Wow. Sympathies!

Is there something very unusual about the size or scope of your build?

It took us about a year for the construction of a small (~ 1800 sf) custom house, from start of tree-clearing to moving in. (Was estimated at 10 months, but we had some weather delays, and some delays due to an ICF walls subcontractor apparently overbooking his crew.)

We did have an architected plan, but I'm not sure it ultimately helped us in the speed department. We'd hired them to design it, not to oversee the construction phase, and some aspects of the design had to be modified -- building inspector requiring changes during construction, for example, like a walk-up basement bulkhead where there'd been none in the plans. I like to think that maybe such things could've caught sooner had they been involved at that stage, but, maybe not.

But as far as the basic decisions that we had to make, we'd given the builder a pretty complete list of materials & finishes & so forth well in advance of when they were needed. We bought appliances, fixtures, etc and turned them over as needed. Windows, doors, etc were either specced out in detail in the plans, or were just specced as to "36-inch solid wood door" that we bought & supplied to him as needed. There really weren't too many "decision points" that we had to reach with the builder, other than (as I said) the aspects of the plans that had to be tweaked due to either the inspector requiring last-minute changes, or unforeseen stuff that we'd all missed prior to that point. We were in pretty constant contact with him, most commonly via email, to be sure we were in synch on what he needed from us, and when.

It helped that aside from our choice of ICF for the walls, there weren't really any unusual features of the house. No curved walls. Fairly small structure. No fancy automation system. Aside from ICF, nothing the builder and his crews hadn't done before in some form.

When you say "indecision", are you talking about little interior things like colors, etc? Or more major things, like aspects of the house design itself?

--Steve

We're OBing too and are about 2 weeks from finishing. It has been an absolute joy! All we have left to do is finish the HWs, put in carpet, finish grouting the porches, put up the porch columns, pour the driveway, "dress" the closets, landscape, and build a little fenced area for the doggies (already set the posts). We would have been done sooner, but we took a month off to get this house ready to sell.

We took down the first tree on 3-28-08, so when we finish it will have taken us a full 8 months for nearly 4300 HSF. After hearing so many nighmarish stories on the boards we were prepared to have lots of bumps in the road, but it has been nearly flawless. I'll be doing my BILs house when we finish this one. :o)

Sorry - gotcha beat ! 3 yrs and still 2 monthes left to go . I never had a timeline
though so it hasn't been a problem . Sorry your having such a bad time but I
think it's like giving birth - you forget the pain later . LOL

I think Brutuses has been longer and I know we'll definitely be longer. We are building our house ourselves, cash as we have it, and my husband often works 58 hours a week at his job which leaves little time to build except during weeks when work slows down for a bit. So our build is definitely slow! We've been at it for two years now and we still have a way to go.

One more thing... I definitely would do this again even though it is taking us soooo long. I enjoyed designing the house, picking the different materials, fixtures, etc. But next time I would like us to sub it out so my DH wouldn't have to work so hard at two jobs. But because my DH likes our location so much, and we both like our house so much, it would be really hard for me to convince him to move. When the economy picks up, and our house is finished, I would really enjoy doing either spec homes or flipping homes instead since I probably won't be doing another home for us for quite some time, if ever.

2 years, 1 month.

My contractor isn't a real 'go getter', but he's had a lot of health issues that have held him up long past where anyone expected.

I think I might just move in before Thanksgiving. Won't be done, but the kitchen and a couple baths will be. I'm tired of waiting...

4 yrs & 1 month!
We have/are doing most of it ourselves,(when time & money permit)and if not, we find subs.
Actually, we're in the process of moving stuff in, although lots still to do...hoping to have water & other amenities before Christmas...keeping my fingers & toes crossed! ;-)

Beezytoo

My hats off to all of you! It can be such a long, hard haul. I can't even complain after hearing some of your timelines! If I tell you how long we've been at it, you'll just want to throw stuff at me...don't get angry...

demo of house was 2nd week of July, our current goal move in is Feburary (although we bought the property end of April and only then started to work with an architect on 3800sf custom house).

I'm only mad that I came across this forum after all of the planning/drawing phases. This is our first home building attempt so I'm sure there will be lots of things we'd do differently.

Teddas
2.5 years PFFTTTT!! we are much longer then that. We are DIY house and its been 4 years and we are only half way there. Hubby works a full time job and we dont contract out. (Framing roof windows infloor radiant heat floor etc is done.) So dont feel bad it could be worse.

27+ months of agony here due entirely to contractor delays and defects. We would like to be in before Christmas, but I have my doubts.

We dug some test holes and started cleaning up the site in the fall of 2006. We did most of the work ourselves breaking ground in May 2007. We moved in in as soon as it was liveable (and opinions may vary) in April 2008 and are still working on something almost everyday. We were lucky that DH was able to work almost full time on the house and my Dad who is officially retired worked 3 days a week on it. I helped evenings and weekends. We loved the experience and we're still loving it but it has been a long 2 years. We hope to be truely done before this time next year.

well it is nice to see that we are not the only ones taking as long as we have. BUT WE ARE NOT DIYING!!!!!
We have an inexperience builder that never supervises his subs or cares to. Then we changed the floor plan and that took almost a year to sort out. Then the indecision of the fireplaces, trim, tile flooring etc drove us nuts. We finally finished the crownmolding and doors and are ready for tile. Can you believe we still have not ordered the kitchen??!! So I am hoping to do that by end of month and maybe get in there by next spring. Funny, our house will be nearly two-three years "new" when we move in it!

Technically, the 'building' has not taken that long, but it will be 3 years this coming February when we bought our lot and started the process.

We then had to sell our house (1 1/2 years). When we sold the house, it was too close to winter to start. The next Spring came and too much rain to dig (Midwest floods anyone).

Finally put the foundation in the last week of August.

I PRAY it's done by February.

We broke ground in March of '07. We hired a GC to get us blacked in, but that took a year. Our original GC is in jail, plus we almost had to sue the county to let us keep the foundation we had built (that took a couple of months to resolve, but was good in that we were mostly paid up with the GC and didn't get fleeced like most of his other clients). Now we are DIY and contracting it out ourselves. The more we do ourselves, the smoother, but slower, things progress.

We have to be out or the FEMA mobile home by the end of March, so that's a hard deadline. Thank goodness!

Wow....you guys have my sympathy! We bought our land in the Fall of 2005 and then spent about a year working with our architect, making all our material selections, getting all the permits in order, etc. Spent about another year interviewing builders and eliminating all of them after coming very close to signing on the dotted line with two different ones. After two very frustrating years, we were about to give up and put the land up for sale when our neighbors advised us to contact the builder who built their house, an Amish contractor who had so much business from referals that he never advertises and has his own crews. He had a waiting list over a year long, but because of our wonderful neighbors, and because he really liked our house design, he moved us up the list.

We broke ground on July 10th, 2008, and exactly 92 days later, we had a 3400 sf, two story, Craftsman style farmhouse with a walkout basement, a sunroom, screened in porch, and huge deck. We have gorgeous custom made cherry cabinets, doors and trim, granite countertops, hardwood floors throughout the whole house, and every detail was finished to absolute perfection. Everything was done on time and to our very exacting standards and I couldn't be happier. Our punchlist had just two items on it - both just very small things like moving a switch or two and some touch-ups.

I'm telling you all this because I know how many people have bad building experiences with delays and contractors who don't seem to care what a schedule is. There are GOOD builders out there, even in these times. I highly recommend Amish builders if they build in your area. They are extremely efficient, work from sunrise to sundown 6 days a week, and dont waste either materials or your money. Good luck to all of you with your builds.

Uhhhh, can I remember that far back? We broke ground the week before Christmas 2003!!! WOW 5 years!! I guess I try not to think of that. We are DIY and we do sub some of the work we can't do. We moved in, unofficially, aug. 2005. We still are not finished, but we both work so we can't be too hard on ourselves. The first floor should be completed in the next couple months. This is the fun part because everything we do now is finishing.

Do I win the who's been building the longest prize??

ted - You are not alone. These are exciting times enjoy your build and be thankful you are able to have a new home. I know it's hard to be patient when the build is the hands of others. with our build at least we know if we aren't progressing it's our own fault.

Hang in there kiddo. Go out to that worksight and clap your hands and yell, 'MOVE IT, MOVE IT, MOVE IT GET SOMETHING DONE HERE'

2 years next month, when we will be moving in. Probably won't have hot water, but we're not waiting any longer!

We have to have ours done by Sept of 09. They said this is the last extension on our permit. Of course they dont realize that in the last several years we had several family members in the hospital dying. Running to the hospital isn't a quick trip when someone is dying. And Hubby had hernia surgery so he was down for while. They just look at it as losing tax dollars. I think we will be able to get an Occupancy permit As long as the downstairs is completed. the upstairs only has to be insulated, wired, plumbed and drywalled. And that's about all it will be.
If I had a contractor taking that long, I think I would be very PO'D

WOW ....I didn't realize there were so many on the forum who are DIY.

We purchased our land January 2003 and soon after started clearing 50 + years of scrub trees, under growth and vines.
In June of 05' we started the build. So,we've been working on the house for 3 years and 5 months and had planned to move in (unfinished) between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
But last Friday my brother and sister in law who live in Louisiana came to visit for a few days and help with the build. About 2:30 a.m. on Saturday my sister-in-law that is 46 and has never been sick other than a cold had a massive stroke followed by multiple strokes. After many tests this past week searching for the cause of the stroke(s) the doctors found a large mass on her right lung and a tumor on the brain that is cancer.
Earlier in the week the doctors gave us little hope if any that she would recover from the damage caused by the stroke. Already she has shown strides of improvement but a very long and winding road is ahead of us and it's all uphill.The cancer is a whole other issue but they do plan to begin radiation on Monday.

They were the first to spend the night in our new unfinished home...we have not even stayed there over night.

The events of the past 8 days have caused me to put things into perspective about what is really important.

We'll take it a day at a time and one day we will move in but right now the building is on hold.

Pioneergal you, your family, and especially your SIL have my deepest sympathy and prayers. Sometimes we all get so caught up in the "build" that we forget more important things like the health of our families! Thank you for a very timely reminder of all that I have to be thankful for.