has anybody ever built their own home.

just like the title says- has anybody ever built or GCd their own home build. im thinking about oneday building my own home and was wondering if my "TW" family has any insight to this topic. PICS are a plus. also feel free to say what you did yourself and what you hired other people to do. i guess its never too early to start studying for the big test. thank you all who respond. no information is too small and dont feel bad if you post something thats already been said cause my short-term memory is shot... thank you all.

 

I built my house 31-years ago. I had a background in framing and general carpentry. The hardest thing was the foundation. I made my own forms and poured the concrete. I fell into the trap of over-building.............I'm still in the home so I guess that was a good thing. I sub'ed out the outside face brick, upstairs/downstairs fireplaces, upstairs plumbing, electric. Bartered services for the heating, air conditioning. THIS IS A MAJOR UNDERTAKING. If you do not have a background in building DO NOT attempt this project. Know all of your local building codes before you start........do your homework. I question in this economy if a bank would give a nonlicensed contractor a construction loan. Make sure you insure the site. (as required by the bank)
I was just a kid working midnights when I started. I weighed 175 lbs when I started.........I weighed 127 lbs when the occupancy permit was issued. This is a total commitment project.

 

thank you golf man. homework is a must. or else ill be paying 3x the amount

 

me and my pops built a big outdoor patio (aside from the rest of the house) with an outdoor kitchen and a fire pit and stuff. We were quoted at a little over 200k and me and him built it for around 45k......... over 4 years

 

A friend of mine recently looked into this and the bank wasn't going anywhere near it. He isn't a licensed contractor but has decent experience and his father built his own current home (his father was going to assist). So lining up financing is something to think about.

 

try a small project in your parents house/your current house first. times that by 100000000. if you still want to do it...your crazy..lol. like golf man said,do your homework first.its great to know people in the biz.i own a small hvac company on the side.im in a lot of new construction homes. there is always alot of bullshit to deal with. inspectors love to shoot you down for stupid crap. thank god for the internet(beside porn) people can research stuff before they get ripped off by some dickhead who does crappy work. you see more and more scumbags beating people out of downpayments to start a job and never comeback. you will have to out source some stuff. word of mouth is everything. talk to people/friends/family who has used local companies and get their input. just because a company has big nice shiny trucks doesnt always mean they do great work.get everything and i mean everything in writing. cover your own ass. good luck.

 

i do have a small backround in home improvements and have great resourses( my brother is lic electrician- my best friend is a lic plumber/heating/hvac) so by me saying i will do alot of the work myself i mean with help. there is a lot i would have to sub out like foundation and septic/sewer. prob find excavation comp. this is also a project i dont plan to start for many years. i have my current house to pay off first. only after the sale of my home i would just pay " cash" for everything. no financing if i can do it. thank you. i should also like to extend this thread to all people that have done additions to there homes or others. pics are great. thank you for all your help and support.

 

bob- did the bank say why they didnt want to get involved?

 

From their perspective, my guess would be risk aversion. If they're issuing a loan against the house, they're going to want to be sure it's worth the money they give you. If you're not a licensed contractor, there's a great risk (in their eyes) that you don't know what you are doing. They fear being left holding a failed build that may not be able to be resold or require major rework because it doesn't meet code.

 

Yeah, I honestly don't know the exact details.. but I'm assuming it was along the lines of Evil Monkey's explanation.

 

sure makes the most sense. if they lend me 200k and i go out and make a pile of saw dust there screwed too! my planning is to sell my current house outright and use the sale to finance 100% myself on the build.

 

You can build your house man, from ground up, Me and my dad build houses all the time (hes a lisenced contractor) I know how to build and complete a house step by step and im 19, so trust me, you can do it. If you already have a plumber and electician then your gravy man. Go get some books at home depot on how to build a foundation step by step, framing, ext. foundation is the toughest. The only thing to sub would be the heating, make sure you get something good like (Trane or Goodman) if your planning on keeping the house for a while. You can frame the house no problem just buy your truses made. Roofing and siding is cake, the interior is easy once you have the plumbing and electricity done right after the framing. Sheetrocking is too easy, utility knife all day, thats it. lol, buy kitchen cabinets and install yourself which is doable. Just do your hw pretty much, get an updated code book from your city hall and your good.

 

thank you eddie. it sounds like you were keeping it simple by breaking it down to simplest forms. like one step at a time. i dont have any true experience doing foundations and since i feel thats one of the most important steps i would prob sub that out. i also looked at the cost of buying used forms from a concrete company and they were over $6k. so i would leave that to someone else. but things like siding-sheetrock-kitchen etc i would deff do myself. thank you for your input eddie. if you have more tips feel free to let me know. thank you all.

 

Ive work in constuction for 25 plus years, do your homework , do the areas you can do and get good subs to do the ones you can`t! Now adays you need alot of cash , because the banks most likely won`t loan the $ to a do it yourselfer! I was going to do a log home and be my own general and do most of the work myself, but never gotter doon. I bought a log home and I`m remodeling it instead. Good luck!! You can do whatever you set your mind on doing!!

 

thanks blue. my girl loves the log homes. i like them too but they are $$$$$ around here. if you have some pics id love to see it.

 

I`ll see if I can find some in my pictures!

 

anyone else with any construction experience? foundations etc.????

 

bueller-------

 

Hi paulm09tacoma,

Built my own home in 1986, and figured that was definitely NOT my calling. I am really glad I did it, but it was time consuming and stressful.

Had Southland Building Company do the shell, and then I took over. Because it was a daylight basement home, I was responsible for the basement walls and foundation. I subbed those jobs out, and asked God to be my GC.

Bottom line, I would do it for myself again, but would never do it for a living. Really didn't save a lot of money, but built exactly what I wanted, and am still living here. Where I live, you can buy a permit and build your own home as long as you are going to be the primary resident. Can't remember the name of it, but it worked out. I already knew some good people from helping Mom and Dad build their home.

Tim Glover

 

Hey Paul,

Yes, I have GC'd my own place 5 years ago, designed it and did all the finish work myself. I had a blast doing it. Key to making it fun is to have some good subs. Find one good local guy and they will recommend the others needed. Being a project manager helped as you do need to build out a timeline of activities for the subs and when activities need to be done before the next can start. As you interview subs, ask how flexible their schedules are and availability. Listen to them as well - their experiences can be great input to some great ideas you might not have considered. Biggest single piece of advice, plan it out so you know when and how long you need things to happen. Even the local CEO can give you insight on the little things you may not have anticipated, like pressure testing inspection of the plumbing, open wiring inspections, septic inspections, etc.

Good luck and have fun with it no matter what!