Has anyone built a house from bottom up?

[Writer]

I mean hired an architect, bought the land and materials, hired a contractor, etc.?

In your estimate, how much more expensive is it to do this than go through a builder with pre-set designs?

I'm sure it's far more expensive than buying an existing house... or is it?

What are your thoughts?

[Doctor_J]

1. It's probably easier than building one from the top down

;-)

My neighbor did her own GC and survived. But she's pretty assertive and tenacious.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

2. AWWW you beat me to it!!!

:grr:

[Eurobabe]

3. It's a major undertaking, not for the faint of heart

I work for a builder. Even working with clients (we have bought the land, have the subs, the prints/plans, etc.) and oh boy -- makes me think twice about wanting to do it alone. (And I am an architectural historian by education!)

Most people have no idea how much of a j-o-b it is to build a house. You needs tons of time, and even more patience. Things always going wrong, get delayed. Having said that, there is no doubt in my mind that you can control your own costs by doing what you can yourself (the non-code stuff) and the feeling of having contributed to the project is very satisfying.

Alot depends on where you live, the cost of land and labor -- because everyone has to take a cut to make a profit. The more you can do yourself, if possible, the better, that's the key to saving.

We mark up our options almost 65%. Enough to make you choke! Good luck...

[Writer]

5. So by doing it yourself...

you mean becoming your own GC? Sounds like a full-time job, but if it saves me 65%...

is the sweat-equity worth it?

[Lars39]

6. We had a contractor shell ours in, while we contracted the rest.

Our house took a year to finish this way.

[Nite Owl]

4. I never did it but

the house I am in now was built that way and I am very happy with the detail that was put into it. The previous owner designed it himself and built it but he was an architect so I don't know how easy it would be if you don't know where to go and what to do.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

7. Here are my thoughts:

Back in 2000, my husband and I decided that we wanted to live in our old neighborhood, but not in our old house..

So we tore it down (we'd bought a townhouse in the meantime), hired an architect and then a builder, and went at it...

It does take a lot of time and effort...

But when you have the RIGHT people working for you, it is ALL worth it!

Since we already owned the land, we didn't have to buy it over again, to state the obvious...

Owning our own land was one of the reasons we decided to build and not buy a new home...

The other reason, and this one is almost more important IMHO, is that when you build your own custom home, YOU get to decide what you want.

So we have a gorgeous custom home built to our specs by a builder who is top in his field and who we still love...

It was the third house that our architect and builder had done together...This was also a factor...

PM me if you want more details...But oh yes it was worth it...

[uppityperson]

8. We did/are, doing it all, touching every piece of wood, every nail

Make sure you get qualified people, people who know what they are doing, get recommendations and so on. And check prices. Sometimes the designing/engineering price is built into the total, sometimes extra. Feel free to check several people/companies for each step of the way. Don't feel you need to use anyone you don't feel comfortable with just because they have talked with you or given you a bid.

Postive side is you get what you want. A lot of pre-designed homes are crap. Too many rooflines, rooms wrong sizes, facing the wrong way, etc.

We first wrote down what rooms we wanted and drew out a house design based on that. Then we figured out how we would actually use the space and redid the entire plan. We hired people to help with the framing but otherwise are doing the entire thing ourselves. Of course this means it is taking more time than if we'd hired people to do everything, but also it means we will owe minimal money.

Realize also that if you start from scratch, not only will it be YOURS, but it will take a bit longer because everything always takes longer. Price depends on what you want, what you are willing to compromise to, same as if you bought a house. It is exciting to have your own place. Good luck.

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

9. We did it ourselves.

I can't answer any of your questions, since building ourselves versus getting a general was much cheaper.

We also bought stock plans & altered them to fit our needs.

I can tell you that doing it yourself is exhausting, nerve racking & one melt down after another. A general would be way easier, but we were doing it on the cheap.

I don't know if Angie's List is in your area, but here's a link. Bad subs are numero uno problem.

http://www.angieslist.com/

best