From our blog

Thelen Total Construction celebrates 40 years

Built to Last: Thelen Total Construction looks back on 40 years in business Reflecting back 40 years, when Randy and Nancy Thelen started their home construction business in their home in 1974, think about this: The yearly inflation…
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The New Reputation Economy

The 2011 Gallup Poll of Honesty and Ethics in Professions asked people how they would rate the honesty and ethics of people in different fields. Nurses were at the top with 82% of people polled rating honesty and ethics at “high / very high”.…
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New Home Construction by Thelen Total Construction

Four Steps for Stress-free Home Construction

Are you a little apprehensive about building or remodeling your home because of hearing negative home building experiences from friends and family? Relax! By taking care to choose your builder wisely, being part of the team, having a realistic…
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Your Living room just got a LOT bigger! Designing Outdoor Living Spaces

Homeowners are increasingly drawn to including outdoor rooms for entertaining and recreation when improving or building a new home. Landscape architects who specialize in residential design rated the popularity of outside design elements.…
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The Internet of Things: How Home Automation is changing with Smartphone Apps

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The volume of technology news is enormous. From the perspective of a custom home builder, this stream of tech news is like trying to drink from a fire hose. What are the important macro trends? The Internet of Things (IoT) is a macro…
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The Perfect Lot

Steps to finding the Perfect Lot

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Before building your custom home, do your homework and learn all that you can about the property before buying    
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5 Important Steps to Building a Green Home

What can you do when building a new home to lessen the harmful impact on the environment? With all the resources and knowledge available today – there is no reason not to build an environmentally conscientious, green home. Here are the 5…
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Is the perfectly built home a myth?

I read an article recently in Houzz that really resonated with me. It was written by Bud Dietrich, an architect in the Tampa Bay area of Florida, and he thought there was a perception out there that when you build a new home, you’ll never…
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Experiencing the 2014 NAHB International Builder’s Show

Randy, Robert and Jason Thelen attended the  National Association of Home Builders  International Builder's Show (IBS)  last week in Las Vegas, the largest annual home construction show in the world.  Randy and Robert…
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Live & Local: Lake Geneva Home Improvement Expo

Dreaming of a new home or want to improve your existing one?  Need inspiration? Need advice? Come visit us at the Lake Geneva Home Improvment Expo where you can meet with experts in the home improvment field. And its right in your own back…
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2014 Top Home Design Trends

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Home building is not an industry where big changes happen really fast. Change evolves over time.  Kiplinger’s Economic Outlook said that new home construction is expected to increase by about 16% or 580,000 homes in 2014.  So if…
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Keys to Success

Recently Randy and Jason Thelen traveled to Manitowoc , the site of the Fall Builder 20 Meeting, hosted by Jim Reif  owner of J.M. Reif Builders, in Francis Creek Wisconsin. What is Builder 20, you might ask? Well, it’s a way to surround…
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