My builder said anything we want to by on our own we will get a credit for...we bought all out plumbing, dishwasher, micorwave, all our lights. We did the plumbing because his vendor was over priced and screamed at us and berated us. We bought the appliances because we wanted them all to match, and we bought the lights because his vendor was over priced.

Our friend is currently building a house with a builder as well and his builder would not let him get a credit for getting stuff on his own.

So you will have to ask your builder.

Depends on your builder.

I picked out/purchased all lighting and plumbing fixtures, door hardware, cabinet hardware, bathroom hardware (towel bars, etc), appliances and cabinetry.

fwiw, our builder was/is small - out of house. He has no showroom or samples that are "his" to select from. Vendors/subs, he uses several. We had several. We used a mix of his, ours and new to us both.

If you have something you want, write it into the contract. We wrote things into ours that aren't traditional. Our neighbor did his own electrical. It's all written into our contract.

Providing materials is one thing but be very careful how you write a contract that allows separate forces to provide major construction work for the same project and how the building permit is written especially if the work involved requires individual trade permits by licensed contractors. And get all of it approved by your insurance carriers. You can get your self into major trouble if you do a poor job of defining responsibilities and liabilities.

My biggest concern if you have a cost plus contract, would be if you are providing the materials and installation if he will want a cut of the cost. For example, he provides you with a $20,000 credit for the kitchen he would have put in and the kitchen you are providing costs $50,000, will you still have to pay him 15% (or whatever) of the $30,000 additional?

Like the OP, I have already planned the kitchen for our new home in detail and received quotes on the plan from several cabinet dealers. Installation will be handled by whichever cabinet company I decide to go with. The builder (who I have yet to choose) has had no part of this.

When the time comes to build I am going to ask to exclude the kitchen finishes completely from the bid as granite and appliances will also be installed by their respective dealers and warrantied by them also.

Of course, the key will be finding a builder to agree to this!

Find out what the credits will be for 'everything' you want to control. I hate to say it but they will probably low ball their credits to discourage this.

We had allowances for alot of stuff. Some we overspent on, some under. I saved a little money too by picking up all the debris and cutoffs (which I saved the longer ones). Gave me an excuse to hang around the site and schmooze and monitor.

Normally, a Construction Contract might give an Owner control of the Design and Documentation and allow purchasing of certain specified materials delivered to the site, but the General Contractor would have full control of the Work including Means & Methods and Safety. It is possible to add a clause to the Contract for the Owner's Forces but it should clearly stipulate what Work that would be for, how it would be scheduled and coordinated, and how the liability and insurance would be divided.

The other major concern (as others have mentioned) is that removing Work from the Contract reduces the GC's income and in most contracts the GC is allowed to retain the OH&P (markup) if it was not specifically excluded. However, contractors are finding it difficult to keep their forces busy much less make a profit so it may be wise to negotiate with your favored contractor early rather than bidding the project. It's difficult to beat a low markup on a Cost of the Work contract if you can supply some of the materials.

But be careful about what you supply because the quality of internet materials is generally lower than what an architect would specify and the installer/GC would have no responsibility for failure and it opens up the possibility that the manufacturer and installer will blame each other for a failure and you will be left holding the bag.

So, it is often wiser to let the GC supply the materials at a reduced markup. I am finding that many will forgo any markup for costs over an Allowance so low allowance values can work in your favor (if you anticipate the inevitable cost overruns in your contingency budget).

But I find that the lowest cost method is a Cost of the Work with a Fixed Fee and a 50/50 Shared Savings (with or without a Guaranteed Maximum Price) because it most closely aligns the interests of the Owner and the GC (something that is completely missing in most projects whether you realize it or not). But that usually requires a very knowledgeable GC willing to do the paper work and an experienced Owner, Consultant, or architect to monitor it.

We can pretty buy from whatever vendor we would like. Our GC has preferred vendors but we are not limited to them. For example, our GC's plumbing supply store offers good service and prices (discount of 40% over retail). However,they had limited selection of claw foot tubs and fixtures and these were way over our budget, so I found one online. I gave the details to my GC and he'll purchase them.

We have a cost plus contract. I think he deserves the "plus" b/c he's checking the specs, making sure the plumbing is properly installed, coordinating when to order the tub, receiving delivery etc.

So if the builder doesn't have the cabinets you want, then I would ask if you can get them elsewhere. But unless you are going to install them yourselve, make sure the appliances will fit, coordinate when they need to be ordered and delivered etc, I think the GC still deserves his 15% or whatever.

We designed our own kitchen, among other things. We had the original house plans changed to reflect our design. Like most everyone else, we changed a few things after the plans were complete.

We simply took the kitchen plan to most of the local cabinet suppliers, plus some out of town cabinet makers. We got quotes from those we liked and settled on a large out of town custom cabinet maker that was close enough to visit.

We worked with their kitchen designers to tweak the design and got a firm quote. Our builder signed off, and the cabinet shop built, delivered, and installed the cabinets as one of his subcontractors.

Everything was part of our builder's normal building process. The only thing that was unusual was our dealing with an out of town cabinet shop. We discussed it with him before doing so. As it turned out, he liked the cabinet shop's prices and products enough that he had them build the cabinets for a second project he has going.

As one of the posters above noted: "the key will be finding a builder to agree to this!"

Maybe I'm in the minority as a custom builder. But I've only ever agreed to have two or three customer-chosen minor trades on-site, even when I was contracted as a manager. And few of them really worked out too well. There's nothing like being caught in the middle when the customer-chosen trades/suppliers foul up. Or when you can only "suggest" something to them, which they then blithely ignore and do their own way because I'm not their boss.

The older and crotchetier I get, the less I like being supplanted as king of the building site!

(And, no, I'm not letting your Uncle Louie do the wiring!)

The smarter, the more seasoned, and the more skilled the builder... the less likely he will be to agree to let the customer do anything at all in his place.

Why should he?

Allowing the customer to do 'anything' only slows down the building process, adds 'risk' to the job, and shows the builder as amateur as a proper business manager by allowing an amateur to dictate to the professional how the house should be constructed.

Not even if the customer is an actual professional in a trade profession in which he wishes to supply materials or labor, should no sensible builder go along with any customer's request to 'do-it-himself' in whatever capacity that may be.

If you find a builder who allows the customer to do his own work...

Then you have already found a 'bad' builder....

My dh is a plumber, and we have several HVAC pros in the family. Our builder gave us a credit (a deduction from his fixed price), and dh handled the design, purchase, and installation of all plumbing/HVAC. Dh, in general, doesn't like anyone else's work, so he was happy to have control over those systems. However, he was required to stay within the builder's schedule, which was really difficult for him. He intended to do it in his spare time, but ended up taking a bunch of time off to get it done.

Our builder only allowed this because dh is a plumber. But as manhatten said, many builders do not allow you to work on your house, regardless of your profession. We had to look around to find someone who would.

manhattan42 - I hope that attitude serves you well in this climate. I had a very seasoned, well respected builder let me do what I wanted. I may have added a day here or there but we got the build done in record time since my wife and I were on the ball with decision making. We were paying the interest anyway.

As far as your attitude about amateurs - I would argue that you do not know everything there is to know about building a house. If you are omnipotent - my apologies.

I did heated tile flooring, low voltage wiring, central vac, and I picked the cabinet contractor.

My builder happens to be reasonably busy in an area where fewer than 1/2 will survive. He is a building a land developer's house (which is 7,000 sq feet on 20 acres) which shows you his reputation with someone who has worked intimately with multiple builders.

We did all the structured wiring ourselves, swapping out an equal number of electrical outlet additions from the electrician. We were more easily able to get exactly what we wanted where we wanted it this way.

We also decided we wanted granite countertops when the builder was only spec'ing tile counters. So we used his preferred vendor and bought granite, and he gave us a credit for it. In the end, his vendor sucked and we had that idiot rip out his work (with the builder in agreement) and we went with someone else.

We provided our own appliances because we had access to a GE friends and family discount. Also, we left the basement and attic to be finished later (cheaper). We also brought in our own vendors to do central vac, alarm system and whole house audio. We supplied cat6 wire but the builder's electrician installed it, although we hired a separate company to terminate the structured wiring and install a panel.

Basically what it all comes down to is COMMUNICATION!! When it comes time to hire a builder you will have to reveal everything you are looking for in your build and what you envision his job to be. But it all comes down to the understanding bewteen the both of you! Many of the reasons builders don't want you or strangers working on your project is reliability, time management, liablity, trustworthiness, etc. He has reliable subs with warranties. So the more that is understood between the both of you before your project even gets started the better!