Greg and Lisa laughed at me and told me I was wasting my time, but then they had to agree that the sign came out pretty good!

I must have hand lifted over ten million pounds. You would be surprised how many times you have to handle the same piece of wood before it goes into place. I tried to set up my work space to be as efficient as possible. That means move your saw near the wood pile and then put the cut piece of wood into a wagon or wheelbarrow.
Saving money is great but eventually you have to buy materials. I probably built my own barn for half of the cost of having someone else do it but the savings is mostly in labor. You can shop around but cement, roofing and screws cost a certain amount of money. So if you want to save money, take the time to get the best deal and do as much as you can yourself if you have the time. You should be watching the price of materials for months before you buy. Sometimes you get lucky like I did and end up with a set of free replacement windows not good enough for a house but plenty good for my barn.
When Greg got ready to head back home for Thanksgiving, I asked him to lay out as much joinery as he could before he left. That way, I could save some labor by cutting them out while he was gone.