Do I need a general contractor to build a house?

[orezok]

I was. GC for 40 years. Early in my career, I built 2000 dwelling units. Single family, duplex, 4 plex and condos. When I built my custom home, I hired a GC!

I was at the time building public works projects with project cost of $25 to $105 million.

It’s not always the skills you have, but having the time to properly do it. By the time I built my house, I had lost contact with the shack builder subs and public works contractors are a totally different breed. Your electrical sub or HVAC sub who are doing $10 million dollar contracts aren’t much interested in a single house.

Yes, I did a physical inspection every day or 2, but my GC was exceptional and had very few issues.

 

[fatjay]

The tricky part would be the ability to find and coordinate good subs. IMO that would be hard to do in today's environment unless you have already established relationships. That is where a GC is worth his markup.

When I was building my shop, after 15min of talking talking with every sub i was considering, they lose the opportunity. I ask them to tell me exactly what they plan to do, how they'll do it, and the cost. And they reply with they plan to do substandard work for an outrageous price. And this is why I ended up doing everything myself, while saving money, while learning something new.

 

[dstig1]

Thread is over 2 years old now... @Root Cause did you ever complete the project and how did it go?

 

[t1kilo]

Geteh, for someone to tell you "No, you can't do it" is a bit condescending IMHO. Self contracting doesn't mean that you're physically doing all the work. It just means that it's up to you to do all the scheduling of subs, materials delivery, etc. It also falls on you to pay the bills on time and to make sure the bank is happy. If you have the skill set and time to do something like plumbing or electrical, then by all means, plan to do that and save some money.

I self contracted my home and moved in 5 years ago this spring. It took 12 months and there was a bank involved. The good thing about having the bank involved is that there was a deadline for getting it done, so I was less likely to slack off. I did my own electrical, painting, and a few other odds and ends. Before I started, I did a lot of research. I had a really good idea of what my costs were going to be, down to the LED light bulbs that would be used. Planning on new appliances? Include them in your numbers. Doing high end appliances in your kitchen? Include them in your numbers, and so on. Make sure that you have a contingency built in. It's better to come in under budget than to exceed it. If you are financing, have all of your homework organized in a binder before you meet with your banker, and make it easy for them to give you a yes. Banks really don't like self contracted homes most of the time (at least that was my experience).

FWIW, I am a die hard DIY guy. I make my living in IT, but my passion is my family, property and animals. I'm not involved in the trades, but I know people that are. With their help, I was able to put together a crew of great subs that with only one or two exceptions, I would love to hire again if I were to ever build another house. So, do your homework and dive in is my suggestion!

 

[Renze]

Geteh, for someone to tell you "No, you can't do it" is a bit condescending IMHO.

Its just protecting the ignorant from getting in way over their head. Here in Holland theres a TV show called "help, my husband is DIY" where the wife calls a construction crew with a camera crew to help finish stranded house remodeling projects. And those are simple projects like adding a sleeping room in the garage, or extending the kitchen, not planning an entire house build.

If you have to ask the TBN community if you could, it means you have noone in your circles who has any construction experience, and can give you solid advice based on their expertise versus how they know your skills.

In that case the only honest answer is: leave the planning to a GC untill youre at least under roof.

 

[CliffordK]

My neighbor said that he acted as the general contractor when his current house was built. I'm not sure of all of his previous experience, but he was a millwright, and perhaps a manager at work.

In my case... well, let's start with my father who apparently helped his parents build their house when he was young. That house was a fairly modest box shaped house from the 1950's.

Then when I was young we built my parent's house. An extraordinary experience for two young boys.

Let's see. Custom designed with the help of a local architectural student (with previous commercial architect experience). I believe the county required an engineering analysis to approve the plans.

Excavation was contracted out. And septic tank was also contracted out.
We formed up the foundation, and I believe poured the foundation.
Hired out concrete block work to a "retired" mason for foundation walls, and an integral brick wall in the middle of the house. He did some excellent work.

Our previous neighbor was a licensed electrician. He did moonlighting work to help coordinate the electrical work. But, I did most of the pulling wires and wiring plugs and switches at age 13. An excellent experience.

I think we also did most of the plumbing.

We did hire the architect to help build the house during the summer. A unique arrangement. And, a few other "handyman" type laborers.

We did the sheetrocking, but hired out taping and spackling.

Kitchen cabinets were made by a local company.

My parents did pay worker's comp on all employees, and have continued to do that for any farm employees that they have.

Oh, and while we were building the house, my parents had the main barn structure contracted to be built.

Financing was mentioned earlier. I don't remember all of the details. The land was mortgaged, but I believe the house lot technically had to be paid off. My grandparents loaned my parents some of the money for building the house. And, at some point we moved into a pair of trailer houses on the property and sold the previous house to raise funds for the building.

Mom had a rule, we couldn't move into the house until it was done (or 99% done).

Overall it turned out very nice for self built houses.

In Oregon, most construction, electrical, and plumbing can be done by owner occupants.

I've done some remodeling and maintenance projects over the years.

I'm wanting to build a large "finished" workshop, although a little stuck getting started.

Many of the building codes are the same now as they were 50 years ago. However, one of the issues that I'm running into is there are a lot of new construction techniques. We did galvanized pipe in the barn and copper pipe in the house. Modern construction uses PEX which has quite a few advantages. Other fields such as insulation has evolved over the years.

Anyway, it would take a bit to keep on top of all the modern technologies.

 

[jigs_n_fixtures]

I recently retired after thirty years as a Construction Engineer. I worked for one of the big three home builders, as projects manager, for a few years. Did Facilities Engineering for the Forest Service for the last decade and a half, building and taking care of the buildings on two forests. I grew up in house my father was building, and worked for a general remodeling contractor when in my teens. I can do journey level work in most of the trades, except finishing drywall and painting, (color blind engineers should just stay away from paint).

I'm certified as a code inspector for all phases of residential construction. And have done half a dozen remodel and flips.

I'm designing an ADA compliant house for my sister, to be built on one of my extra lots. I could act as the GC and will if I have to. But I would really rather hire someone else to handle it. Doing it right is a lot of work, and requires a pretty broad skill set, which most folks just don't have.

 

[Bill Guenthner]

I am recently retired. I have done my own repairs or upgrades in regards to electrical and plumbing over the years.
I can do basic carpentry and have the tools to build anything.
I have project management experience in the manufacturing world.

I recently bought an IRC 0016 book online to review and have house drawings approved with an architect's stamp.

My son recently had a house built and says that he became his own contractor as he went there daily to see the work and got up to speed by asking the builders questions. I know contractors manage more than just overseeing the work but I am wondering if it's necessary.

I know enough about carpentry, electricity, and plumbing but I don't feel I know enough about footers, foundation, and waterproofing (basement) to do this on my own.
The foundation scares me a bit. i know a big box company has a reputation for cutting corners but I don't know the details. I am considering hiring a qualified contractor to oversee this up to the point where the concrete is all poured and is ready for framing.

I can afford it but I will also be twiddling my thumbs watching others do the work if I hire this out.

Hoping others here can give some advice.

You really, really, really, really, do need a GC. A good GC pays for himself. You won't have any connection with or knowledge of the subs. You won't know who is good or bad and they won't have any reason to prioritize you, show up to your site on time, or do a good job because you aren't a steady source of work for them, like the GC is. A smaller GC may be willing to let you do some of the finish work yourself and discount the job for the work you did. This has worked for me on two different builds.

 

[bigtiller]

I hired a builder that did his own general contracting to build my house. DON'T do that. There was no one to correct his mistakes. His favorite line was "it'll be alright."