything is coming together like it was supposed to two months ago.
But, now I finally see a light at the end of the tunnel here.
-[Mike] Hey, guys. -What's happening?
-We made it. That was an obstacle course. -[all laughing]
-Hi, Chad. Good to see you. -How you doing? You too.
-Hi, Laurel. -Hi.
[Chad] Today's a big day.
-You guys ready? -Hi.
[Chad] Our friend's coming over and his name is Mike.
He's our interior designer.
He's been picking out everything.
This was a trek, okay? So...
Thank God I have four wheel drive.
Is everyone ready for some heavy lifting?
Getting everything in the house?
-[all] Yep. -Okay.
Are you ready to be bossed around?
-[Chad] I'm used to it. -Okay, cool.
-Let's get started. -[Chad] Okay.
Okay. All hands on deck.
I cannot wait to see what Mike's picked out.
We're gonna make our house a home.
These larger rugs, guys, the two that you guys have are the bedroom rugs.
-You can put them in either one. -[man] All right.
He'll show us where everything goes.
Maple live edge table for the living room.
Okay?
Just a little dark teal leather
never hurt anybody, okay?
He's absolutely crazy. He's fun.
-Okay. -[all laugh]
We love working with him.
You like these chairs, huh?
-[Laurel] I do like 'em. -Okay. Good.
Because they're here.
[laughing]
This is the haul tree.
It's a biggie.
I wasn't expecting that much furniture could go into our small little tree house,
but once we started putting everything
inside the living room...
Where are my people?
Mike was barking orders.
All right, team.
-That is for the living room here. -[girl] Okay.
I don't always love being the boss, but someone's got to do it.
Someone has got to step up.
So here I am.
This is beige on beige with a side of beige, and I need a little contrast.
Thank you, Laurel.
[Chad] There was lamps, there was rugs, there was beds
and it seemed like Mike knew magically where everything went.
All right, guys, we're closer.
We're closer.
This ultimately is going to be right in here.
-This goes here. -[Laurel] Okay.
Okay. Cool.
I carved this last evening.
I'm just kidding.
I'm kidding. I'm kidding. Okay.
Okay.
[Chad] It just gives you the tree house vibe.
-It really, really does. -[Mike] It's a tree house vibe.
See, it's coming-- You get it? Okay.
We're excited about the opportunity
to take a rural cabin environment in the woods,
a setting that's usually very casual and add some high design,
luxury finishes to it so that it's approachable,
yet really high style.
-Do you like this? -Yeah.
-Yeah, it's nice and soft. -[Mike] It's like grandma's sweater but a blanket.
[both laugh]
Okay. I mean, like chic grandma sweater. Like chic grandma.
-[both] Yeah. -Okay. Not like, boring grandma.
Okay, turn the light on.
And Mommy and Daddy's bedroom is here.
And can someone get me light bulbs that have the same color?
Hue matters.
Okay?
Over time and not too much time,
Mike was able to piece things together
and really make that space into a living space.
[Mike] Ultimately, it looks like I wanted it to look.
It functions like they wanted it to function,
and I'm really pleased with the result.
[both laughing]
One of the last things we have to do is hang our sign.
All right. Is it the right way?
-That's the right way. -Okay. Let's do it.
[Chad] We decided to name our house, Whispering Woods,
which is a name that the girls came up with.
So we had a sign made.
I think one of the cool things about the sign is the "established,"
because we are established now.
[drilling]
All right. It's official.
It's that extra touch that makes it feel like it's our home.
It looks great.
[Chad] It looks awesome.
[Laurel] There's a lot more to do.
We're not done yet.
There's things inside that really need our focus.
It's going to take a few days, maybe more.
But I think we can get it done.
[Laurel] We have family coming in
and we really don't want to disappoint them.
[Laurel] So we are finally done building, decorating,
installing everything,
and I feel a breath of fresh air.
I'm so happy.
-[chuckling] I really am because it took a lot. -[laughs]
Just the level of detail that went into it,
the level of decor that you and Michael put together and you made it a home.
Our original timeline was around two months.
I think we're now four months in.
So, our original budget was close to, like, 400,000-ish.
I think we exceeded it by like ten, 15%.
[Chad] The reason why the budget kind of like
got stretched a little bit is just the timing.
And the weather was just crazy this year.
-It was well worth it. -I agree.
[Chad] We did it.
Come here.
[Chad] We have our friends Mike and Beth coming today.
I think they're gonna be blown away about the tree house.
I am super excited to share it with them.
[Beth] Wow!
-[Chad] What do you guys think? -[Mike] That is...
-I cannot believe it. -Awesome. So cool.
-[Beth] You guys are way out here. -[all laugh]
[Beth] Holy moly. It's so good to see you.
[Chad] Oh, my god. Nice to see you.
[Mike] This is fascinating.
[Beth] This is a very big tree house.
[Chad] We incorporated as many trees as possible in the build.
-[Beth] It's gorgeous. -[Mike] Such an awesome project.
[Beth] I love the cedar siding.
[Chad] We've got three different levels to check out,
-so, follow me me. -[Mike] All right, let's go.
[Chad] All right.
This is where, during some nice, snowy evenings,
we're gonna spend some time in the hot tub.
[Beth] You're protected. Oh.
How lovely.
And then you have the view from the hot tub.
-[Chad] Yep. Perfect. -Amazing.
[Chad] Let's show you the view up here. You're gonna be stunned by it.
This is where we're gonna spend our morning coffees or evening wines.
-[Beth] Wow. -[Chad] The tree moves. The deck doesn't.
-[Beth] Yeah. -[Mike] That's awesome.
-[Beth] Oh, it's beautiful. -[Laurel] And a little sitting area.
[Chad] Every single one of these decks are attached
to those three trees right there.
-[Beth] Oh, it is like an illusion, isn't it? -[Chad] Yeah.
-[Beth] Yes.
And we named our house Whispering Woods
-because you almost can feel it. -Oh, you can.
-It feels like it. -[Mike] It's a whisper.
-I can hear it. It's so cool. - [Beth] Yes!
[Chad] Totally off the grid here.
We had to have septic.
We had to drill a well. Eventually, we're powered right now by a generator.
But maybe, because it's so windy up here.
Maybe a wind generator.
A wind turbine.
[Beth] Yeah, I think the wind generator would do well.
[Laurel] It's definitely windy today.
[all laughing]
Let's go up and check out the third deck.
It's like one of my favorite seating areas.
-Oh, better than this? -[Mike] Let's go.
[Beth] Wow.
[Mike] Look at this.
Unbelievable.
[Beth] Oh, the furniture. Everything's gorgeous.
You see the teardrop? I love it.
I'm gonna be snoozing or reading a book in there.
[Mike] It's like a little cocoon.
How comfortable. And it is like your own little nest up in the tree.
-[Chad] After you. -[Beth] Ooh.
[Beth gasps]
[Beth] Oh!
Oh, my goodness.
-[Mike] Look at this. -[Beth] Ohh.
-[Beth] I can't believe it. -[Mike] Incredible.
-And this is still a tree house? -[Beth laughs]
-It is. -Yeah.
[Chad] I picked out everything.
-[Beth] Of course you did. -[Laurel] Right.
No, it really came together.
Oh, the live edge table. Oh, it's gorgeous.
[Chad] Let's check out the kitchen.
-[Laurel] Come on. -[Beth] Great.
That cute little pub table that Laurel picked out.
-Awesome. -Oh, it's adorable.
[Laurel] We had to get some smaller appliances to get everything to fit in here,
but we have the dishwasher, stove, fridge, everything you need
to make a meal.
All the comforts of home but in a tree house.
I have to show you the bedrooms.
[Chad] After you.
-[Mike] Wow! -[Beth] Oh, my.
I love the vaulted ceilings. Look at that.
[Chad] In a tree house, you can't put up drywall
because of the swaying of the trees
-and the movement, it would... -[Mike] It's gotta move.
It has to move a little bit, and it could crack the drywall.
[Chad] So, that's why they recommend using wood paneling.
You went all out.
[Beth] I am so impressed.
[Chad] Look, come check out the kid's room.
-Oh, wow. -[Mike] So fun.
[Beth] Oh, the kids are going to love it.
-Both bedrooms have gorgeous views. -[Laurel] Yes.
[Beth] Oh, with all the windows. Wow.
[Chad] What do you think of the bathroom?
Ooh, wow.
Ah!
[Mike] Look at that sink, and the river rock shower. That's unbelievable.
[Laurel] Yeah, we thought that would be a nice little touch with the river rock.
And it's not a composting toilet.
It's actually, we're on a full septic when the generator is running.
[Chad] So which most tree houses are on, like, a composting toilet,
we decided to go the extra mile and get a septic system.
[Beth] Nice.
[Chad] Are you guys ready to climb up to the loft?
It's a climb.
-[Beth] That's okay. -[Mike] It's all right. We got it. We can handle it.
We'll let you guys go first. I'll catch up.
[Beth] Okay. [laughs]
-Oh, wow. -[Chad] You like that railing piece?
[Beth] Oh, I do.
[Chad] Yeah. I think this is where all the family time is gonna happen.
We're gonna go up there and we're gonna have, like, game nights.
Oh, the kids are going to love it.
[Beth] You are at the top of the trees.
Are they moving today?
[Beth] The trees are moving today.
-[Mike] It's such a great space to sit, read, coffee. -[Chad] Yeah.
[Chad] Building off the grid was challenging.
It's worth it because we're gonna spend so much family time in the house.
Enjoying each other's company on the deck.
I cannot wait for our families to get together and spend hours
out here on the deck playing games and just being outside, disconnected.
Just make the call, we'll be over.
[Chad] I'm so excited to share it with my family during the holidays.
I'm so happy we did it.
[Laurel] Building off the grid was challenging,
but in the end, it's worth it.