Building a house...?

[vvblazers777 10+ year member]

Ok guys. For those of you who've built one only please answer...

I'm in college, been we'll just say doing side work since I was young. I also work full time during days, and go to class during the afternoon. (Going to college to be an archictect.)

I can draw out and blue print my own plans, from several years experience. What was the lowdown on why you built your house? Custom preference? What was cost vs buying a house?

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[BobbyDD 10+ year member]

I build houses to sell and I make between 40 and 50 thousand dollars profit per house. If you have the skills to do it yourself you can save a lot of money and know that the work was done right.

 

[vvblazers777 10+ year member]

Hey I'm sending you a pm.

 

[vvblazers777 10+ year member]

ttt

 

[SocMunky 10+ year member]

Keep in mind of course with either of those options you need to plan for repairs down the road. One of the good things about a new house is most major repairs won't come up for a good 10 years tops, barring acts of god or natural disasters and whatnot. For reference, I bought a house that was built in 77? maybe 75....so far I have had to put in a new ac, new drain field, new master bathroom (yep, the whole f'n thing!) and really really really need a new roof. I'm calling it quits, nice house now, but its up on the market, just can't afford it nowadays...

Nest time around I'm goin new house, on land thats been paid off already. That way I can get the house I *want* and not the house I settle for....within reason of course, no gold handles on the toilets or anything! //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fro.gif.c695f1f814b01c4ad99fe7f8cccadd29.gif

 

[hoss 5,000+ posts]

building your own house can save you anywhere from 15-45% of the cost of buying one already built, or contracting a company to build one for you. I have worked for two builders, i have worked in the field, and currently i am working in the estimating department of a custom home builder.

like stated earlier, the savings of building it yourself can be outstanding. however, if you have no building experience, you are going to be digging yourself a very deep hole. also, you are not going to have the buying power that a home builder has when it comes to buying materials, labor, and subcontract work.

the money you are saving by building a house on your own is pretty much the money you would be paying for the company to manage the construction, and all that goes in the home building process. like i said before, if you dont have much experience, you are going to be digging yourself a very big hole, and causing yourself alot of headaches.

 

[bigwheel15 10+ year member]

I once built a fort in my living room when I was a kid made of pillows and blankets. Didnt have a chance to sell it as a tack came loose and the roof fell in.

 

[vvblazers777 10+ year member]

Same thing my parents did. They bought like the historic type houses, it was a huge house don't get me wrong. They payed like $180,000 which was a fantastic price for as big as the house was. (5 bedroom / 3 bath) But it was so old, they ran into problems here and there. New shingles, outside ac unit went out, water leaks, and other problems.

On the otherhand, my cousin just got out of the navy. At 21, he got allot of money in there, after selling their condo where he was stationed in Hawiia. Now he's down in Lousianna, building a house. They ran into problems. Supposebly, something to do with how they built it with the lines, the fire place they wanted is out of the question now, and their having to change some other things.

I know it's going to be a hassle, but is the savings worth it? How much can you save by building a house? I'm wanting something similar to this.

http://killeen.craigslist.org/apa/381321763.html Seeing it cost $162,000 to buy I was thinking you could build it for $120'ish? Does that seem reasonable. That's already a good price for that house imo.

 

[MikeofTulsa Moderator]

Keep in mind of course with either of those options you need to plan for repairs down the road. One of the good things about a new house is most major repairs won't come up for a good 10 years tops, barring acts of god or natural disasters and whatnot. For reference, I bought a house that was built in 77? maybe 75....so far I have had to put in a new ac, new drain field, new master bathroom (yep, the whole f'n thing!) and really really really need a new roof. I'm calling it quits, nice house now, but its up on the market, just can't afford it nowadays...Nest time around I'm goin new house, on land thats been paid off already. That way I can get the house I *want* and not the house I settle for....within reason of course, no gold handles on the toilets or anything! //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fro.gif.c695f1f814b01c4ad99fe7f8cccadd29.gif

why not?

 

[vvblazers777 10+ year member]

x2... I always thought my gold handles in the bathroom were perdy. hehe

 

[hoss 5,000+ posts]

Same thing my parents did. They bought like the historic type houses, it was a huge house don't get me wrong. They payed like $180,000 which was a fantastic price for as big as the house was. (5 bedroom / 3 bath) But it was so old, they ran into problems here and there. New shingles, outside ac unit went out, water leaks, and other problems.
On the otherhand, my cousin just got out of the navy. At 21, he got allot of money in there, after selling their condo where he was stationed in Hawiia. Now he's down in Lousianna, building a house. They ran into problems. Supposebly, something to do with how they built it with the lines, the fire place they wanted is out of the question now, and their having to change some other things.

I know it's going to be a hassle, but is the savings worth it? How much can you save by building a house? I'm wanting something similar to this.

http://killeen.craigslist.org/apa/381321763.html Seeing it cost $162,000 to buy I was thinking you could build it for $120'ish? Does that seem reasonable. That's already a good price for that house imo.

without knowing where you are located, im going to guess that there is no way in hell you are going to be able to build that house for that price. it cost our company around $100/sqft to build a house. that house is ~$89/sqft... that is a pretty good deal, and im willing to bet that house is fairly old. and to answer your next question, no you are not going to be able to build a house for $100/sqft, it is going to cost you more since you dont have any purchasing power. but it will still be less than the marketing sqft value. homes in my area sell from anywhere between $180-230sqft, and i know of areas where homes sell for as much as $1000+/sqft. i dont know what the market is in your area, but look up some of the homes around your area listed for sale, and see what their sqft prices break down to be.

[/b]

why not?

because gold hardware looks like shit

 

[its_bacon12 10+ year member]

I once built a fort in my living room when I was a kid made of pillows and blankets. Didnt have a chance to sell it as a tack came loose and the roof fell in.

lmao

 

[Eugenics 5,000+ posts]

typically a builder looks to make a ~30% profit in relation to the bid. Realize that they probably have a decent relationship with the subcontractors (who'm are generally cunts) and have access to materials at a lower cost. Saves them time and money. So expect it to cost you a bit more in both those areas... still not a bad idea if you can keep up with it and know what you're doing.

 

[hoss 5,000+ posts]

typically a builder looks to make a ~30% profit in relation to the bid. Realize that they probably have a decent relationship with the subcontractors (who'm are generally cunts) and have access to materials at a lower cost. Saves them time and money. So expect it to cost you a bit more in both those areas... still not a bad idea if you can keep up with it and know what you're doing.

a 30% margin would be an amazingly high margin. and that isnt "profit", it is the gross margin, or the cost difference between the sales, and the cost to complete. not to say that profit isnt included in that cost, but the profit is quite a bit lower when all the costs to build are considered.

 

[squeak9798 5,000+ posts]

When you are talking about building a house....are you talking as to have a house built by a GC/builder or actually building the house yourself?

One thing to keep in mind is financing. Many times lenders will require major items be done by licensed professionals or experienced and approved builders/general contractors. So unless you are doing this all with cash-in-hand, or can find a lender willing to take the risk (somewhat possible, but expect to have a higher rate and likely higher fees involved aswell)...then building it yourself may not even be an option. Lenders are very skiddish about self-built homes (for good reason) to begin with, and with the mortgage market heading down hill recently it is making lenders focus even more on reducing risk and exposure.

I would also be very careful building it yourself if you have limited experience in that field and plan on playing general contractor or doing the majority of the labor yourself. It can quickly get out of control. Schedules running behind, prices fluctuating and budget over-runs, attempting to do too much yourself and seriously screwing up something in the construction process. I've seen/heard about many of them going seriously wrong. On the other hand, my old boss built the home himself and was able to save a substantial amount of money. But keep in mind he'd been in the lending/real estate business for around 20yrs and was very good friends with people in the industry.....so he was able to borrow equipment/get advise/etc for close to free which greatly aided the process.

Another thing to keep in mind.........the housing market is in the tanks pretty much nationwide...some areas are hit worse than others.