Building a house off of ebay materials......
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So Kevin and I are looking at building/buying a house and we thought how funny it would be to buy all of the materials off of ebay. Anyways, does anyone out there have any experience with building a house. We are thinking of being our own general contractor or finishing most of it ourselves. More house for the money. I talked to a couple of people and they really advise against being our own contractor. I know we at least want to finish our basement ourselves to save some money........any one with any suggestions.
99slowgsx
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ehhh......i've done a lot of framing over the past few years...i can tell you this much....personally i would hire someone, for one, i've been on job sites and i still get fucking confused when it comes to osha and city inspections and shit
93 Mitsubishi 3000GT VR4 Sandstone Grey Met. One of 136 made in '93.
97 Dodge Dakota(daily driver)(sold)
92 Eagle Talon TSi AWD(winter project)(abandoned and sold)
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building codes and inspection are a huge freaking hassle, u could just do what every developer does and farm everything out to sub-contractors then hang all you own dry wall hire out the taping (because it sucks) do your own flooring, insulation, and siding
but then again this all depends if u would like to give up at least a year of ur life doing this while working a full time job trying to pay for it
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There are some pre fab houses out there that look fairly easy to put together...and some pretty crazy design's too. i think there is a weekly show about it on DIY.
but i dunno about the electrical, there is way too many stupid codes about that to get right -
One of my coworkers was his own GC on his last house that he built (he's had 3 built in the past 20ish years) and he figured he could do it himself. Well, he could, except that he was there literally 4-7 times per day and it took an extra 4 months to complete not to mention that costs were actually higher than if he had hired a GC. I advise against it.
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Thats weird, if you do a lot of your own work I have heard you can save 20-40 %. I understand it would take longer than the usual home and would not mind that if I can build what I want. We have also just thought of a house being framed and taking it from there. Who knows, to many damn things to consider.
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The problem with doing your own work is that you still need to get it certified (especially wiring/plumbing) by someone licensed to do that kind of work. Good luck figuring out wiring codes, I have 3 books sitting on my desk right now dealing with those issues. The reason it gets more expensive to be your own GC is that you won't get the same discounts on materials as someone who does it for a living since they move a higher volume. Now you also have to figure in how much time you are going to have to be there supervising the other crews (electrical, plumbers, sheet rockers, roofers, siding guys, etc...) since it really isn't feasible to do it all by yourselves. When you are the GC YOU are responsible for anything that goes wrong on the job site, you take on the responsibility of making sure everything is done to OSHA standards, you take on the liability of any sub contracted crew that you bring in. You are liable if any of their gear gets stolen from the site.
Yes, you can maybe save money if you do EVERYTHING yourself, I just don't think many people have the time/knowledge to build a house from the foundation up w/o having to sub someone else to do at least part of the work....not to mention the headaches listed above
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tjamz wrote:
The problem with doing your own work is that you still need to get it certified (especially wiring/plumbing) by someone licensed to do that kind of work. Good luck figuring out wiring codes, I have 3 books sitting on my desk right now dealing with those issues. The reason it gets more expensive to be your own GC is that you won't get the same discounts on materials as someone who does it for a living since they move a higher volume. Now you also have to figure in how much time you are going to have to be there supervising the other crews (electrical, plumbers, sheet rockers, roofers, siding guys, etc...) since it really isn't feasible to do it all by yourselves. When you are the GC YOU are responsible for anything that goes wrong on the job site, you take on the responsibility of making sure everything is done to OSHA standards, you take on the liability of any sub contracted crew that you bring in. You are liable if any of their gear gets stolen from the site.Yes, you can maybe save money if you do EVERYTHING yourself, I just don't think many people have the time/knowledge to build a house from the foundation up w/o having to sub someone else to do at least part of the work....not to mention the headaches listed above
I guess I wouldnt be worried about inspectors or osha. It is still the subcontractor responsibility that he is doing stuff right or it will hurt them also. I understand that I would not get premium pricing on the concrete work or the framing. Other than that, I can get supplies dirt cheap. We have all summer, so like I said before time is not an issue. Even if you sub contract some stuff out, I cant see how you couldnt save over 20,000. Your right it is a big undertaking: visiting work site daily, lining up appointments with inspectors, lining up different crews to do the work we cant. But if your organized and have that much time and energy on your hands it is worth it. I guess it is more of a thought than a process right now.
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I don't know a ton about the building codes in Fargo/Moorhead, but my dad bought a house, fixed it up and sold it in Grand Forks. Yes there are some things that have to be inspected as stated earlier, but a lot can be done on your own. Talk to Mitch (92blacktt), I am pretty sure he knows a ton about this, or his dad will know most, I know they have done a few houses. There is an auction in the cities that you can buy all your windows and doors at for a good price.
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you can do everything yourself, but with little experience it could some time. Roof trusses = Frago Truss Co. draw them to code, hand them the napkin, they hand you a roof. dont try that on your own.
a) electrical, plumbing, and rough framing are the only things you have to have inspected -
building permits can be expensive and pretty much the only thing to worry about
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I am living in number 6 and it will appraise for roughly 2 times what has been spent on it... so yes, doing it on your own is a good idea.
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If you are seriously thinking of building your own I would recommend having the foundation poured, the exterior walls trucked in, and the whole house sheathed. This way you will have an enclosed structure to begin with(wont have to worry about getting the 10k dollars worth tools stolen or rained on).
from there you should be able to handle finishing the house
btw i know a real good drywall guy.. and hes cheap:)Or, ill just build it for you
We have been looking at doing our own from the ground up the next time around. -
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92BlackTT wrote:
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you can do everything yourself, but with little experience it could some time. Roof trusses = Frago Truss Co. draw them to code, hand them the napkin, they hand you a roof. dont try that on your own.
a) electrical, plumbing, and rough framing are the only things you have to have inspected -
building permits can be expensive and pretty much the only thing to worry about
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I am living in number 6 and it will appraise for roughly 2 times what has been spent on it... so yes, doing it on your own is a good idea.
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If you are seriously thinking of building your own I would recommend having the foundation poured, the exterior walls trucked in, and the whole house sheathed. This way you will have an enclosed structure to begin with(wont have to worry about getting the 10k dollars worth tools stolen or rained on).
from there you should be able to handle finishing the house
btw i know a real good drywall guy.. and hes cheap:)Or, ill just build it for you
We have been looking at doing our own from the ground up the next time around.give me a price for anything over 2000 sq/feet
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