We’re rewriting the script on how homes should be built.

Our team of creatives, makers, and craftspeople begin every project with careful thought about what will make a house special, not just another cookie-cutter home. We’re never afraid to push the boundaries of convention or be different. This translates into one-of-a-kind features throughout every home we build.

**Rooted in creativity.**

Founder **Shawn Sweeney’s** career journey is rooted in creativity. For over a decade he designed, built, and scouted locations for movie sets across the U.S. for major entertainment companies like Dreamworks and Warner Bros. Before that he owned a nightclub & live music venue in downtown Burlington, VT.
Shawn lived by project plans, budgets, and timelines as multi-million-dollar movie sets were built on his watch, including for the movie “What Lies Beneath” with Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfieffer, shot partially in Vermont. Parts of the full working house were re-used to build Shawn’s own home in Shelburne, Vermont!
For his next act, Shawn saw an opportunity to bring a new way of thinking to homebuilding.
**Fun Facts:**
Superpower: Reimagining Space
Weekends: Working in his Japanese garden
Rocks out to: The Clash & Sandanista

“If it’s not in the script, it’s not in the movie. If it’s not written in the blueprint, it’s not going to magically appear in the kitchen design.”

— Shawn Sweeney, Owner, Sweeney DesignBuild

**Grown with collaboration.**

In 2007, Sweeney DesignBuild was born with a carefully chosen team of people who bring creativity, realism, a caring work ethic, and personality to the building and renovation process.
Custom home designer, **Austin Harris**, dreams and schemes of ways to make the puzzle pieces of your home fit together within your budget. Austin’s bachelor’s degree in architecture helps him bring balance, flow, and functionality to every room he designs.

**Fun Facts:**
Weekends: Renovating & gardening
Rocks out to: Outlaw Country & Classical

**Beth Ames** is SDB’s project manager ninja and she makes sure no detail is missed. Using her experience managing creative teams, she keeps Shawn, Austin, and the rest of the team on point.
Superpower: Controlling Chaos
Weekends: Hiking with family & corgi, home decor blogs
Rocks out to Ray LaMontague & Chris Stapleton

**Sustained by a better way to build.**

There are plenty of carpenters out there who can handle the physical work but not as many builders who can bring creative ideas to their clients.
The team at Sweeney DesignBuild offers design skills alongside carpentry skills. It's this partnership between designers and craftspeople that adds so much value when designing a space from scratch or remodeling an existing home.

Meet the makers

We are a team of people who care about our craft, always find time for fun, and prioritize family. If we had a spirit animal it’d be a bull moose. Together we’re reliable, steady, a little larger than life, a bit goofy, and bound to make you smile.

“If you’re looking for the top professionals in the area, look no further than SBD. From planning, through trips to decide on materials, through construction, then clean up, these guys are A-1. It was like watching a dance the way the crews seamlessly worked their parts of our project around the timing of all the other parts. The finished project is amazing!”

— Alice B., Shelburne

“Austin did all of the design plans, so we were able to see how things would look when the project was finished. He was fantastic with knowing where things should be placed for ease of use while also making sure each space was beautiful.”

— Kate C. Charlotte