Questions on Process for Owner Builder for single family residence
Amit Ramani
5 years ago
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David Cary
5 years agoRelated Discussions
owner/builders - get jealous of others speedy progress?
Comments (38)I had to chuckle to myself as I read these posts. My hubby and I have built 3 homes in the past 25 years. The first two took about 2 1/2 years each to complete. We did everything ourselves. When I say complete, I have to confess that we had plywood floors when we moved into them. The building process is much more time consuming than most people can guess. Therefore, the question from a lot of friends is "when, are you moving in?" OR "how are you coming along with the house." When we got to the second build, DH had heard enough of that question so he started telling everyone that "we are right on schedule". The look on their faces are priceless. The same person will never repeat that question. On Memorial Day we took a few days off. An neighbor asked DH the usual question and DH told him " Joe, we got ahead of schedule and had to take a few days off!!. Try that approach. It does add a bit of humor. A neighbor across the road from us said that he and his girlfriend were watching us lay brick and laughing to themselves because we are so slow. But he said that after they thought about it a while they said that they would not be able to lay brick if a gun were pointed to their heads. We have been building this 3rd home for 3 1/2 years. We have inside trim to do and some landscaping to finish. We are in our 60's now and this will be the last home because the physical labor is getting to be a bit much. I can say that when its all done you will be far ahead of most people and you will never have to wonder just what is in the walls, etc. Take your time and try not to let it get the best of you. Keep your eye on the goal. You will never regret having a home that you built and that is paid for....See MoreOwner/builder, advice, a few questions
Comments (26)First thanks every one for their advice it is very helpful to hear the naysayers as well as the yay sayers. If I can't come up with a solution to the problem you present, then I have a problem. vhehn- time will be somewhat short but as long as we get a loan money shouldn't be too short. I do know it will take us a long time to build and we are prepared for that and OK with it. A lot of people express concerns with SB I am OK with that too. Please don't feel like I am dismissing your comments out of hand. Some of them I have heard many times before and some of them I am keeping in mind as I go along. We are working on deciding how we will deal with the long build time. The whole financing situation is something we are just starting to address and well aware that financing for a SB house is difficult to get. So if we can't get it, then we can't and we will decide on a different building envelope. frog - I personally have not investigated logging however we are building next door to the ILs who are timber farmers with 60 years of experience and a mill. The lumber would be stored where they can keep an eye on it so I am not too worried. It is a lovely area and property prices or sky high so 20 acres for the cost of power/water/septic is a steal. ajpl - thanks for you thoughts, I sent you an message via flickr. We are doing a timber frame rather than structural SB so there will be a roof up before the bales ever arrive on site so there isn't the usual worries about getting them up super quick and finished off before it rains. You posted your house plan on another thread I started and I really liked them except that there wasn't a bedroom on the ground floor for when we get old :). Otherwise it was just what we were looking for. flgargoyle - I will look into the grading of lumber requirements. We plan on being careful about permitting and such as well. The ILs weren't and haven't had a problem but we don't want to take the risk. We do have concerns about living in an RV with two small children. Our first choice would be a habitable workshop but we are not sure what the zoning permitting situation would be for that. Terry_t - We will only have two kids when we are building, one that is 2-3 and another that is 5-6. But two small children isn't really much better than 3, we are banking on babysitting help from the ILs. Thanks for your suggestions on advance prep work we have been wondering what we can do before we get the ball really rolling. Luckily our site is flat and pretty clear for a large area. A log home is actually something we would consider if a SB became impossible. FIL has already built two log houses so we have some one with experience handy to help. We are aware of the YDKWYDK principle and have plans to get consultants when possible. We have one recommendation already from some one who has already built a TF SB house in the area. We also have close family members with various construction experience (electric installation, plumbing, framing, roofing, finish carpentry). We are also working on making the most of the years leading up the build, learning all we can. This will all take a lot more planning and thought so if you think of hurdles please post them so I can figure out how to jump over them :)....See MoreLast minute changes / advice / owner builder ?
Comments (35)Samjal, I hope you build as a big a house as you and your family want and can comfortably afford! How great that you are so close to your large extended family. Given your lack of building experience, I agree you should not manage this process yourself. You will not be able to spot subtle things being done wrong. Building a home is a tough and complicated job. You need to find a builder/general contractor you like and has a good reputation and let them do their job. It may seem like it costs more to do it this way. But I believe you actually will spend way more than you expect if you try to manage it yourself, due to mistakes and things that need to be redone and delays. Not to mention the amount of time you need to be available to manage the job and frustrations. I am still confused about the financing. If you own the land outright, great, you do not have to pay for it. But if you pay for the home build instead of financing, you need to come up with the entire cost of the build. And do not forget to leave $ for landscaping, furniture, increase in property tax once the house is built, living costs while it is being built especially if it takes longer than expected, moving costs. As far as the design, work on it until it is just right for you. Owning the land is a great headstart. Congratulations on the opportunity to build your dream home! I do look forward to hearing more along the way if you are willing to post updates. Lafdr...See MoreQuestion for owner/builders
Comments (17)I recently did a bit of a hybrid- a fixed costs bid for all major infrastructure/systems/labor/materials, plus a great idea of costs/bids for allocation of allowances on all finish materials. A great, line-by-line bid from a GC that showed me "all". It was up to the builder to hold the line on 2/3rds of the build (his part), up to me to hold the line/allocate on all the rest. I never spent one day wondering/worry about subs- that was his deal. It was the most awesome document I've ever seen. I was never lost, always knew that, no matter what our crazy market threw out, I was protect against the nuttiest things, which (at the time) included people jacking their labor costs by up to 2ce what they built. I also had a contractor who led me by the hand into the best finish material subs possible, who were also great within budget. They all work in concert, all the time, and their continued relationship needs were very protective to me. All of it led to a beautiful, upgraded, ground-up build that came in less than 5% of our projected costs. The only overages were my choice. Whatevdr my contractor had to do to hold his own lines? Up to him. His fee was 10%. He had some "efficiencies", and we embraced that, as small business owners who have our own in our industry. I'm assuming he made at least another 5% of that- totally fair, given all the rest that he offered. The point? I confidently took on a build where 67% of the costs were fixed, in Austin TX, during a year when 1% of all housing starts in the US were in this city. CRAZY things happened to so many in the market, within costs, but not to me. You do have to be able to hold your own line, though, within this sort of bid. Are you the type who will, finish material after finish material, go for the most expensive you can? Might not work. But if you have the stamina and patience, maybe you'll be like me. Start to finish-buy the city lot, remove the house, demo, build- around 16 months. In that time, land value increased by 15%. Through careful, wonderful planning? We made nearly 40% in 2 years, due to improvements/sweat equity- thanks to a great architectural plan and the careful planning of a great contractor....See Moreremodeling1840
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