My better half and I are in the process of starting to design/build our home. The carpentry end is no problem since I’ve been doing that for 20 years. We want to build the home (One floor) in three stages. Stage one getting us a kitchen,dr, full bath, laundry /utility, and great room. Stage two is garage and mb. Stage three guest room and office w/ half bath. My question is this, i after the first stage it could be 2-4 years before the rest is done,should we have the whole foundation for the entire project put in before even starting stage one. It seems like the logical choice to me but could there be drawbacks beyond never getting to the other stages. What do you all think???
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It will be cheaper to do the whole building at once.
WAHD
>> It will be cheaper to do the whole building at once.
Probably. It depends on what kind of foundation it is and what they have to do to keep the rainwater out of it. If they have a basement and want to use any of it, they've pretty much got to have some kind of roof over the whole thing.
I meant the entire building. I should have been more clear in what I wrote.
WAHDView Image
Your profile doesn't say where you are from but I'd be concerned over freezing water around an uncovered and unheated foundation.
Saw a building going up taking a long time once. Then saw the a red tag go up on it. Seems the homeowner prepaid these two hoodlums for the material and labor charges they requested and they kept coming back for more. Finally gets fed up and tells them to finish. They leave half the house with framing walls up, no roofing. Whole deal goes thru court yadayada. Meantime exposed block foundation receives the rainwater and freezes splitting blocks and pushing it around. Not good says inspector and it's time for a rebuild.
Just a quick thought. Build full basement under Ph 1.
Then when ready for Ph2 & 3, use crawl space and stemwalls.