Join the Thousands of Shelter Institute Graduates
Building Their Dream Houses!
Shelter Institute offers a wide variety of courses ranging in length and hands-on opportunity. In our classes we take apart the building process and teach each step individually. Students walk away from the course with all the design tools necessary to build a house.

Which class is for me? We offer several housebuilding classes to serve your needs. Our students range in age from fourteen to eighty. Some of them are contractors, architects, and engineers while others have never picked up a hammer. Our basic Design/Build class is offered in three formats. It receives four college credits, real estate, and appraisal recertification credits. Our Post & Beam Class is a hands on building class designing, measuring, marking, cutting, fitting and erecting a whole timberframe. Contract-It Yourself is a short primer course for those hiring a house built which will coach you on pitfalls, good-practice details, and design ideas that you will want to incorporate.

1)Design/Build Class: The core syllabus is based on 15 classes. We offer this material in several different formats throughout the year:

Our Three Week class offers the most well rounded experience with lectures on weekday mornings, workshops in the afternoons and house sites on the weekends. This course offers the technical information in a classroom atmosphere and the opportunity to try new skills on the job site.

The Two Week Class a condensed version of the three week class with lectures in the mornings and most afternoons. The weekend is spent in workshops and out at house sites. The two week class offers the same course material and still schedules some hands on experience.

Our once a Week Saturday Morning Class is held during the winter months; primarily for people who live within commuting distance of Shelter Institute. Students are welcome to return in the summer months to participate in workshops and house sites. Several workshops are included and work, out at sites, is announced for those who choose to attend.

2) Purely Post and Beam:This one week class ranges between 10 and 25 people. The days are spent on-site designing, cutting and raising a post and beam frame. You will learn to select, use and care for a complete set of timber framing tools. After the sharpening workshop you'll be able to shave with your chisels. In five short days you will turn fresh lumber into a carefully crafted houseframe and leave knowing how to design and build your own.

3) Contract-It Yourself:Three days with our staff focusing on contractor relations, new materials, and techniques that allow the homeowner to be aware of and wary of details that make the house efficient, cost-conscious and personal. A fresh look at all the concerns of a homeowner hiring the house renovated, built or expanded.

4) Small House Building Class: For those who see the beauty and utility of a truly small house. This class is new this year - designed to provide the basic skills and knowledge needed to build a complete little structure. We are building a house that is less than 200 square feet in five days! A special feature of this structure is that is designed to be a take-apart-house. When completed, this little structure will be easy to dissassemble for transport and re-assembly. All the details from foundation options to door-hanging details to roofing will be completed in five short days.