DIY General Contractor Home Build Questions

[rut-ro]

No personal experience however my cousin was his own GC. If I remember correctly his biggest issue was the guys he was using also worked for a home builder so they were more worried about the work they were getting from said home builder because at the time it was steady and they were getting a lot of work. I think the housing market may slow down in a few months and you may have good luck getting good subs. I can’t remember the members name in here that was the GC for his own pool and ended up starting his own pool building company ( not alike but alike in many ways ) good luck and post a build along thread

[Sticks&Strings]

We just finished our build last year. We built for $75 per sf. My wife managed it but her background is homebuilding and purchasing.

For the $75 we got stucco and stone exterior, lifetime architectural shingles, tons of windows, 10 foot ceilings on both levels, foam insulation, high end appliances, 3 sets of bifold patio doors, custom cabinets and 7" baseboards EVERYWHERE, 8 foot doors, marble backsplashes and countertops, 9" wide plank hardwood flooring throughout, Kohler real rain shower, body jets, farm sink with Rohl faucets, etc. We even have frosted glass and aluminum garage doors that she shipped in from China, navigated through customs, and picked up at the port.

A builder would have looked at our spec sheet and wanted $180 per sf. My wife wanted the freedom to make our dollars work for us 100% on the finishes instead of paying 25- 50% markups for all the upgrades.... she knows the margins on them because she used to be a purchasing manager and negotiated that "design center" crap.

It took 2 years of planning (looking for land, finding the right loan) and 10 months of building/buying and she worked it 18 hours a day. I would wake up in the middle of the night and hear her typing out an email to China because that's when they were working.

She did good but she already said this was a one time thing.



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What part of the state are you in? If your wife can do it for that, I want to hire her. I'm a custom builder and I know for a fact I cant build for that. Are you including driveway, pad, sprinkler system, septic, landscape, etc in that number?

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[RutnBuk]

What part of the state are you in? If your wife can do it for that, I want to hire her. I'm a custom builder and I know for a fact I cant build for that. Are you including driveway, pad, sprinkler system, septic, landscape, etc in that number?

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As a custom builder I dont see how that’s possible either. Unless some things aren’t included as you said.

[glen]

Best advice I can give is find subs that know each other. If not they don’t communicate and can’t get their times lined up. Or if time is not an issue don’t stack them close to each other. Another way to save a lot is do a lot of the labor that you can.

Easy places to save $$$ that anyone can do.
Floor if doing click and snap
Painting
Hanging lights and ceiling fans

Keep cash on hand for xtra stuff you decide on
Don’t make any changes once you start

Biggest suggestion- Plan on more time than what you are thinking-

[Arrowthreat]

The main issue will be finding subs that will be willing to work for you without having the luxury of being covered under a builders insurance. I know a lot of subs won't step foot on a jobsite unless they're covered on a policy they know about. I was just talking to a friend who is GC on his 5K plus SQFT custom home. He is having the same problem. He ended up having to use one of is subs as a "GC" so that some of the subs could have the insurance coverage.


I used to be a commercial GC Project manager. It's a pain in the rear doing it professionally with professional guys. I have a huge network of professional commercial trades that could easily knock out residential work for me. I know these owners on a personal level. I still wouldn't want to GC my own home build even using my guys. I just don't have time to deal with it with working full time.

I'm in the process of building a home right now. I hired a builder who has been building houses his entire life. (He's in his 70's). His subs have worked for him for decades. His price and quality is on point, and his subs work together on projects, so they can knock out a house extremely quick. I will be a little over 100 dollars a SQFT. He offered to build cost Plus at 12 % his cost.

[glen]

Guy that works for me builds his own houses. In the 6 years he has worked for me he is on his 3rd. Builds lives in 2 or so years builds and repeats. He makes about $150k plus on each one. He does do his own finish plumbing and HAVAC work. Contracts out everything else. I can get you guys in touch by phone if you want. He can answer all your questions.

[hbender1]

My main question would be where do you get your contact list for the subs that will do good work for a fair price?

Based on a few remodeling jobs we've done (and a few we wanted to do, but haven't due to very high contractor bids) It seems like building a new house from advertised contacts would be like trying to build a car from the auto parts store...........

[Banded Drake Calls]

My main question would be where do you get your contact list for the subs that will do good work for a fair price?

Based on a few remodeling jobs we've done (and a few we wanted to do, but haven't due to very high contractor bids) It seems like building a new house from advertised contacts would be like trying to build a car from the auto parts store...........

Local builders associations

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[Cookiemonster1]

Wow! These numbers are incredible if the are figured correctly.

[JHT]

Without question there is money to be saved. But what most people don't factor in is how much their time is worth. Going in blind building one yourself if you kept a log of how much time you worked on the project from start to finish (plus vacation/sick days from your job) and averaged it out to an hourly rate most would have rather hired someone else to have had it built for them.

[robbyreneeward]

Gents,

For you that have GC'd your own home build, I have some questions...

-What were the main issues you encountered with contractors?

-Were you ever taken/shafted by any of the contractors? How?

-Do you have examples of contracts you used?

-Ever give down payments for any reason?

-Ever include Liquidated Damages in your contract for taking too long?

-What is an acceptable lead time or heads up should be given to each trade before they're expected to start?

-Best examples of how you saved money? (IE TexasTaxi ordering the batch concrete himself!)

-Did you handle purchasing materials for contractors and stage on site?

-Any problems with theft for build site? How did you control access?

-Any hints/tips/tricks/advice you can give a guy with general construction experience that has never taken on a project of this magnitude?

thanks!

Pm me with your number. I’ll give you a call later today. I did mine and even did the finish carpentry.


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[Grayson]

The main issue will be finding subs that will be willing to work for you without having the luxury of being covered under a builders insurance. I know a lot of subs won't step foot on a jobsite unless they're covered on a policy they know about. I was just talking to a friend who is GC on his 5K plus SQFT custom home. He is having the same problem. He ended up having to use one of is subs as a "GC" so that some of the subs could have the insurance coverage.


I used to be a commercial GC Project manager. It's a pain in the rear doing it professionally with professional guys. I have a huge network of professional commercial trades that could easily knock out residential work for me. I know these owners on a personal level. I still wouldn't want to GC my own home build even using my guys. I just don't have time to deal with it with working full time.

I'm in the process of building a home right now. I hired a builder who has been building houses his entire life. (He's in his 70's). His subs have worked for him for decades. His price and quality is on point, and his subs work together on projects, so they can knock out a house extremely quick. I will be a little over 100 dollars a SQFT. He offered to build cost Plus at 12 % his cost.

In Whitewright area? Please send me details/info.

[meltingfeather]

I ask because there are several members on here that have successfully GC’d their own build at tremendous savings.

There's no free lunch-- it's a question of how much your time and energy is worth to you vs. the money to pay a GC.
Sure the $ might go down, but you're putting in the effort.
If you're good at it, have the time to give, and enjoy it, definitely can be worth it. Good luck!

[Throwin Darts]

Put this whole idea in the “life’s too short” category.


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[sotx]

Answers provided in blue. You got this.

I would add that its typically difficult for the one man show one home GC to get subs to show up and get the job done because their multi home builders have the busy and your single home for a GC they will never work for again gets put on the back burner.
If you have high blood pressure or are in a hurry or just generally enjoy life, dont do it