how much can i save by Building my self

[ddawg16]

I'm getting ready to start building a 2600sq' house and 30x50 garage my self on land that i already own. i live in eastern nc. I know I'm going to save some money by not using a gc and doing alot myself, i just dont know how much. I was wondering if anyone in the trade knew better than my guess at just how much i'm looking at saving. I plan on subing the foundation, framing, insulation, drywal, and hvac. Me and my family will do the rest. we'll do the vinyl, pluming, electrical, roofing, floors, trim, cabinets, and whatever else im forgeting.
Ive got a friend that just had a GC built him a 2500sq' along the same trim level im planning on for 102 per', that includes him having to purchase the lot.

could anyone give me any information on this? or even direct me to another forum that is aimed alittle more towards my situation?

thanks for you guys help. i got a feeling im gonna be taking alllllot of pictures soon.

Subing out the above will cover about 80% of your costs....hence, you will not be saving a lot.

I'm finishing up a 2-story addition to my house. I added about 1100 sq ft...and I did almost all the work. I sub'd out the foundation, stucco, roof and insulation.

Roof and insulation were so cheap in relative terms...I would have maybe saved $500 each...but it would have taken me a lot longer.

There are about 3 levels of quality
1. Slap that **** together.....typical of track houses...cheap fixtures
2. Semi-custom build....better attention to detail...up tick on the fixtures
3. Top dollar build....quality everywhere.

Mine is somewhere between 2 and 3

Take windows....you can use cheap vinyl....they do the job. I used Fiberglass/vinyl. Fiberglass on the outside...means I can paint them any color I want. Low E...double pained...etc

Because I did my own framing....it's tight. Real tight. Walls are square and plumb.

Sub-floor....yea...I could have used 3/4" plywood....but I have 1 1/8" T&G on top of 2x12's 12"OC. It's nice and quiet....and NO bounce.

This is the wife's tub. Yea, we could have done a simple drop in....it would have done the job....used tile and saved a few bucks.....

But....it would have looked like a budget job....

This added maybe $1000 more to the total cost....but looks $10K better.



Click on the link in my signature if you want to see more.

 

[Notgrownup]

I disagree with the Above comment because the GC is going to PAD what the Subs are charging by at least 25%... It is how they make money. So if you can find decent subs you will save a bunch.

 

[MushCreek]

It's very hard to get good subs around here. My drywall guys were great, but the framers that did my barn were hacks. I hired a plumber for my under slab work (I did the rest) and the work he did doesn't meet code. It works, and the inspector bought it, but it ain't right. All of my work is meticulous and exceeds code.

I go on several building forums, and I read of hack work and screw-ups every DAY. That includes custom homes north of a million bucks. I have no idea how you find a GOOD contractor these days. As for the basic shell being 80%- I don't see how. The average kitchen these days is $55K- almost half the cost of my whole house.

Building your own house isn't for everyone, or even very many. It takes a lot of different skills. The combined code books for residential, plumbing, and electrical total about 2,000 pages, much of it mind-numbing mumbo-jumbo. It's a lot harder these days as opposed to back in the day when Granddad built the old place. Modern codes have really complicated things. It CAN be done, and you can save money; I did. It better be a nice place, though. You'll never compete building a code-minimum tract home.

 

[ddawg16]

I disagree with the Above comment because the GC is going to PAD what the Subs are charging by at least 25%... It is how they make money. So if you can find decent subs you will save a bunch.

I disagree......really disagree. How many houses have you built?

In fact, it's not unusual to have a home owner pay subs directly. The GC gets his money as a % of the total package.

Unless of course you are paying a fixed price for a job. In which case, there is no way to know how much the costs really are. The GC is going to cut costs anywhere he can.

 

[cdods]

You can save a bit, but probably not as much as you expect, based on my experience. Some of the things already mentioned that eat into the savings:
- Dumb mistakes (you'll make some, the only question is how much they cost)
- your materials will be more expensive
- your subs will be more expensive

Here's something a posted a while ago on a related question. If you haven't done this before, expect to spend way more time managing subs (I used less subs than you and this was still an issue), and dealing with the bank (they may seem nice now, but...). With the banks, make sure you understand how many draws you get against the construction loan & how they will determine the size of the those draws. It will likely have nothing to with how much you've actually spent.


---

I built my own house, doing almost all of the work myself, but used subs for a several things that I didn't want to learn on my own house. A few thoughts based on that experience:

1) Subs will drop your work to run off to "emergencies" at GC's who are their bread and butter. You are a one time sale for them - so you go to the bottom of the list.

2) GC's know who the good subs are and the bad ones. The good ones are already busy working for GC's, so the ones you get are likely either new or not very good.

3) GC's have worked with subs before. They know which ones can be left alone and which ones have to be babysat / harassed or otherwise motived. You'll learn this on the fly - perhaps after its too late.

4) Subs (at least the one's you'll be able to hire) may or may not actually follow plans. Where they don't, its almost impossible to get them to come back and fix things. Unless you can be there full time, you are at their mercy.

5) Scheduling subs is like heading cats - especially when you are at the bottom of their list of importance.

I came out of the house building process with a new respect of GCs. You can save money doing their job, but recognize it's a substantial amount of work. Despite only using 3 or 4 subs on my house, dealing with them was most of the stress (the bank provided most of the rest of the stress).

 

[Notgrownup]

I disagree......really disagree. How many houses have you built?

In fact, it's not unusual to have a home owner pay subs directly. The GC gets his money as a % of the total package.

Unless of course you are paying a fixed price for a job. In which case, there is no way to know how much the costs really are. The GC is going to cut costs anywhere he can.

Not one.. I paid a GC to build mine 13 years ago... He point blank told me he was making about 25% of the total cost of the house ... Any less than that it wasn't worth him getting out of bed.

If it cost me $7000.00 to build my shop myself VS paying a GC $20000.00

I know it's different with a house but most people I know around here that built a house like me... Paid the GC and he took care of all the Subs...I didn't sub NOTHING myself ...Only thing I did myself was paint and I had help from one of the GC's helpers and I built my wooden deck.

We agreed on a price for the whole job. I think it was $112000.00 turn key. He guaranteed me to be in the house in 120 days or he would make my loan payment for the 120 days and the next month.
I was in the house in 110 or 112 days. closed few days later. I never gave a dime to any subs.

 

[jeff_gates]

My shop is 4500sq feet, my father-in-lay is acting as our GC, I guess that we saves $20,000 but he already said that he is not doing the house. I'm thinking that I'll do the house my self.

--Jeff

 

[atthebeach]

The last time I put up a building, I was the owner builder and did all the work that one person could do without the help of an extra pair of hands...painting, roofing, and inside trim. I had subs for the foundation and framing; and the county required a licensed electrician. I was able to be on site everyday, so the job ran smoothly and got completed in a timely manner. Being on site everyday let the contractors know I was serious about getting the job done and I was available to resolve problems when they arose. Nobody walked off the job because of unresolved problems awaiting a decision.

If you are not able to be on site everyday for the large project you have proposed, you should consider having a GC who can manage the project. Subs need coordination and leadership for a project to get done on schedule and within budget.

 

[gtae07]

Weigh your time and all that when considering building yourself. And if you've never done a project of this scale, triple your estimated schedule and add 50% to your budget.

My shop took 10 months from breaking ground to putting on the last outlet cover and starting to actually move in. 10 months of weekends, most of them 3-day weekends--I work 4/10s--working singlehanded. And that was with hiring out the roofing, siding, and drywall. If I had spent that time at work instead of out back playing Bob the Builder, I could have paid for the entire building (materials and labor) instead of dipping into savings--and had money left over. And it would have been done in a month or two, instead of 10. Yes, there's the satisfaction of knowing I did almost all that work myself, and I learned a whole lot. But in hindsight it was not the best approach.

Whenever we eventually move, I'm going to have a new shop built at the new house. And someone else is building it.

 

[speed bump]

I would say do it yourself. Since you are asking about savings you probably have not done it before. I have a lot of experience I can fall back on doing home building type stuff and I figure it takes me twice as long and an 25% in costs. Part of that is learning new things, part of that is adding in extra features, and part of that is if it isn't done i'm just losing that space and not a paycheck.