When Nathan and Sarah Linhardt decided to build a house for their growing family, they wanted to build their dream home in the new subdivision their chosen contractor, Scott Schaeperkoetter, was building Wardsville. The couple achieved their dream home in the location they wanted by “maintaining good budgeting and saving habits throughout the years,” Sarah says.

“Once our construction budget was set, we tried to monitor any changes or deviations very closely to assure we stayed as close to our projections as possible,” Nathan adds.

Signature Homes designer Angie Zimmermann was also able to help with the process. “We do a lot of work up front to a budget in order to meet and incorporate the dreams and ideas within a client’s budget,” she says.

“They never steered away from the vision for their home or their budget,” Schaeperkoetter says. “They stayed true to both of those items even though they found out in the middle of construction that baby No. 3 was on the way. There is a lot to be said for that because a lot of people would have used that as a good reason to expand their budget. They were also open to choices on how to get what they wanted with what they had.”

“Any time we had a decision to make in terms of what to go with or what we wanted, Scott and his team understood how important our construction budget was,” Nathan says. “In other words, they provided us only with those options that were within our budget or close to what we had projected.”

“We spent money up front on things we weren’t going to change,” Sarah says. “Then, we compromised on things that could easily be added or changed later.”

For the Linhardts, building their four-bedroom, three-bath home within their budget didn’t mean dumbing down their wants and needs; it just meant compromising and making smart choices.

Those choices led to a family-friendly, modern, rural home with practical yet stylish finishes and an open floor plan with plenty of natural light, all amidst the scenic backdrop of gentle rolling hills of the Wardsville countryside.

“A lot of my inspiration came from Pottery Barn and Pinterest,” Sarah says. “Angie at Signature Homes would always refer to me as the ‘Pottery Barn girl.’”

“They made compromises in some areas to make better choices in areas important to them that will fit their family for a lifetime,” Schaeperkoetter says.

Resource List

Builder: Signature Homes Inc.

Designer: Angie Zimmermann

Cabinets: Ron Irvin Cabinet Shop

Flooring: Scruggs Lumber

Paint: Scruggs Lumber

Plumbing: George’s Plumbing

HVAC: Stieferman Heating & Cooling

Electrical: G & R Electric

Stained concrete: Jerry Sandbothe

Brick and stone: Midwest Block & Brick

Brickwork: Dave Smith

Appliances: Lowe’s

Master suite bedding and wall monograms: The Schaefer House

Captions: Creative Spaces