Building you own house?

[M.M. 700]

For you contractors/guys that have built your own house. How did you start your process?

How did you determine how much money you would have into your house?

Did you draw up your own plans, then calculated how much lumber/materials you will need?

Did you go to a buisness and have them draw up the plans, tell you what you would need?

Or just start building with an open budget?

I think a person could save alot of money by building themselves. But there is alot of headaches to overcome....Scheduling the someone to come in and dig the basement/power/sewer/water. And getting that all lined up so you yourself can frame/build.


I am curious as to how much I would have into a house if I built a 1500-1700 sq. ft 3 beedroom/2bath ranch house. Other than the digging of the basement and the power/sewer/water, maybe elctrical in the house. I think I could do the rest.

 

[Himark]

Before you get much time invested in this you better make sure your lender will do a construction loan for you. Most lenders these days will require a builder of experience be doing the job or at best hand hold it with his name on it before they will do the loan.

 

[Himark]

Also some things to keep in mind is if you are only going to do a standard home..Not TOO much custom. You may really just want to look at a builder. They price very competitively in that market and have beatin down the subs to make it so. If you do it, you will go in as a "one time home" guy and the subs wont cut much break if any, they may even jack your price a little since you wont be there bread and butter.

On the positive side lumber is down nearly 30% compared to two years ago.

 

[HUGHESMD500]

In my opinion its not worth it right now, do you have the money in hand? If so the contractors are extremely hungry for business. Its a buyers market!

 

[Sidehiller]

I work for an excavation company and I highly recomend hiring a GC. There are so many things to keep track of that it's worth his fees to get it done right and have someone to stand behind the work. As stated above, by the time the contracter beats up his subs, it will probably be close to the same cost.

 

[Blu Du]

i'am an excavator and have built my last 4 myself. i end up with alot of plans with my business so i just used one. our lumber yard will draw them up free of charge. you must have money down i think. banks don't like to lend to do it your selfers. i always had 100,000 + to start and then barrowed on what i had built. most gc charge 10-20% above the bids. so even if you be your own general will save you $$

 

[M.M. 700]

Thanks

 

[rockdog2112]

For you contractors/guys that have built your own house. How did you start your process?

How did you determine how much money you would have into your house?

Did you draw up your own plans, then calculated how much lumber/materials you will need?

Did you go to a buisness and have them draw up the plans, tell you what you would need?

Or just start building with an open budget?

I think a person could save alot of money by building themselves. But there is alot of headaches to overcome....Scheduling the someone to come in and dig the basement/power/sewer/water. And getting that all lined up so you yourself can frame/build.


I am curious as to how much I would have into a house if I built a 1500-1700 sq. ft 3 beedroom/2bath ranch house. Other than the digging of the basement and the power/sewer/water, maybe elctrical in the house. I think I could do the rest.

I drew my own plans and then did a cost estimate. It was within what I wanted to spend. I then took the plans and cost sheet to the bank. They approved my application and I built my home doing most of the work myself. That's the short version. It's a very involved process. Construction loans have a high interest rate so be quick aout the building process and have your ducks in a row. Interest payments can be as much as your morgage in the last part of construction after you have spent a couple hundred K of the banks money. Also, from my experience, most construction loans require big down payments. 20% or more. I was able to use my improved piece of land as my down payment. If you have any questions, PM me and I'll speak from my experience. It was hard but I am glad I did. it. Not a lot of folks can say that they actually built their own home. I'm very proud of the accomplishment and you will be also.

 

[rockdog2112]

I work for an excavation company and I highly recomend hiring a GC. There are so many things to keep track of that it's worth his fees to get it done right and have someone to stand behind the work. As stated above, by the time the contracter beats up his subs, it will probably be close to the same cost.

I worked for a GC for about 19 years so I had many of the skills needed to build my house. If you don't I would highly agree with sidehiller. Your bank may insist. Mine asked for proof of my ability and came out to look at the shop that I had built on my land first. Really. My previous employer was a member of the board of trustees for that bank and he vouched for my skills. Good luck.

 

[LiveAlaska]

I drew my own plans and then did a cost estimate. It was within what I wanted to spend. I then took the plans and cost sheet to the bank. They approved my application and I built my home doing most of the work myself. That's the short version. It's a very involved process. Construction loans have a high interest rate so be quick aout the building process and have your ducks in a row. Interest payments can be as much as your morgage in the last part of construction after you have spent a couple hundred K of the banks money. Also, from my experience, most construction loans require big down payments. 20% or more. I was able to use my improved piece of land as my down payment. If you have any questions, PM me and I'll speak from my experience. It was hard but I am glad I did. it. Not a lot of folks can say that they actually built their own home. I'm very proud of the accomplishment and you will be also.

of course he is a dog so it's a one room house approximately 10 square feet. one opening with no door, no plumbing or electrical and a bit of yard for doin his business

 

[xrated]

of course he is a dog so it's a one room house approximately 10 square feet. one opening with no door, no plumbing or electrical and a bit of yard for doin his business

nice one!

I've watched people try and GC there own builds...not worth it at all. No one to hold responsible when the concrete is off, etc. All you'll get is a lot of beotching with no action. Where if you have a GC you call them and beotch and then they tear into whoever and fix it. If not then it's the GC butt on the line.

 

[redlineguy]

I just moved into my new house 5 days ago, GC'ed it myself. Would do it again in a heart beat. You will save a TON of money if you do yourself and you will know your house inside and out better too. Why Pay someone to make calls when you can do it. Also if you have CASH you can save BIG$$$$. People love CASH and it talks, Gets things done faster too.

PM me if you have any questions











.

 

[rockdog2112]

of course he is a dog so it's a one room house approximately 10 square feet. one opening with no door, no plumbing or electrical and a bit of yard for doin his business

Ruff ruff bark bark! Hahahaha.

 

[rockdog2112]

of course he is a dog so it's a one room house approximately 10 square feet. one opening with no door, no plumbing or electrical and a bit of yard for doin his business

First fire in the "Dog House".

Floors starting to go down.

 

[CANNONMAN]

You can't believe how often this question comes up in the trades! If you are very skilled, have all the tools (not the new ones you just bought at home depot to do the work) unlimited time, (during normal business hours) a very understanding family/wife, (good luck) and even more understanding boss, and know how to read a code book and build to UDC. Do you even know what UDC stands for? Can you set grade? Meaning do you want to be able to actually get in your garage when you are done? How about setbacks? Deed restrictions? Permits? Permits, that will be your first very frustrating experience! Who orders what for what. What sub gets in first to rough? Who pays for the screwups? There will be screwups, believe me. Don't mean to burst your bubble, it is possible, but more than likely you will end up with an unfinished, incorrectly built with numerous flaws, poor quality, with more in it than you had hoped for home! Most subs won't want to work with you as you are known as "A ONE HIT WONDER" in the trades and they all know they will be making extra trips to do their part as it won't be ready when promised, materials not there, and having anyone there to actually run the job or for questions on what to do when. Believe me there will be a lot of problems/questions to solve daily and who is going to do that! I have built and remodeled homes for over 30 years and have people say to me we make to much and they will save by doing it themselves. Painting your bedroom is one thing, building from the gound up is a whole new animal. Granted some people are very talented and can do it but for the vast majority that is not the case. Would you go buy some leather and make your own shoes? GC's earn their money without a doubt! Here is a good option, I tell people why not do what you do best and put in overtime or whatever to make the extra money to hire a GC and we will both make money and be happier in the long run. You can't believe how much time you will spend as a customer just picking out the items you need for the home let alone trying to build it. I get 2-3 calls a year from people who started their own home and then call us to finish it. It is amazing to me what some people do and then want us to fix it. We have done a few and it usually costs a bundle to fix all the screw ups. We build on a cost plus system that shows the client all the costs from everone up front and then charge a GC percentage above these costs depending on the complexity of the job. Nothing could be fairer in my opinion and the clients love this concept, they actually see all the costs and work that goes into the project and have a greater understanding of the process. If you try and do it, good luck you're going to need it! I could go on and on but I hope you get the picture that it ain't as easy as it sounds!!!!!!!!!! I know, I know ain't ain't a word and the nuns would roll over in their graves if they saw me writing this!

 

[tmk50]

We've been in our house for three years now and I would definetly build again if we ever have to.

My wife and I bought a $90 home design program and just started plugging away until we had what we wanted. My brother in law did the GCing for us, but had us pull all the permits so it showed as 'owner'.

Lots of ways to save money, one quick one that no one has mentioned is that Lowe's and Home Depot are very competitive on pricing. When we were shopping for drywall I went to Home Depot, got the price per sheet. Lowe's had (maybe they still do) a policy that they would beat any competitor's price by 10%, so we got a 10% discount on that, plus I had a 10% coupon and they cashier let me use that one as well - 20% off on our drywall (and yes the price was cheaper than the building suppliers that we checked) - so do your homework and get creative and you can save some coin.

Figure on going overbudget by 10-20%, if you don't go over budget you can use that money for landscaping

EDIT: Just saw cannonman's post - agree with him completely, we tracked every cost and paid my brother-in-law a % of the total cost. I still have that spreadsheet showing every penny we spent on our house just in case we ever do it again.....

 

[highmark18]

We just closed on our new house end of May, started digging the basement last July (2008). I GC'd the whole thing myself without ever doing it before. I would not hesitate to do it again. Yes it was alot of running, sleepless nights, one decision after another, etc. But in the end you can save a bunch of money, and like Redline guy said, you know your house inside and out. As far as construction loans, we used our old house as collateral until we sold it, then applied that money to the loan. Yes there is a TON of work involved in building your own home, but it is well worth it, and something you can be proud of. FYI, I hired in guys to come in and pour the basement (we used ICF's, and you can't fix a concrete f-up), frame the house, and I also hired the sheetrocking done upstairs. The rest I did myself. I just went to the lumberyard and worked with the guys there, we drew and re-drew house plans many times until we got it where we wanted it. No charge, since I bought my building materials there.
Bottom line, if you are mechanically inclined and have plenty of ambition, go for it. Being the GC you will run into problems, but nothing that cannot be worked through. You won't see the wife much once you get started, but that isn't always a bad thing!!
Any questions shoot me a PM, I would be more than happy to try and help you out.

 

[ne1cadrgn]

If you have done building in the past and not just a garden shed then it may not be a big deal. You should have a good understanding of the building code and how to interpit it. Trust me I am a Building Inspector and if you dont get it right and carry on too far past it will cost you huge to redo things after the fact to bring it up to code. Here is some advise for you that I tell alot of people. " Code is a minimum requirement if you cant meet that I cant help you". It blows to here those words because if I have spoke those words you have messed up. Cheers and good luck.

 

[M.M. 700]

Not to concered about how to build the house, got that covered.


Some Tools I would need,,,,,going to need them sometime anyway.

I was more interested on how you drew up your plans, and figured out your house would cost.

 

[tmk50]

I was more interested on how you drew up your plans, and figured out your house would cost.

Punch Home Design Platinum or something like that was the software we used.

We had to get the foundation and roof (trusses) drawn up by an engineer, so we didn't sweat that stuff too much. So we mainly used the SW for the floor plan.


For the cost estimates we estimated 120 to 125 per sf. We ended up spending $128/sf (not counting the interest payments on the construction loan). This was for a ranch house with a full basement, septic, no well (community water - $13.5k water tap included in cost).