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In the near future, we are thinking about working with a builder to build our own home (either on empty land or buy a house to demolish).
If you have done something like that, what is your experience? I mean I could talk to a builder and they will me their process but just want to hear the general public opinions first.
You will have a million decisions to make, which can be overwhelming if you don't have a clear idea of what you want. It will be very easy to go over budget on the little things. Be practical about how you would really use your home. Whatever time frame is laid out will never be met, because so many things can be delayed by that are out of the contractors control (weather, inspectors, backorders). Don't get sucked into current trends because they will be obsolete in ten years, get what you want and like.
I would build it all on paper down to the last nail tile and grout line before I pulled out any money to actually spend. If you’ve never done it......well.....get yourself a pillow and a padded room. Pillow to scream into padded room so yiu dint hurt your head bouncing it off the walls
We've built 3 houses: one was a tract home, one was semi-custom and the current is more custom. The tract home was built on time as was the semi-custom. The current house was mostly finished by the time we needed to move. There was a painter and a couple of other workers in and out for a few weeks after we moved in. The builder and his family was at the house the day before cleaning it until midnight.
The first was the easiest except for getting our first mortgage. We were fortunate that the builder financed the second one which meant we didn't have to deal with a construction loan. Before you even think about it, talk to a lender and find financing for construction.
My best advice: upgrade structural items first and then the more decorative finishes. Spend more on the things that are harder to change like windows. We opted for all brick on this house which meant my "dream" counters weren't in the budget at the time. We paid for truly custom cabinets over hardwood throughout the house. Stuff like that.
Ask the builder if you have to work with certain vendors for things like floors or lighting. Does the builder give you his discount? For example we picked out our lighting at the builder's cost (50% off retail) from a local lighting place. There was one exception to that. Same with our plumbing fixtures. Will the subcontractors install products you purchase yourself?
Find out the absolute deadlines for selections and beat them. Ask about what order you should make any selections. For example, know your appliance selections BEFORE you pick out cabinets. The cabinet company will need information on the appliances. Windows and cabinets also take a long time to arrive. Some exterior finishes can also take awhile (brick for example) to arrive. Windows were selected the week we closed on the lot. I had all of tile, flooring, cabinets and appliances picked out within the first couple of months of ground breaking.
Be prepared financially to go over budget. Be prepared for surprises and delays. Be prepared for sleepless nights and frustration. Work with a builder you can trust and one that is a good communicator. Understand that even brand new construction is not perfect. Be prepared to visit the site frequently. We lived 200 plus miles away when our current house was built. It was scary and we were very lucky that our builder is a fantastic, honest, person. The subcontractors would be lined up waiting to speak to me or my husband when we came down every week or two. My husband would never build again. I would.
Finally, research, read and research some more. Learn some of the language of the trades so you can ask questions and understand what they are asking you. It helped a lot when I knew the difference between soffits and fascia for example.
Be prepared financially to go over budget. Be prepared for surprises and delays. Be prepared for sleepless nights and frustration. Work with a builder you can trust and one that is a good communicator. Understand that even brand new construction is not perfect. Be prepared to visit the site frequently. We lived 200 plus miles away when our current house was built. It was scary and we were very lucky that our builder is a fantastic, honest, person. The subcontractors would be lined up waiting to speak to me or my husband when we came down every week or two. My husband would never build again. I would.
Finally, research, read and research some more. Learn some of the language of the trades so you can ask questions and understand what they are asking you. It helped a lot when I knew the difference between soffits and fascia for example.
This is a great advise. Something I want to ask more:
1. Did you work with one builder who manages all subcontractors? Or do you deal with individual subcontractors yourself? I know friends who did both scenarios and it came out great either way. The one who managed the subcontractors ended up saving tons of money although some work is "questionable" (e.g. tiles were not that great looking).
2. Did the builder send you the propose floor plan and whole architecture diagram of the house? Did they come up with it themselves or somewhat a pre-design and you just pick?
3. What are some of the key "surprises" that you can share?
4. Did you find out buying from the contractor's / builder's recommended place is cheaper? I found out even with their said 30% - 50% discount, sometime it's still very expensive.
our friends bought land and then decided to build .
what a horror story .
the ground kept seeping water in to the foundation area ... it took a lot more heavy equipment , more rental fees for heavy equipment , porta potties , etc as it took a long time for the builder to resolve the water seepage and the costs came to 90k more .
personally i would never buy my own land and do it this way ..i want the builder to be responsible for all aspects going right , not my pocket
Hire your own independent inspector to make sure things are done according to the plans and specs. This is especially important from the very beginning. Foundation work, waterproofing, backfill, framing are things that will be hidden later so they need to be done right.
Take LOTS of pictures of everything that won't be visible once the walls are closed up.
this is a great advise. Something i want to ask more:
1. Did you work with one builder who manages all subcontractors? Or do you deal with individual subcontractors yourself? I know friends who did both scenarios and it came out great either way. The one who managed the subcontractors ended up saving tons of money although some work is "questionable" (e.g. Tiles were not that great looking). with the semi-custom and more custom build, the builder managed all subcontractors. With the more custom build we were over 200 miles away. It was a new area for us and we didn't know about any subcontractors for the most part. He was flexible though in using different sources in a couple of instances. For example we wanted a different brand of windows than his usual supplier had. We wanted custom cabinets although his usual supplier was sort of semi-custom. He recommended a different, well known local shop. For the millwork and stairs he let us work with a supplier of our choice. It happened that one day i was visiting the site. An older amish man and his driver were waiting for me to arrive. He and his son owned a millwork company about an hour away. I was blown away at the quality and price. It was better than the big box stores and less expensive. The builder was happy to use him. We also used a different brick supplier because the local supplier could not get the brick we wanted. Again, it was fine.
2. Did the builder send you the propose floor plan and whole architecture diagram of the house? Did they come up with it themselves or somewhat a pre-design and you just pick? For the semi-custom, we went in with a general floor plan that met our needs with some changes. the draftsman on his staff drew it up for us with the changes and we approved it. For the current house we basically rebuilt the previous house with some additional changes and upgrades on the exterior and interior. They were relatively minor--changing the garage, expanding the size of a few rooms, changing to brick (which impacts how the foundation is constructed)etc. Again, the builder had a draftsman draw up the changes and we approved them. I consider it "custom" because we selected every single item in the house.
3. What are some of the key "surprises" that you can share? i'd have to think about this. It's been 18-19 years. The "bad" surprises are a distant memory except for 1 or 2 that are obvious when i look. The electrician didn't follow the copy of the electrical plan (or my walk through with her) for a couple of recessed lights. We found out a few years too late that the plumber didn't connect the water circulation thing we paid for. Explains why hot water takes a long time to reach our master bath. There were a few minor snafus, but i again i don't remember specifics. I do still recognize the "good" surprises regularly. Mainly that this house was well built while we not here daily. I still look at the skill they had in installing our trim and even custom building some stuff.
4. Did you find out buying from the contractor's / builder's recommended place is cheaper? I found out even with their said 30% - 50% discount, sometime it's still very expensive.we built this house 18/19 years ago so internet shopping was still in early stages a bit. I ordered a few light fixtures online at that time for because the lighting shop didn't carry the brand. Overall the builder prices we received were much better than big box stores and better quality. I did do some rough comparisons at that time. This really is dependent on the builder and the relationship with subcontractors and suppliers.
If you are going to try to manage it yourself - double your budget and triple your schedule.
Subcontractors do not care about you. You will not be a source for future business. Your recommendation does not mean squat to them. Developers or big contractors matter, you don't. They will disappear, work slowly, give you their worst workers, pop a couple of high school drop outs at your site and leave. . . Unless you can babysit them all the time and know what you are doing, you will have problems. Substandard work, safety issues, fights between trades, etc. Nd no, you cannot just sue them or hold payment. Holding payment = liens on your property. Can you afford an extra $50,000 for a lawyer with construction experience to help you resolve a $15,000 dispute? Besides they are going to get ahead of you on payment anyway. They are experienced at doing that and good at it. You are not.
If you will try it, do as the other poster said research everything and especially learn to schedule construction work. Get Microsoft project or learn to use p4. Practice. Maybe watch some projects and develop a schedule for them and see how what you scheduled compares to what they do. Scheduling is hard. You have to be smart and have some experience. Everything has to come together at exactly the right time or you will have a mess. Also things will happen and you will have to re-do your schedule from time to time. And remember time costs you a lot of money. You cannot expect your trade contractors to just sit around on the job waiting to have work they can proceed with. You cannot expect them to just "come back later" unless later means whever youa re available within the next 15 months.
If you mean actually build it yourself and if you have unlimited time - study up and go for it. It would be fun and you can actually learn to do a better job than a contractor who is in a rush and does not have time to adequately manage his employees anyway.
Oh and btw. If you use tradesmen, right now there is a massive shortage of construction workers. You may have to pay each worker an extra $100 per day bonus just to show up.
Finally keep in mind, building a custom home will cost you a whole lot more than the home will be worth when it is finished (possibly unless you DIY the entire thing). The point is to have a home built to your exact preferences if you cannot find such a home in the mass produced market. Eventually, your home will gain enough value to cover your costs. It can be a long wait though.
This is a great advise. Something I want to ask more:
1. Did you work with one builder who manages all subcontractors? Or do you deal with individual subcontractors yourself? I know friends who did both scenarios and it came out great either way. The one who managed the subcontractors ended up saving tons of money although some work is "questionable" (e.g. tiles were not that great looking).
From item 2. below you find contractors who are experienced, well recommended (ask suppliers for a handful of names. You will find that the same names will pop up from lumber yards, plumbing supply houses, etc.) and have done work in your design range. Go through your plans with them, assess their interest, and get rough proposals. From the rough proposals select a contractor and start to assemble a contract. It will have multiple sections, run around 100 pages, and include every single nail, screw, shingle, tile, board, window etc which will go into your house. It will deal with payments, change orders, legal, insurance, access, differences/appeals, and of course, a time schedule. Anything which has to do with building your house must be in the contract. If it is NOT in the contract, it isn't happening. Leave NOTHING to "I thought". Both sides will be MUCH happier when you do this, even though it takes a LOT of time.
2. Did the builder send you the propose floor plan and whole architecture diagram of the house? Did they come up with it themselves or somewhat a pre-design and you just pick?
You start with ideas. Articles, pictures, photographs....a whole heap of things which you "want" in your house. You take this to an architect and he starts to help you sort through it and develop a few sketches of likely houses. Each iteration refines the drawings until you are happy and he can start to prepare plans.
3. What are some of the key "surprises" that you can share?
There should be no surprises if you have a good contract. There can be delays due to labor, weather, materials unavailable, errors, etc., but your contract will address how you deal with each of these.
4. Did you find out buying from the contractor's / builder's recommended place is cheaper? I found out even with their said 30% - 50% discount, sometime it's still very expensive.
Some times yes, some times no. Every item in your house is in the contract, so price is already settled before you begin. If your builder likes to buy appliances from a specific supply house because they warehouse items until he is ready to install, for example, that might save you money in the long run even if the base price is slightly more. A caved in washing machine is not really cheaper if you have to buy a second one because it was damaged on site.
And one last consideration: what type of contract? Fixed price (NO, hardly ever!); Cost plus, plus; or cost plus a fixed fee for the builders costs and his overhead and profit.
Building a house is a BIG project. Unless you are experienced you don't want to be your own General Contractor.
I have only scratched the surface. I have built two houses, one was fair/decent (and I learned a LOT) and the other was outstanding (mostly because I learned a lot from the first one). Start asking questions...
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