Question for owner/builders
dacherie
7 years ago
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Comments (17)
Mark Bischak, Architect
7 years agoRelated Discussions
Soon-to-be Owner-Builder needs some financial advice!!!
Comments (6)You'll need to call a number of banks and ask if they make CP loans to owner-builders. Not all banks make construction loans anyway. So, you'll weed some out quickly. Once I found the ones who do, by phone, I asked for someone in their mortgage lending division who has experience with construction loans. It's a whole different product than regular mortgages. The reason you want a seasoned person is that your lender can provide you with invaluable, free consulting information about the process. Here in Atlanta, GA, I found two experienced lenders and chose the more patient one who has given me loads of help. Most of them just wanted to quickly quote me a rate and move on; just salespeople. There are only about 10 of the big nationwide banks that do construction lending. Your situation as OB is viewed by banks as being higher risk. But all lenders will bring your land into the loan (they wouldn't want to lend money on land they have no claim to.) So, you might do better with the bank that already has the loan on your land. Might not. It would be my first stop....See MoreOwner/Builder Questions in Vegas Area
Comments (9)You may have found this already but this web site has great info on building your own pool. howibuiltmyownpool I'm also considering building my own pool and hired a company in Florida to do my plans. They were nice to deal with but I can't recommend them. They are not great on the details and it took a month instead of the 2 or 3 days they told me on the phone. However, in the end I have a good set of construction drawings and an equipment list to bid out the job. It is much easier getting accurate quotations since they are all bidding the same job. You need a set of prints regardless so it is a worthwhile exercise. I spent $400. After getting quotes from a few builders and also getting quotes direct from sub-contractors I found that you can save some money by doing it yourself but not as much as you might think. If you have a $40K pool you might be able to do it yourself for $32-34K in 6-8 weeks IF everything goes well and the subs aren't too busy. In peak season the subs will delay you before they will a builder. The pool builder can probably get better prices than you so they may be able to build it for $28-30K. It will probably break down to 12-14K for the shell, 10-12K for equipment and hookup and 8K for hard scape. There is also a middle ground. Hire a pool builder to do the pool and hire your own company to do the landscaping. Most pool builders hire out the landscaping and mark it up maybe 20%. If you do go for it yourself try and get one company to do the shell (layout, excavation, steel, piping, shotcrete, tile, and plaster). The electrical and gas have to be subcontracted to a licensed contractor for that specialty anyway. These are the easiest to find as well. Just go on-line and look at the county building permits for pools in your neighborhood. you can see who the General Contractor is plus the electrical and gas guy. In our Neighborhood there are pools built by a half dozen different companies but they all use the same two gas guys and electricians. If you enjoy this sort of thing, have some knowledge of construction and have the time jump in and do it. Have fun... PS Pool Builders...do you agree with these numbers and thought process???...See MoreQuestion for the SoCal Owner Builders
Comments (2)I did a spreadsheet with all my expenses as an owner/builder. Adding up what I paid for what you are getting, it came to around $11K. Since prices are a bit different in your area and you still have demo to consider, you could probably do it all for around $15K. That gives you plenty of room for upgrades :)...See MorePool builders or owners on clay soil. Pic & question...
Comments (4)There are different types of clay, some are extremely expansive and others are actually fairly stable. It is hard to say what caused the popping in the photo without more info. Most stories of popped pools are due to the pool being empty and then the water table rises due to excessive rains. When that happens it basically floats the pool right out of the hole. But since your neighbor's pool had water in it when it popped, I'm guessing you're sitting on some very expansive clays and possibly his pool was installed during dry conditions and it rose 4" after some wetter weather as the clays expanded. Then when he emptied it, it made things worse because the water table was so high it just floated the pool. If you are on highly expansive clays, you need to be very concerned about the subgrade prep regardless of what kind of pool you put in. There are things that can be done such as installing the pool on piers, moisture treating the subgrade, installing a drainage system and/ or over-excavating the dig and putting in select fill. I would highly recommend getting a structural engineer involved through the PB. If the PB says not to worry about it, they do this all the time and it will be fine; then look for another PB! Good luck!...See MoreUser
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