I am a trim carpenter and a remodeler. I have done 1 addition on my own home. Which turned out great. But I had plenty of time and whenever I needed a measurement I just had to get up. I have done additions with a remodeling company but always seemed to get put on the job midway and always had the trim and client relations and punch out.
My question is this. How hard is it to build your own house. I mean act as the General contractor. I would do what I know how to do, but mostly the various jobs will be sub work.
Replies
piece of cake...go for it... you're way ahead of 90% of the ones who are doing it anyways..
well , ok... 70%
Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
I sicced my next-door neighbor onto this same track when he couldn't find a general contractor. He's doing just fine. He found many DIY books available, the most valuable of which has schedules, timelines, sample contracts, etc. I would grab up one of those just for reference/confidence booster. I'm building my own house and doing all the work. It takes awhile. He's going alot faster. If you know anything about construction, you know that the trick in general contracting is to have good subs. Everything else is just paperwork. Go for it!
When I was about 25 yrs old my wife and I wanted a house in the country and the only way to afford it was to build it myself (33 yrs ago). Didn't know a whole lot about construction (my job was in computers) but started out anyway. When I came to something I did not know how to do, I would drive into town in the evening and go to a sub-division under construction. The crews had left for the day so would wander through the houses with notepad and make drawings and notes on how to do what I would be doing the next few days. There was always a house or two at the stage I needed them. Everything went find. Did the framing, wiring, plumbing, drywall, stairs etc myself. Some was not too good but was passable.
Now at 58, I am going to build next year our retirement house in country. Currently have very good plans from architect(friend) and will spend the winter making sure I understand everything. Making my own notes all over the place to save time while actually building. Truss joists, hangers, beams, etc are all different now so need to learn to use them. May even take a night school course in residential framing just to keep busy during the winter and to brush up on some skills. Will hire a couple of framers to help and sub out shingles but will do as much as possible myself including the electrical (already have done the service and wiring in the 20x50ft workshop), plumbing(already put in the septic tank and bed and run lines to workshop and made dump station for the trailer we stay in onsite for the summer months). Would like to get someone else to do drywall this time as I think I have enough drywall junk in my lungs for this lifetime. Even doing the radiant heating myself after doing tons of research in library and on net.
In the end, will be very pleased and proud for having done all this and am sure you will feel the same way. Great satisfaction and as wife works right along side of me, we are very close for working hand in hand together. Has made us great friends.
Dive right in and best of luck to your project.
If you have subs you can rely on to do quality work your other big issue is scheduling to insure you don'thave days or weeks where nothing gets done. It takes time, attention to detail, and a spiral notebook for taking notes about problems and/or issues whenever you're at the jobsite. You'll save enough money to put in some nice upgrades! Good Luck.
i did mined by myself and I am not even a carpenter, It really was not hard you just have to continue to think in advance so everything end up in the walls.
Spec House from Hell
Required reading.
I hear and I forget
I see and I remember.
I do and I understand. -- Chinese proverb
Roar! Nothing like the voice of experience shouting warning from the sidelines. But who listens when in the go. Half of good livin' is staying out of bad situations.
I'm a trim contractor. Came up through the ranks from helper, to carp, to frame contractor...anyway, the crew and I built my joint a couple of years ago. Subbed out grading, footings, masonry, plumbing, electrical, and painting. It took a year, 'cause I also had to work for a living, but it was a very nice year. It's mostly a matter of getting all your ducks in a row, and picking off each one as it comes up...most definitely worth it everytime my wife looks at me says "I love this place."
Good luck on ya... It's okay, I can fix it!
Bucky..I can see why your wife loves the house. It looks so warm and inviting. HAve any more pictures of the house and surounding property and location?
Do nice ( great) work!
Namaste
AndyYou don’t complete your inner work before you do your outer work. Nor do you say, "Well, the hell with the inner work: I’ll go do the outer work because it’s so important and pressing." That’s not conscious either. The conscious thing is the simultaneous doing of both. "Ram Dass"http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
Warm, you shoulda been here for the five days of no power 'cause of a little bit of ice last week...this was our back up!
And as far as surrounding property, it's a tangle mess of broken maples and oak limbs...at the moment...
It's amazing what a hot shower can do<G> It's okay, I can fix it!
billy....besides the problems? Sure is one hell of of a cool house.
Namaste
AndyYou don’t complete your inner work before you do your outer work. Nor do you say, "Well, the hell with the inner work: I’ll go do the outer work because it’s so important and pressing." That’s not conscious either. The conscious thing is the simultaneous doing of both. "Ram Dass"http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
That is the porch my wife wants...I love your house...love the property. I am going to build on 5 acres but there isnt one tree. thanks
No trees? You're ahead of the game already, I had about 20 dump truck loads of 'em hauled off in order to get a driveway building site. And you can always wizz in the yard at night<G>
And, you can't have too many porches, we've got a back one, too. Don't forget to put ceiling fans up, they make a 100° day feel like it's only 98°!
Y'all come by for a sit in a rocker and a sip on a cold one, ya heah? It's okay, I can fix it!
Love your porch!
Edited 12/13/2002 6:56:11 PM ET by JUNKHOUND
Your porch fretwork is great, and you sure have a comfortably creative home. I'm thinkin' let's make an up to date book of owner built houses. Let's get Andy to put me on the assignment, I'll check out all the places, your's first<G> It's okay, I can fix it!
Chances are you are ahead of the curve on building science. What most non-general contractors lack is relationships with subcontractors and supplier accounts. Both need to be strong enough to receive competitive bids. Say, you know a mason who you ran into on a job before and got along with real well, does that mean he will extend competitive pricing to you? Do you receive contractor pricing from suppliers? The discount is huge. In short, you can probably pull it off. The amount of money you save by working on the project yourself must exceed the money lost in non-competitive purchasing power.
Good luck
WAHD
Go for it!! - One of better long term investments ever.
Wife and I built our own, every nail, etc, even did own septic and dug well when in mid 20's. Lots of lumber right off the lot.
Attachments are random house shots, it's 5300 sq feet (the biggest trees are 150 ft tall) and cost less than $15,000 in mid 1970's dollars, including all appliances, carpet, even furniture. Door is all old pallets and raw glass found at garage sales, fireplace rock carried from rock pile down the road for $2/ton, etc.
took me eight years, kids got to big said im not moving 10 and 8 didnt want to ruin their lives so its rented and my wife and i are retiring in it when i take my apron off when im 88. now i just plant trees on it and say neat good feeling
Wiley
Sounds like you have some shiddy subs. Also sounds like the contracts weren't drawn out right. Its live and learn I spose. I've actually done work with my subs for years with NO contracts because I knew how honest and good they were. Its not a smart move for sure but as long as I'm ahead in the money dept I dont worry. I actually only do that with my electrician and mason, and when they use me they do the same. Plumbers to me are the absolute worst and in 28 years contracting/building I still cant find a good one. A thousand bucks for a bathroom direct replacement of three fixtures seems insane to me. Thats why I learned to do it myself. One hour for a sink, less then an hour for the bowl and maybe half a day for a tub if it aint cast iron and on the third (or second) floor. A thousand bucks is the very cheapest price I keep getting. Thats a thousand dollars a day. I hate plumbers!
Be a plumber
Namaste
Andy
You don’t complete your inner work before you do your outer work. Nor do you say, "Well, the hell with the inner work: I’ll go do the outer work because it’s so important and pressing." That’s not conscious either. The conscious thing is the simultaneous doing of both. "Ram Dass"
http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
A shear wall that is designed to be a shear wall by including sheathing is not a shear wall until it haaas the sheathing on it. If the contract language calls for him to build the shear walls, he has to include the sheathing unless the contract language specifically excludes it from his scope of work.
One way of controlling this is with payment scedule linked to inspections.
Excellence is its own reward!
"The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit.
The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are."
--Marcus Aurelius
wiley, where are you building ? i can't conceive of a framing sub NOT including the sheathing as part of his contract .. you must be in calif... the land of specialization
here , everything woiuld be tilt-up.. and the sheathing .. or most of it. would be on before the walls ever got vertical
stop feeding them lunch.. they're making more than you... they arn't your employees
Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
I have been meaning to search out this diary of a building project for a while>>>
http://forums.taunton.com/tp-breaktime/messages?msg=2809.16
You have to click on the bottom to read the whole thing, but it seems like everything you need to know is there.
you're right , matt.... that one was a classic...
damn, wiley... you'd better go read that...Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
Wiley
Framing is framing as in two by material. I HAVE heard this before. Its about detailed contracts. I may find someone to frame out my addition and I DONT want the ply done. Probably frame it myself as always but still..Maybe Framer and me might put in a few days and knock it out along with the Bear.........in my head if I did hire a framing crew I wouldnt have them sheath. That aint part of the "frame" IMO. You need as I said a detailed contract with each sub. As far as exclusions go...thats a "good" thing...more details. You may not catch everything....but try.
Have fun
Namaste
andy
One works on oneself, always. That's the greatest gift you can give to community because the more you extricate your mind from that which defines separateness, that defines community. The first thing is to become community. "Ram Dass"
http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
ok.. keep 'em comming.. i'll have to adjust for the left coast way of doing things..
here a framer would probably do a weather tight shell, including installing the house wrap ,doors & windows, but not the final roofing.. then a roofing sub for the roofing and a siding sub would take care of the trim & siding
Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
Edited 12/15/2002 5:57:42 PM ET by Mike Smith