Being Your Own GC - New Home Build Questions...?

[kingranch]

If u can put considerable $kin in the game you can get the loan to build your house... go to another lender

[webb09]

I'm doing it right now. It's not that difficult, and I am saving a boat load of money. I went thru Help u Build, a local company in SA. And YES, I would never go thru a builder again. It's nice writing the checks, that way u know where every penny goes.

[webb09]

Check out my Live home build New Braunfels thread.

[myway]

U definitely need to check with another bank. I did GC with my bank (Prosperity Bank, Woodlands, TX). I had a consultant firm to help with build and supplied their information, but MY name was listed as the GC on the bank documents.

I suspect you put a pretty hefty % down? It can be done but you will definitely need more cash upfront. I looked into it and even owning the land it was going to be more then I could swing at the time. Now if you know a GC that will “assist”you will have more options.

[Mike D]

Y’all are correct you can not GC your own home. Spoke to my banker. He shed a lot of light on his as well. Thank you all for your input and advice. I think it’s safe to say just hire a home builder


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There is another way to do it and while it will cost you a consulting fee, you’ll still save a nice amount of $$ AND you can be as I control of every aspect that you want to be.

Look into U Build It, Owner- Builder network and there’s another one I can’t think of right now.

We are doing this as we speak with U Build It.

I am a budget hound (full time job is construction PM) and while we’ve had a couple of bumps so far, I’ve identified some savings to offset those plus I carried a contingency in my budget.

Landrover can probably shed some light on his experience as well with his build.


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[Mike D]

I suspect you put a pretty hefty % down? It can be done but you will definitely need more cash upfront. I looked into it and even owning the land it was going to be more then I could swing at the time. Now if you know a GC that will “assist”you will have more options.

I put 15% down on my construction loan but will have considerable more equity than that when I go to permanent financing.


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[solocam_aggie]

I GCd our house. I just wrote my dad down as the GC for lending. I had issues with the first trade that was erecting the metal building. After that it was smooth sailing. Im ready to do my next one.

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[myway]

I put 15% down on my construction loan but will have considerable more equity than that when I go to permanent financing.


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Agree 100% but at the time that was not an option for me. As you mentioned it will be beneficial to use a GC contact or one of the contacts you mentioned to assist in the lending process. That was primarily my point.

^^ See above post.

[captainsling]

Use a consulting firm as your GC. Not that expensive and will steer you right if need be.

[cbd10pt]

the way around the lending head ache -find a bank that will finance your 'spec home'. They want to see a profit loss analysis, bank statements, and they will want you to have vendors with credit accounts
Then by it from your company when you finish.

[jaspermac]

I was the GC in my house. I would definitely do it again. I averaged 5 hours everyday on the house plus weekends.

One HUGE piece of advice...handle all of the material buying. I wouldn’t allow any subs to buy anything. I got very good deals and shopped around for materials. Bought some things out of CA for 50% less than I could buy local. I also did a ton of work to really save money. People say you can’t get subs but I never had a problem. My house never sat empty with no one working. We built it in less than 6 months.

[bloodtrailer28]

Y’all are correct you can not GC your own home. Spoke to my banker. He shed a lot of light on his as well. Thank you all for your input and advice. I think it’s safe to say just hire a home builder


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Yes you can. Check with a different bank our local bank had no problem with it.

[cwill]

We went through owner builder network and got alot more house for our money. It will cost you a decent fee, but you will come out way ahead in the end. It's not that hard!

[PEC]

I have hired a GC to build, GC’d two and built one entirely myself. For the least hassle hiring a GC is general the way to go. Most money saved but most stressful was building myself. Being the GC was a good medium for stress and money saving. Being a GC does have aggravation. Getting subs to show up when you need them is always a hassle. Keep multiple subs for each craft waiting in the wings. There is a good was to work with a GC and have no hassle plus save some money. For one house we hired a GC but he did not charge a fee on any work I had done as long as it didn’t hold up the job. For instance I did electrical had family do the AC and flooring. His percentage was not put on those things.

[curtintex]

I built our lake home, it had its ups and downs for sure, had a couple of subs get to me pretty good as far as warranties go, I know one thing, you need to have a lot of free time on your hands, I really do not know if I saved money or not because I never got any bids, I did not have a budget either, I can see where it would be very easy to destroy a budget. I did get pretty much exactly what I wanted.

You build like my wife!!!!