be your own general contractor

[50flathead]

fortunately i don't have to go to the bank this time...I am worried about having to run home every other day though!

I've done plenty of work using myself as my own general contractor. It's a great way to save a few bucks but you're in for some work. In my experience, everything that has ever been screwed up was because of my absence. Nothing, and I mean nothing will ever be done under my responsibility without my presence.

 

[logical]

I was my own GC on my house...2700 sq ft living space ranch with full walkout basement and 1100+ sq ft attached garage. I manage projects for a living but have no construction experience. The permit process is tough but varies by state, county, city. The best approach is to work the process backwards....I asked the township what I needed to get a building permit and that gave me the list of 15 other permits, plans, surveys, approvals needed (erosion permit, well permit, septic permit from county, driveway permit from road commission, site plan from surveyors, building plans of course, and so on). Then talk to everyone who gives those out and get another layer of tasks. It's not hard but it is all new to you unless you've built a house before.

It was a huge time commitment..meeting contractors for bids and reviews, scheduling around delays, meeting with inspectors, picking out all the materials, paying all the bills and most of all there are 1000 things that fall in between the various subs. Any decent builder has a $12/hour utility guy who runs errands, cleans up between subs, fixes little things missed by subs, etc....realize you are doing that utility guys job too.

The upside of course that it POTENTIALLY saves you money or more likely gets you a better product for the money. It's nice to buy some clearance bin faucet at Home Depot or on Ebay and just hand it to the plumber and say "put this in my laundry room"..instead of paying him list price plus for something he doesnt have 100 copies of in his van.

I realize the OP has decided to use a pro and if time is limited i think it's a smart decision...but for others if you have the stomach for it...it can be a very rewarding experience.

 

[jlylec]

Very smart decision.
He'll earn that money, every penny.
Consider a construction management contract with a fixed fee and an arrangement for you both to share in any savings. That way he is your agent and will look out for you. Early completion can also be a reward-able item. with penalties for late completion. A fixed fee CM contract guarantees him his OH and profit. He can spend his time and energy making things better for you.

Does anyone out there have an example of one of these you'd be willing to share? I spoke with my GC today and he's open to it but hasn't worked under one before. It sounds like a great idea to both of us (especially since his initial estimate is 90k!) so I'd really like to go this route if I can. I can't be the only one trying to save money on this project!

 

[richtersrodz]

I just had a house built this year. The builder's favorite thing to tell people is that he builds for cost + 15%. So whatever materials cost, add %15, for his cost. It sounded too good to be true, and in the end.. it was. We were given weekly, a budget sheet. We cut that sucker to hell and back, slashing off costs, and building the house for as cheap as we could get it. I reno'd a house for 10 years, so I knew that I would be changing and adding stuff to the house, after the builder was gone. I just couldn't do it myself, and hold down a career at the same time.

The bank "estimated" our cost in October of last year. We know we cut at least 20 grand out of the budget, and when we finished.. the cost came to exactly what the bank estimated 8 months earlier.. Hmm.. something was fishy.. We used the builder's bank, and everytime we added something, that cost some money, the builder would get all huffy about it, and say that we were going to bust the budget. He got totally pissed when I added an extra 8 ft to the driveway apron. Now, I know why.. because that cost came out of his pocket. He had a deal worked with the bank, that no matter what we did.. the cost was not changing. All of the money we saved, he pocketed. So when you talk to the bank.. watch out for this.. We have a very nice house, and he was cheaper than other builders in the area, but they still lied to us. The builder, and the bank...

 

[jlylec]

Fortunately for this one I don't have to mess with a bank...and this guy is very honest (I think) and I'd nearly consider him a friend at this point. He built my house better than other quotes I received for like 15-20% less on the estimate and than actually came in 28k UNDER budget at the end...so I trust him. But I don't necessarily trust all of his subs who I think overcharge. Unfortunately one of his subs (electrician) is his brother. He's very adamant about only using his bro and I'm not convinced his bro is the best and I really don't think he's the cheapest. His estimate for this garage is 7k which seems very high to me. I just want to get the best reasonable deal I can. I don't want to get hosed, and I don't want to rip anybody off or expect the impossible of anyone. Plus I don't want to piss anybody off and get a ****** finished product. I have a hard time wrapping my head around this thing costing 90k though. This construction mgmt contract seems like a great way to keep everybody honest and my costs down.

 

[richtersrodz]

If it helps any.. this 21x13 cost me $10K. That was, bare bones, with a 12ft ceiling. No electric, no driveway, and a big hole, with no door. I paid for the cedar door, side entry door, windows, and driveway separately. And wired it myself, to my house.

It was pretty damn ugly for $10K, and people I've talked with, said I got it for cheap!
I probably had about $14K in it, when I was done.

 

[jlylec]

If it helps any.. this 21x13 cost me $10K. That was, bare bones, with a 12ft ceiling. No electric, no driveway, and a big hole, with no door. I paid for the cedar door, side entry door, windows, and driveway separately. And wired it myself, to my house.

It was pretty damn ugly for $10K, and people I've talked with, said I got it for cheap!
I probably had about $14K in it, when I was done.

that looks great and I certainly don't think mine looks 6x nicer than that!

 

[richtersrodz]

I just went back and looked at your drawings again.. They look pretty damn good. Not to mention, 2 day-labor guys showed up, and dug my piers for my slab. Yours will definately require heavy equipment, and you will also have a second floor, + square footage. An old neighbor down the street from where that garage is (I moved), spent $80K on his two car, two story garage. His didn't look near as nice as yours does on your drawings. So it may warrant that cost.. It looks the price to me..

 

[jlylec]

I just went back and looked at your drawings again.. They look pretty damn good. Not to mention, 2 day-labor guys showed up, and dug my piers for my slab. Yours will definately require heavy equipment, and you will also have a second floor, + square footage. An old neighbor down the street from where that garage is (I moved), spent $80K on his two car, two story garage. His didn't look near as nice as yours does on your drawings. So it may warrant that cost.. It looks the price to me..

**** that's not what i wanted to hear! i guess my design eye is bigger than my stomach! I really didn't think it would be so bad since there's no living space. I may just forego water all together as I found out just hooking up the water to the building is really expensive and i don't REALLY need it...it would be nice though. I'm due to sit down with the GC in the next couple days and go over all the costs and see what we can do. Thanks for the feedback. It really is helpful!

 

[richtersrodz]

You could always put the plumbing in the slab, and do the hook up later, to save money. I did this on my new house. Had them run fresh water and sewer line out of the slab, and then capped it off, and buried it. It's for my pretend shop that I don't have built yet. Good luck and keep us posted..