Anyone ever built a house?

[tburda]

Basically thats it.

I'm looking to building a house. I have some pretty good knowledge when it comes to building, electrical, plumbing, for the most part.

I'm completely confident about building the "house" part. I've built a few cabins in northern Michigan, but those aren't on sunken footings.

I'm basically curious, if you've built a house, what kind of things popped up that you didn't expect etc. What kind of costs did you incur with your footings, do you have a basement, crawl, or slab? What is your geographical location? Obviously this changes depending on how far your frost line is, or if you even have a frost line period. I know every situation is different, but we're deciding if we're going to spend a year saving up to pay cash for this, or if it will be the chunk that we finance.


I know there may be options that might be simpler but the point is I WANT to build the house myself, and I WANT to go through the challenges. When it's all done it'll be my "dream home", with minimal debt owed on it (we will be financing as we go, I can explain how I plan to manage that if anyone is curious) Have all the amenities I want, exactly how I want it laid out.

 

[avenger79]

Re: Anyone ever built a house?

I built my 3 1/2 car garage by myself, but it doesn't have all the niceties obviously of a house.
make sure you check with your locality as far as permits/inspections/codes etc. some places frown on DIY builders. Inspectors may give you lots of grief depending on the ind.
I had a friend who did his whole house on his own. turned out great but took a long time. Called in a lot of "labor favors" from friends as well.

 

[tburda]

Re: Anyone ever built a house?

I built my 3 1/2 car garage by myself, but it doesn't have all the niceties obviously of a house.
make sure you check with your locality as far as permits/inspections/codes etc. some places frown on DIY builders. Inspectors may give you lots of grief depending on the ind.
I had a friend who did his whole house on his own. turned out great but took a long time. Called in a lot of "labor favors" from friends as well.

Most of the localities around here, just require you to pull a permit, and pass inspection, unless it is for profit, then you have to have a licensed contractor do the work. Not sure why, passed inspection is passed inspection if you ask me. I'm shopping for land "on the fringe" and generally the building codes/inspectors are more leanient. I've got more investigation to do on any prospective property anyhow, as far as soil conditions, water tables, available sewer, power, etc, and on that checklist will be all that information with building codes and what not.

 

[j_martin]

Re: Anyone ever built a house?

Anyone ever built a house?

No, they just grow spontaneously..

I built my entire farmstead. House, shop, barn, outbuildings. Screwed up on some load bearing on the first one (house) and had to do some pretty creative laminated beam engineering later to compensate and straiten it. (like 20 years later.)

From experience, don't try to learn how to do it by doing it. Find out how, by reading and getting "training" from others who have done it. Learn to understand what needs to be done from an engineering standpoint.

Basic rule is gravity should hold it up, fasteners just keep it from tipping sideways. In other words, unless it's an engineered joint, fasteners, like nails, don't hold up the load. Load bearing structures (walls) need to be above another down to the footing.

Best, of course, to get a proven plan and follow it.

Biggest problem can be the weather. I dug footings for an expansion, then had a gully washer come through and cut out one end. You don't poor footings over disturbed earth, so I added forms, and about another couple of yards of concrete. Looked pretty goofy, but my walls ain't moving and my basement isn't cracked.

hope it helps
John

 

[Thad]

Re: Anyone ever built a house?

Well, we are currently building our house. I had to shave my head because what hair I wasn't pulling out was turning gray and falling out.

It started off OK, I drew the floor plans and exterior design. Sounds like you won't be using a general contractor. We did. But basically to do the framing and handle the "bills" and a few other things I did not want to deal with.

Let's see, I designed a raised ranch with walkout basement at 1492 sq ft main floor and attatched two car garage. From the very begining we had issues. The house sits 2 feet highr than originally planned. Solid rock! During this time, we kept making last minute changes to the plans, resizing rooms, moving windows, what have you. Then, the footings were put in the wrong plac. Oh, they're square, just a little farther apart than they were supposed to be. So, another change. Now the house is 2001sq ft main floor and the smallest room in the house is my wifes office at 15'x13'. I also wanted the family room to not feel like a basement. So, another expense. 14" I-joist, 12" on center so there is no support beams or posts. 24'x28'. And no, this is not the biggest room in the house:redface:.

Then there is the "where are you putting this, where are you putting that"...All things I had never considered. I just said, in that room or this room. Things need to have a place from the get go. Such as where the plumbing needs to go BEFORE they pour concrete. Then, where is it after framing. Plan the pipe runs to co-exist with the duct work and the wires. (Fortunately my f-i-l is a retired union plumber/shop owner) Then there is window sizes and placement. Let me tell you, seeing them on paper and then in person...two different things. And of course there is the wife saying "I don't like the master bath", so out comes the sawsall and chain saw and out come the walls. But I am getting ahead of myself. There is roof style, pitch, gables. That all needs to be figured out and ordered. On the fly adjustments to wall placement and interior door placement, because again, they look better on a set of prints then they do in person. Then there is wiring, how to break up the rooms. Also, allow for future expansion. This should include entertainment related things like coax cable, speakers, so on and so forth. Look around for different layouts of the furniture.

But, I am ahead of myself again. You need to call the utilities, electric, gas, phone, and give and also get scheduled for that. Wear something loose fitting when you do that You need to arrange fro septic and well if you do not already have it. Don't forget permits, zoning, access permits (if a drive does not already exist). Any how, I think I turned your thread into a vent session for myself. Sorry. But I feel better now.

If you can look around your house now, visualize the new house and what you want, beyond layout, you can come up with a lot of nice ideas.

I better quit now, I have lost my train of thought. Well, I did that a couple months ago. When I reread this, I will surely make edits, and then I will add more things you need to know or should consider.

And, if nothing else, thanks for the vent. I am getting ready to leave the office and go install exterior lights and outlets...all 13 of them.

 

[tburda]

Re: Anyone ever built a house?

Well, we are currently building our house. I had to shave my head because what hair I wasn't pulling out was turning gray and falling out.

It started off OK, I drew the floor plans and exterior design. Sounds like you won't be using a general contractor. We did. But basically to do the framing and handle the "bills" and a few other things I did not want to deal with.

Let's see, I designed a raised ranch with walkout basement at 1492 sq ft main floor and attatched two car garage. From the very begining we had issues. The house sits 2 feet highr than originally planned. Solid rock! During this time, we kept making last minute changes to the plans, resizing rooms, moving windows, what have you. Then, the footings were put in the wrong plac. Oh, they're square, just a little farther apart than they were supposed to be. So, another change. Now the house is 2001sq ft main floor and the smallest room in the house is my wifes office at 15'x13'. I also wanted the family room to not feel like a basement. So, another expense. 14" I-joist, 12" on center so there is no support beams or posts. 24'x28'. And no, this is not the biggest room in the house:redface:.

Then there is the "where are you putting this, where are you putting that"...All things I had never considered. I just said, in that room or this room. Things need to have a place from the get go. Such as where the plumbing needs to go BEFORE they pour concrete. Then, where is it after framing. Plan the pipe runs to co-exist with the duct work and the wires. (Fortunately my f-i-l is a retired union plumber/shop owner) Then there is window sizes and placement. Let me tell you, seeing them on paper and then in person...two different things. And of course there is the wife saying "I don't like the master bath", so out comes the sawsall and chain saw and out come the walls. But I am getting ahead of myself. There is roof style, pitch, gables. That all needs to be figured out and ordered. On the fly adjustments to wall placement and interior door placement, because again, they look better on a set of prints then they do in person. Then there is wiring, how to break up the rooms. Also, allow for future expansion. This should include entertainment related things like coax cable, speakers, so on and so forth. Look around for different layouts of the furniture.

But, I am ahead of myself again. You need to call the utilities, electric, gas, phone, and give and also get scheduled for that. Wear something loose fitting when you do that You need to arrange fro septic and well if you do not already have it. Don't forget permits, zoning, access permits (if a drive does not already exist). Any how, I think I turned your thread into a vent session for myself. Sorry. But I feel better now.

If you can look around your house now, visualize the new house and what you want, beyond layout, you can come up with a lot of nice ideas.

I better quit now, I have lost my train of thought. Well, I did that a couple months ago. When I reread this, I will surely make edits, and then I will add more things you need to know or should consider.

And, if nothing else, thanks for the vent. I am getting ready to leave the office and go install exterior lights and outlets...all 13 of them.

There is roof style, pitch, gables.

Low pitch, cross gable, is the plan so far, with an L shaped or T shaped ranch. I will upload the floor plan (DRAFT) when we put something together.

This is good, this is the information I'm looking for. I'm really MOST SIGNIFICANTLY (once utilities are in place) concerned with the foundation/footings. I will be spending the first year of this project (as we are not going to start building the actual house for the first year or 18 months after we purchase the land) researching a concrete contractor. We are going to place a used mobile home on the land, and live there during the construction. Same thing my uncle did (in the same area). I have been doing research and will be trying to keep the dimension of rooms no deeper than 32 feet one way, to stay away from custom engineered trusses. I'm good with space creativity, and this shouldn't be a problem.

Of course there is concern of "where this will go and that will go" and my wife and I are going to design the house ourselves, and then I will be contracting a licensed architect/building engineer to review and revise my floorplan, so it will be structurally sound.

Keep the info/experiences coming!

 

[Moody Blue]

Re: Anyone ever built a house?

Does a dog house count ?

 

[itsaboattime]

Re: Anyone ever built a house?

Well, we are currently building our house. I had to shave my head because what hair I wasn't pulling out was turning gray and falling out.

It started off OK, I drew the floor plans and exterior design. Sounds like you won't be using a general contractor. We did. But basically to do the framing and handle the "bills" and a few other things I did not want to deal with.

Let's see, I designed a raised ranch with walkout basement at 1492 sq ft main floor and attatched two car garage. From the very begining we had issues. The house sits 2 feet highr than originally planned. Solid rock! During this time, we kept making last minute changes to the plans, resizing rooms, moving windows, what have you. Then, the footings were put in the wrong plac. Oh, they're square, just a little farther apart than they were supposed to be. So, another change. Now the house is 2001sq ft main floor and the smallest room in the house is my wifes office at 15'x13'. I also wanted the family room to not feel like a basement. So, another expense. 14" I-joist, 12" on center so there is no support beams or posts. 24'x28'. And no, this is not the biggest room in the house:redface:.

Then there is the "where are you putting this, where are you putting that"...All things I had never considered. I just said, in that room or this room. Things need to have a place from the get go. Such as where the plumbing needs to go BEFORE they pour concrete. Then, where is it after framing. Plan the pipe runs to co-exist with the duct work and the wires. (Fortunately my f-i-l is a retired union plumber/shop owner) Then there is window sizes and placement. Let me tell you, seeing them on paper and then in person...two different things. And of course there is the wife saying "I don't like the master bath", so out comes the sawsall and chain saw and out come the walls. But I am getting ahead of myself. There is roof style, pitch, gables. That all needs to be figured out and ordered. On the fly adjustments to wall placement and interior door placement, because again, they look better on a set of prints then they do in person. Then there is wiring, how to break up the rooms. Also, allow for future expansion. This should include entertainment related things like coax cable, speakers, so on and so forth. Look around for different layouts of the furniture.

But, I am ahead of myself again. You need to call the utilities, electric, gas, phone, and give and also get scheduled for that. Wear something loose fitting when you do that You need to arrange fro septic and well if you do not already have it. Don't forget permits, zoning, access permits (if a drive does not already exist). Any how, I think I turned your thread into a vent session for myself. Sorry. But I feel better now.

If you can look around your house now, visualize the new house and what you want, beyond layout, you can come up with a lot of nice ideas.

I better quit now, I have lost my train of thought. Well, I did that a couple months ago. When I reread this, I will surely make edits, and then I will add more things you need to know or should consider.

And, if nothing else, thanks for the vent. I am getting ready to leave the office and go install exterior lights and outlets...all 13 of them.

Thad, brother, what you just said is EXACTLY why this carpenter stopped building houses after 7 years.

tburda, Before you do ANYTHING, get a good and detailed blueprint that shows plans for everything from the footings all the way to the shingles. Ensure that your footings and foundation walls are square. A 1/4" out of square on the foundation walls, if not accounted for and adjustments made, can become 1 1/4" when it comes time to sheet the roof. Make sure your electrical, plumbing, and HVAC contractors each have an up-to-date copy of the print.

Stick to the print!! Stick to the print!! Stick to the print!!

There are standard heights for doors and windows from the floor.

Home building is alot harder than it looks. The print will save your butt 9 out of 10 times.

If you need any help, send me a PM. I'll do my best to help ya.

 

[dwco5051]

Re: Anyone ever built a house?

I just completed a 3400 sq ft log home that took over four years from the time I started felling trees and clearing where the house was to sit and driving the last nail in the finished walkout basement. It will cost you more than you planned on spending and will take more time than you thought it would. Retain your sense of humor.

Make a flow chart type construction schedule. It is invaluable in any project to be certain that everything is done in order. Nothing is worse than having to tear something out because something else needed to be done first. You wouldn't want to pour your basement floor before the under grade plumbing was installed for example. Don't be afraid to subcontract some parts that you don't have the time or skills to do yourself. Remember weather is your enemy in any construction schedule. Have a lot of strong friends who owe you a favor because some jobs just can't be done with only one or two people. Don't throw a trowel at you spouse just because they can't mix and carry fast enough to keep you stocked while laying block. When figuring costs don't forget the cost of the simple thing such as fasteners. If you do not already have an air compressor get one along with a framing nailer and a finish nailer. Rent one for roofing nails as it is cheaper than buying one for one job if you are not planning to ever do another shingle job. Don't take shortcuts just because it may be cheaper now. You may hate what it looks like for the next 30 years. However a two dollar porcelain fixture can replace a bed room chandelier or hall light until you have the money or finally find the one you want.

Good luck

 

[mudslinging79]

Re: Anyone ever built a house?

there used to be a company, may still exist, who if you sent your plans, they would plan and cut your materials, ship them to you when you needed them, or at the right timefrasme, if you had changes, they would work and adjust accordingly.... supposedly cheaper than cutting yourself. one requirement was for the owner to already have foundation/footings poured.
its like a giant model, everything comes with instructions and the hard parts like trusses are pre made , and its to YOUR plans,/ dream.

 

[foodfisher]

Re: Anyone ever built a house?

You haven't indicated your location so, if your on clay, don't do it yourself. Costly and it will fail as a solid structure.

 

[marlboro180]

Re: Anyone ever built a house?

Thas, Bubba and Mudsliger, good points...on all fronts....

Tburda,

Plan on at least 20% minimum contingency....Chances are if you do it yourself, no matter how competent you think you are, that something will go wrong....

I have built many a few homes,a bunch of buildings, remodeled ( majorly and minorly) + rebuilt many more , including the one I am in now. Went from 1000 sq. ft, to 2400, structural engineers, foundations, architects, they all cost a bit more than one thinks.

Now specialize in undershoring and underpinning- nuthin like a a building over yer head- Literally!

Built my current place once, then a year later when the major rough was done , our lovely city gave me approval to do more, so I did...Got out the chainsaw, cut out what I just built and started over. I should write a book, but it would hurt my head....Mrs. M actually had a book made of the project, pretty neat...

Always fun though!


-p.s. a location would be nice, update it in your user profile...

 

[Thad]

Re: Anyone ever built a house?

Well, I can now add that you need to be sure your j-blocks (for exterior lights) are big enough for the lights.

Keep several sets of "blank" prints. I have used these to follow, or keep track of, where I am at. Such as what room were wired, where the wires fed to and ran from there. Same with plumbing, audio/video. It saves you from having to go back and try to remember what you did. They are also great for doing the planning. Draw it out, right down to switch placement. After the framing is done, you and the Mrs. walk through the house, "turning on" lights. This will help you to establish a flow. Nothing worse than going back across the room to shut off a light. Wire is your friend. So are three way lights. I have pulled over 5 thousand feet of wire and I am ALMOST done. 2 thousand feet of coax, and 3 hundred feet of speaker wire. Also, do not be afraid to put in too many lights. You can always put them on dimmers.

It is good to live near your construction site. We are building on our land, we live "seriously" 6 feet away from the new house. If it were on another property, I would not get half of what we have done accomplished.

Budget, set one and TRY to stay close to it. We set a budget of XXX and although some things, OK, a lot of things went over so far, we are able to find other areas to make it up.

Go to lots of lumber stores. See what they have that was a misorder, or return. You can get a lot of materials for cheap money. Example, we got our front door, 1800.00, for 450.00. Windows, a lot of them the same thing. Even interior doors, fixtures, you name it. Even look at furniture. You're going to need it anyhow.

Look for stores that are doing a display change. You can usually get the old displays dirt cheap. We started buying things for our house two years ago.

I'll post more later as it comes to me...

Thad

 

[MrBigStuff]

Re: Anyone ever built a house?

A friend of mine decided to build their own house. They had planned to finance portions of it over time as they could afford to build it. Problem is, time goes by and situations change. They had to put things on hold a number of times and it ended up costing them 3x what they planned due to having to go back and repair things that got damaged/rotted etc from sitting unfinished. The sheathing for example was left unprotected for a couple of years and was shot from sun/water exposure and had to all be replaced. Point is, be careful on prep and planning so that you can go from start to buttoned up in a reasonable time frame.

 

[tburda]

Re: Anyone ever built a house?

Wow, thanks for all the replies everyone.

Location: SE Michigan, (thought it was in my profile oops, i'll update that in just a moment)

Foundation, I will not be touching any of this. This will be 100% contracted out to a company with an A+ reputation. Everyone knows without a good foundation, everything is screwed, so this will be where I am going to "unlimit" my budget. I'm not setting a budget cost for this. I'm going to do research and get quotes, check the history on these companies etc, and when i find one I am comfortable with I will pay whatever it costs.

Basically, I know more than how to build a doghouse etc.

I own a low voltage wiring company, so all of the cable, surround sound etc will be no problem. I am running absolutely everything overkill. 2 cable jacks per room, intercom/whole house audio system all that stuff. I will be doing the electrical as well.

Plumbing is still up in the air, I may contract it out, depending how elaborate my bathroom layouts become.

I am also a part time finish carpenter, trained by corian countertops for corian solid surface countertop installation, so I'm no stranger to construction. I know it will be labor intensive, costly, and take time, but the Mrs. and I have decided that now is the time to do this, we are married, established, comfortable, and we have no children. We can afford the time it will take to do this. And Thad, we plan to live within a few yards of our new home as well. Can you elaborate more on how you're managing? Are you in an RV or just a previous smaller home? I've heard of people doing all of those. Knowing that this could be 2-3 years (easy) I dont think I can manage in an RV that long lol. A mobile home I can deal with, lived in one for a while as a kid, so did the Mrs, so as we decided we'd never live in one again, we're making the sacrafice for a short time, to obtain our dream of a dream home, as well as not living in a mobile home.

I may scratch the self designed floorplan. I tried some stuff last night, and i was really having trouble making it flow, so I might outsource an architect or find some pre-drafted plans. We shall see. We don't even own the land yet lol.

 

[Thad]

Re: Anyone ever built a house?

We bought my wifes grandfatherrs place in '04. It is just outside of town on a corner of two county blacktops. Five acres of nice lawn and hills. We were going to live in our camper and tear the old place down. But decided we wanted the house more away from everything alse. So we are still in the old house. It works out quite nice. I get home from work @ 4:30, change and work in the new house for a few hours. On the weekends we either work all day and hit the water around 5 or 6 or sometimes not at all. Some days, we take the weekends off.

I had a general contractor handle some of the sub contracting. Mainly to get the concrete and materials. Kind of a go between. He did the rough framing, handles the payment for various people. Two buddies and myself did all the interior framing and wiring. We set the tub and showers. My f-i-l is doing all the plumbing. We will be doing all the drywall, flooring, interior doors, trim, you name it. We started in mid April and will be drywalling next week. Hope to be in by Mid-end September.

One thing I forget to say is, hire an insulation contractor to do your insulation. I have one coming down Monday to do mine. All the materials would cost me apx. $2100 before tax. This company is doing it all, materials and labor, for $2250.

Don't skimp on wall heighth either. We went with nine foot walls in the basement and main floor.

If I get time later this weekend, I will put a couple pictures of the house and floor plan up for you. The initial design was not hard. We knew what style we liked. Coming up with a floor plan took some time. I drew one out, the wife and I would draw changes and I would redo it in CAD, then go through it again. We are very pleased with the end result. But like I said, we made changes even after the fact. Moving this, tearing out that.

You need to be somewhat flexible. Like mine, someone would question this or comment on that. I would ask what they thought and we would come up with something and go with it.

I do not regret building, but I tell you what, it is stressfull. Especially at this point in the game. When you can almost see the finish line but are waiting on this, that, and the other. DO NOT TAKE IT OUT ON THE WIFE. I have appologized so much in the last couple of weeks it almost doesn't sound real anymore.

 

[tburda]

Re: Anyone ever built a house?

We bought my wifes grandfatherrs place in '04. It is just outside of town on a corner of two county blacktops. Five acres of nice lawn and hills. We were going to live in our camper and tear the old place down. But decided we wanted the house more away from everything alse. So we are still in the old house. It works out quite nice. I get home from work @ 4:30, change and work in the new house for a few hours. On the weekends we either work all day and hit the water around 5 or 6 or sometimes not at all. Some days, we take the weekends off.

I had a general contractor handle some of the sub contracting. Mainly to get the concrete and materials. Kind of a go between. He did the rough framing, handles the payment for various people. Two buddies and myself did all the interior framing and wiring. We set the tub and showers. My f-i-l is doing all the plumbing. We will be doing all the drywall, flooring, interior doors, trim, you name it. We started in mid April and will be drywalling next week. Hope to be in by Mid-end September.

One thing I forget to say is, hire an insulation contractor to do your insulation. I have one coming down Monday to do mine. All the materials would cost me apx. $2100 before tax. This company is doing it all, materials and labor, for $2250.

Don't skimp on wall heighth either. We went with nine foot walls in the basement and main floor.

If I get time later this weekend, I will put a couple pictures of the house and floor plan up for you. The initial design was not hard. We knew what style we liked. Coming up with a floor plan took some time. I drew one out, the wife and I would draw changes and I would redo it in CAD, then go through it again. We are very pleased with the end result. But like I said, we made changes even after the fact. Moving this, tearing out that.

You need to be somewhat flexible. Like mine, someone would question this or comment on that. I would ask what they thought and we would come up with something and go with it.

I do not regret building, but I tell you what, it is stressfull. Especially at this point in the game. When you can almost see the finish line but are waiting on this, that, and the other. DO NOT TAKE IT OUT ON THE WIFE. I have appologized so much in the last couple of weeks it almost doesn't sound real anymore.

Good tip on the insulation, that was one thing I hadn't thought of yet (the thread has positive use!)

I am definitly not skimping on the wall height, my current basement is the old style 7' floor to beam, and it sucks over where the hvac stuff runs.

I have been in a ton of house (when i was a field tech) so I know a few things I want, I just have to paste it all together into a floor plan. I would love to see pictures of your progress.

 

[tburda]

Re: Anyone ever built a house?

Well, I checked out a 10 acre piece of land, but found out in the spring thaw it floods clear across the entire thing, there is a creek running through it that turns into a river. No go.

I checked out another 10 acres today, HEAVILY wooded, working with the current owner on terms now, we shall see what happens.

I managed to come up with a good floorplan, it's a two story floorplan, which i had in mind to save cost on roofing and foundation, but now I'm not real sure about the cost and diffculties of having hvac run.

Anyone have suggestions? Do you think it would outweigh the benefits from the foundation/roof costs to go two story and pay the extra hvac? Or stay ranch style and eat the extra cost in foundation/roof?

 

[Autotech]

Re: Anyone ever built a house?

Does this count as a house?

Want to have it done before I retire in maybe three or four years but building as I have the money. So... It's going slow. Hoping it will pick up as soon as I finish the Floor.

 

[tburda]

Re: Anyone ever built a house?

I'm assuming thats a coastal house?

What are those posts made of? Are they treated?