Benito and Arjuna Steen are building cabins in the Arizona mountains, applying techniques rooted in a family tradition that spans generations. The brothers grew up on a remote homestead in the region’s “sky islands,” working alongside their parents, Athena and Bill Steen, to construct their family home using straw and clay. Now, they have taken over the family business, applying the same natural building methods to their own projects and raising the next generation on the same remote property.
When Benito Steen was eight years old, he was already helping out in the family shop. He remembers the feeling of working with his hands and the experience of harvesting clay and hauling logs from the forest. Over time, this early exposure grew into a lifelong passion. Steen says he cannot imagine doing anything else.
“I get to wake up, and it doesn’t feel like a job—it’s just what I want to be doing all the time,” Steen says.
The brothers operate on a 40-acre site, a location that requires a vehicle capable of handling rough terrain. They often work deep in the Arizona hills, towing trailers full of equipment and lumber along narrow, winding roads. For this work, they rely on a Nissan Frontier, which boasts a towing capacity of 7,150 pounds. Steen appreciates the vehicle’s balance of size and power.
“I hate driving big trucks around, but having a small, compact truck that also has a big towing capacity—that’s been huge,” Steen says. It is reliable enough to get him back to his family in time for dinner.
Living and working with family presents unique challenges, but the Steen brothers have integrated their parents and siblings into the business model. Benito and Arjuna now live on-site with their own partners and children, continuing the cycle of labor and love established by their parents. Steen enjoys taking his son into the hills to work, creating a parallel upbringing for the new generation.
There is a tangible satisfaction in handling materials that one has collected and formed by hand. Steen believes this intimate knowledge of the building process changes how one values the finished product. He teaches workshops to help others learn construction, hoping to share the feeling of connection to the work.
As the brothers expand their operations and family sizes, the homestead remains a center of gravity. The proximity of the family members allows for a level of collaboration that is difficult to replicate in a standard corporate environment. The work continues to shape their daily lives, from the tools they use to the people they share it with.
Benito and Arjuna operate on a remote homestead where they apply traditional methods to modern projects. The brothers rely on a small, compact truck to handle the rough terrain of the Arizona hills. This equipment allows them to tow trailers full of equipment and lumber along narrow, winding roads to their work sites.
