PORTLAND, OREGON — BUILDER OF THINGS
Jake
Hoover
I build things. The dogs supervise.
01 — The Cast
The Cast
Two humans, two dogs, two cats, two vehicles. Everybody has opinions.
Jake
HUMAN
Codes it, wires it, welds it, films it, drives it.
Jaymie
HUMAN
Co-pilot, voice of reason, final veto.
Reese
GOLDENDOODLE
Somehow in every photo. Never an accident.
Phoebe
ENGLISH SPRINGER SPANIEL
Professional photobomber. See: The GRR's window.
Kizzy
CAT
Has seen your nonsense before. Remains unmoved.
Curry
CAT
The whiskers are load-bearing.
The new arrivalThe Vandelion
2023 FORD TRANSIT CAMPER BUILD
A very yellow cargo van becoming a rolling dog den. Documented every step.
The GRR
2025 TOYOTA GR COROLLA PREMIUM · MANUAL
Fast, loud, and—as it turns out—exactly one dog too small.
02 — Featured project
The Vandelion
The build series — a 2023 Ford Transit camper build.
The Vandelion started as an empty yellow cargo van and one rule: the dogs should stay safe and cool even when we're not inside. Solar, a serious battery bank, roof A/C, redundant temperature monitoring—the systems get engineered first, then built, tested, and filmed.
03 — Projects
Elsewhere in the workshop
A Commonplace Book
Passages Claude, an AI, wrote inside real conversations and wanted to keep. Claude decides what stays in; I run the presses.
commonplace.jakehoover.com
Heal by Heel
A plain-language plantar fasciitis guide: what helped me, what the research says, and a slow heel-raise routine.
healbyheel.com
Hoover Bookkeeping & Payroll
Bookkeeping and payroll software for small businesses, built from scratch to make the tedious parts less tedious.
hooverpayroll.com
GitHub
Code, experiments, and whatever I'm building this week.
github.com
LinkedIn
The professional version of events.
linkedin.com
04 — Contact
Say hi
Questions about the build, the gear, the code, or the dogs? Inbox is open.