About Us

Poem Homes is a design-build company focused on reducing resource use in new home construction and showing how living in a smaller, more modest home makes way for a more satisfying life.

Sustainable design and connection to the natural world has inspired my life and my work since I first discovered the back-to-the-land movement in the early 1970’s and helped build a passive solar building. Later, I fell in love with design and drafting and studied at Madison College, obtaining a degree in Architectural Technology in 1986. After gaining experience in the field as a carpenter, land surveyor, estimator, cabinet salesperson, and draftsman, I founded Amber Westerman Building Design in 1998.

Twenty years later and with over 100 new home and 500+ total design projects to my name, I became a Wisconsin Dwelling Contractor with the goal of managing quality from initial sketch and product selection to framing, insulation, and air-sealing. The first Poem Home was completed in July 2020 by my talented crew in Spring Green, our beloved village along the Wisconsin River in the heart of Wisconsin’s Driftless Region.

This Poem Home serves as a demonstration or model home for my clients and is open to the community or anyone interested in learning how to reduce their carbon footprint. It’s also my own home and where I work from, and I couldn’t be happier to be here. I welcome your visit. open house

In addition to working one-on-one with my clients, I enjoy presenting workshops on design topics. This year, I’ll be at the Midwest Renewable Energy Association’s annual Energy Fair. The Fair is a friendly crowd of 11,000 or so who come together for a few days of camping (optional of course), local bands, local brews and food trucks, workshops on hundreds of topics, solar & wind exhibits, yoga classes, and kids’ activities. I like to call it sleep-away camp for adults. The 2022 Fair will be held June 24-26 in Custer, Wisconsin. Will you come for the fun and stay for my workshop? I’d love to meet you!