Budget Breakdown: In the Catskills, an Architect Experiments With Passive Design for $515K

Douglass and Andrea invested $12,000 to clear trees from the site. "I never believed we could have a view," says Andrea. "It’s so breathtaking, but it was really hard to imagine." The felled trees were reused in different ways: some chopped for firewood, while many were milled to be used in future projects by the couple. They ended up having so much wood that they gave some away to their neighbors, and the rest went to the clearing company to be turned into lumber.