"[7] The New York Times said the book was "as calming as a mug of warm milk," with praise for Bean's watercolor and ink illustrations.
Told in the fictionalized voice of Bean's older sister, the story encompasses the move away from the city and into a temporary trailer, followed by site preparation, framing, and finishing over the course of two winters, along with the birth of another child.
[2] In the The Horn Book, Betty Carter said the child narrator's voice presents a simplistic and exaggerated story belied by Bean's illustrations that show the difficulty of construction through adult eyes.
[10] In a survey of recent children's books on American themes, Rebecca Traister described Building Our House as "shot through with pioneer spirit" and "suffused with the cozy self-sufficiency of a Laura Ingalls Wilder tale.
The New York Times described the story as reinforcing "the consoling home life — portrayed in happy and straightforward watercolor pictures — that has become the signature of Bean’s work.
The New York Times noted that Bean's artwork displayed "characteristic ramshackle, loose-limbed charm, with bright watercolor brushstrokes straying exuberantly outside the pen-and-ink lines," which it called "reassuring .