Building New Home With Cash, NO DEBT - Advice Appreciated

[oosik]

You talk of year round in a tipi - well, a close neighbor(5 miles down the road) lived on his property for eleven years in a yurt. He eventually built a large storage building with living quarters in a back corner. He's been single all his life and this propensity for strange living quarters is only one of many reasons. The locals laughed when I got a county building permit but the last thing I wanted was problems with the county gov. My biggest problem with the construction and the house was when my contractor who constructed my driveway "forgot" to get a required access permit for my driveway to access the county road. The county highway engineer was highly upset but the driveway was finished and in the end it was obvious all he wanted was the fees for the access permit. I got the permit to build the house and when I got home and looked - they made a mistake and gave me an occupancy certificate for my house that I hadn't even started. There was NEVER an inspection of any stage of the construction by any county inspector either. At that time - 1982 - the permitting & inspection system was just a little screwed up. It probably had a lot to do with my location - I'm located in the extreme SW corner of the county and a 70 mi round trip for any inspector.

 

[oosik]

When in Alaska we owned property that was 55 miles off a dirt road. Access year round was by ATV with no road, trail or path to the property. The wife & I built a small log cabin there and lived on the property continuously for a little less than three years. Biggest problem was loneliness. There were stretches where we didn't see another person for a five month stretch. You know - we never got any kind of permit to build the cabin and never had any type of gov official ever come to the property. In Alaska - gov officials tend to leave "loaners" to themselves - better for everyones health all the way around.

 

[300UGUY]

I assume, looking at the plan, that you do not live where it snows ? Those intersecting roof lines would be a killer for holding snow and ice dams...

Many have commented and I have spent a long time investigating locations with little in the way of restrictions on building timeline and permitting process. There are still places where you have relative freedom, but fewer and fewer all the time and definite actions being taken at local government level to introduce code and the "cash cow" inspections and permitting that goes along with it. Last but not least, local government are simply addicted to having their nose in your business and you having to ask permission for everything - which means the opportunity to say NO every time ! If you read the minutes from council meetings, many of the conversations are highly stress inducing (stress being when you have to exercise the full force of your willpower to NOT strangle some stupid bureaucrat who is having a great time denying something that is of no consequence whatsoever to anyone - like a property line setback of 50 feet that is on a precipice which the owner is asking for a 10 foot variance on for building a garage)

There are a very few places where you can live year round in a tipi if you desire, but we are talking about places that require a tracked atv or similar to get into and out of for more than 6 months of the year and everything has to be hauled in down steep trails...

It does go both ways. We had a guy that bought a old house, that the septic failed, it collapsed, since it was only a old metal drum. Instead of fixing it, he trenched in some plastic pipe, and drained it off his property, into a neighbor's pond. The neighbor noticed toilet paper floating in the pond, tracked down the source, and reported him. He had to put in a septic, at over $20K. He hasn't had a good word for the building department since. Btw, he's a licensed builder...or was. I think after that episode, the looked at his jobs very carefully. We had another guy who moved his wife and kids into a old semi trailer on a 2 acre property, with no septic at all. He was going to build a house, but never did, his wife left, and he lived there for years, until he died. The locals left him alone, felt sorry for him, I guess.

 

[rtimgray]

To the OP: There sure seems to be a lot more negative replies on here than I would have expected, and not all of the advice is unfounded, and a lot of it does depend on how the housing/inspection regulations are in your area. I'm going to assume that those can be dealt in regard to my answer:

I'd say go for it. What you are describing is how we started our home. We had a little bit different idea, but overall similar. We built a 32' x 36' garage with a 2nd floor under roof. We also ended up building a partial basement for additional storage and storm shelter. We lived in a 1970s 12x56 mobile home while we were building this (and for several years prior while we saved up money). Here's the things that I learned, and am still learning:

1. Most things will take longer than I thought they would
2. Free or cheap help is worth what you pay for it
3. Take the easy way out and do it her way, because that's how it's going to end up anyway

I wouldn't trade the experience of building my own home for anything. My wife and I worked together on it for about 4 years before it was ready to move into, and we had two small children the whole time, we each have full time jobs, and part-time farming with cattle and hay, so we always had plenty to do.

One great thing about doing it this way is that most people have a deadline imposed upon them by a lender. As an out-of-pocket builder, the online timelines were mine. If you build it yourself, you will save a tremendous amount of money. By the time we finished our 2,100 sq. ft. (under roof and basement) structure, we were only out about $45,000.

Now, I will admit that our plans have changed and we decided that the "garage" we built was too nice to convert into a garage and adjusted our houseplan to a different type of addition, which we are currently in the middle of building. We've added about 1,500 sq. ft. to the house and we're to the point of finishing the drywall, preparing to paint and install flooring. Once again, doing it all out of pocket has saved lot's of money (we're only into it about $20,000 so far) and we have yet to have had any big arguments at this point, even though I'm taking out a shower stall that was built and re-doing it to her liking (because it's not worth fighting over, and it's not costing anything but a few treated 2x4s and my time). And this addition has been easier because like you said, all I have to do is open the door and I'm on the job site.

I did have to deal with septic and electrical inspections, but that was all. I applaud your intentions and effort and wish you well.

Good luck and take care.

 

[TCJatko]

Were I doing it, I'd buy the place on a mortgage and concentrate on retiring the note ASAP. Interest rates are still cheap, and after the house is built you could concentrate your resources on getting rid of the mortgage. As others have stated, sometimes there can be problems with occupancy. Debt can be a useful tool if used properly.

 

[radioman]

Sounds like you have a dream and you are ready to make it happen. I can see you have a big heart and you want to save money. don't we all? :thumbsup:
Have you priced out how much this all will cost for materials alone and for a contractor to build from A to Z just for comparison? One factor you should consider that I always fear are the nature storms. When you price stuff out and then you want to buy materials but suppose the hurricanes hit the south and east coast and the prices doubles for materials you plan to buy locally can hurt.
Have you thought about hiring a contractor to put up the shell framing/sheathing/doors and windows and call it good? There still would be plenty of work left for you to do and save alot of money. water source, septic needs,roofing,siding,plumbing,wiring,insulation,drywalling,etc. I think what a professional crew can do by putting up a shell in a week or two can save you 3 months of hard work and money that can be better used to finish the house. Also getting the shell up means the materials bought protects you from price jump from storms.

 

[rtimgray]

The fluctuation in materials pricing is very relevant, and we ran into it when we started building our house. This was right during the great OSB shortage. However, the advantage of cash building, as mentioned earlier, is that there is not necessarily a deadline to beat. This is what lead us to add a basement to the house - since wood was high at the time, I bought enough material to form the basement and spent the summer working on that, which has been a great asset. By fall, the prices had returned to "normal", I bought the lumber and a big tarp, and the problem resolved itself.

Another thing that the longer timeline lends itself to is the opportunity to pick up windows/doors/cabinets/shelves/tools etc off of craigslist or other locally available sources at low prices - sometimes it works, sometimes not.

I don't put much stock in the amount that a contractor can save buying materials vs. what anybody else can. If you are buying enough material to build a garage or a house, you're most likely going to get treated pretty well by a seller. I mentioned this in another thread just the other day about buying from local lumber yards vs. Home Depot/Lowes, and I ended up with HD because of both price and service.

Honestly, I think a lot of people are unjustly intimidated by the thought of building a house. But you put it together just like a professional would - one piece at a time.

Good luck and take care.

 

[EddieWalker]

Do you have any experience building a house? Everything you can do yourself will save you a lot of money, but only if you do it right and it doesn't have to be redone. I have a client who is very tight with her money. Single mom and a hard worker, but she tends to cut corners and goes with the cheapest of everything. Right now she has a slab poured for her retirement, dream house, but the plumber she hired didn't run any vent lines through the slab before it was poured and when I looked at the blueprint she bought online for cheap, it didn't have enough room in the master bedroom for a bed in it and still be able to get into the master bathroom. Everything needs to be changed, and it's going to cost her a couple of grand just to get to where she can start building on it.

I've built my last two homes for cash. I got the shell done as quickly as I could, and then took my time finishing out each room. Bathroom first, then a bedroom and the kitchen. The rest got done rather slowly and painfully. I've read in the trade magazines for home builders that on average, 1/3 of the cost to build the house is materials, the rest is labor and fees. Depending on how fancy you go on your finish details, I think that's pretty accurate.

The first house I moved into before having a toilet. I had power and cold water, but went outdoors to go to the bathroom for about a week. It was like camping without having any fun.

I'd do it again, but wouldn't start construction until I had enough money to get it sealed in. Utilities, foundation, framing, exterior walls and roof weather tight. You can use Zip Sytem for your exterior walls until you can do the brick and be fine for quite awhile. Then you can finish off a bathroom, a bedroom and sort of set up a worksite kitchen to get you by as you work on it. Microwave, free standing stove and a refrigerator all work find without cabinets or anything else. A folding table and a plastic tub for a sink also work fine until you are ready for a real kitchen. The question is how long will you have to live like that and how long will it take you to finish the house?

I've met people who have lived in unfinished houses for decades. They just get used to it and lose interest in doing the work. Burned out of the never ending project. I've been hired to finish off parts of those hoses, and I've been hired to redo some of their mistakes. They never hire me to do all the house, just get it going again because somebody is tired of nothing happening. Usually the wife. LOL

There is a guy on Pondboss who is doing something very similar to what you want to do. He and his wife have been working on building a barn, workshop with a small apartment over the top of it for probably five years now. It's weekend work and I'm pretty sure it's all out of pocket. They go there most weekends to work on it, they get a little done, then go home and do it all over again the next weekend. It's a great read, and it's an interesting place that they are building, but it doesn't sound like much of a life and I doubt they have saved any money by doing it all themselves when factoring all the time it's taking them to get anything done.

What is your budget like? I wouldn't start anything until I had at least $20 a square foot for the entire building in cash. You should be able to seal it in for that. Starting out smaller and doing it for less is going to cost you more in the long run. Undoing things that you have already spent money on, and leaving parts of it exposed to the elements over time will cost you money.

You will need a place to store materials and tools. You will need space to be able to work. Building a barn or shed first makes a lot of sense. It will let you know where you are at in your building skills, and maybe if this is even something you want to tackle. Framing walls is easy, can you build a roof? I'm not being rude, it's something I see on here all the time. A member posts pictures of his barn or shed and sometimes he gets the framing of the walls right, sometimes he makes a few rookie mistakes that are alright because it's just a shed. But almost always the roof is a fail. Since it's a shed, and they usually post pics after it's done, there isn't much to be done about it, but if it was a house, it would be tragic to have done it that way. Building without code is nice, but code does guarantee that the house is built to a minimum standard. Anything less is just creating problems down the road, sometimes tragic, always costly.

Eddie

 

[HillStreet]

Hi Walker:

Your plan is going to be a real challenge, and I think the logistics are going to be hard to overcome. I have built 4 houses from scratch and lived in them all while I completed them; just finished my current (and last) house after 4 years.

Here is what I see as more costly in the long run: (1) temporary walls with partitions screwed into the floor and ceiling trusses and sheetrock screwed to studs and not finished. (Throwing money and time away because little can be salvaged after the "temporary" part is over). (2) two years to get into the "dry". (You have a complex roof structure and the whole building should be built and enclosed at one time. You cannot leave plywood or OSB exposed for very long before it delaminates or starts to rot with mold or water damage. Get the structure built/roofed/sided and enclosed with windows and doors. Then it can rain and snow without damage). (3) cheap shingles on the garage, replace with good ones later. (Doing it twice, costs for material and labor are high).

Here is something to consider:

Price out the job through site work, utilities, concrete, and a complete framed weather-tight shell. Once that is built, you have a building to temporarily fit up for a rough living space. You might use garage as living quarters with a bathroom finished for basic service.

Just remember that it can be hard to rough out useable electric and plumbing and heating in small stages. Same goes for insulation and sheetrock, piece by piece is dirty and cumbersome-- those things are better done in one shot. Later you can paint, hang doors, and trim as you feel like it.

Have a serious detailed talk with some builders and contractors starting with excavators and concrete guys. Go to a lumberyard with your plans and price out materials for the shell only, probably less than you think. Then get a framing crew for a square foot price on framing, you might do roofing and siding yourself with buddies. Saves a lot, doesn't take long, and now you have a "home" to work on.

You can go to Depot or Lowes and get electrical supplies for the whole house in 3 shopping carts and you're done. Check out the details.

I do wish you the best and hope you succeed.

 

[dmccarty]

For my first rural property, I designed a home to be built in two stages to minimize debt.

The first stage was a "town house" that was two stories with an entrance/utility room on the side. The main building had a 2+ car garage on the first floor with a large room at the back of the garage. I think the building was something like 24x36 so the large room was about 24x12. The large room one day would be a shop when the main house was built in stage two. In the mean time, the large room was going to be the living room. Upstairs was a eat in kitchen, two bedrooms and a bath. Maybe a bit more, I have not looked at the plans in over 20 years. :laughing: The utility room was an appendage stuck on the side of the "town house". The entrance/utility room hid a washer and dryer behind doors and it was also the main entrance to the house from the outside. The doors on the garage, big room down stairs and the utility/entrance room could be setup with locks so that in future we could rent out the upstairs but keep the renters out of the shop, main house and garage.

The idea was to build the "town house", pay it off, and save money for the big house. After the big house was built, we would rent the "town house" to Grad/PHd students who were over their party stage and need to quiet to complete their study. We could set the rent somewhat low since the "town house" would be paid off which would attract the students yet it would still generate decent income.

Great plan, but the useless Credit Union did not like the plan and we decided to sell the land because we wanted more than a few acres.

When we lived in the city, our neighbor hood was built in the mid 70 and the houses were 1200-1500 sf. Most were 1200ish sf. On guy wanted to more space so he built a large two story garage attached to his small ranch. The garage had living space on the second floor and when he finished the build he moved his family into the "garage". He then tore the roof off his ranch house and added a second floor. This took almost a decade from what I could tell but maybe longer since I don't know what was finished in the old ranch house. He worked quite a bit on the complex and when he was done he had a house that did not really look that good, not bad, but not good either. He also had a house that was MUCH larger than other houses in then neighborhood, and by the time he was finished, his kids were going to be moving out in a few years, leaving him with a rather large house for two people. Hopefully, he planned for this and was going to rent out the garage space.

Building your own house like this takes a very long time if you have to work a full time job. The house build will consume your life for years and require you to work almost every free hour you have available.

As a strange example, we want a boat. :laughing::laughing::laughing: Not just any boat but a full displacement, steel hulled boat that can cross oceans. These boat are rather expensive but not as expensive as you would expect. Some people build these boats in their back yard. Many people try and I think most fail. Quite a few people were doing this in the 60's and 70's and my dad wanted to build a boat in that time frame but in the end just bought a boat. The boat we want has plans and some people have built the boats out of wood and steel. There is a guy in Boston who had the steel hull build in a boat yard in NC, then had the hull moved to his backyard in Boston. He is doing the interior work on the boat and it is a work of art. I don't have furniture that matches the quality of the interior he is building. Really nice work. On the other hand, it is taking him years to do the work and the work gets done a little here and a little there. I found a website about another guy who started building a steel hulled sail boat in the early 70s. The boat is a work of art. It took him about 30 years to get the boat in the water. Course, he does not owe anything or much on the boat but he spent a lifetime building the boat. Nothing wrong with that if one wants to spend years/decades building.

The quick guesstimates to build the boat we want would be 10,000 hours. It could take more, it could take less depending on what is wanted in the interior. Lets say I could find 10 hours a week to work on the boat or 40 hours a month. It would take 20.8 years to build the boat... I literally ain't got that amount of time. The boat we want to buy is being built in China, most/many large boats are built in China or in some cases, Turkey of all places. I found some blogs last night from people buying the boats built in China and it takes two years for the boat to be completed at a boat yard where they have built dozens of the same type of boat. Even if I managed to work 20 hours a week or 80 hours a month on the boat it would still take me 10 years to complete the build. Money wise, I would have saved a bunch but I would have worked myself to death.

We have a temporary well house that I built when the house was being built. The well house is a box with a couple of tarps over it. Looks like scat. This was temporary for *** 10 *** years! :shocked: To be fair, I was going to build the proper well house years ago but we got into a car accident that prevented me doing manual work for over six months and then I was behind in more important chores like firewood for winter. Taking on a long term project means that project will be interrupted by kids, family, accidents, and illness which further increases the time of the project. I would love to build the boat we want but if I can't build a stupid, little, well house due to time constraints.....

I designed the house we live in today. No way would I try to build the house. I wanted too but I don't have the time. I am sure you can find estimates on how many hours it takes to build a house. There should be rules of thumb based on square footage.

Later,
Dan

 

[Deerherd]

What Eddie said is great advice provided your state/county/town will allow that. Never happen in the late great State of New York but I'm sure there are places in this country where people can still do what they want.

I suspect the real problem for the OP is securing a mortgage for the house he really wants. Interest rates may be low but qualifying is a whole different ball game. Securing a construction loan for a do it your-selfer is out of the question, especially if you have no general contracting or builder experience. And if you want to finance any amount of land other than a few acres, your lending choices go down dramatically.

I would see what you would qualify for in a mortgage and build a house that was designed with further expansion in mind. Building an addition(s) is much more do it yourself friendly and a lot less stressful on a marriage and your living conditions. I have two ex wives who will attest to that....."

 

[s219]

1. Most things will take longer than I thought they would
2. Free or cheap help is worth what you pay for it
3. Take the easy way out and do it her way, because that's how it's going to end up anyway

I like those points a lot. I will add -- consider how you value quality time with your family, and weigh that against the time it will take to finish the project. If you can combine the two, then awesome -- everybody spends time together and the project gets done. If not, beware! I have read quite a few posts on TBN where big projects get in the way of family life and can even cause marital problems.

My experience -- we had a baby girl just as we finished up our house last spring. I have a million post-construction projects, including barn, pier, fencing, landscaping, etc. All easy stuff I know how to do (grew up the son of a builder, so I've seen/done most everything). Well the first project made me realize things take a lot longer when there is a baby in the household, whether because of parenting requirments, the need to keep quiet during nap time, or just stuff that is out of my control. Progress gets impeded, and sometimes just going to get materials would burn up my free time in a given day. Second was that I'd miss out on hours of time with the baby whenever I was out cranking away on the project. I have now taken to hiring out work that I can trust someone to do as good or better than me, and am a lot more strategic with my own time. Everyone is happier. I have always tried to do everything myself, but am slowly learning to balance things out.

We got a construction loan for our home, and had it built in 10 months (combination of me and a builder). From there transitioned to a low interest mortgage. Still saved every penny we could during those 10 months and net a decent profit when selling our old home, so we were able to put down 50% on the mortgage. What's left spread over the next 30 years is very affordable, and we have the option to increase payments if we want to get out sooner or save some interest costs. In fact, once I am comfortable with my situation after having a child for a couple years, I hope to double mortgage payments every month.

With interest rates so low, I don't really see the need to be afraid of home debt at this point, provided you make good decisions and live within your means.

 

[slowzuki]

We built a shop and partitioned off a living space as temporary but has become permanent. Built ourselves almost without debt. If I was to do it again I would have taken the first 5k and bought a cheap mini-home to live in while house was built. Living in a place under construction with a wife and child is frustrating for them and slows everything down.

 

[newbury]

OP -

It seems you have the right mix of resources and PLENTY of advice.

I have to agree with

Were I doing it, I'd buy the place on a mortgage and concentrate on retiring the note ASAP. Interest rates are still cheap, and after the house is built you could concentrate your resources on getting rid of the mortgage. As others have stated, sometimes there can be problems with occupancy. Debt can be a useful tool if used properly.

Remember interest is still tax deductible. So $10,000 on loan from the bank at 5% may effectively be $10,000 on loan at 3% after taxes. And that will free up $10,000 for other use, such as truck repairs or "fast cash" to buy supplies when they are on an absolute bargain.

I think your "garage" idea is on the small side. Like others I agree with concept of a garage with an apartment in the second floor, or across the back of a larger garage. I've got a 1 bedroom apartment across the back of my 40'x60' workshop. But since you already have 1 tractor and probably a car and a truck a 25' x 32' garage is TOO small.

Another option I've seen is to put up a good sized pole barn first. Then get an RV (even can have a leaky roof) and live in that under the pole barn while you build the house. Then you would have plenty of room for "under cover" storage of building materials which is VERY important. I've seen many a stack of plywood ruined because it got wet when the plastic cover ripped.

If you can get your whole "family" behind you building this project it will greatly speed things up. There are a LOT of things that require 4 hands and two strong backs in building a house. Whatever you build first you should maximize your effort to get and coordinate their help. And keep some log of the hours they contribute so you can reward them down the line.

My Grandfather and Father built their own houses. I started out sorting nails when I was about 5. When we built the last, a duplex, I started out about 12 yrs old and we moved in when I was about 15. Virtually the only labor was my Grandfather full time, me whenever, and my Dad after work. That convinced me to buy old and rehab. When we bought our retirement home in Mississippi a strong contender was building on any of several "acreages" we owned. However the total price of the house with 5,500 sq foot of warehouse AND apartment AND 3.5 acres of land only came to about $45/sq foot of living area in the house, far less than new construction. Since then we've repainted, put in new stairs, totally redone three rooms.

Get to know the building inspectors and officials you need to deal with. Last year I and two others totally rebuilt a kitchen and bathroom. The inspectors were fairly easy to deal with and made suggestions on how to solve a couple of problems we ran into.

 

[walker450]

Wow!! I have read every single reply. Thanks everyone! I don't hardly know where to start. Perhaps I did not give enough information to begin with.

I need two years to save money for dry-in. This will actually be more than enough, but I am going into it with enough money to hire any part of it completed in case I don't want to or I'm unable to. I understand dry-in is a time and weather sensitive issue. :thumbsup:

We won't be living "in" the construction zone. The garage will be built as a free-standing structure first. I don't know how else to explain this one...

We've already been pre-approved for both the construction loan and long-term financing.

All code issues and occupancy issues have been worked out with the city. It is in city limits. I used to be on the volunteer fire department with the inspector, so I think he trusts that I will do what I say more than some.

Yes there will be waste with temporary walls, etc. This cost would be a small one to pay for all of the benefits it brings living on our own land while we build. It only takes a few months of rent to pay for all of the material that cannot be re-used.

I didn't mention my father-in-law lives 3/4 of a mile away. He built his own house and is a big inspiration.

My wife and family will be fine. My wife and I have a great relationship and we truly work as a team, unlike most marriages these days (sadly).

We can only live in a trailer for one-year due to city rules. One year is too constricting of a time schedule for me. If we build our "800 square foot house" we can live in it indefinitely. We would then "add on" 2100 sq ft (not counting upstairs) and "convert" the 800 sq ft portion to a garage.

I already have a 12x16 storage shed on location to house my tools. I would like to build the temp house, move in, then build the barn we want. This would give me a large area to store building materials out of the weather until they are ready to be used. Once the house is complete, the next project is to build an actual insulated shop, about 30'x40' in size. I don't want to build this first because I am not sure where I want it.

I have already done the dirt work for the house. Thread here: http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/projects/291704-clearing-recently-purchased-land-1.html

My grandfather built their house debt-free. They simply added on when they had money. He is another inspiration. I hope he comes out and swings a hammer! He is 82 years old and just bought a new chainsaw and cleared some trees behind his house. Tough old man!

Thanks for all of the encouragement. Things like this used to be more common. I am not attempting something that has never been done before. This is the American Spirit that is missing in a lot of places these days.

 

[dave1949]

EDIT
Walker450 You must have posted just as I began composing this masterpiece of advice. It reads like I didn't read your last post- because I didn't. :laughing:


I think it is admirable to want to build debt free and you should be able to do that given your family & neighbor support system and your own personal knowledge. I would count on the support system for knowledge and guidance more than the labor. If you can get some helping hands on a few things that are hard to do alone, that's really all you need. I am assuming you are reasonably young, highly motivated but patient, have a wife that is 100% on-board, and you are physically fit. :laughing:

There are some things I wouldn't do myself, like slabs and foundations. I wouldn't think of doing drywall or other overhead sheet work alone without a panel hoist. Set up a chop/mitre saw with long extensions that makes accurate cuts easy. Having the right tools for working alone can make most jobs a lot easier.

If building permit restrictions won't let you do what you want, I'm sure there are house designs that lend themselves to building in stages that aren't wasteful. I would avoid do overs as much as possible. For not much more square footage than your garage, you could build the "core" of a larger house that is a complete stand-alone but small home. Your family would be happier with that than the garage. Get that much under your belt, take a breather and then put an addition on. The key is to begin with a house design and roof layout that lends itself to that approach. It may not be your dream design, but it is the one that will get you where you want to be most efficiently.

For example, a 1-1/2 or 2-story core space that will later have 1-story extensions allows you to build the roof correctly and permanently. A core space house could eventually have a bedroom/master suite addition on one end, and a family room & garage on the other. The supply and waste plumbing, heating & cooling, and electrical needs to be planned for the eventual full size of course.

Tyvek house wrap will last a year where the extensions tie into the core. You don't necessarily need to put exterior siding on then take it off. Even if you must put siding on, then painted T-111 is not expensive in the overall scheme of things and is easy to cover or remove later.

It's a long job no doubt. You should approach it as such, be willing to take some time away from it but set yourself firm goals--or become one of Eddie's customers. Plenty of research time needs to be included in the work plan. You will get sick of going to the lumber yard, etc. It can also be a source of immense self satisfaction. Many don't get the chance these days to do things for ourselves and by ourselves.

The idea of first building a shed or something similar is good. It sure helps to have a place to store tools and materials secure and out of the weather. It will always be useful to have a shed for tractor parking if nothing else. You know it won't go to waste.

 

[walker450]

Thanks Dave! Well said. I'm 29 years old and in decent shape. I have some great friends that will help when they can. They usually complain that I work them too hard, whiners!

I'm looking forward to this and I'm very excited. My wife is excited too. She gets to help design and decorate two brand new houses lol.

The kitchen area will be built right where I want my future work bench and cabinets so they will be double-duty. I'll leave the sink, it can be nice to have water available in the garage. I'll put the hot-water tank and pressure tank in a closet that will remain there for the duration, even when the house is complete. The dryer plug will become a welder plug. It will all work out guys, have some faith.

Not having to work on the bank's schedule is another bonus that someone mentioned. I have set down with a few bankers and decided that's something I don't want to deal with. Believe me, I have had plenty of debt and have a great relationship with the two banks I use, but I don't want to mess with a construction loan. I prefer to make "draws" from my own savings.

My wife and I have been talking about this and planning this new house for several years now. This isn't an idea I dreamed up this week. I just posted it this week on the internet.

 

[kevinwak]

I have a Cousin that built the garage before the house. They never did build the house after. Lived in the garage for 5 years and now are trying to sell it as a house. In building my own home I learned few things. First any time estimate I have on how long it will take to do something needs to be tripled. If I think it will take a day to do something it usually ended up taking three. Second, it was easy to work on the house and I got a ton accomplished when we lived 30 miles away. Once we moved in the progress ground down to a crawl. When I lived away from sight I would pack a lunch and a thermos of coffee. I would get there by 7 am and work through until 9 or 10 at night, with only quick lunch breaks. The third thing I learned, but it is probably very specific to my job is that I lost money doing things myself. When we were done and I looked back and compared the hours I spent on the house to the amount of money I would have made working equivalent hours at work I would have been way further ahead going to work and hiring a builder to build the whole house. That only is because my job had tons of overtime available that year at double time, but not everybody has that opportunity. Now when I look at things on the house I take the price of getting somebody to do it and then calculate how many hours of OT I would have to work to pay for it. Then I decide if I can do the said house job myself in that many hours. If it is anywhere equal I will choose working on the house over OT, but there are some tasks that just aren't worth it.

Oh, and I would never again use asphalt shingles. One corner of the house catches lots of wind and they are always blowing off. I wish we had done metal roofing, and I am looking at changing in the next few years.

 

[rtimgray]

Kevin makes a great point about basically "What is your time worth and can you make more money somewhere else?" In my, I'm not eligible for overtime pay, even if I work it, so the more I work, the less I make per hour, so I work the minimum amount of hours possible. Certainly, if you can make $40 per hour working and pay $20 for someone to work on your house, then by all means hire that portion of the work done.

I have also fallen victim to the "quit working after I move in" syndrome. It's easy to get used to things that aren't done. However, at least in my case, the only person it bothers is me and my wife, so it's really not a problem unless we think it is. Again, that's one of the good/bad parts about doing the work without deadlines.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

If you can do it, go for it. Sounds like you know what your doing, and have resources to help. I designed and built my own house. I did get a construction loan, and the bank timeline did make me work fast. I built in 9 months. I also like building things, so it was fun for me, but still stressful. I also had a 1 yr old at the time.

I wanted to start with a garage as a temp house, but my wife didn't like the idea, nor the idea of a trailor on the lot. I ended up renting a house near my lot while building. I had planned on leaving most of the upstairs unfinished, but ended up finishing it all during construction, since I sub'd out the drywall work it didn't cost a whole lot more to just finish it. I added my garage later, but I set up the house for it, including an upstairs hall that ended at the end of the house so it could be extended over the garage. The garage finishing has been pay as I go, so no additional debt. I also added geothermal systems myself, all paid for and done myself. Well, I did buy a new Kubota with backhoe to put in the geo system, that I did take a loan on at 0% interest.

Building myself was the only way I could afford the house I have. If I had to pay someone to do it all, I would not have done it. My goal going in was to build a larger house than what I had, on a much larger lot, for the same price that I was selling my house, in order to keep my mortgage the same. I did not want a higher mortgage, regardless of if I could afford it or not. I went from an 1800 sf split level on .7 acre, to a 2400 sf (before garage and not counting basement) on 5 acres. My mortgage will be paid off soon. I pay myself by doing my own work when possible. I also rolled a lot of tools into my construction cost.