Do I need a general contractor to build a house?

[MasseyFerg231]

….... That is why I encourage anyone who believes the inspector is wrong to call the building department and ask to speak to a supervisor.

Good point. On items that maybe suspect that the building inspector is reaching on, we ask for them to please put it in writing on their office letterhead. We tell them that we need this to show to the owner who will get the bill for the additional work. Often, it will never get put in writing as it was not a requirement, but rather a request.

Fire Marshalls on the other hand pretty much can do as they wish, code or no code.

 

[Jeepnford]

If you value your sanity, yes.

 

[Hay Dude]

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.

I didn’t read all the replies, just your original post #1.
I would say that you could hire someone to do the site layout, excavation, footings and foundation walls under one company. They can handle all that for you. They would serve as a ”partial general contractor” for that phase of construction and leave you ready for rough framing.
You will need general contractor insurance and to do all the permits and scheduling. You’ll need to make nighttime calls to subs and do all the dirty work I do.
I have built homes and additions for over 30 years and it has its headaches-just like any other job.
My guess is it will take you substantially longer than a professional and what you save in money will be fairly substantial as well. If you have plenty of time and don’t have pressure to move into the home quickly, give it a try.
Worstcase scenario is someone will have to take over for you and finish where you left off.
Your codes inspector may be a friend to you in that his inspections can keep you code compliant, but they do not generally have much to do with quality of construction.

 

[Fxfymn413]

Fire Marshalls on the other hand pretty much can do as they wish, code or no code.

As a former FM there were times when I wished this was true, but it isn't. Basically the fire prevention code is nothing more than a maintenance code for the building code's sections that apply to life safety and fire spread. At least in the IBC world if it was built to comply with the building code the FPC just makes sure it doesn't change.

If the FMO is doing the new construction fire protection systems inspections they are using the building code to do so.

Unfortunately the NFPA's Life Safety Code takes a different approach and forces changes to existing buildings to comply with each new edition of the code. I personally take strong exception to that approach as it places an unrealistic financial burden on the property owner. Unless things have changed since I retired Florida is the only state that uses the LSC statewide.

One of the short comings of the code compliance system is that each inspector pretty much works alone without immediate supervision. This can lead to an inspector thinking that he/she is the supreme authority and ends up enforcing the code as they see fit. Any decent leader of a code enforcement agency cannot tolerate this and that is why I so strongly encourage clients to call the inspector's supervisor if they believe they have been wronged. Without those phone calls the supervisor may never know what the inspector is doing.

A good inspector goes out with the attitude of "What can I do to help the client do what they want to do." not "What can I find to stop the client from doing what they want to do."

 

[deezler]

That is why I encourage anyone who believes the inspector is wrong to call the building department and ask to speak to a supervisor.

Not really an option in many places. My township has ONE dude, same for many others around here. My guy is terrific, but he is the entire building department. He pulls in another guy to do the electrical inspections, but he handles all mechanical and structural stuff.

 

[Fxfymn413]

Not really an option in many places. My township has ONE dude, same for many others around here. My guy is terrific, but he is the entire building department. He pulls in another guy to do the electrical inspections, but he handles all mechanical and structural stuff.

I agree as one person shops are quite common, but everybody has a boss. (At least if you are married!)

Believe me; when something went south I almost always heard from the county council members in whose district the problem occurred. Political pressure usually greases the wheels for a solution like keeping an inspector on site until the work is brought up to speed and approved.

And if all else fails there is an appeal process in the code.

 

[4570Man]

The code is developed based on real life experience and laboratory testing. The inspector probably did you a favor by making you do it right instead of letting you spend your money to put something in that might ultimately not do what you wanted it to do. Yeah, it sucked at the time, but no one ever went to bed at night and thought "I'm glad I didn't do that right."

When the code doesn’t require the use of rebar at all but the job has rebar it’s just not optimally bent how does thar not qualify for doing it right? Using it at all for a footer that was already more than double the minimum required size was already doing a good job. Another time I got failed for using more than the required amount of trusses. We ended up with 2 extra so rather than throw them away we decided to set them all at the end of the stack. Apparently when the engineer drawings were rated for one truss setting 3 in its place isn’t acceptable.

 

[duffer]

One thing I've learned over the years building my own houses, is that no matter if you're playing general contractor for yourself, or not, pull your own permit. Why? Because whoever pulls the permit, controls the work.

You hire a general contractor to build your place, and he turns out to be a dud, it's almost impossible to fire him, because he pulled the permit. You could go get another permit, but more costs, more headaches, building dept will have a red flag on you, etc.

If you pull your own permit, you can hire and fire whoever you want on the job, including the general contractor if you use one.

The benefit of a general contractor in this environment, is that they have a bevy of subs already lined up and willing to work for them. If you're your own GC, then you become a "one and done" for all the subs. You will constantly go to the bottom of their priority list to show up on time, or complete the job if one of their other "regular" GC's calls them and says I need you now. It will likely take you twice as long for your build than using a general contractor.

 

[Steppenwolfe]

I agree as one person shops are quite common, but everybody has a boss. (At least if you are married!)

Believe me; when something went south I almost always heard from the county council members in whose district the problem occurred. Political pressure usually greases the wheels for a solution like keeping an inspector on site until the work is brought up to speed and approved.

And if all else fails there is an appeal process in the code.

I can assume you aren't working in California or New Jersey or Mass or a Philly, Boston, Chicago, or DC... Those boys move to their own drum beat, and no one else's.

 

[Fxfymn413]

I can assume you aren't working in California or New Jersey or Mass or a Philly, Boston, Chicago, or DC... Those boys move to their own drum beat, and no one else's.

DC area actually,,,