My uncle used to design and build houses. Normally he didn't work for anyone - he'd take out a loan, buy a piece of land, design a house custom fit to the contours of the land, subcontract some parts, but he did the carpentry with some hired help, and when it was all done, he'd sell it (he was a realtor too) and as far as I know always made a profit, though some did better than others...

One year I went to work for him. But he was doing it differently that time, some wealthy developer had hired him to build his own house. I remember him talking about what a big mistake that was turning out to be, the guy kept changing his mind about what he wanted when we were halfway done with something - for example when he saw the rough openings for the windows, he decided they weren't big enough and he wanted bigger. Problem was, my uncle had already ordered the windows (custom sized of course) and they were already built, just not delivered yet... But the guy had money to burn, so he paid for both sets... Anywho, my uncle had designed the roof to be held up by some hefty beams, and had intended them to be unpainted, so had sourced the high quality (expensive) ones. After we set the beams- most by crane, but one short one was in such an odd position we had to do it by hand- heaviest thing I've ever lifted and I only had one end... a motorcycle engine was light in comparison... anywho, he brought his wife to look at the progress, she took one look at the beams and said "... and we'll paint those lavender..." I could just about hear the steam coming from my uncle's ears.