Custom Home.....without a builder????

[SCREAMINREELS]

We built our own in cenerville but did majority of work...we subbed electic plumbing and roof. My dad grew up in the business though. He also knew his subs

[Sticks&Strings]

I'm a builder so you likely don't want my opinion.

If you are the type of person who is going to be there everyday and wants to be involved, use a consultant. It will be better for you and save a builder a lot of frustration. If you aren't and have a busy job that you spend your energy at, then hire a builder.

[ColinR]

sounds like we found the same folks!!!

What consultant did you use?

I'm a builder so you likely don't want my opinion.

If you are the type of person who is going to be there everyday and wants to be involved, use a consultant. It will be better for you and save a builder a lot of frustration. If you aren't and have a busy job that you spend your energy at, then hire a builder.

I'm the type I would drive a builder crazy cuz I'm gonna be there everyday and will want and expect the builder to know what is going on. Not me telling him when to call the next trade. Do you have a consultant you would recommend?

[wags]

I did my own general contracting. I did all this while finishing my masters, and being a teacher/coach. I would do it again in a heart beat. At first I got bids from contractors. It did not take me long to realize that for what I wanted, something was going to have to give. I built a house that was 600 sq. ft. more and $30,000 less than the lowest bid I had from a contractor.

I have been in my house a few weeks short of three years. I think it turned out okay...

[Wayne Meuir]

I finished my house in 2005. Did not hire a GC. Took me 10 months to complete. House is 3089 sq. ft. of AC space with 4898 sq. ft. under the roof counting the breezeway and detached oversized garage. I saved about $40K over my lowest bid from a GC BUT the bigger issue was that I upgraded almost everything that was on the bids from the GC's. Also, when I decided to change something, I just changed it, I did not have to ask anyone or ask what the upcharge would be, I just did it. Would I do it again? Nope, not at my age, but if I was younger I would do it in a heart beat.
It is the most nerve racking thing I have ever done and I was already retired and on the job 12 hours a day 6 and mostly 7 days a week. I did as much as I could myself and hired subs for all the heavy stuff.

[Sticks&Strings]

What consultant did you use?




I'm the type I would drive a builder crazy cuz I'm gonna be there everyday and will want and expect the builder to know what is going on. Not me telling him when to call the next trade. Do you have a consultant you would recommend?

Ha ha! I love this response. I have a customer right now that tells me things like that. Problem is, I have usually already called them, or there is something else that needs to be done prior to the next person coming out. They called me the other day to tell me about a bunch of things, and 98% I already knew about. They are good friends of mine...real good so I know that is part of it.

Don't take me saying it humors me personal. I laugh because its just the nature of the business with Custom homes.

[b.latiolais]

Well, we are about finished with our house. We should move in by the end of the month and I can tell you that I have a great builder. One thing to consider is how the job is bid. Our builder did our house for "cost" plus his fixed fee. So in other words, he is only making what we agreed upon at the beginning of the job and the rest is all at his cost. I am sure that he is getting better prices from these subs than i could ever get so I figured it was a wash. What I paid him for his fee is probably how much extra i would have paid if i would have contracted everyone out and bought all the materials myself. Instead I paid him the fee and didn't have to do a thing.

Also, he saved us quite a bit on our interam financing. It is only taking him 5 months to complete our house and no telling how long it would have taken me to do it myself. He didn't make his first "draw" until we were 50% complete. That was a big plus as well.

[Snakelover]

If you are the type of person who is going to be there everyday and wants to be involved, use a consultant. It will be better for you and save a builder a lot of frustration.

My dad was a wallcovering installer for years. Sometimes someone would come up and watch him and invariably ask, "How much do you charge to hang wallpaper?" His standard answer, "$12 per roll, $14 if you watch and $16 if you help." It was usually good for a laugh.

[BrianL]

Pros: You will save money, you will have a better feel of what is going on with construction, it is kinda fun.

Cons: Hard to find/know the best subs(but can be done with a little leg work), it will take longer for you to build because it is hard to know how to schedule subs, sometimes hard to know what is right or not right w/o building experience, there is a lot of time involved.

We lived on site, and it is amazing at the amount if decisions I made while I was hanging around before going to work every morning. I felt like I needed to be there more than I was.

[Sticks&Strings]

Well, we are about finished with our house. We should move in by the end of the month and I can tell you that I have a great builder. One thing to consider is how the job is bid. Our builder did our house for "cost" plus his fixed fee. So in other words, he is only making what we agreed upon at the beginning of the job and the rest is all at his cost. I am sure that he is getting better prices from these subs than i could ever get so I figured it was a wash. What I paid him for his fee is probably how much extra i would have paid if i would have contracted everyone out and bought all the materials myself. Instead I paid him the fee and didn't have to do a thing.

Also, he saved us quite a bit on our interam financing. It is only taking him 5 months to complete our house and no telling how long it would have taken me to do it myself. He didn't make his first "draw" until we were 50% complete. That was a big plus as well.

This is almost exactly how I do mine. Cost plus a fixed fee, and interest starts adding up quick

[Z7_Matt]

My father in law wants me to be the general contractor on his house. I have a friend that builds homes in the Conroe area that's willing to mentor me. Also JohnS has been in the construction side of things for years and is willing to help me. I think it will be a great experience.

[Cabela]

I have searched thru some old threads on home building and see that some of you have GC’d your own custom homes. When we build the house we are in now we used a custom builder but half the time I was calling him to tell him to get a hold of the next sub the previous sub is about done. Now granted they know who to use and who not too but short of that I felt like all he did was schedule work, and drive by occasionally to see how things were going. I do a lot of PM at work and am a great scheduler. But that is for pipeline work not home building, but I do have some buddies that used to be in home building that I could reference questions too. My question is how do you get a loan without a builder?? NO paying cash is NOT an option. And if I was to go this route on our next home do you have any advice???

Sounds like the scheduling won't be an issue. If it is ask your buddies and it won't be a problem. Most of it is common sense. If one of your buddies owns the company have them be the builder of record with the bank and you should be fine. I would say if he agrees to do that you would need to handle all paperwork and paying for material and labor. Unless you pay him to do that part for you.

Had a buddy do mine for me and I handled everything all he had to do was show at the bank and sign the papers.

He got a nice tip for his help. If you go this route remember his company is on the line as well. There are plenty of idiot subs out there.

Good luck!!!

[Mayhem]

we are looking in to building a house soon and i really am thinking about GCing it myself.