I did alot of the ground work myself leveling and packing
we framed all the inside walls , hung most of the sheetrock
what job that was with 22' walls thought i would never
see the end of the 3 semi loads of drywall but this in it self
saved 30 grand labour did all painting our selves
yes our business suffered some because of long nights
time on phone to subs etc. but new building was well
worth it just apraised at 67.00 a foot
mitch

 

What sort of word is "sorda".

 

Isn't sorda a canadian spelling for sort of ??
mitch

 

I on the other hand think its a pretty good idea if you can handle some stress, long hours of B.S. and numerous delays(at times) My brother built his own house and he was the GC. That alone saved him $30,000..Id put up with a little BS to save that kind of money. So heres the rundown on what we did from start to finish.And who or what was needed in the process.
The lot was wooded...we cleared it ourselves chainsaws and lots of beer, you cant go wrong.
Site work/excavation..contracted out
Septic system..contracted out
Foundation was contracted
Framing, and roof was contracted out
Electrical..had an electrician friend do it and we helped..saved a bunch of money
Rough Plumbing and heating..Done by a friend with our help..saved a ton of money
Thats about it, the rest of it we did ourselves. I did most of the finish plumbing(hooked up sinks and toilets, ect.) we installed the oil tank, and plumbed it. I primed and fired up the furnace( I think that saved about $2000) the porch was framed and then we decked it, I built and installed the staircase to the basement. The stairs to go upstairs were ordered and we installed them. We did all the siding on the house ourselves, layed the carpets, I did all the tile work in the entrance and hallway as well as a decorative tile floor at the back door. Installed hardwood in the kitchen and dinning room, we hung all the doors and did all the trim work in the house. Had someone sheetrock it but we primed and painted the entire house.Had a mason friend brick the fireplace..I think that cost 2 cases of beer!! Im not saying its easy. And trust me its a lot of work and takes a lot longer to do it. If you hire someone to get it done, thats what they do and your in the house in about 9 months to a year. This took 2 years to complete, but he saved a HUGE amount of money. Good luck and if you need any help call me

Oh yeah, dont forget the kitchen..we installed it all ourselves as well, cabinets counters, fridge stove.....

 

After trying to find a home for my wife and I for under 100,000, I was so disgusted with what was out there that I built my own home. I'm an analytical tech by trade, but I have a construction bug of some sort. Anyway, there are a ton of things to consider. I found a piece of land first, and started paying on that. The land is usually used as collateral for the bank to loan you the money for the construction loan. Get a design of a house that you prefer and that'll fit on the property. I'll try to keep this short, but there's a ton of stuff to consider:

Excavator- they'll do all dirt work, dig out the footings, put in the driveway, grade the lawn (if required), put in the septic, and bury the oil tank.
Concrete- they'll set the forms for the footing or slab, pour footing, seal, and remove forms.
Framer- they'll frame exterior and interior walls (I did all this myself with Arxx concrete forms )
Electical- all electric (I did this myself)
Plumber- all plumbing
Roofing-order and place trusses (I did this myself), sheething, ladderblocking, blocking, paper, shingles or metal roof, flashing.
Doors and Windows- did these myself
heating/cooling- Either a heating/cooling expert, or the plumber might be able to do it.
Air Handling- Did this myself
Sheetrocking- I hung all the sheetrock myself, but hired out mudding, taping, primering, texture and painting.
All trim work- Did this myself
Tile and stone work- they'll lay all the stone for you, but I managed to do all of it myself

There's a bunch of other things that need to be addressed. I am living proof that you can do it. I worked an 8 hour a day job, and went to the house at night to work on it, almost every night for 10 months straight. Also, hiring a general carpenter to work on it while your at your day job relieves you from some of the burden, just make sure you can trust him/her. It's hard work, but now I have a 3,750 square foot solid home that I take pride in knowing that I built it. Plus, it only cost me $51 a square foot, where as to have it built, it would have cost me $125 a square foot. Good luck, it's a hell of an experience!

 

Wether you are GC depends on the bank and the laws of your state. Here in MI and in many other states you have to be liscenced by the state to be a GC.
Also many banks will require that you or your draws for new construction go through a GC.
The GC is responsible for meeting code and scheduling all work.
Usually a GC holds the liscence which allows non liscenced crews to work under his GC liscence for which the GC is altimately responsible for all work and meeting code.

I would check your Texas building laws as well as how and who the banks work with on a new construction mortgage.
And if you really dont know very much about building a house or at least someone who does that will work with you I would say leave it to a pro.

I am a liscenced GC and built my own house.
Only thing I contracted out was the foundation, furnace and AC, and the carpeting. Build my house for 95k and it was just appraised at 185k. So yes you can save a ton of $$.
It took me 9 months to build with basicly me a buddy and my 16 year old son.

Sled...

 

Well it may be a bit hard for me to answer your question because where you live is far away from where i live in iowa. My dad has his own construction business of which i work for full-time. We do everything. We have the excavating, plumbing/heating, and electricion subcontracted out. Everything else we do ourslelves like most other carpenters in the area. Only have one or two general contractors around my town. We put the basement in, frame it, roof it, siding windows doors, install cabinets and trim just about everything you can imagine.

When you get a GC involved, you are making a much less stressful time for building your house. This is going to cost you much more. For every guy that the GC lines up to do each part of the house, every guy is making his cut including the GC. So this can add up fast. Also, they may say that your getting the best quality of product and put in junk and you will never know the difference.

Maybe where you live carpenters dont build the entire house themselves. If you can find one that does this is the smartest move even though it may take longer to finish. If not I would think you can handle calling and lining up guys to frame and all that. Building is not cheap these days. Materials have gone out of control. Its hard for me to tell you waht to do when i dont know your environment and the way people work down there. Ask your bank what they think would be best. Talk to some people, ask others that have recently built a house to get a good idea. Dont be afraid to ask thats the biggest thing.

 

jd pollen has the answer for a house i would think if one
can find the wright carpenter to help out with the technical
stuff even lay out stuff for you to do after hours I did this on my shop even little stuff like removing the garbage can make
a big differance to what the carpenter can do in a day
when every thing is clean and organized
permits etc. in place take your time and do it once the right
way and the way you want it do not let sub contractors bully you i did this on my shop with a plumber in stead of sticking
to the blueprint he changed stuff that in the end caused me grief and extra dollars you must remember it's your money
you are the boss if a sub causes grief weigh the benifits of
getting some one else against doing something you
are going to hate and have to live with forever
mitch

 

True, but if you want to build your own house and subcontract certain parts of the build out then that is perfectly legal. If a bank had a problem with that, I would find another bank to do business with.

 

Hi -
I just stopped by to read all your experiences. You all amaze me. I can't even hammer a nail. Come to think of it, I'm not even sure I own a hammer.
Don't know how you all do it.
You all have my utmost respect and admiration.
Me, I'd hire a contractor in a minute, but that's me, then again, I'd have no choice.

Carry on.

 

My dad built are house with some little bit of help contracting for some stuff it cost him about $60,000 maybe a little more 15 years ago. Now with everything he has added like garage and other stuff he could get $400,000 or more if he sold it.

 

One of them thar redneck werds. somethin like:
Kinda - kind of

sorda - sort of

 

That was kind of my point, that he should check with the banks in his area to see how their new construction loans work.
Many banks in my area only allow draws to go to a GC, but there are some that will let the home owner do the work.
Also many banks that allow the home owner to build give longer periods of time for work to be finished, of coarse also adding more interest.

Jamz,
Another thing to consider is prefabbed framing. There are alot of company that will prefab the house in a factory and deliver on site. You just put together the pieces.
Do to time this is what I did with my house, had it rough famed in with sheathing and roof in 3 days with 3 people doing it.
I drew up my own detailed plans and they prefabbed it to my specs.

Sled...

 

Sled,

You mentioned 95k to build and 185k for appaised that is great. Does the 95k count your time as well or strictly the materials and subs? Your time has to be worth something especially if you are a GC. Just curious if after factoring in a value for your time if it was still 95k. Just curious...

JIm

 

BREWDUDE, jdpollen, trytokeepup, MITCHYKINS, and of course sleddogg.

Thanks for all your input. I had a feeling doing it myself would be a nightmare, just didnt realize HOW MUCH of a nightmare.

I am pretty handy with wood work. Furniture, framing, sheetrock, tape and texture, painting, roofing, etc. BUT, I am only one man .

All my family lives hours away, and help from them will prolly not happen. I will more then likely end up hiring a GC, and get it done that way.

AGAIN.

thnx for the info.