At least in our area there are construction companies that will build the shell of the house, so the owner or someone else can finish the inside. However, you won't be able to live in it legally until it is 'finished' to your local code standards...appliances in, enough plumbing fixtures operational, etc. A larger 'however' is that if you need a bank loan to do this you may run into a few problems with this approach. Some banks won't loan to owner builders at all, so it takes some looking to find one who will. But every bank will have a time limit for the construction phase, so you can't plan to 'take as long as you need to.' You probably won't be able to roll or refi the construction loan into a mortgage until it's completely finished inside and out.

It is pretty nearly impossible for us to give you an idea of cost. The complexity of the footprint and framing, the excavation, the amount and type of shingle siding, the type of stone, etc. can be different in every case and vary the cost a lot. In 'lots of good quality windows and doors' you have 2 things that will mean different things to different people..."Lots" and "good quality." I think our windows are 'good quality' and they cost us $7000, but others here have spent about $40,000 on theirs. How custom you want your wiring can change the price by $10K or more. Will you have granite? Tile, wood, or carpeted flooring? High end appliances, materials, and fixtures (lighting & plumbing), or 'builder's grade?' Until you sit down and make some of these detailed selections, you won't even have an idea of what budget to set for these things...It's amazing at how much you can spend on light fixtures and faucets! These are just a few examples of the variables.

And this is not what you asked for at all, so I hope I don't offend you and fully expect you to ignore this if you feel it's butting in...But with children getting older, it's going to get harder and harder to raise them mostly as a single parent. Are they teens? And your dh might be missing their last few years at home? I just hate to hear a plan that separates a family (and a couple) this way.

Best wishes.

If you're serious about this plan, I would suggest asking local building inspectors if they know of any builders that have done this before, and then track those builders down. Also talk with your local banks and credit unions to find out if they've done that type of loan before and what builder was part of it.

As for a cost estimate, rhome410 is absolutely right, way too many variables to try and give you some dollar amount. I tried to think about a percentage of the total cost that would get you to drywall, but that still depends heavily on the price of land and finishing materials.

Have you considered whether your budget could be stretched to RENT accommodations for DH in whatever city he is transferred to? Seems like that would be much simpler than selling your current home and building a new one.

Besides, it you buy DH a townhouse and then he gets transferred yet again 2 or 3 years down the road, you would have to sell that townhouse or you could wind up stuck with not two but three housing bills! If DH is going to be driving home every weekend, the place he lives during the week is probably going to be little more than a place to store his clothing, sleep, grab a quick shower, and maybe watch a little TV before hitting the hay anyway. How fancy would it need to be? I'd look into renting him a cheap, one bedroom or efficiency apartment, then put a little effort into making it as homey as possible and a LOT of effort into making his weekends home with you and the kids into pleasurable family time!

While I think some states will allow you to move into a partially finished house, living in one while you "finish it" is bound to be just as stressful as living in a home undergoing major renovations.

Consider: if you buy DH a townhome and move the rest of you into an unfinished shell, will your DH really look forward to leaving his nice quiet little townhouse in the city for a weekend painting walls or laying tile or hanging cabinets? Or, would he maybe start finding reasons why he just has to stay in the city this weekend to work????

And, would you begin to resent that DH gets a four or five day respite in a nice little townhouse in the city while you're stuck raising bratty teenage kids AND dealing with construction crap seven days a week????

I'm not a big on long-distance marriages myself but, where there is a good reason for them and everybody knows when the long-distancing will end, they can and do work so I'm not saying that you're wrong to consider how you can keep from uprooting your children yet again due to your DH being transferred... just that, if you have to do it, do it in a way that will help your marriage survive and your family grow stronger.

My own family survived seven months of being separated into two halves when I was in the 6th grade - Mom and my youngest sibling in one city; Dad and me and two brothers in another city 200 miles away. Like you're considering, we did weekends together. I can tell you that what made it work was that Mom insisted from the get-go that our weekends together were going to be focused on catching up with each other and having fun together as a family. Minimal housework, minimal yardwork, minimal homework. Mom even told our teachers that while she and Dad cared deeply about our education, due to the unusual family situation we were forced into, she simply was NOT going to insist that we do any more homework over the weekends than we could complete in the car while driving between the two cities so it would be best if our teachers refrained from giving major assignments over weekends!

Anyway, I do wish you the best of luck. Trying to find the best solution when DH's job demands conflict with your teenagers' desires not to be dragged from piller-to-post and have to keep changing schools is very very difficult. I feel for you.

Ever hear the old adage "that's the dime holding up the dollar"? That's the situation you're wanting to put yourself in. Can you get a builder to do it? Sure. Can you get a bank to work with you? Maybe. If you do get a bank to work with you, you will have to finish the home in a reasonable period of time.

The thing about building a home is; when you get banks, contractors, subcontractors and title companies involved, none of them want to wait. The whole process MUST have a definite ending for the banks to participate. Your desire to finish out the home is what will hold up the Certificate of Occupancy, in turn preventing you from getting a conventional mortgage. Banks write construction loans for pre-determined lengths of time. The only way you can do what you want is to be the GC of the project, making sure your finish work is going to be done in the same manner a real GC would expect of his own subs. Even then, you're narrowing your list of potential lenders.

The dime holding up the dollar.

I'll spare you my opinion on living separated.

I wouldn't buy a townhouse (which I assume means condo). Often a bad investment, and the market is pretty volatile in many places.

Have you ever had a "weekend marriage"? It is unbelievably stressful. DH and I did it for almost 3 years. On weekends there were a ton of things to get done, but we also just wanted downtime to be together, which we rarely got. And we didn't have kids added to the mix. I don't know how old your kids are, but you may be underestimating how difficult it will be to only see your spouse weekends and have to handle the kids all week by yourself. Or maybe you know what you are getting into and I should just mind my own business!

As others wrote, there are builders who will do a house to an incomplete stage. But I don't think there will be much savings if you have the builder take it all the way to drywall.

Well, a little more clarification. When DH is transferred by his employer he is gone with-in a matter of days (once the same day). The first transfer and the most recent, we had homes custom built. The three in the middle were spec homes that met our needs that we purchased at the dried in stage and then had customized by the builder. Each time he is transferred I am a single parent until the new home is finished, anywhere from 3 months to 11, for a total of more than 2 years.
We were the first to build in our current neighborhood and received (what I was told at the time and didn't believe), a really good price on our house. It was a sales contract, not cost plus. Now 2.5 years later, all the new construction around us is selling for $350,000 more than we paid, for a similar house with similar amenities. So selling the current home would allow us to buy DH a condo without a mortgage and pay considerable down on a piece of property.
His company would pay our selling cost on this home if he purchases a new one. This is the reason for buying the condo and if he does get transferred again before the kids finish school here and can't sell the condo, then his company would buy it for current market value.
My oldest has two years of school left and my other 5, so it wouldn't be fair to stay for him to finish and then make her move her sophmore year. So if this happens, we have to plan on 5 years. The oldest went to three elementary schools and two middle. My second went to four elementary and so far only 1 middle.
We have finished three basements, built four decks, one porch, tiled several laundry, bathrooms and backsplashes, laid hardwood floors and painted countless rooms.
As soon as the relo happened we would be able to start construction on the new place because we know his company will buy this one if it doesn't sell, but the kids and I would most likely have to move into an apt for awhile.
I had hoped that the savings could be significant. We would not have to pay a builder a percent of all the interior finishes, nor would we need to pay labor for hardwoods, tile, painting, trim.
We finished the basement in the home we are currently living in. There's 1500 sq ft. Guest bedroom with full bath, mud room, craft room, gym, play room and media room. From drywall (which we hired out) it only took us two months to complete, working only weekends.
The majority of rooms in the new house will be simply to paint, trim, hang the lighting and connect the outlets, and lay the floor.The kitchen and baths will require the most work.
I appreciate everyone trying to discourage me and it may work out that it's simply not possible for my plan to take effect. I am just trying to do everything I can to be prepared so that the next time he's transferred we'll know which direction to take.
If we can get to drywall for $75 sq ft or less then this is definitely a possiblity.

There is another saying:

"A dollar in my pocket is better than a dollar in yours"

Can you get a builder to construct a home to a certain point.....of course you can. In fact, if new housing starts are down, then the builders are even more receptive.

The labour costs of "finishing" a house are outrageous. It's outrageous want they want to lay wood or tile flooring, or painting, or trim work, etc, etc.

Perhaps if I give my own example:

We are retired (age 56), kids have left and looking to downsize to a smaller lakefront home (approx 3000 sq ft). The ideas for plans are at the designer right now and construction will probably start Spring '09. The Fall '08 will be installing the culvert and driveway so that construction will begin early after spring thaw.

In our area, you can get a temporary Occupancy Permit before the house is completely finished as long as the house is safe (safe stairs, no exposed wiring, etc).

The plan is to have the house built to finish drywall. We plan to DIY the painting, floors, install kitchen cabinets, trim, and install all the small stuff (like doorknobs). All this stuff is outrageous labour stuff. Also the stone work (Fusion Stone) around the fireplaces.

Prior to the drywall stage we will also be installing the phone wiring, satellite wiring, central vac pipes.

The idea here is that we don't have any more earned income. We are now living on our investment income so every dollar counts. There will be no mortgage.

I haven't decided yet if we will be installing the exterior siding and Fusionstone (exterior). Depends if we can get the temporary Permit before the exterior needs to be finished.

The house is very far from where we currently live but we plan to fly there at least a couple of times during the build to check on progress and to do some work like the previously mentioned telephone cables and pipes.

We had a builder price it both ways. We have 2400+ sq foot house, one level, I believe the cost difference was about $60,000 more for turnkey, which is what we ended up doing.

Words of encouragement: Been there, done...well still kind of doing that!

Started building our own house, doing most of the work ourselves to do it debt free, but subbing out what we didn't have ability, energy, or time to do but could afford w/out a bank loan.

About 24 months before completion I took a job 2 hours away. Bought a cheap condo...I'm basically just camping out there. All I needed or wanted was a bed and place to cook.

About 18 months before our expected completion of the house we were then building on the weekends, someone made an offer on the house my wife was living in that we could not refuse. So she moved into an apartment, we stepped up the efforts and around 9 months later had the house "finished" to the point where we could get an occupancy permit.

We still have lots of space that is unfinished drywall, primarily upstairs and basement. Still have lots of trim work to do in the areas that "are finished" as well as odds and ends like hooking up a laundry room sink....

The commuter marriage is not what either of us wanted, but has been tolerated for 3.5 years. Children all grown and gone, but there are still the dogs and cats and garden. I get very restless in the spring and fall as there is so much to do, but summer and winter its nice to have the escape and she comes this way to spend a weekend in the condo once in a while.

In July I am retiring. So we had an end in sight....but there were still a number of stressful moments that have convince me I married an angel....

Good luck