Our goal was to finish in 15 months, 9 have elapsed and we are on target.

Our builder told us we would start the week before labor day and finish April 1. But we had the architectural drawings, selection schedules, and permits all done by that point.

We started mid September and we were 93% finished mid June. So 9 months. The final 7% took until September. But we were moved in.

Signed the contract at the end of May and on pace to finish by the end of Jan. Most of June was spent getting permits. Dirt work started by the end of June. Some delays throughout July and August to monsoon storms which is expected. I told my contractor many times that I didn't really care when the house was ready to move in as long as the photo-voltaic solar system was finished and paid for by the end of the year so I could claim the investment tax credit on 2017 taxes. So we are pretty much on schedule with no major setbacks along the way.

Custom build. We anticipated it would take 1 year. We broke ground the beginning of August 2016....haven’t finished yet, so we’re at 17 months as of today :). I am hoping for March. The big hang-up was the fact that our cabinet guy backed out after we had spent tons of time with him finalizing the cabinet design for the entire house. He backed out at the last possible second. We then had to secure another cabinet company. That took quite a while due to scheduling and planning meetings and estimates etc. Not having the cabinets caused a delay for so many other things that were dependent on the cabinets being installed (plumbing, flooring, electrical, counters etc). Ask me if this has been fun.

It is painfully slow, especially someone like myself who moves at the speed of business. This was my first home that I am building, but wow I could improve tons on coordination and scheduling if I did it again.

We broke ground on 12-28-16. We lost about 20 days from a March blizzard of several feet. And then a roofing contractor stole my money and disappeared, and that set us back 2 months. Lots of rain in the summer. And I think I had a complicated build compared to most. I hope to be finished in 1 month. 13 months for entire build. Way too long.

We had everything in order to break ground in July with the goal of finishing in December. Our excavator wasn’t able to start until August and framing began later that month. We’re now hoping to be complete at the end of this month or early February.

We built a custom duplex with DD and DSIL. Broke ground July 27, 2016. They got a CO for their property side around Oct, 20, 2017 and we got ours mid November. Biggest delay was trusses, order got mixed up and delayed, which dominoed into other weather related delays because we couldn't get under roof before heavy snow. Total time between 15-16 months and we were thrilled with completing when we did.

Building a purely custom, one of a kind oddity:

Pulled permits May 2017, excavated in June. Framing, roof, and exterior shell was done by August. I did plumbing, electrical and HVAC with a broken arm in a hard cast and several broken ribs (that sucked). Dry wallers and mudders arrived a month late. I got my cast off 2 days after I started painting (it was on for 12.5 weeks). Finished painting, installed flooring and had concrete floor stained. Installed kitchen and all bathroom plumbing fixtures. Currently hanging doors and trimming. Counters are being installed the 12th. I have 29 more days to build a staircase, cable railing, finish trimming, and all the other stuff I'm forgetting at the moment because all I do 7 days a week from 7am to 11pm is work on this house. Hard deadline for occupancy permit is Jan 30th.

All told a 2,200 sqft ft house and a 6 car garage in about 8 months. It took twice as long as I expected.

didn't built but gut remodeled plus added

closed on it Sept 14'

signed contract with GC and chose asbestos remediator in December 14'

blueprints submitted in March 15' I think(might be late February..don't remember), permits obtained some time in April, work starts in May

Moved in December 16'. And very fast after the house was ready-in a matter of days.

(then the only plumbing we didn't change-namely one drain in a kids/guests bath-broke and we had a slab leak. since it was the only part our crew didn't touch they did help us to take care of it real fast-we had guests coming a week after we moved in-but charged for it separately. lol. if I knew I'd already fully redo that bath..just seemed wasteful since i didn't like it but it was newer. so we took out asbestos there where was drywall, but left the tiled parts, and increased storage(niche between the studs..big game changer in small bath.., and the rest was cosmetics that didn't cost as much since I craigslisted vanity, but I poured tons of time and thought into it, and it's still a compromise. It's nice because I styled it to be nice. Otherwise that tile doesn't belong. The previous owners highly improved exterior and did great landscaping..inside either wasn't their forte or they were afraid they should do some stuff fast for resale, and just got what was there for cheap, regardless its relevancy to the house)

Still tired. LOL

And hardscaping/some landscaping of the backyard-we planned to do it almost right away? Still awaits. And has to be done of course..

Meanwhile I styled it too as funny as it sounds..)))

To give context we're in So Cal..many delays were due to lack of available teams to come since crazy time..some, due to human factor...some, mistakes and ordering more materials as a result, and many our materials were custom..some, on us, as we incorporated lots of vintage etc and took some tweaking..I'd gladly incorporate much more vintage/salvaged btw I just understood takes a lot of good will of a remodeling crew, and can be expensive even if items themselves are found for cheap/time consuming/takes skill/whatnot.

PS yeah took twice as long if not more. And we never calculated how much it really cost us. Even my very precise, great in finances husband decided not to calculate it exactly. So I don't know whether it was twice as expensive or more..:)

The "rough" was on builder; all the finished materials were on us, such was our conract. Some allowances like doors, plus some elements in addition as a perk, came with a quote.

Ah. Of course-many things added up the moment we opened the walls. No insulation. None. Had to insulate the house everywhere. Wiring was fine.. Black paper-had to be redone on the roof. Asbestos guys cut off new ducts..installed after previous asbestos guys, employed by the seller. already cut the compromised ducts ..so new AC. Now I'm laughing over it. But then, didn't seem funny

That also makes things longer-you have to do stuff you kinda didn't envision of having to be done and payed for

I guess that's why building new is easier, to an extent. You know that nothing exists. In our case, we were ready for surprizes, but cut off new ducts took the cake)

We broke ground this past August. Drywall just started. I anticipate another 3-4 months before move in. So, about 8-9 months total for a pretty simple single story traditional. We are doing a lot of the work ourselves and unfortunately we are old and slow. Also, there has been a lot of down time due to the difficulty in finding subs in our area. Oh, and this time frame does not include any landscaping.

Ours is a custom build and we are finishing most of the interior ourselves. We just finished painting the walls (2500 sq ft) yesterday and I’ve started painting the interior doors. Kitchen cabinets come today and countertop template is Friday with install on the 16th. I will say, while our actual build has moved at a good pace, I’m glad that I started finalizing floor plans, arranging the land survey (we purchased from my parents), filing land transfer paperwork, applying for permits, etc. last winter. It probably took 5 months more or less just for all the paperwork portion to be completed.

We bought our property late 2013 and signed with a builder soon thereafter. Architectural planning took until summer 2014 (builder had to hunt down the architect at a bar) and we broke ground late fall 2014. The builder cited an 8-10 month build time. Turns out the builder had health issues and the very small crew he had bouncing from job to job wasn't sufficient nor capable enough to handle the build. We endured the slow progress until late 2016 when we fired the builder after barely getting to interior studs, and hired an awesome new one through our interior designers reference. He was pretty horrified at the state of the build but shouldered the responsibility of rectifying mistakes and moving forward. We had to take out a new loan to cover the costs of the rest of the build, doubling the costs of the first builders budget. We're in the final stages of installation now and are expecting COO inspections very soon.

With the first builder, we had to pay out of pocket to get things done since his budget was severely low-balled. We've had some over runs with the new builder, but mostly from our material design chances. The twins we birthed in 2014 are now three and a half so we joke that we've made two functioning humans in the time it took to build this house. The only thing that kept us sane was the mantra "It will be worth it in the end".

Oh dazureus....I feel your pain! I‘ve had a very similar experience with a previous build, so I can TOTALLY relate to what you’re going through - having to fire the original builder and then hire another and then pay to fix all the mistakes and issues. Same here with doubling the cost. I feel my blood pressure rising just thinking about it!

Full custom build on our own land that we've owned for years. We just about have a year under our belt and I'm guessing we have another 4 months to go. I would change so many things about this process were I to do this again...

Custom build here. We closed on our construction loan on August 14, 2017. We had building permits pulled prior to closing and the main site work had been done as well. We officially broke ground (dug footings) on August 21. Our builder told us to plan on 6-8 months. Hopefully we will be in by March. Floors are already in and sheet rock work starts this week.

Custom build, owner builder.

Closed on our land 6/15. Finalized our plans early 9/15. Permits approved 2 days later. Broke ground on the detached 30 x 40 garage for a staging area late 9/15. Broke ground on the house late 10/15.

DH was GC, engineer, surveyor for all benchmarks, chief hammer swinger and on and on. I was head gopher in charge of daily last minute material procurement (there was ALWAYS something), getting bids and subs lined up, paying all invoices, lunch 7 days a week for DH, DS1 & 2 and DIL and head sweeper. We were renting a house 3 miles from the build and I traveled that multiple times every day.

Thought I was going to lose DH to a nervous breakdown fall of 2016. He had surgery (related/unrelated) 12/16. I have pictures of him up on scaffolding in our vaulted living room putting up the T&G with a catheter and bag strapped to his leg - no I won't be sharing those pics!

After gracious extensions our landlady gave us a hard date and we had to be out of the rental end of 2/17 so had to scramble to get last minute occupancy requirements done.

2/28/17 was our first night in the house but we moved into a house with not a single closet rod or shelf so no place to unpack and put things away. We had scaffolding in the LR for beam installation, no mirrors in bathrooms, not a single interior door had been hung (you know you're family when there are no bathroom doors yet) but we made it and keep chipping away at the never ending list. We haven't built before but did 2 major addition/full house remodels (DH's business before we moved) so I've lived in construction zones most of our marriage.

I can't even begin to wrap my brain around this concept of < a year to build. Not in my universe. I understand and feel the birthing pains that all of you are and have gone through but nidnay and dazureus my hat is off to you both - and you're still standing!!

How long?

Too long and we are not done yet.

1600 sq.ft. custom build home...builder told us 160 days which would mean closing date early January. We are a bit behind schedule due to our footings sitting 6 weeks before foundation being poured. Brickwork is nearing completion and drywall is up. Hoping for completion by the end of the month :)

broke ground in dec moved in oct 2300 sf (signed with contractor/lawyer in october...

Ours is a custom build too. Right now, I'm thinking right at 12 months but I've learned to be both patient and flexible.. with timeline and budget. I've learned that changes happen - weather happens - and people don't always come exactly when they say they will.

Bought lot March 2016. Worked with architect on design and finalized August 2016. Broke ground end in November 2016. Moved in mid September 2017, but the house wasn't done yet. No closet rods or shelves, walls unpainted, no door knobs, no kitchen hardware, etc. We are still chipping away at it one project at a time. We would be done by now had we been willing to pay others to complete the work. But to save some money we are doing the rest ourselves. This was for a 3500 sq.ft custom home.

We started excavation at the end of October 2014 and we moved in the middle of August 2015.

Custom build, ~3400 sq ft. Closed on the lot and started working with a design/build firm in June 2016. Finalized design (took more than one pass to get it within budget) in April 2017. Approval process (HOA review board) and county permits took until the end of July. We broke ground in August. Drywall starts this month! Hoping to move in late spring.

Ours is a custom build. Permit approved the end of August, and builder's estimate for completion is 8 months. We are now in week 2 of framing. We had about 5 weeks of nothing because of weather and our architect moving slow with modifications.

We closed on our construction loan in Sept, foundation was poured 9/28, and this week our builder is out doing the trim work. Cabinets are finished (made by a local guy) and will be installed in a few weeks. Our builder is telling us we should be in by the end of March. Our house is around 2900 sq ft. What's been a huge blessing is that our builder has been fantastic and wonderful to work with.

Contracted beginning of June. We were told it would be done by end of December. We aren't even in drywall yet! They are now saying March.

dbrad... What would you change?

any updates to these posts?

If it's any consulation, it took 20 months instead of the planned 15 to get into the home. We were primarily responsible for most delays due to the upgrades we chose. No regrets except there is still work outstanding which we hope to complete before spring.

Instead of moving in late spring, we got a temporary CO and moved in on July 18. The official CO was approved within a week. It was a couple weeks short of a year from groundbreaking to move in for our custom home.

@doc5md, it took us 18 months to get in our house and I think I could have shaved that down to 14 if I had been less patient with ignorance and apathy. This was our first build, and looking back I was too patient with a few particular contractors that were just horrible at their jobs. I didn't know what I didn't know, so I accepted their level of (non)professionalism as the standard. The further we made it through our build and the more excellent contractors we found ourselves using, I eventually realized just how bad some of those guys really were.

Knowing what I know now, I would either apply more pressure to those that need it (and demand immediate results), or I would cut them loose much sooner and not let them derail my project. Time is money and I didn't value it as much as I should have.

We broke ground November 2016 and moved in September 2017. Not because we were actually done, but because we had sold our house and needed a place to live! :) Our was a custom build, owner GC and lots of it was DIY. I'm shocked that we were able to get it to the state we did in less than year. We have now lived in our house for 1.5 years and still not done yet. Still left to do is kitchen backsplash, cabinet molding, porch railings and landscaping. Landscaping is happening now.

Assuming we finish the last stuff by summer, ours will have taken 2.5 years. But again, a lot of ours was DIY especially after we moved in.

Custom build. We bought our land in Nov of 2016. Worked with an architect, submitted for permit in Aug of 2017. Paused the permit in Jan 18 to make revisions for cost and code purposes. Resubmitted our permit in May and got our permit in Nov. Broke ground the first week of the new year and are on schedule to finish in November. Something about November huh? 3 years, fingers crossed. We thought it'd take 1.5. Ha.

Started March 2015. Sent plans to permitting Dec 2015 and pulled plans in February 2106 before they were approved. Reconfigured house on a larger plot, and plans were sent in finally in June 2016. Got our permits Oct 24, 2016 and finally moved in April 30, 2018. And after that had to have the ductwork and AC completely redone, the slider door redone, painting redone, broken window replaced, etc.

We bought the lot and met the builder in April 2018. Spent last summer designing the house. Broke ground in October. Hopefully will be moving in May or June. Ours is a custom build.

Like Nidnay...about 2 years. Actually 3 years if you count our new dock and boathouse which was built before we started the house.

Honestly, I‘m just starting to feel human again. I have a lot of decorating to do and I don’t have it in me right now. Using old furniture that needs to be replaced. I can’t even get a backsplash decision made. Burnout is real.

this is the third house we have built and it was definitely the hardest. But it is a wonderful, homey home and I’m glad we took our time and didnt rush our decisions.

We bought our lot last March, worked on plans with our architect for around 5 months from March through July, broke ground in September, and will be in the home mid-May, so around 9 months (custom home). This is one month earlier than anticipated, and I can't say enough good things about our builder and his subcontractors.

We are currently at 1 year and 6 months. However, we had a builder construct the shell and we have done everything else ourselves. We are finally rounding the corner to the finish line.

We bought a home with the permits already obtained and the plans already drawn up. We signed contracts January 17 and he broke ground about 2 weeks later. As of April 24, the sheetrock is up. Now he has to spackle, paint, and then do the trim! He is guesstimating a June 2019 closing date which would put us at about a 6 month beginning to end build.