That's nearly exactly how we did our build. I found a GC who was willing to take things to the dry-in and then I was going to use all my subs that I had worked with before along with my own labor to finish out the build. My family has also been involved in more than a few large remodels with many subs and lots of our own labor so I felt like it would work well.

In the end, I ended up using quite a few of the GC's subs for jobs that I planned to sub out myself because the quotes were good and he vouched for their work. Get as many quotes up front as you can and make sure that not using the GC soup to nuts will save you money. In the end, I don't think I saved much if any money. Mostly because we did not have the luxury of time that you did, so I had to pay people to get things done even though I could have done them given enough time.

The nice thing about our arrangement though was that the GC never felt like he had me in his grasp. He knew that there was a limited amount of work agreed upon at the start and if things didn't go well, that would be it. It helped me a lot too to not feel like I was locked in if things did not go well. In the end, they went great. I couldn't be happier with the GC and his subs, it was more my subs that were annoying (late, over their bids, sloppy, etc.) whereas my GC stuck to his numbers (in all but one or two cases) and the quality of work was very good.

If you can find a GC willing to do this kind of work, I think it can work well, but be sure to get bids for all stages, as it might make sense if things are working out, to just have the GC continue on. That was something I was not expecting, but it did work out well.

Talk to your local building official to see if you can become the GC when the original GC is no longer responsible for the work at the site.

A lot will depend on the flexibility of your local building authority. Some building permits have a finite life span and won't allow you to finish the project at your leisure. Others will allow almost infinite renewal. It will be much more exhausting and demanding on your relationships to do this. If you have other stressors in your life, spending the money rather than the effort might be worth it to you.

Thanks, brickton-- always good to know it can be done. Did you end up using the GC as the GC for phase 2 or did you go ahead and manage his subs instead of the ones you already knew? I guess I would only go down this road if I thought it was going to save me money, because it would be a lot more effort. Esp. trying to do it from 90 miles away.

And thanks for the reminders about checking with the building dept. I will look into how long the permits are good for. Maybe we can do enough with a contractor to get occupancy and then just paint and do built-ins etc on our own. You are right about the money vs stress tradeoff!

Usually the requirements for a CO don't allow much work to be done easily after the fact. Painting after all lights are installed is a lot harder than before. Depending of the jurisdiction, the requirements make it very hard. You can do some unfinished space but then you might have minimum square footage requirements.

Our jurisdiction allows 1 year from start to finish on new construction. This is meant to block just what you are trying to do because a half finished house is a nuisance to a neighborhood. Not only is it unattractive, it also invites vandals. I'm assuming where you are building is rural but you should consider what this project will do to your relationship with your future neighbors. Even if you are building on 10 acres, the governing body may have rules to protect neighborhoods.

Thanks, David. I did look into this (yes it is a rural area, and no one can even see our place. I guess it isn't a "neighborhood" in the usual sense.) It turns out you can keep a permit open seemingly indefinitely, as long as you pay the renewal fee each year. I talked to one person nearby who lived in his house for 3 years while he was finishing it before he got official "occupancy." Like I said, it's pretty rural!