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Wife and I are looking at a "kit" house a barn style that can be built by somewhat inexperienced " you have to at least know how to use a hammer screwdriver and tape measure" We figure materials will be less than 1/2 cost of what it would cost to contract it out, we will have to pay for septic, well, electrical hookup at the meter to panel and MAYBE some othe but otherwise do all the construction ourselves and feel two months to dry in and make "liveable" but not finished should do, allowing ourselves to "finish" the inside about 1 to 2 years. Has anyone else done this, bty we are 56 and 55 yrs old and in very good health and shape.
Assuming that you have bought the land and confirmed with the Authority Having Jurisdiction that it will meet zoning and building codes, it may be a viable prospect. You might want to contract out plumbing and electrical.
We began playing with house designs about 10-years before my retirement. In the research that we were able to do, it appeared that a pre-engineered steel warehouse makes the lowest prices building in a square-foot basis [much cheaper than wood-stick or modular construction].
Focusing on a 60ft by 40ft building with mostly open space inside, and movable partitions to separate bedrooms.
I hired the site-work and foundation done. And I hired one guy with a crane to help me to stand-up the four main arches, it took us 3 hours with the crane, for the crane operator and I to stand up the arches.
Otherwise I have done it all by myself. I sprayed urethane foam on the interior walls and ceiling 2 inches thick, and then install 9 inches of fiberglass batting and finally light wood-grain paneling with dark stained trim. The exposed steel girders are painted flat black. Shelving, cabinets, and counter tops are all wood grain with black iron hardware.
Our central lighting is pressurized oil lanterns. We have also found LED lighting that is in the form of old style railroad lanterns. We are installing those on the walls between each of the windows. These lights use 3Vdc, so our future shift to off-grid should be easier.
At one end of our house we have a 8ft wide by 40-foot long lap-pool.
In the center we have a sunken living room. 12ft by 12ft with steps going down in each corner. 8-ft couch seats on four sides facing inward. In the center a propane outlet for an open hearth fire pit. The floor is radiant heated as are the seats and backs of the seating with PEX tubing.
All of our floors have radiant heat installed.
We live in a forest. We went with large panoramic windows on three sides of our home. In total we have eleven 6 1/2ft wide bay windows alternating with a dozen 3ft opening windows on three sides of our home, to give us a wide view of the surrounding forest and river.
We heat with a woodstove that also heats the water for the radiant floor system.
We plan to build a wrap-around porch/deck and attached garage. Then to install solar panels on the garage roof to provide our home with off-grid power.
Wife and I are looking at a "kit" house a barn style that can be built by somewhat inexperienced " you have to at least know how to use a hammer screwdriver and tape measure" We figure materials will be less than 1/2 cost of what it would cost to contract it out, we will have to pay for septic, well, electrical hookup at the meter to panel and MAYBE some othe but otherwise do all the construction ourselves and feel two months to dry in and make "liveable" but not finished should do, allowing ourselves to "finish" the inside about 1 to 2 years. Has anyone else done this, bty we are 56 and 55 yrs old and in very good health and shape.
I build my own about 10 yrs ago, or at least I was the General Contractor. I did all of the electrical, some plumbing, all of the insulation, vapor barriers etc.
Depending on where you are, get all of the requirements etc dead on for the septic. Around here it doesn't matter what you can do yourself, dozens of truckloads of sand are needed. THAT was almost as costly as the actual framing, buttoning up of the house!
We began playing with house designs about 10-years before my retirement. In the research that we were able to do, it appeared that a pre-engineered steel warehouse makes the lowest prices building in a square-foot basis [much cheaper than wood-stick or modular construction].
Focusing on a 60ft by 40ft building with mostly open space inside, and movable partitions to separate bedrooms.
I hired the site-work and foundation done. And I hired one guy with a crane to help me to stand-up the four main arches, it took us 3 hours with the crane, for the crane operator and I to stand up the arches.
Otherwise I have done it all by myself. I sprayed urethane foam on the interior walls and ceiling 2 inches thick, and then install 9 inches of fiberglass batting and finally light wood-grain paneling with dark stained trim. The exposed steel girders are painted flat black. Shelving, cabinets, and counter tops are all wood grain with black iron hardware.
Our central lighting is pressurized oil lanterns. We have also found LED lighting that is in the form of old style railroad lanterns. We are installing those on the walls between each of the windows. These lights use 3Vdc, so our future shift to off-grid should be easier.
At one end of our house we have a 8ft wide by 40-foot long lap-pool.
In the center we have a sunken living room. 12ft by 12ft with steps going down in each corner. 8-ft couch seats on four sides facing inward. In the center a propane outlet for an open hearth fire pit. The floor is radiant heated as are the seats and backs of the seating with PEX tubing.
All of our floors have radiant heat installed.
We live in a forest. We went with large panoramic windows on three sides of our home. In total we have eleven 6 1/2ft wide bay windows alternating with a dozen 3ft opening windows on three sides of our home, to give us a wide view of the surrounding forest and river.
We heat with a woodstove that also heats the water for the radiant floor system.
We plan to build a wrap-around porch/deck and attached garage. Then to install solar panels on the garage roof to provide our home with off-grid power.
Wow. That sounds really nice. Would you happen to have any pics of the build process that you went through?
ForestBeekeeper, your house sounds beautiful! Building a house to suit it's environment is always the best way to build them. Unionjack3902, perhaps instead of a kit home you could design a house which would suit you perfectly? Sarah Susanka wrote a book called "The Not So Big House" which is worth a read before building anything and there is a book called "Basic Home Building" by Ortho Press which is a brilliant book to read before building your own house. I've built three house from scratch using that book. Currently I am in the middle of a remodel and building new is much, much easier. It will be a great project, go for it! Just remember, you don't have to do everything all at once. Just one step at a time and keep stepping and eventually it will all be done.
That's my dream, except with a VERY small house (89 sf)--a variation of the Tumbleweed Epu: Epu
I'm in college now, though, and probably would never be able to afford this for another 10+ years, and that's assuming that my dream that I've had since I was 12 will still be my dream then. I'd most likely contract most of the work out, however, esp. in these three arenas that come to mind immediately: electrical, plumbing, propane installation. That said, we'll see what happens way down the road...If nothing else, I'll at least help design it, as I've been working on that for years.
ForestBeekeeper, your house sounds beautiful! Building a house to suit it's environment is always the best way to build them. Unionjack3902, perhaps instead of a kit home you could design a house which would suit you perfectly? Sarah Susanka wrote a book called "The Not So Big House" which is worth a read before building anything and there is a book called "Basic Home Building" by Ortho Press which is a brilliant book to read before building your own house. I've built three house from scratch using that book. Currently I am in the middle of a remodel and building new is much, much easier. It will be a great project, go for it! Just remember, you don't have to do everything all at once. Just one step at a time and keep stepping and eventually it will all be done.
Oh Lord, we give ouselves two to three years to "finish" the inside.As my grandfather said, "keep at it, a steady blow killed the devil". It is totally open plan on 1st floor with partitions for 2 br and 1 ba on second. The land is currently VERY overgrown pasture on a hilltop with plentiful topsoil sufficient for septic without the need for a raised field, that is backed up by some of the neighbors along with well depth of no more than 200 ft for plentiful water. We call it a kit home because it is a post and beam style without the need for the structural 2x4's 2x6's etc. The hilltop location has an extensive view on all sides with solar as well as windmill location, and we plan main heat of anthracite coal with elec back-up.
I'm 27 and we built our house last year in Baltimore City. We took an old building that was in really poor shape and renovated it from top to bottom. We were able to expose the original brick used to construct the walls and reused the original wood 3/4" wood planks that was used as a subfloor as our flooring. All of the electrical and plumbing are modern to make the house safe and the rest is all old world charm. It was a fun project but a lot of work.
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