book recommendations for building your own house
loucie
14 years ago
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rushmom3
14 years agoRelated Discussions
Can I build my own walk in shower with your help?!?
Comments (12)welcome to the kerdi world, Suzanne :) i have less overall experience than you do - never even contemplated building a wall myself - and I successfully kerdi'd my new master shower. (my ongoing post is "lisa's master bath remodel") we did the leak test last week and it passed with flying colors. haven't tiled yet... still waiting on the tile... but these guys here are amazing with how much help & support they will give you. so definitely take the leap! my coworkers look at my pictures & just shake their heads - they don't even know what half the words mean :) one thing i may have done differently was to practice using thinset first. i'd never even seen thinset before, so i had no idea what it really was or how it would react to what i did to it. i would recommend getting a piece of whatever you plan to have behind the kerdi and practice mixing up the thinset, putting it on, combing it out, etc. once you get that down, i'd even practice on a small piece of kerdi -it's expensive, but my first wall is so bumpy that i wish i had taken a 12"x12" piece and just gotten a feel for things before i did a whole wall. i wish i had gone slower that first day, too, instead of listening to my friend who has done tiling before & said "just mix up a big bucket - it will go really fast" ha! not for me. but at least with a small batch, if you go fast, you can make the next batch bigger. if i can answer any questions, let me know - bill & mongo are the experts, for sure, but i can offer tips as a female & novice if you need that, too :) good luck! lisa p.s. - thankfully i have another bathroom - can't imagine doing it without one! guess you'll have to be speedier than i am! just do a lot of planning & draw everything out to be sure you think about the edges, wall/floor joints, corners, etc....See MoreWhat the recommendation on a homeowner building their own house?
Comments (19)Gosh, Australia, I am sure that it is beautiful. How do you like Australia? How does it compare to living in the south? I know that they're great people from there. Thank you for responding! We are in Birmingham and I would love any and all information that you are willing to share. I am very particular as well and have really enjoyed getting into the process. My husband would say "control freak" because it is more appropriate than describing me as particular, however since I have never built before particular is more fitting since I am aware that what is drawn on the plans doesn't always build out as you had imagined. If I just left it up to my husband and three little boys I could only imagine what it would look like. For an example, it has not occured to my three little boys who ask everyday when the bulldozer is coming to knock down our house we live in and I keep reminding them that we must move out first or that the dump trucks will take us to the dump as well as the house. :-) One of the GC's that bid on the house originally is from Australia. He is the salt of the earth. He also is the only GC who gave me his list of subs and told me to call any or all of them to help me build my house. An amazing GC who is by far one of the nicest!!!...See MoreIs it more cost effective to use a developer or design/build your own?
Comments (17)I like the comment about a better house, not bigger. We downsized last year and, although it's half the size of our previous home, I truly believe it lives bigger. We did end up buying property and building, and we drew up our own plan, taking it to an architect to tweak a little. (DH had designed our previous home, including all the construction blueprints; but this time he just wanted to get the layout done and then let the architect take over.) I think the reason it lives so well is the fact that we sat down together and discussed our daily activities and what we wanted in each room to make it work for us. We also considered the flow through the house and how it fit OUR preferences. This is our fourth house (3rd build), and I'm happy to say it's the best fit we've ever had---which is a good thing, since this is the house we will be retiring in and plan to age in place here. I don't have the breadth of experience to say whether developer or design/build your own will be more cost effective for you. I can say we definitely came out ahead with building our own (utilizing an architect and general contractor). Our builder was an acquaintance of ours who came highly recommended by friends for whom he had built a home about 5 years earlier. He stayed on schedule and finished right on time and within our budget. Of course, we stayed on top of the budget throughout the process and decided where we wanted to spend more money and where we could save money. We sourced a lot of items on our own, which also saved. We also found property in our desired area that had just been put on the market, which proved to be ideal for us and much better than any of the areas being developed in our area. It's very hard to find property in our desired area that wasn't already snatched up by a developer. If you're trying to stick to a budget, you do need to be able to discipline yourself not to splurge on everything when you're building---and, if there is something you want to upgrade, then you need to figure out how you're going to pay for it now (not over the next 10-15-20-or-30 years), such as by cutting back on something else. And, of course, allow a contingency for the unexpected. We did this by estimating line-item costs higher than we expected, thus building in a cushion . Of course, we were highly motivated because we wanted to own the house outright, with no mortgage, at the end of the build. Most of this would apply to a developer's house, as well. If you choose one before it's finished, then you could end up with the option of choosing some very expensive upgrades that could quickly put the house over budget. Hope you have success in your search for a new home. This site has some wonderful, knowledgeable contributors that can help you along the way. There are also a lot of beautiful homes with features that will inspire you to create a lovely home but also tempt you to start seeing a luxury as a necessity. : )...See MoreBook review: How to Build Your Dream House Without Getting Nailed
Comments (1)Well...before one considers building, (or reading a book about building), one might beneficially want to understand and consider: --One's budget and appropriate contingency fund; --One's needs vs wants, and how the needs might be best organized and related to one another; --One's land or site, and how it will significantly affect how a house may be designed and constructed; --The design options, and how the design process works, for a home, on a specific site, for a specific budget, to address needs and as many wants as feasible; --The requirements, schedule and costs for required local jurisdictional approvals from start to finish of the project; --The options for competitive bidding versus a negotiated construction contract; --The various category of construction contracts, and how they can be written for either the owner's benefit, the builder's benefit, or a reasonable shared benefit. --How to understand and manage allowances (hint: zero allowances); --How to manage project close out and occupancy. If the book addressed all these, it's an exceptional book. If it didn't, keep looking for reference books! But chances are, there are few books which address all of these critical issues....See Moremarthaelena
14 years agorushmom3
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