Has Anyone Contracted Building Their Home?

[webbmeister]

After $40K paint jobs, 20% GC fees, and general non-responsiveness of contractors who clearly are in the driver's seat because of the current building rush in Chicago, we are seriously considering contracting our own home. Has anyone here done this? Happy you did? Sorry you did? Lessons learned along the way? Did you save enough to make it worth the journey? Did your house turn out as well as you'd hoped?

We'd really like to hear from those who have "been there."

Thanks,

Jim

 

[Von]

Jim, I did mine about 12 years ago. Did as much work as I could and subed out the rest. Saved about $75k But it took me 7 months before we could move in. And it still wasn't done then. I would do it again as I am self-employed and can be at the job site everyday. This is a real must or you get ripped off by the subs who just want to get in and out. You and your wife have to think things out and see if all the headaches are worth it. It was to us!

 

[crown]

Did it 4 years ago very pleased. Do your homework particularly on material prices, keep as close an eye as possible on the subs. I feel you get a lot more house for the money you can get the nice touches without paying the contractor for the extras. We completed ours in 4 months the key is to keep the subs working avoid idle days.
Good luck and have fun with it.

 

[patrickg]

There is another very important consideration that no one mentioned... Just how strong is your marriage? Not kidding! Can you work together in crisis mode spending large sums of money, constantly making important decisions then having to compromise and replan because something out of your control went bad? Do BOTH of you have the discipline to decide who is going to decide and then NOT have the other meddle or second guess?

If you are darned sure you answered all the questions correctly, then go for it. Any doubts? If yes, then any monetary savings will not be great enough compensation for the strife that may be generated.

Not to be overly pessimistic, hopefully realistic. I am a realistic optimist. I hope for the best and deal with reality. I'm also married nearly 38 years to the same woman and hope to get my contract renewed indefinitely but am careful geting into situations like you are courting. I'm on the verge of starting what I hope will be my last house and although not a virgin, I still have trepidations. Still it can be a very rewarding experience both monetarily and because you did it yourself.

Best of luck to us both 'cause we gonna need it,

Patrick

 

[bgott]

http://www.ubuildit.com/

 

[RobS]

We gave it serious consideration Jim, but decided in the end to use a GC. Glad we did. The biggest factor for us is that we don't have any connections to the subs. We'd be pulling names out of the yellow pages hoping they'd have time for us. Our area is in a building craze so most subs have steady work with the bigger builders. They don't want to mess with a lone job on the side.

If you have ready access to the subs it should help. Good luck /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[MDNY]

Jim,

Check out www.hometime.com you will find some info on building your own home. I have watched this show for years and ordered the video set pertaining to new home construction. Bu they actually have an information packet about being your own GC. One major obstacle is the bank. Some banks will not allow the owner as GC if they have no experience. The percentage down may help as well. Check with different banks as well.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

There is a lot involved in building a house and a person can do it if they try to learn the basics about contracting and not try to build monstrous house with thousands of angles going everywhere that certain designers like so much. If you are looking for a good, honest contractor go to your local lumber yards and see who they would recommend. Also talk to your Better Business Beurea(is that spelled right?) and see if the guy you are considering has any complaints against him. There are a lot of good contractors out there but people only hear about the bad ones. I have no doubts you will be able to find a quality contractor in your area who will not overcharge you on your house. I will be building my own home in a few years when everything is settled but am a contractor by trade. We are extremly busy here with a lot of lead work and are booked thru December with more jobs getting handed down pretty soon. We also have a couple houses to build this year but they are basic ranch style houses and the people will allow us flexibility in building it. I hope everything works out for you as it should be a fun time to have a home built. Take care.

 

[dmccarty]

Jim,

I have NOT built my own house and don't want try. I'm having enough
problems find people to do a few odd jobs here and there. One reason
I ended up getting the tractor.

I think the major problem a home owner GC has is that he is the
home owner. If the sub gets two calls, one from Dan aka HomeOwnerGC
and another call from Joe, the FullTimeGC, who do you think is going to
get served first, all things being equal. Once, HomeOwnerGC is finished
there is not more business from Dan. But FullTimeGC will give the sub
more business... Who would you pick, all things being equal, if you
are the sub?

AND how do you know which sub is good and which is bad?

That is my two cents.... /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif
Dan

 

[cp1969]

I didn't want to be my own general contractor, but finding a reputable GC seems to be harder than finding subs. So I'm in the midst of collecting bids.

Recommendations from other people is probably the easiest and best way to find subs, rather than pulling names out of the yellow pages. A lot of good crafts don't advertise in the yellow pages--they dont' have to, and a case can probably be made that those who DO advertise may not be the cream of the crop in their field.

If you're anywhere near a subdivision, you can get leads for subs there as well as look first-hand at their work.

The biggest single obstacle I see to acting as your own general contractor is knowing exactly who does what. If you don't have a good idea how to build a house, that could get difficult. I suppose one needs to ask himself, if given labor and material, could he direct the construction of the house and anwer questions the subs may have. If the answer is not a fairly positive "yes", then maybe he shouldn't consider being the GC.