Buying vs. building

[angelkitten]

Since moving to Raleugh less than a year ago I know if/have spoken to 5 people who have built/are building their dream homes. That's quite a high percentage of the oeolebive spoken to lol. Admittedly some were in the $1-2 million range but there were cheaper too. It can be done and is done in Raleigh. I've been in 2 of the houses and they were amazing.

[RoaminRebel]

My information on this subject is quite dated (20+ or so), but building your own home is an ordeal. Keep in mind I did this on what was then rural land long before the housing bubble and Great Triangle Migration, so things have changed drastically I'm sure.

-The General Contractors (a generally lazy and unreliable lot to begin with) have numerous other lucrative deals going on as MJaquish alluded to. So your project will be competing with those.

-My first General Contractor quit on me mid project (they also initially refused to get insurance). I was not too disappointed to see him gone, especially since they had used my building materials to make deer stands in the woods behind the site. Numerous times during surprise visits to the site I found workers sitting around drinking Mountain Dew and running up the clock.

-The second one I hired was from NYC and was actually quite a bit more reliable and efficient. He did complain about the reliability of the sub contractors... I will say we went above and beyond in terms of build quality and was quite satisfied with it.

As fate would have it, a few years later work took me up North and out West so I hardly spend any time there but its hard to believe how things have grown up around it. Subdivisions everywhere.

Be sure this is really something you're committed to doing. It was much easier back when I did it, and it was still pretty hard.

[underPSI]

If you can afford it build your own. The only perfect home is the one you build.

[rfb]

I built my home in 2002. Mine was in a neighborhood with a set of builders, so I was restricted to that set. But I liked the builders, and liked the one I ended up using. We did use an architect for the home, selected the brick to be used, tile, flooring, interior fixtures, lighting and cabling options, HVACs, insulation upgrades, and so on. It can be time consuming, but for the most part it wasn't stressful. The key is to find a builder you like and trust.

[laura_NC_bound]

We are in the process of building right now. From afar. Without ever living in the area before. So some might think our decisions are foolhardy, but so far we have been satisfied with our decisions.

How did we get to this place? We did lots of research, decided what was important to us and went from there.

For us, we already live in suburbia - so Cary didn't have a draw for us. We preferred more rural land with some trees. But we wanted a sense of community. We focused in on more outlying areas in a community with a pool/structure for meeting people since we are moving from afar. I also wanted a school system that had the pluses of lower class sizes/smaller schools, predictability and a decent reputation. Initially, we looked at Wake Forest/Rolesville. We also looked at Chatham county. Chatham county won. Found the development that we liked - and part of what we liked was the ability to purchase the land and then also pick our builder. Look at land listings in your chosen area and see what the limits are in regards to builders. Land cost will be a major factor in the overall cost of the home as it can fluctuate greatly depending on where you look.

Then we looked at what builders were already in the area. Looked at their plans, their styles, their prices. When you see a new construction house for sale, you can look at on county websites to see how much the land cost. Then you really know the cost of the build. Then we made contact with the builder of our choice based upon those items. We found the communication to be great. They were willing to go out and look at the land we were considering and offer their advice. Another land issue for price of the total build was if a crawl space vs basement would be required. Having their eyes on the land choice was key in making choices within our budget.

It is quite easy to lock up a land choice with an offer with a due diligence period that NC has in their contracts. While were in the due diligence period, we worked with our builder on the home plan, pricing, HOA requirements and a trip down to confirm that we were happy with our choice in land/community. Our builder happened to be a design/build so we started with the plan they already had, and modified it to fit on the lot well and make changes to our taste.

We also worked to get financing in place and asked around about the people we were working with. And yes, they did have a good reputation. All of this wouldn't have been possible without the ability to research and communicate so much on the internet.

We are in the same price range as you so if you want more specifics, I'd be happy to communicate via direct message. Our house is halfway done and we'll be moving there in 3 months.

One place to check out may be: http://www.trianglebuildersguild.com...ustom-builder/
even though our builder isn't a member here - there's lots of inspiration for plans and finishes. You can see what areas are being developed by local builders.

So yes, it can be a lot of work - time researching, communicating, etc. If you find the right people, it can go smoothly. In my opinion, local people with a good reputation are motivated to do a good job and keep their reputation. Take time to interview and just because you make contact, it doesn't mean that they are the right fit for you - and you'll know pretty quickly if this is someone you can work with. Tract builders are about volume - not the customer as much. By the time I had customized a house with a tract builder, it would have cost the same or more than what we are spending. I also look at it as we could have bought a resale house, but we eventually would have put as much time and possibly more money into making it into what we wanted. We might have found a already built new construction that was close.

Again, do your research. Weigh your options. Decide what is most important to you.