Building Your Own Home?
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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.
Joe Woodbury wrote:
you will spend more especially because the temptation to get the slightly nicer thing will be overwhelming and that adds up
That is, after all, half the reason of building one's own home (the other half being the trampoline room).
Joe Woodbury wrote:
most builders have their A and B crews with the latter used on homes for the clueless
Sketchy, but good to know.
Joe Woodbury wrote:
I had a neighbor who had major problems in closing his semi-custom home due to some obscure violations nobody caught until the end
I wonder if there is insurance for that sort of thing. That is, if the contractor screws up, they are responsible for fixing up their screw up.
Joe Woodbury wrote:
A cousin, an uncle and friend bought semi-prefab factory build houses
I might consider a Dymaxion house. :)
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wizardzz wrote:
We are planning our own wedding from scratch, which costs 1/10 of a house
I hope by house you mean "shed". Otherwise, ouch. Just, ouch. :((
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AspDotNetDev wrote:
a place that has homes that start around $2,000,000
>90% of that will be land value
Yes, I am guessing that is the case. Though, I wonder if they artificially inflate the price of the house beyond what the land and the house each cost individually.
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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....
David Knechtges wrote:
That said, you will also get done and say, "I wish we would have....".
Which is why I'll buy extra land and leave lots of empty space in each room (so I can add things). Then I'll just have the regret that it takes forever to get across the entire house. :rolleyes:
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Yes, I am guessing that is the case. Though, I wonder if they artificially inflate the price of the house beyond what the land and the house each cost individually.
Are these new houses in a new development? Building a house Is not hugely expensive, it's the fixtures, fittings and finish that can cost a bundle. Property in Sydney is very expensive, in the top 5 world wide based on average income I believe. A very wealthy person I know has his house (which he had built) on the market for around $10M. He is discovering that importing marble from Italy for the five bathrooms was not a good investment. You can build a house for you or you can build one to be easily sale-able in the future
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wizardzz wrote:
We are planning our own wedding from scratch, which costs 1/10 of a house
I hope by house you mean "shed". Otherwise, ouch. Just, ouch. :((
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Are these new houses in a new development? Building a house Is not hugely expensive, it's the fixtures, fittings and finish that can cost a bundle. Property in Sydney is very expensive, in the top 5 world wide based on average income I believe. A very wealthy person I know has his house (which he had built) on the market for around $10M. He is discovering that importing marble from Italy for the five bathrooms was not a good investment. You can build a house for you or you can build one to be easily sale-able in the future
The $2M house I looked at in particular didn't seem very new. Each house in the area seems to have a bunch of land and is unique, but old (at least, not particularly new). I saw that house years ago, so I just looked at some of the properties available now. The cheapest is just under $1M, and is 3 bedroom/2 bath/~2,000sqft. Most expensive on the first page of results is nearly $100M (9 bedroom, 8 bathroom, ~10,000sqft). I'm not too interested in fancy materials, though I do want to do some pretty custom things.
_Josh_ wrote:
You can build a house for you or you can build one to be easily sale-able in the future
It's going to be my preciousssss. :)
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The $2M house I looked at in particular didn't seem very new. Each house in the area seems to have a bunch of land and is unique, but old (at least, not particularly new). I saw that house years ago, so I just looked at some of the properties available now. The cheapest is just under $1M, and is 3 bedroom/2 bath/~2,000sqft. Most expensive on the first page of results is nearly $100M (9 bedroom, 8 bathroom, ~10,000sqft). I'm not too interested in fancy materials, though I do want to do some pretty custom things.
_Josh_ wrote:
You can build a house for you or you can build one to be easily sale-able in the future
It's going to be my preciousssss. :)
AspDotNetDev wrote:
I do want to do some pretty custom things.
The problem is you've got to do something about the builder at the end. After all, he knows where your dungeons are. Have you eve seen the British tv show Grand Designs? I think that givesa pretty good idea of what people go through building their dream houses.
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AspDotNetDev wrote:
I do want to do some pretty custom things.
The problem is you've got to do something about the builder at the end. After all, he knows where your dungeons are. Have you eve seen the British tv show Grand Designs? I think that givesa pretty good idea of what people go through building their dream houses.
_Josh_ wrote:
Have you eve seen the British tv show Grand Designs?
Nope, but it was recommended below, so maybe I'll give it a look see.
_Josh_ wrote:
The problem is you've got to do something about the builder at the end. After all, he knows where your dungeons are.
Come to think of it, you may already know too much, but I won't hold it against you. So, um, want to meet up for camping sometime in the middle of a desert, far from the road and any landmarks?
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_Josh_ wrote:
Have you eve seen the British tv show Grand Designs?
Nope, but it was recommended below, so maybe I'll give it a look see.
_Josh_ wrote:
The problem is you've got to do something about the builder at the end. After all, he knows where your dungeons are.
Come to think of it, you may already know too much, but I won't hold it against you. So, um, want to meet up for camping sometime in the middle of a desert, far from the road and any landmarks?
AspDotNetDev wrote:
Nope, but it was recommended below, so maybe I'll give it a look see.
By warned, my significant other has a significant crush on the show's presenter. Unless you speak fluent French and Italian, are hugely rich as the result of running a successful business, were once a stage designer and star on a long running tv series and several spin offs watch it alone.
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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....
Cat5 is so 20th century. I had exactly the same issue with cabling in my place in Melbourne and was about to start drilling holes before sanity kicked in. I just grabbed a wifi router. 400kbs isn't gigabit, but it's been more than enough for what I need, and with gigabit ethernet almost here I'll be happy. (Except that I tried the same gig in our toronto place and for the life of me I can't get my Mac to hold a decent connection to the airport express 3m away. Argh.)
cheers, Chris Maunder The Code Project | Co-founder Microsoft C++ MVP
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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've tried doing designs like that on a computer, but I always ended up spending more effort working on the computer, rather than working on the design. A1 paper and a 0.5 pencil is so much easier to use (but pay top dollar for a scale rule). I do everything myself, then get it certificated, if necessary. Well, except plastering. I've subconsciously convinced myself, over the years, that I can't learn to plaster, so it's unlikely I'll ever be able to get the hang of it.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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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?