Photos courtesy of Builder Brigade

Dennis Comstock wants to help homeowners with the daunting task of building a home. “After spending eight years in the Army, I decided to build my first home. I thought it was going to be awesome, but the actual process was involved and overwhelming,” Comstock says. “I was lucky to have prior knowledge about residential and commercial construction which helped me.” 

Comstock had friends who would be building their first homes after he built his, so he decided to make a checklist to help them navigate the process. Today, Comstock can trace the seeds of his booming business, Builder Brigade, back to that moment. 

“Housebuilding is a miracle itself,” he explains while holding the most respect for builders and their contractors. “To do all they do, especially in the tight timeline, can be incredibly challenging.” 

To help educate homeowners about the process, Comstock started making videos with tips on the trade. “I wanted to give first-time homeowners quick, digestible information that would alleviate stress and prevent issues,” he says. The short videos he started during Covid went viral. Today, they command combined views of more than 20 million monthly across his social platforms.

Comstock is quick to mention that his business is not about criticizing or nit-picking the construction, but rather to help conversations between the most important players on the project — the homeowners and the builders. He believes collaboration between the two parties results in a pleasant build experience for everyone involved. 

One example of such collaboration started between Comstock and Jonathan Lewis from Southern State Builders in Evans. “Lewis was using some new building features like recessed baseboards, and I thought it might be interesting to partner with him on new products and processes,” says Comstock. The two continue to toss around ideas and experiment with different products for house builds.

There are detailed checklists for purchase on his website like The Ultimate Home Building Checklist and The Blue Tape (Final Walkthrough) Checklist. He features articles on pest control, homebuilding mistakes, spray insulation and must-have garage features and outlets. Comstock hopes to make building a dream home an experience that anyone can enjoy without unnecessary headaches, setbacks, or regrets.

5 Builder Brigade Tips

1. Video record every wall before sheetrock is installed. Stand in the center of the room and slowly rotate to capture all the wiring, plumbing and studs, including the ceiling. This is helpful for later remodels, installing wall-mounted features, adding wiring in the future and easy access for plumbing repairs. 
2. Create a centralized location for smart home capabilities. This will be the central location for all the internet wiring called ethernet cable. Cameras, TVs, computers and even phones can utilize this wiring for power and video data. Bonus points if you have conduit going to the attic or crawlspace so you can add more ethernet wiring if you choose. 
3. Recess behind the fridge. To achieve the look of a counter-depth fridge in the space of a standard-sized one, create a 2 x 6 wall and recess the area behind the fridge. This will allow you to push the fridge further back into the wall, so it appears to be a counter-depth one.
4. Consider electrical plans. Print off your home plans and highlight the location of all requested electrical outlets. Consider a fireplace mantel outlet for Christmas decorations, closet outlets, a towel warmer outlet, a raised outlet for a wall-mounted vacuum, a 240v garage outlet for an electric car and an under-soffit outlet for exterior Christmas lights. Providing a highlighted plan of your requested outlets will give the builder and electrician a clear vision of what your electrical needs are for your new house. These requested outlets come at an additional cost, but they are much more expensive after the house is built.
5. Take advantage of blocking. During framing, you have the rare opportunity to add blocking in between the studs. This will give you a solid mounting surface for things like bathroom towel racks, toilet paper holders, shower grab bars, curtain rods, porch swings and even TV wall mounts. Most of the blocking can be installed using scrap pieces of lumber found around the job site after framing is complete.

Visit the Builder Brigade at builderbrigade.com or on Facebook at facebook.com/groups/builderbrigade.

Seen in the May 2024 issue of Augusta magazine