Building you own house?

[CANNONMAN]

That's a good one! Forgot those costs should be added on and probably truer than fiction.

 

[powpow]

Wow, you are making money everyday on this post. Today you are up to 50% of total cost. You are right I am a contractor and damn proud of it. I have been involved in the trades for over 40 years and a contractor for nearly 30. I have beeen involved in just about every aspect in building from buying the poorest condition rehabber you have ever seen with a woodchuck living in the corner to the high end executive homes we currently build, with my own hands so I do have a pretty good idea what it takes. We do approx. 15 homes a year in the $1,000,000.00 and up range so I do know what I am talking about. Most of our new homes now are repeat customers who are very happy with our quality and method of figuring costs. There are some major flaws in your figuring, where is the excavation, flooring, materials, windows, trim, plumbing fixtures, elec. fixtures, insurance, (very important as most policies don't cover workers on your home if they are working for you) etc. etc. I don't mean to piss on your parade but anyone that thinks they are going to save that kind of money building their own home is headed for trouble. Just the materials alone will add up to more than 50% of the total costs! I was just trying to point out there is not that much profit for the GC on project of that size. So if that erroneous info is posted out there as gospel as you claim it does no one any good. It appears you built a nice home and I am glad for you, but most people can't do what work you did and it will only get them in trouble in the end when they fail to get accurate costs up front and then end up with a home they can't afford to finish or worse not built correctly. There are people that can but 95% out there can't. A typical savings would more accurately be in the neighborhood of 8 to 12% for the GC portion, and believe me we earn every cent. Also remember to figure what your time is worth for that year of work! I stand by my comments earlier. All things being equal you will not save 50% by building your own home, if you think you will good luck, you are going to need it!

I have all the receipts right here, you let me know, I will start pulling receipts and email the costs. the 200k on my motgage is the house, contractors i hired, materials, etc only. You are the one submitting the percentages, I provided the costs, I call BS on the 8-12%, I think it is a minimum of 30 %.

 

[JSCC]

I have all the receipts right here, you let me know, I will start pulling receipts and email the costs. the 200k on my motgage is the house, contractors i hired, materials, etc only. You are the one submitting the percentages, I provided the costs, I call BS on the 8-12%, I think it is a minimum of 30 %.

I will back Cannon and just about everything he stated. And yes, I too am a contractor. If you will, tell me where I can go and get 30%.......I am definitely in the wrong area if that is true.

What I don't think you are estimating, is the fact that just because you paid X amount of dollars for your land, does not mean that its not worth more. As well as just because you saved X amount by being your own GC, that the GC would make the extra profit. I have had customers with well over 200k in equity once I was done. In fact, I had a customer who spent 103k on the build portion, and had 18k in equity when I was done. Thats 17% in equity, and didnt lift a finger!

And I am hear to bet, that if you were in my area, I could build your house with my fees included for less than you could build it yourself. Minus the items you do yourself, which you could still do if I built it. And it would come with a warranty, hundreds of homes built in experience, and you would still see your family every night.
Just sayin.....

 

[powpow]

I will back Cannon and just about everything he stated. And yes, I too am a contractor. If you will, tell me where I can go and get 30%.......I am definitely in the wrong area if that is true.

What I don't think you are estimating, is the fact that just because you paid X amount of dollars for your land, does not mean that its not worth more. As well as just because you saved X amount by being your own GC, that the GC would make the extra profit. I have had customers with well over 200k in equity once I was done. In fact, I had a customer who spent 103k on the build portion, and had 18k in equity when I was done. Thats 17% in equity, and didnt lift a finger!

And I am hear to bet, that if you were in my area, I could build your house with my fees included for less than you could build it yourself. Minus the items you do yourself, which you could still do if I built it. And it would come with a warranty, hundreds of homes built in experience, and you would still see your family every night.
Just sayin.....

JSCC,

The quote from the builder was to build this house on my land, the land is not accounted for in my costs. I have stated that over and over, neither is the septic, well or driveway, these I paid for seperate from the construction loan and are not included in the cost of the house or the builders quote.

 

[Blu Du]

i'am an excavator. and 10-12% is what i hear alot. but do they all so mark up sub prices too. some do i know for sure. then if it is a big shack they can get 10% for arcitecht fee too

 

[powpow]

MM700

this is my last post on this thread. If you have any questions feel free to PM me. The costs I have in the house are correct, it follows suite with the savings others had in their house by doing the GC and certain things themselves and with the amount of work I did, I saved more.

Dont fall for the biggest lie out there,,,,,,the "I could build your house with my fees included for less than you could build it yourself", I heard this a few times when I spoke to builders. I dont buy it, that is why the people that are contractors on this thread dont believe my numbers, but as teh saying goes, opinions are like azzholes, everybody has one.

In todays economy, I would reccomend doing as much as you can do, houses have less value today than 4-5 years ago and in order to get equity, you will need sweat equity, which is what I have.

As for costs and how to calculate, get estimates from local lumber yards and labor for things you arent going to do, get numerous estimates, I did three on each task that I hired out.

I am not going to lie to you, it is alot of work, it isnt easy, but the payoff is huge, for example if you can save 50 k on your house, how much does that add up to on a 30 year mortgage, let alone saving 50 k in one year. If you have kids, think twice about it, because you wont see them, I did not have kids at the time, my wife and I worked on it together for 1 year and I lost about 20 lbs......

As for construction loans, look at local banks, the bank I used, used my land as collateral so I didnt have to put any money down, that accounted for my "down payment". I dont know if they still do that today. Also, the construction loan I had did not have "draws", it was a checking account with the funds I needed transferred into it, I had and still have all the receipts with the lein wavers for all the materials and labor that I had to provide to the bank at closing.

Insurance, yes, you can get and want insurance on the structure and in case anybody gets hurt, I had this and it was very reasonable, I cannot remeber the cost at this time, but it was minimal.

Best of luck in your decision you make.

PS, have you looked at any unfinished homes from contractors that went bankrupt? Seems to be some pretty good deals out there

 

[Cyle]

Unless builders are a lot different in other areas (which I doubt) you couldn't pay me enough to buy one of their houses. Not far from the one i'm working on there's a sign "Built by something homes, being fixed by homeowner". Wonder why! The fact is, trades don't care when it's a builder, because NO one cares about the quality of work, it's just get it done, cover it up. The crap i've seen is unreal. GC a house isn't very hard, or that much time. You could EASILY do it while working a full time job. When it's being framed for say a week or two, you have to go there maybe what 3 times? Doesn't take a lot of time to get 3 quotes either. Most things the people can do on their own, sure inside stuff gets more involved but it's pretty simple.

I will be doing my own in about 3-4 years hopefully. I know no GC would do it for the price I will, even if I do nothing myself, and I will get a better job, because it's MY house and I won't let crap slide many others would. They don't get any better price then anyone else. No contractor will do it any cheaper just because it's a GC. If anything they pad the bill, we had a contractor ask that before he knew we were builiding it ourself.

I don't believe you could build it for 50% doing only a bit yourself, but i'm sure you did save a ton.

 

[M.M. 700]

Thanks for all the info people!

And congrats to the guys that have done it themselves. Saved money and have pride in what they have built.

 

[X-it]

Maybe if all the subs are fighting for work you might get some good deals, but oh boy if you are not experienced you can get your self in a real mess fast, especially if you think you can treat subs like sh!t. I have seen a lot in my 35 years as a carpenter.

 

[JSCC]

JSCC,

The quote from the builder was to build this house on my land, the land is not accounted for in my costs. I have stated that over and over, neither is the septic, well or driveway, these I paid for seperate from the construction loan and are not included in the cost of the house or the builders quote.

So you got ONE bid? And that bid was 200k over what it cost you to build the exact same house as was bid?
Either one of two things is wrong. First, the bid was for a much nice house, or two, that bid was fubar!

 

[JSCC]

Unless builders are a lot different in other areas (which I doubt) you couldn't pay me enough to buy one of their houses. Not far from the one i'm working on there's a sign "Built by something homes, being fixed by homeowner". Wonder why! The fact is, trades don't care when it's a builder, because NO one cares about the quality of work, it's just get it done, cover it up. The crap i've seen is unreal. GC a house isn't very hard, or that much time. You could EASILY do it while working a full time job. When it's being framed for say a week or two, you have to go there maybe what 3 times? Doesn't take a lot of time to get 3 quotes either. Most things the people can do on their own, sure inside stuff gets more involved but it's pretty simple.

I will be doing my own in about 3-4 years hopefully. I know no GC would do it for the price I will, even if I do nothing myself, and I will get a better job, because it's MY house and I won't let crap slide many others would. They don't get any better price then anyone else. No contractor will do it any cheaper just because it's a GC. If anything they pad the bill, we had a contractor ask that before he knew we were builiding it ourself.

I don't believe you could build it for 50% doing only a bit yourself, but i'm sure you did save a ton.

If you are talking about Spec home builders, I can concur. But if you are talking about Custom builders, this cannot be any farther from the truth. Most Custom builders work comes from referrals. Kind of hard to stay in business doing that kind of work......

 

[JSCC]

MM700

this is my last post on this thread. If you have any questions feel free to PM me. The costs I have in the house are correct, it follows suite with the savings others had in their house by doing the GC and certain things themselves and with the amount of work I did, I saved more.

Dont fall for the biggest lie out there,,,,,,the "I could build your house with my fees included for less than you could build it yourself", I heard this a few times when I spoke to builders. I dont buy it, that is why the people that are contractors on this thread dont believe my numbers, but as teh saying goes, opinions are like azzholes, everybody has one.

In todays economy, I would reccomend doing as much as you can do, houses have less value today than 4-5 years ago and in order to get equity, you will need sweat equity, which is what I have.

As for costs and how to calculate, get estimates from local lumber yards and labor for things you arent going to do, get numerous estimates, I did three on each task that I hired out.

I am not going to lie to you, it is alot of work, it isnt easy, but the payoff is huge, for example if you can save 50 k on your house, how much does that add up to on a 30 year mortgage, let alone saving 50 k in one year. If you have kids, think twice about it, because you wont see them, I did not have kids at the time, my wife and I worked on it together for 1 year and I lost about 20 lbs......

As for construction loans, look at local banks, the bank I used, used my land as collateral so I didnt have to put any money down, that accounted for my "down payment". I dont know if they still do that today. Also, the construction loan I had did not have "draws", it was a checking account with the funds I needed transferred into it, I had and still have all the receipts with the lein wavers for all the materials and labor that I had to provide to the bank at closing.

Insurance, yes, you can get and want insurance on the structure and in case anybody gets hurt, I had this and it was very reasonable, I cannot remeber the cost at this time, but it was minimal.

Best of luck in your decision you make.

PS, have you looked at any unfinished homes from contractors that went bankrupt? Seems to be some pretty good deals out there

Ignorance truly is bliss.....


However, I do a ton of work for guys like you, so please, keep it up.

 

[CANNONMAN]

"IGNORANCE IS BLISS" truly sums up pow pow's comments. If you notice in his last post he has resorted to any of us who has a different opinion than him as azzholes, probably because we do know what we are talking about. What a putz! You do have to be careful in picking a contractor as just like anything else there are good ones who work for a fair price and do excellant work and then there are others who are just in it for the gold they think they are going to make. I see these new builder signs everyday and fortunately they never last in business but do give the industry a bad name. The last ten years or more have been very good to people that know what they are doing but most of the fly by nights are going away as they should. If you see someone still in business with the way the economy is right now, more than likely they are a quality operation and you will be happy with what they do. Just get some referrals from previous customers and look at the quality of work they do. Just use your head and try and cover all the bases and you should be okay. I know that I am going to raise my prices to 30% for GC charges and see what happens! LOL. Good Luck.

Ignorance truly is bliss.....


However, I do a ton of work for guys like you, so please, keep it up.