Any advice on building a house?

Off-topic
1

So my fiancée and I are considering building a house. Anyone have any advice? Has anyone here done this before?

We’re leaning towards building because after looking for houses for a month or so, it is quickly becoming apparent that we’ll never find anything that suits our needs (small house, well constructed, with an activity/living room that has a very high ceiling).

We’d be doing a lot of the work ourselves. We’ve both got extensive DIY experience, including many of the steps that would go into building a house (framing, plumbing, electrical, roofing, kitchen and bathroom remodeling).

There are many smart, capable people on this forum, so I figured someone must have something to say on the topic.

Thanks!

2

Are you planning to do things properly, hire an architect, draw up plans, build everything to code, get permits and inspections along the way? Or are you going to throw a bunch of wood and sheet rock together, hope it sticks, then go through all kinds of hell if something happens, or even worse, you try to sell it.

I’d spend some time with my nose in a book of codes… you’ve got a lot of homework to do before you even put pencil to paper. It’s stunning how many codes there are for every aspect of the build process.

The missus and I did a lot of work to remodel the house I’m living in now, and we hired a pro contractor to do most of the job, as he has to memorize (and be tested on) all the codes just to keep his license. We wanted to pass inspections the first time, every time, rather than drag out the entire job.

3

We’ll probably start with a stock plan from a house plan/floor plan company, and then edit it to suit our needs. I have enough experience to edit either a blueprint or the CAD drawings. I’m definitely open to finding more sources for stock plans other than what can be found online (or if anyone has a specific online resource they can recommend).

A major consideration is resale value, unfortunately. So of course, everything will be up to code, etc. (which would be the case even if I didn’t care about selling the house).

We’ll probably consult with an architect at some point, if we need to. It kind of depends on how simple we can make our plans. If we end up with something on the more complex side, we’ll probably bring in outside help.

I’m still trying to figure out what I’ll need to sub out.

I have a few friends who have excavation equipment, so I think I can do most of the sitework myself. But this is something I need to do a lot more research on.

Basement/foundation might need to get subbed out, but I’m also thinking of going with foam insulated forms, so that might be a DIY thing too. I built swimming pools for a few years, so I have quite a bit of concrete experience, including excavation, framing, pouring, and finishing. Again, I need to do a lot more research on this.

Plumbing and electrical I can do myself, as much as legally possible. I might need a contractor to give it a once over due to licensing criteria for the inspection. I’m not sure about that part, but I am very confident in my skills as an electrician and a plumber.

As an aside, I’m not sure that contractors necessarily have to pass any kind of test to be come licensed. Some do (electrical for one), but many do not, at least in CT: http://www.contractors-license.org/ct/Connecticut.html#home%20improvement

4

I’d def. sub out the underground / foundation work. The foundation’s the most important part of the project, and underground stuff can be dangerous. You can’t really fix a bad foundation, only patch it up and hope the rest of the house doesn’t get damaged too much.

Plumbing and electrical, albeit highly regulated, is the easiest of the bunch. Finishing work, if you’re not trying to do intricate woodwork, is also great stuff to take on yourself. These things we took on ourselves as first time homeowners, and things came out great. My lady got a lot inspiration from Ikea, from fixtures to paint color schemes, and we’re super happy with the results.

One thing that was nice to outsource was our walk-in shower design… nice tall glass walls with a low threshold door. Only cost a few hundred bucks to have something pre-fabbed and installed. Sure we could DIY, but there are SO MANY details to attend to in a design. Cut corners where you can or you’ll spend a year finishing your place…

Framing is quite important, and you might want some pro help there. Sure it seems simple but like the foundation, it will be expensive to fix if you discover the problem after finishing is done.

Post up some pics as you go! Good luck.

5

When we built our house I leveled the ground, then had the foundation and shell of the house contracted. From the outside it looked complete but really was all open framing inside. Foundation, framing, siding and roof were contracted. Power was to the box with a meter installed but no inside wiring. We finished the rest. Doing it this way saved a bunch of money and we got to get that personal feeling of “we did it” too. Plumbing and electrical is pretty straight forward. This also allows you to move in and work on it as you can earlier. For me sheetrock and finishing was the hardest. It’s easy to gross it in, it hard to make it pretty. For some couples it can really test the relationship. IMO a fireplace or chimney should be contracted also. I’m glad I did it, but would never do it again…Good luck.

6

You don’t want to go to the building dept

I have built a bunch of stuff, small out rooms, and was under code enforcement radar. But then I built a large 2 story deck, and had to get “after
the fact” permits, or tear it down, or pay massive fines until I lost the place. What a nightmare. I still have the deck, but it sure wasn’t worth it.

If you live out in the sticks with hicks and there is little in the way of codes, have fun, but if you do not, fear, fear, then dread the many meetings and time it will take to go through “the process”. You may fail, and lose your property if you do not promptly tear it all down. It doesn’t matter how well you build something, every permit must be done, or they will rape you with a metal pedal, take your land and then say you ow them.

I think building a new house today is a bad idea. It is a buyers market, just find something out there you like and buy it. I am certain it would cost a lot less and be massively less work than making your own house. And let me say it again, fear, fear, then fear some more, code enforcement. Building a house is cheap and simple as far as wood and nails, but navigating the paper work is a total nightmare and if you screw it up they will take your land. Play along, and it will suck your life, time, and have you obsessed with how much this process sucks and why, why, why! There is no logic to it, just pain, stress and misery. Don’t build a house unless you live north of Jebroo and get there in a canoe. Buy one.

7

Nick,

In my previous life I was a carpenter, I built a lot of homes, mostly custom stuff in Tahoe, a couple out East, also did a stint as a construction coordinator with Habitat, taught construction classes at the community college to people like you and your fiance’.

First off, you will not save money building a house. A new construction will nickle and dime you to death, as well, you will put a huge, huge, huge amount of time into your house both because it’s yours and because you aren’t a pro.

Second, without a “crew” to help you, there are things you will not be able to do solo and asking your fiance to be on the other end of the board is not a good idea. Even if both of you are even keeled and easy going, it will not be easy on the relationship. If you don’t believe me, I can give you my wife’s cell and you can call and ask her :o

So, without a further ado I give you the “shell home” :smiley:

What you do is contract with a local builder to do everything done from permits to drywall, so you won’t need to rough the electrical or plumbing or HVAC. Get them to hang the drywall, do the roof, windows, doors and siding. You get the fun stuff, finishing drywall, painting/paper, fixtures, cabinets, tubs/toilets/showers, and off course the landscaping.

The best part is that you can pick and choose all the stuff that matters to you, what you’ll use and appreciate on a day to day basis, what you did with your own hands is the visible stuff, and it’s stuff that can be done bit by bit, regardless of the weather or time of day.

It will also be easier to get estimates on this sort of job than a turn key. Turnkeys always bother me because they cut costs of fixtures and shortcut finshing as time/money gets tight.

Oh, and take a look at the different systems you can use to heat/cool your house, the are some great options that can be paid off over time such as geothermal. If you live somewhere cold, consider a heated slab, or even just heated tile floors in the baths, your wife, I mean fiance will love you for it.

I’m also a big fan of instant hot water systems, we use a 220 set up, it’s kinda fickle, better bet is gas if you have it available.

Oh, and maybe you noticed that I skipped any mention of rehabs, well there’s a good reason:

On a rehab you have to unbuild and rebuild, so it takes a lot longer, but worse is you never know what you’re gonna get and it almost always suprises you in some not so good ways. I have done a bunch of rehabs including the one we live in now, talk about a money pit!

8

Just a couple more things:

No contractor is going to sign off on your plumbing or electrical, you do the work, you have to pass the inspection. Some building inspectors don’t like home owner built stuff, and for good reason, non pros know less than they need to know so they are likely to make a mistake. Also, if there is a problem, who ya gonna call?

My neighbor burned her house down last year while messing with circuit breakers, she was also “comfortable” with doing her own electrical, did a couple rehab houses, but in this case she shorted a wire and it sparked a fire in the wall, by the time the fire trucks got there it was flaming end to end.

We are moving West next year, so I suggested to my wife that we build a house and she says:

“I’m not helping”.

I might be able to talk her into a shell :roll_eyes:

9

High ceilings are necessary when we have our friends over, each of whom is juggling at least 9 clubs or balls. Think about what kind of floor for unicycling, too!

Codes differ from dramatically from one neighborhood to another. Who wants less government interference in how we build our skyscrapers?! :astonished: :smiley:

10

This. x1000.

11

I have to agree with Feel the Light on the housing market. At the moment, it seems like the ultimate time to buy a house! It’s very much a buyer’s market, which gives you a lot of leverage if you find something that meets most of your needs, and can then be modified to meet the rest. Why build from the ground up when prices are so attractive?

12

Thanks for the suggestions. We just really can’t find what we want on the market. We looked for houses for 4 months before buying our condo, and we’ve been looking again for the last month (maybe more like 50 days at this point!) also.

The condo we live in now is 800 sq ft, and we have a 20’ ceiling in our living room. It is a bit small, but other than that pretty much ideal.

We’re looking for a house that will have a 20’ + ceiling, but only 1600-2400 sq ft (we’d prefer closer to 1600, but I’m not sure if that exists/will be re-sellable). Most houses we’ve found with high ceilings are huge (3000+ sq ft), and way too expensive.

Most small houses we’ve found are just really poorly constructed.

If we find a house that we like, we’ll definitely jump on buying instead of building. We’re also considering buying a house and building a barn.

13

Thanks to both of you for the “shell” suggestion. We may go this route. It seems like it will save time (over building from scratch) and money/rage (over buying new and re-modeling).

14

off topic, but thanks for posting this. I’ve read about the first quarter of it. The pictures are breathtaking.

15

How big does your jugging room have to be?

Couldn’t you just buy a house with a nice rec room and raise the ceiling?

Or is this because you have really tall guests?

16

In my living room now I have a 20’ rigging point and a 16’ double point. The 20’ point doubles as a Chinese pole mount. So really we need enough room to rig a Chinese pole, static trapeze, silks, lyra, or other aerial apparatus.

The problem with raising a ceiling is that once you raise a ceiling to that height (either by removing the room above, or doing a really weird addition) no one wants to buy the house when you’re ready to sell.

We’ve definitely considered building a barn though, which might be a good solution.