Building Your Own Home?
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I hope to do so someday, and I'm curious who among you have already done so. Also, what level of involvement did you have? Did you design it with a computer, lay the foundation yourself, paint it yourself, and so on? Or did you hire a bunch of people and give an architect ideas for what you wanted? And how does the cost compare to buying a house that is already built?
Done it twice now..... Both times in a subdivision where the builder was constructing the homes in the subdivision. One thing about the homes built this way is that generally you won't have to worry about stuff breaking and having to pay for it yourself. At least in our case that was true. Both homes had a 1 year warranty. That said, you will also get done and say, "I wish we would have....". All in all though, once it is done, it is nice to have a brand new home. As a piece of advice, string ethernet everywhere you can especially before the walls are up, because it is a lot cheaper to do it then. I put CAT5 in our house 9 years ago, and it has served me well....
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Mike Mullikin wrote:
6. Picked out all electrical / plumbing / HVAC fixtures as well as flooring, cabinets, etc...
Minus the ones I picked out. ;P
Mike Mullikin wrote:
Approx. 5 months later we moved in.
Probably would have been a little faster if the tornado hadn't knocked it down mid-construction...
The United States invariably does the right thing, after having exhausted every other alternative. -Winston Churchill America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between. -Oscar Wilde Wow, even the French showed a little more spine than that before they got their sh*t pushed in.[^] -Colin Mullikin
Colin Mullikin wrote:
Minus the ones I picked out.
You are Mike's wife? :confused:
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Two weeks ago we moved into a house we had built. We found a company that builds homes and picked one of their floor plans. It was on land we bought a couple of years ago. There are a lot more costs and a lot more things you have to think about. You have to pick out the paint colors, carpet types, cabinets, door knob types, etc, etc. If you buy land that is not part of a subdivision you'll have to get involved with getting water, electric, gas, etc, setup and depending on where the land is at, than can cost a lot. We got a well and a septic because to hook up to the nearest water and sewer would have cost a lot more. The more cash you have the better because costs keep coming up. We just found out a month ago we'll need to put a water filter on our well and that alone is $1,500. That being said, if you can do it, do it. It's worth it.
There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
ryanb31 wrote:
a water filter on our well and that alone is $1,500
I could probably feel comfortable paying at least $500,000 someday for a home, if I could take out a loan. Not sure if that's possible when building a home... if not, might have to take that down to $200,000 or so.
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ryanb31 wrote:
a water filter on our well and that alone is $1,500
I could probably feel comfortable paying at least $500,000 someday for a home, if I could take out a loan. Not sure if that's possible when building a home... if not, might have to take that down to $200,000 or so.
At least in my area, banks want 20% down either in the form of cash or in the form of the land already being paid for. Of course it all depends on how the appraisal comes back as to what 80% ends up being.
There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
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Mike Mullikin wrote:
As for cost... there are too many variables to answer that
Let me put it this way. I'm hoping to someday retire to a place that has homes that start around $2,000,000 (and those are the cheap ones... say, 2 bedrooms, 2 bath, 1,500 square feet). I'm thinking if I buy the land, maybe building the home would be cheaper (a 50% reduction from $2,000,000 would be quite nice).
Mike Mullikin wrote:
Applied for and received a bridge loan for construction
You and your wife are trolls? :confused: Kidding :) (though I don't know what a bridge loan really is).
Mike Mullikin wrote:
Approx. 5 months later we moved in BTW - All this took place over 10+ years ago.
Congrats. :thumbsup:
AspDotNetDev wrote:
start around $2,000,000 (and those are the cheap ones... say, 2 bedrooms, 2 bath, 1,500 square feet)
:wtf: :confused: :wtf: :confused: :wtf: :confused: :wtf: :confused: :wtf: Really? Two million dollars for a 2 bed, 2 bath, 1500 ft2 home? Is it made of gold? My house is 3 bed, 4 bath, 1800 ft2 with a full basement on a 1/2 acre lot and I had it built for less than 1/10th of that. BTW - A bridge loan is a term used for the construction loan you get while still paying the mortgage on your first home. Usually you pay only the interest of the amount actually dispersed to the builder on any given month.
Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master. ~ George Washington
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Colin Mullikin wrote:
Minus the ones I picked out.
You are Mike's wife? :confused:
AspDotNetDev wrote:
You are Mike's wife son
:laugh: :thumbsup:
The United States invariably does the right thing, after having exhausted every other alternative. -Winston Churchill America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between. -Oscar Wilde Wow, even the French showed a little more spine than that before they got their sh*t pushed in.[^] -Colin Mullikin
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I hope to do so someday, and I'm curious who among you have already done so. Also, what level of involvement did you have? Did you design it with a computer, lay the foundation yourself, paint it yourself, and so on? Or did you hire a bunch of people and give an architect ideas for what you wanted? And how does the cost compare to buying a house that is already built?
I've bought new homes where you pick from a set of plans, and choose your colors, carpets, cabinets, etc. I've also had an architect draw custom plans, contracted a builder, and participated in some of the easier parts of construction. Contracting took a lot more work, but the cost wasn't much different. However, it's hard to find a builder to do custom homes if the price isn't significantly above the mid range of local home prices.
SS => Qualified in Submarines
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Mike Mullikin wrote:
As for cost... there are too many variables to answer that
Let me put it this way. I'm hoping to someday retire to a place that has homes that start around $2,000,000 (and those are the cheap ones... say, 2 bedrooms, 2 bath, 1,500 square feet). I'm thinking if I buy the land, maybe building the home would be cheaper (a 50% reduction from $2,000,000 would be quite nice).
Mike Mullikin wrote:
Applied for and received a bridge loan for construction
You and your wife are trolls? :confused: Kidding :) (though I don't know what a bridge loan really is).
Mike Mullikin wrote:
Approx. 5 months later we moved in BTW - All this took place over 10+ years ago.
Congrats. :thumbsup:
$1333 sq/ft ? that's about 10x what we just paid. i honestly can't see how we could've built the house we just built for $2M. we could have doubled the cost, maybe, by getting top-end everything. but frankly, if we had that money, we would've just bought a bigger lot. is this in a place where the land is really expensive? (on the coast, mid-town Manhattan?)
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I hope to do so someday, and I'm curious who among you have already done so. Also, what level of involvement did you have? Did you design it with a computer, lay the foundation yourself, paint it yourself, and so on? Or did you hire a bunch of people and give an architect ideas for what you wanted? And how does the cost compare to buying a house that is already built?
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I hope to do so someday, and I'm curious who among you have already done so. Also, what level of involvement did you have? Did you design it with a computer, lay the foundation yourself, paint it yourself, and so on? Or did you hire a bunch of people and give an architect ideas for what you wanted? And how does the cost compare to buying a house that is already built?
I bought a used house myself. But I have some friends that have built their own homes. And general consensus is that if you want to plan the house yourself you should definitely get an architect to do the floor plan and drawings for you. It's a small cost in the total, and it will probably save you a lot of money or irritation in the end.
"The ones who care enough to do it right care too much to compromise." Matthew Faithfull
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I hope to do so someday, and I'm curious who among you have already done so. Also, what level of involvement did you have? Did you design it with a computer, lay the foundation yourself, paint it yourself, and so on? Or did you hire a bunch of people and give an architect ideas for what you wanted? And how does the cost compare to buying a house that is already built?
I bought a house in poor condition; essentially the outside walls and roof were okay; the rest was up for grabs. We drew out how we wanted the house to look and got a surveyor friend to draw up some plans and then hired a contractor to do the work. Took about 6 months. On reflection it might have been cheaper to have knocked it down and started again. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
"If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me
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AspDotNetDev wrote:
You are Mike's wife son
:laugh: :thumbsup:
The United States invariably does the right thing, after having exhausted every other alternative. -Winston Churchill America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between. -Oscar Wilde Wow, even the French showed a little more spine than that before they got their sh*t pushed in.[^] -Colin Mullikin
Both!? :omg:
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I hope to do so someday, and I'm curious who among you have already done so. Also, what level of involvement did you have? Did you design it with a computer, lay the foundation yourself, paint it yourself, and so on? Or did you hire a bunch of people and give an architect ideas for what you wanted? And how does the cost compare to buying a house that is already built?
Technically, there is no difference in the contractors that a builder would hire vs. the ones you would hire. They could even be the same ones. It's just a matter of you knowing the overall schedule so that you have the next one lined up when the current one is finishing up.
AspDotNetDev wrote:
And how does the cost compare to buying a house that is already built?
It's been many years since I crunched the numbers, but on a roughly $200k home, about $40k of that went to the builder (i.e., you). That's a nice but of equity to have from the get-go.
"One man's wage rise is another man's price increase." - Harold Wilson
"Fireproof doesn't mean the fire will never come. It means when the fire comes that you will be able to withstand it." - Michael Simmons
"Show me a community that obeys the Ten Commandments and I'll show you a less crowded prison system." - Anonymous
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$1333 sq/ft ? that's about 10x what we just paid. i honestly can't see how we could've built the house we just built for $2M. we could have doubled the cost, maybe, by getting top-end everything. but frankly, if we had that money, we would've just bought a bigger lot. is this in a place where the land is really expensive? (on the coast, mid-town Manhattan?)
Yes, one of the most expensive places I've seen.
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Yes, one of the most expensive places I've seen.
save $1.5M and build somewhere reasonable. you could buy a personal jet plane to shuttle you back and forth to the expensive place, if you need to be there often.
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I bought a used house myself. But I have some friends that have built their own homes. And general consensus is that if you want to plan the house yourself you should definitely get an architect to do the floor plan and drawings for you. It's a small cost in the total, and it will probably save you a lot of money or irritation in the end.
"The ones who care enough to do it right care too much to compromise." Matthew Faithfull
I'm considering going into architecture someday, before I ever draw up any plans for a home. If I ever do build my own house, it is going to have some super specific customizations.
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save $1.5M and build somewhere reasonable. you could buy a personal jet plane to shuttle you back and forth to the expensive place, if you need to be there often.
Location, location, location. :)
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I hope to do so someday, and I'm curious who among you have already done so. Also, what level of involvement did you have? Did you design it with a computer, lay the foundation yourself, paint it yourself, and so on? Or did you hire a bunch of people and give an architect ideas for what you wanted? And how does the cost compare to buying a house that is already built?
I've known several people who had custom homes built, including my parents. All of them used a general contractor. Where I live there are several who do only custom homes and are very good at it. I've been advised that you should do a lot of research on your contractor especially in finding out what crews he will use (most builders have their A and B crews with the latter used on homes for the clueless.) My own observation is that you will spend more especially because the temptation to get the slightly nicer thing will be overwhelming and that adds up. Hire as many professionals as you can. Building homes seems simple, but there are a lot of gotchas, especially with understanding zoning and inspection rules. I had a neighbor who had major problems in closing his semi-custom home due to some obscure violations nobody caught until the end. When my brother built, we strung CAT5 and 75 Ohm cable around the house before they put up the drywall. Today, I'd string CAT6, RG6, HDMI and phone, all coated (which may be required by local code if you don't use conduit.) I'd figure out dish placement just in case and run RG6 for that as well (I would be tempted to use conduit there for future proofing.) A cousin, an uncle and friend bought semi-prefab factory build houses. Two were entirely built in a factory and were much nicer than I expected. For my cousin's house, portions were assembled in a factor and then shipped to the site. The result was a very nice and extremely well built house. I'm leaning toward this latter route if I ever lose my mind and decide to buy a house again.
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I hope to do so someday, and I'm curious who among you have already done so. Also, what level of involvement did you have? Did you design it with a computer, lay the foundation yourself, paint it yourself, and so on? Or did you hire a bunch of people and give an architect ideas for what you wanted? And how does the cost compare to buying a house that is already built?
and this: Grand Designs[^]. There are plenty of home building examples on this show. Not all applicable to North America but might give you some ideas. I recall the episode that featured these: HUF Haus[^].
"If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me
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I hope to do so someday, and I'm curious who among you have already done so. Also, what level of involvement did you have? Did you design it with a computer, lay the foundation yourself, paint it yourself, and so on? Or did you hire a bunch of people and give an architect ideas for what you wanted? And how does the cost compare to buying a house that is already built?
There are many points to consider: First and foremost Level of your involvement. If you plan on acting as the contractor. 0: Local building codes (easy to research.) 1: Knowing what and when to schedule the various sub-contractors(Electrical, Plumber...) 3: Site specific construction techniques (Earthquake zone , Flooding, Hurricanes, Permafrost...) 4: Make sure to check references of any sub-contractor. 5: Plan review and permitting.(In my area (South Florida) Inspectors are tough on owner-builder. Research Your area.) 6: Things You might be able to do. (Take time to Think of the items you will need to purchase and time involved to preform) Design tips: (Based on advice from my boss That buy's, and remodels houses for resale.) 0: The design should match (Or complement) the neighbors approx size, style and value. (too big and and you will loose value of return on investment or too small and it will drag down the value of the neighbors homes.) :( 1: IMHO Paint colors should be chosen by a professional designer. 2: Usually wise to use a local architect. This is in no way a complete list. You can find more details with a few trips to Google.(I know you can do this) :) [edit] punctuation.
Frazzle the name say's it all
Always code as if the guy who ends up maintaining your code will be a violent psychopath who knows where you live.
John F. Woods