You folks who’ve built homes for spec (and I’m not thinking subdivision developers), how long did it take you from ground break to turn key? Please mention what your role in the project was i.e. how much, if any, on site trades work did you yourself do? Is the area you built in urban, suburban, or rural (as in more than 60 miles from a city of 250,000 or more)?
Same question to you owner/builders?
I’ve done both and it took a helluva lot longer to build my own place. There are so many variables due to climate, size of the project, finances, labor availability, familiarity with local subcontractors, etc.
In my experience it generally takes a lot longer to get anything done in a rural area.
What’s it like for you?
You’re unique! Just like everyone else! Scott Adams
Replies
6mos+
3000sqft, two story 2 family. Four baths, 2 kitchens, 2 boilers and h2oheaters.
Eric
I Love A Hand That Meets My Own,
With A Hold That Causes Some Sensation.
Well, FWIW:
When 25 YO, 2 kids, 3 and 5 YO, working full time desk job days, DW and I built our first house. 100% own labor and design, absolutely nothing hired. No financing (could not obtain, everythng pay as you go, depleted small savings).
Bought property in May, 1971
Bought dozer (my first) in June.
Started clearing 800 ft of county right of way for road in, also in June, actually hauled the old D2 behind a 68 plymouth station wagon!
Roughly 6 months spent in clearing, preping 30 felled D. Fir logs to use for house.
Chrismas holiday period 1972, drew plans, permit in January. 5300 sq ft house, including the basement area.
Poured basement foundation June 1972. Major expense, 7 ft walls 8" thick, about 60 yards concrete at $14.28/yard then.
Dug/ built septic concurrently, also hand dug well to get water . Hand mixed about 20 yards ( w/3 cu ft mixer) for slip formed concrete chimeny and reinformced sesmic columns for send floor.
Framing done, roof on, etc about November 1973. Plumbing and electrical in by June 1974. Moved in June 1974. (No pnuematic nailer either)
Final inspection December 1974, about 1/3 still bare drywall.
All interior finished by mid 1975.
So, not counting clearing the road, etc, about 2 years total while working full time (with a few weeks out of town on business every few months) to move in including septic and well.
That was then, this is now, I'd guess twice to 3 times the time even with better tools now (lots of pnematics and bigger dozer, etc. ) but one heck of a lot less energy.
Still living in the same place.
The spec and custom homes I've built in the last 7 years have ranged from 2500 - 4000 sf. Suburban lots ranging from 1 to 5 acres. I tackle every trade except for excavation, plumbing, heating, electric, carpet and painting. I form and pour foundations and slabs, frame, roof, side, insulate, trim, hardwoods, tile, gypsum hanging (I have a guy skim plaster after I hang), and I do all sorts of odds and ends.
Working with my brother and grabbing a friend or two when needed I've averaged 5 months to 6 months. It's remarkable how much two guys with the right tools can do more efficently than subs can.
MG
In good weather , I can hire subs to do a spec turn key in 90days. 1500 sg ft. , more or less. If they all show up.
Tim Mooney
Owner / Builder....
Bought property in February 2003
Plans and design until late summer
Foundation dug and poured by others
Started framing Labor day with a crew of guys that I work with.
Stopped working 3/4 time this past summer to go full time on the house.
Didn't do foundation, digging, veneer stone, roofing (roofers are too cheap), siding (same story), drywall (I'm only one man), or hvac (I'm not qualified to make this house heat and cool properly).
Did everything else myself with minimal help from others.
Will be moving in before Jan 1, 2005 (so that means 11:59 on new years eve) for the most part finish.
3400 sq ft colonial, 4 bedroom with a big sitting rm attached to the master (so maybe 5 bed), 3.1 bath, walkout basement, 3 car garage, 1.6 acre wooded lot in a development on a cul de sac. Starting price in the development is somewhere near $325,000 for a ranch.
The house is finished in an arts and crafts fashion with about 4000 bd ft of beech through out the whole house. Lots of stained glass in places. All the upgraded amenities for a home in this arena. Not at all what my wife and I really wanted for ourselves (much too big) but recognized that the property and development really edicted the kind of house we would build (in case we ever had to sell).
So roughly 1 and 1/3 of a year building. Yep, I am totally out of my mind. Lost it some time in the middle of rough plumbing or maybe rough electrical. Not sure I would do this again. Definitely the hardest thing I have ever done.
Rob Kress
Surprised there have not been more responses to the original poster on this topic.
Where is Boss Hog, it's probably in the archives, but how long did the "spec house from hell" take? David T. posted once how long his house took, it's probably also in the archives.
As far as Robs's "hardest thing I have ever done", Rob has not added any bio info to guess his age. Would agree if he is over 55, if in his 20's, building a house should simply be considered an alternative to jogging or playing softball <G>.
Probably the 'hardest' in terms of minimal literature with specifics and time spent vs. cost to hire, drilling a well (including building all the equipment from essentially scratch) was probably the hardest, but then I was over 55 at the time.
My "spec house from hell" isn't really a good benchmark.
I tried to do too much work myself. Worked on it for 7 months and got it the stage where the drywall was primed. Thought it might sell that way, so the owner could finish it themselves.
Ended up getting it to turnkey stage after about 18 months. Shoulda done it a lot quicker and a lot differently.
My answer probably won't help you but it might help others.
All but one spec house I lived in including the one I'm in now....
I started out with not much money which was why we had to live in them.
Most all houses ended up being about 4000 sq ft .
My second spec house which is in my website was a total nightmare but I made real good money from it which brought me to the one I'm in now.
The second one in my site took me about four years which included doing outside work. Also don't forget that I lived in it so it wasnt ever standing there mepty and I wasnt paying a mortgage on two houses.
The one that I'm in now will probably take me about two years + from start to finish besides the few outside jobs I take on.
The money from this one will more than pay off and this one isnt a nightmare to live in as was my last one but you do whatcha gotta do if you love building.....specially for yourelf!
As Mike G said, its amazing how much can get done witha cpl of guys if you know what yer doing. I also do just about everything other than the electrical, plumbing and excavation work.
In this old house circa:1680 things are so messed up that its become quite different than anything I've ever done before..)which I consider a blessing)..not to mention all the years of neglect and patching and seriously messed up work by others that have lived here over the years.
All in all I do believe that spec houses if they are in good hoods can yeild you more money by far than working on other peoples houses....not to mention that its a whole lot more satisfying and less stressfull.
If you have backup money as I do from the last house I sold...and a few inbetween gigs and a wife that works....to me....theres no other route to go!!
Be well
andy
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I honor the place in you of love, of light, of truth, of peace.
I honor the place within you where if you are in that place in you
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Edited 11/21/2004 10:40 am ET by Andy Clifford(Andybuildz)
Owner/builder.
Started September 2003 by hiring local contractor to put in driveway (400 ft), and drilled well (no pump, just borehole and casing). Spent all winter 2003-2004 clearing land (about 1.5 acres cleared) and sawing about 14,000 board feet of pine and hardwoods for timber frame, flooring and cabinets, three man crew with manual sawmill.
Spring this year, we had cellar hole dug and poured footings. Over the course of the summer, put up ICF blocks and poured walls, put pump in well, and put underground electric service in. Aside from some other minor earthwork and some more tree clearing, that's it. We had expected to be in the house in time for this year's Thanksgiving dinner. At the moment, we're reluctant to say that we will be in by next summer, if not in time for the kids to go back to school in September 2005.
It's obviously taken much longer than we expected. What we have done ourselves so far has been clearing, sawing, some of the excavation (with rented/borrowed machines), installing the ICF forms, and acting as general laborers for the electrical and concrete guys we did hire.
I expect that the timber frame crew will start sometime in January, putting the deck on and starting the frame joinery. I still have to place the under-slab plumbing, insulation, radiant tubing and concrete for the basement floor slab, and install the concrete slab for an outdoor wood boiler. Hopefully within the next three weeks, we'll have an "enclosed" basement. Septic system will go in in the spring, I had expected to put that in this past summer.
We're not on budget either.
Frenchy ?
hello..........
carpenter in transition