I plan to build my own home. I want to act as the general contractor, and to do a significant amount of the work myself. I have very limited experience, and consider myself a novice.
I am investigating home design/build seminars and schools to prepare me for this endeavor. So far I have identified four: Heartwood School, Shelter Institute, Yestermorrow, and Southface Homebuilding School. Yestermorrow, located in Vermont, offers a two week course for approximately $1600. Heartwood, located in Massachusetts, offers a two week course for $1050. Shelter Institute, also in Massachusetts, offers a two or three week course for $1000-$1200. Finally, Southface Energy Institute sponsors the nine day Southface Homebuilding School for $495.00. All of these courses offer a mixture of classroom and hands-on instruction.
I have no way to judge the differences among, or merits of, these courses. I would appreciate any opinions that you may have about these specific courses or about home design/build classes, in general. I would also appreciate any recommendations of other courses I should consider, particularly closer to my home in Minnesota.
Thanks for taking the time to read and respond to my posting.
rms
Replies
Why do you want to build your own house? Especially since you classify yourself as a novice, do you expect the courses will teach all you need to allow you to do a quality job? Do you work? How much time will you have available to do the building? Will you have unlimited free hours available during the day to oversee each of the subs, visit the suppliers, handle all the deliveries?
It can work out and it can be psychologically rewarding, but it's damn hard, and you don't wanna be caught unaware or unprepared. Don't underestimate the complexity of the building or the contracting.
Hi Rick,
In addition to a concentrated training program, as far as getting experience, you could try working with a local affiliate of Habitat for Humanity. Prepare with books and videos (Taunton Press has some very good ones), and get more hands-on experience from Habitat. And don't just take the experience and run. Give something back (either volunteer time once you're proficient, or money).
With Habitat, you'd probably have a chance to do, or at least be around, most of the different trades (depending on what the affiliate does--most sub out the mechanicals).
Anyway, working with Habitat would also give you a chance to meet GCs and subcontractors that you'll need for your place, and maybe pick their brains, within limits. I'm always happy to answer a question or two on electrical from any volunteer on site. But I've had people expect me to teach them how to wire a house during our lunch break.
Now a question and some suggestions--
Given that you profess to a novice, what makes you want to build a house yourself? Thinking you'll save a lot of money?
Unless your construction money is free, you probably won't save much compared to paying a GC to manage the project and subs to perform the construction. This is because, among other things, you will make LOTS of mistakes (which cost you money in materials, and time), you will pay more for materials than an established GC, you will be at the bottom of the subcontractors' priority lists (which will cost you time), and you will likely get the least qualified subs (which will cost you time and materials in correcting mistakes).
In addition to the higher direct costs, if you're borrowing to build, there is the time value of that money. You'll be paying interest on the loan as you learn to build, rather than paying a GC to build for you.
Then there's the issue of whether you could even get a contruction loan w/o having a licensed or at least experienced GC on board.
The point about qualified subs is not trivial. I've been involved in setting right some really messed up work done by unqualified people acting as subs. Like, the one where Billy-Bob's cousin was an electrician up at the cement plant, he wired Billy's house for cheap, as a side job; except he's a maintenance man, not an electrician, and anyway he doesn't know squat about residential wiring. Billy didn't know enough to know it wasn't right, the sheetrock is already up, and the wiring is FUBAR. That gets expensive to fix.
If saving money isn't your motive, you have on hand all the money you'll need, and you just want the satisfaction of building with your own two hands, hey, go for it. You better have some time on your hands, too. If you're a one-man band, plan for it to be a full time job for about a year (assuming it's a reasonably sized, single story house). If you have a full-time day job, that's going to be present challenges with your role as owner-builder, unless there's a lot of time flexibility in your job. Being there for materials deliveries, inspections, coordinating with subs--all have to happen on weekdays.
If you do indeed do most of the work yourself, have a contingency plan for when you're sick or injured. Even experienced builders occassionally get injured. You'll need help along the way, and unless it's your brothe-in-law, be prepared to become an employer or accept the responsibility and legal liability if you hire help under the table and they get hurt.
If you've considered these issues already, you're ahead of the game.
Good luck, and work safe.
Cliff
Rick,
If you really want to do it, and want to simplify many aspects of building, consider using an intermediary such as Homeworx Partners or President Homes, both here in Minnesota.
They will be there as advisors, assist with selecting a plan and getting it drawn, set you up with a materials package, provide you with a list of recommended subs that work on their customers' homes, etc.
I know that Homeworx Partners offers Saturday seminars on their program, and I assume President Homes does the same.
Best of Luck!
Bob
Required reading:
Spec House from Hell
Why do irons have a setting for permenant press?
Ron
So whatever happened to that house?
Your pal andy"My life is my practice"
The house is still for sale, but we have a renter in it. Costs us $1,400 a month, but only rents for $600.
We really need more space than what we have in the house we live in now. So I think we're gonna kick the renter out this summer and move into it if it doesn't sell. We'll probably keep the house we live in and rent it out.There's something sexy about a girl being able to really get down and dirty [Brooke Burke]
Ronny
WOW....that truly is a spec house from hell.
Geezzzzz, now I'm really starting to feel bad for ya bro........ever hear of matches??? Kidding kidding!!!!!!
Be torched
andy"My life is my practice"
"ever hear of matches??? "
You don't suppose I've gone this far without that idea crossing my mind a time or 2, do you? (-:A truth that's told with bad intent beats all the lies you can invent. [William Blake]
Rick........
Don't you dare duck out of here. We wanna know what's going on; I mean the blow by blow, the real deal.
Keep us up to date!
Eric
ps Go to work, keep your day job and hire a trusted, qualified, competent GC to build your dream!
Good luck.
Back to the posters original question.......does anybody have any experience with any of these schools. Some time back the company I work for talked about sending someone to one of those schools. Are they directed more towards homeowners, and/or could builders/carpenters get their money's worth out of it?
m2akita
I have a little to offer. First, the cost of the course is such an insignificant factor in the face of building a home that I'd totally ignore it in your choice of schools. Getting good training is so much more important.
The schools will have various personalities, and you should consider that when making a choice. I took a woodworking class at Yestermorrow some years ago. The class was excellent. The personality of the school was one of, shall we say, out of the mainstream thought, get in touch with your inner self, type of place. It would not have been my style for a home design school, but it is for many other folks. Scrutenize the literature and the syllabus to see what differentiates each school.
I really caution you against being your own GC. You are really likely to be out of your element, and a home is too important to be put at risk. A competent contractor, who is willing to work with you collaboratively, is worth his weight in gold. The design can still be yours. Not all contractors who are good builders are also easy to work with nor can accept you as having valid opinions (even though it's your house), so you have to pick carefully.
Might I suggest instead of trying to take on so much when you know so little, you either A. Hire a pro GC and ask them to hire you on as a 'helper' that way you can learn along the way, participate, and watch the progress. Or B. pick a project or two out of the many and tell the GC you will be resposible for those and let them do the rest of it.
Not trying to discurage you but if you knew half of what these guys know, you wouldnt even consider it. Remember Murphys Law and realize that there are litteraly thousands of thing that can go wrong building a home.
Edited 3/23/2004 11:01 pm ET by reinvent
Rick - I admire your courage and you've shown some smarts coming to this website, so may I ask you a couple of questions?
- have you chosen your building site (lot, acreage)? Do you own it already?
- have you figured out what style of house you're attracted to and narrowed down your houseplans - at least stylistically?
- do you know how much house you wish/need to build - square footage-wise? or main room-wise (i.e. 2-bedrm, 1 ba versus 3-bedroom, 2.5 ba and 3-car garage?)?
- do you have financing available for your construction or will you be working a regular job and doing this endeavor on nites & weekends (or attempting to?) in order to self-finance materials as you go?
- have you any experience in any of the trades, i.e. framing? finish carpentry? painting? masonry/foundation work? electrical? plumbing? tile setting? and if not, would you consider taking time to work in one or more of those trades first (you'd learn the lingo, the tools, make contacts, learn who's good suppliers, have a basis for bartering services later, etc.)?
- do you have an educational background that will make any of the above a little easier for you to self-teach? for e.g. an engineering student can pick up the tenets underlying electrical plans and wiring codes readily although wiring new construction is easier than most would lead you to believe, (and sometimes easier than getting the local municipal office to let you pull the elec permit to wire your own home...)
- will you have any significant person who will be doing this project with you? (whether relative or fiancee or whatever?)
Having built my own first home decades ago, with my very experienced framer-hubby (now "ex"), when I was in my 20s and after my having spent a mere summer framing/sheathing/roofing to get my 'feet wet' first, I can share with you a lot of the pitfalls, prejudices (from bankers, suppliers/vendors, your local building inspectors, subcontractors, etc.), which you will likely encounter as a novice setting out to do this on your own. And yes, you can count on it taking a year+ - EASY - especially if you have to work another job while taking on this endeavor. But there is little that can be more satisfying or rewarding, should you chose to proceed. But on your first house, don't expect the quantity of sweat equity to be anywhere near what your initial forecasts would compute. Forces will conspire to make it 50% or less of your initial forecast, by the time you're said and done, so monetary gain won't likely be a legitimate reason for engaging in this endeavor.
Try checking at one of your local Technical colleges, they often have courses on GC'ing your own house.
As to whether you should do it. I am doing my house, and in fact am doing most of the work myself. So far the only outside sub's I have used are my Timberframer who cut and installed the frame and sip panels, and the heating contractor who put in the duct work for the forced air component of my heating system. I had that done because I had no desire to do it, and I had a tight deadline in order to get heat up before winter.
One consideration, I work for myself and out of my house, where I was living was on the same lot as where I was building so I am able to be there when I need to. I have some previous building experience building garages, I have worked for both electrical and plumbing contracters at one point in my life. And I have no deadline, I am not borrowing money to do this, I have a house to live in while I work on the new one, and I can spend years finishing it as time and finances allow.
If you don't have the same options you may want to do what a friend of mine did. he hired a GC as a consultant, paid him a % of the cost and the GC helped him with specifications, contacts for sub's and inspections of work to ensure it was done correctly. he was responsible for everything else.
Robert
ONLY THING I WILL SAY AS A PROJECT MANAGER IS LISTEN TO WHAT EVERYONE IS SAYING !! KNOWING HOW TO BUILD IT IS ONE PART OF THE PROCESS SPEND YOUR TIME ON THE SPECS OR DETAILS
The majority of my work is as a subcontractor. The GC's that I sub to use the same subs over and over again. Once we find a good GC we get loyal and vice-versa. I know the GC's that I work for will pay me by a certain date and problems will be quickly solved by experienced superintendants. If you were to call me to bid a portion of your project, knowing what I know from your first post, I would politely decline, unless I was hungry and then I would add about 25% to the price. There is nothing more aggravating than having time scheduled to do a project and then the project is not ready (except being ready for a sub and the sub not being ready).
I've got 15-20 projects on the horizon right now. Some are 3-4 weeks away, but the GC's have all checked in with me this week, letting me know the trim package didn't arrive on time and it'll be at least another week, etc., but the point is: It takes an incredible amount of time and patience to schedule and coordinate a house. I'm not trying to talk you out of it, but trying to let you know how you're going to look from the other side.
Back to your original question: No matter which school you choose, you're not going to learn what you need to know in two weeks. Keep your tuition money and what you could earn in that two weeks and find a good GC. Offer to clean the site, prime, tote, etc. If you have a particular skill (trim carpentry for instance) do that portion of the job yourself.
Good luck with your project and keep us posted.
I don't know about the courses you mentioned, but I taught residential construction at the Technical College level, part-time for a year. The program was set up so that each phase of building had 3 teaching components. 1. Theory in the classroom. 2. Practice in the shop. 3. Hands on working on a real "somebody is going to buy this when we are done" spec house. The course was a year long, full-time, (7 hrs per day).
I don't see a two week course as hardly scratching the surface of what you will need to know, if you are going to pound the nails yourself.
I built my house, (wife stayed out of it) from the Fall of 2000, through December of 2001. Having been in the trades since 1984, and having been a self-employed remodeling contractor since 1991,made it much easier than you will have it as a novice. And yet every week something new came up, or something else went wrong, and provided a "new and exciting challenge".
When we closed the construction loan, the title company said we were the first people they had dealt with who planned on actually pounding the nails themselves, but that 15% of their business was with owner contracted houses. If you don't have a lot of equity,(20%) either in the lot, land, or your current home, this discussion is probably academic because I don't think any bank will touch you. Sorry to disappoint if that is the case.
I have also been involved with some owner contracted homes as a sub. My prices are not competitive with what new home subs can work for, the owners wanted me specifically to do the work. I think part of that is because as a remodeler, I have to constantly work around homeowners, so I made them more comfortable.