Anybody ever act as the general contractor building their own house? Suggestions?

[dennis thompson]

We are thinking of having a new house built. I am retired & thinking about acting as the general contractor. Has anyone,particularly an amateur like me, ever done this? Thoughts? Suggestions?
Thanks
Dennis

[Matt Meiser]

When I started my first job after college I sat across from a guy who was acting as his own GC. He spent the better part of every single day, day in, day out, M-F, ?AM to ?PM, rain or shine, month after month on the phone with someone about the house. At least once a week, if not more, he came in late or went flying out of there to deal with some problem. Get the picture? :D

Maybe he had the world's worst subs, but after seeing that I vowed I'd never do it myself.

[Jerome Stanek]

I acted as my own 40 years ago and wish I didn't afters. But as I got more involved with construction I would do it again now. I am a GC for commercial jobs now so a house is nothing for me now.

[Kevin Bourque]

I'm a General Contractor and I wouldn't recommend doing it unless you have a strong background in construction.
You're not just scheduling people to show up and do the work.
You're the one who has to tell them where to put the concrete,wires, pipes, ducts, walls, etc...etc...etc...
You also have to know if the works being done properly, and to code.

[phil harold]

There are 2 big problems


Do you Know enough about it to be a general contractor yourself?
Can you actual tell what a good, excavation footing/foundation, framing rough plumbing, electrical Look like compared to bad work?
Will you micro manage everything or let important things slip?
When a sub tells you "that will work" is it going to, actually?

Good Subcontractors will give priority to their General contractors on schedule jobs and price.
Do you have contacts in the building trade to guide you to find quality subs?
And do you know how to control them without pissing them off?
Can you write good contracts with subs that they will sign?

How much do you plan on saving or will it cost you more because of mistakes on your side, unskilled labor, schedule conflicts, added steps, and dont forget change orders. What about call backs? Buy a house from a builder you will get a warranty...
Will the building inspector pay more attention to you because you are new?

I watched my father do it.
He had great satisfaction that he was in control of it but he paid for it and it was not right

foundation wrong size out not level (oops1 and ch-ching)
framers where from another area and not used to the local codes (ch-ching)
the chimney continued to leak (ch-ching)
Plumber installed an inefficient boiler(ch-ching) and instant hot water to kitchen (ch-ching)
Bad concrete driveway cracked and spalted in the first year..

.

Will you be able to do it? Yes
Will it turn out good? Possibly
Will it be cheaper? Doubtful

[Van Huskey]

First, I have done it twice. I rather enjoyed the whole process. First, you need a lot of TIME to be on-site, seperate from the work I did myself I would suggest you plan to be there everyday for at least some time. Second, do you have the desire and aptitude to learn the process? I spent a lot of time teaching myself the entire process and sub interaction of building a house. I enjoyed it but for others it might be like work.

The first thing is learn the regulatory side of the build, my jurisdictions actually had self-builder packets that outlined the whole process with inspection schedules, local codes etc. Understand all the codes that apply, little things like the need for tempered windows in certain situations, hurricane straps etc etc. Second, is start lining up subs, this may be the most important part of the process. Good subs will make or break you. But, no matter how good they seem YOU better be able to judge their work in progress. Third, make sure YOU can read blueprints and make sure you have good plans. Though a good framer should know what the subs behind them need you still need to keep all the infrastructure in mind constantly. Will the HVAC, plumber and electrician have the proper spaces? This is REALLY important if you make changes on the fly, you will almost certainly want to make some and you have to make sure they don't make a later subs job impossible. I could go on for DAYS about what you will need to know, but the information is available.

I came in slightly over budget both times but it wasn't from true over-runs but from making the choice to upgrade. If it weren't for the upgrades I would have been very close to budget. Both times I came in about 25% under what houses were selling for in the neighborhood with better finishes, but I shopped just about every item and did some of the work myself. It WILL take you longer to do it than a pro GC, this I guarantee. My house is built better than most of my neighbors homes but I made sure it was.

One of the big jobs is project management and the more you have done this in life and especially if you understand the critical path method the smoother things will go, but you have to learn to "work" each individual sub as they each take a slightly different approach. One BIG issue is never let them get ahead on payments!!! Less of an issue if you have a construction loan. I built both my houses out of my pocket so I was able to negotiate a better rate from every single sub for cash payments (by that I mean Benjamins) as well as my lumber yard. This alone saved me over 10% on the entire house.

This is not for the faint of heart and you will have every headache (and more) that you normally pay a GC to handle. If you are willing to spend lots of time learning, lots of time on-site, can visualize exactly what you want and can communicate it, have the extra time it will take get to a COA, are a good project manager and handle stress well you can do a good job and save money. If you aren't able to do all of the above on the fly you can really screw up. The final thing is marital stress, building a home is a huge stress on a marraige and being the GC probably doubles that.

[Carl Beckett]

I have been around friends that have done it, and when it came time for me I took a pass and let the GC do it. For all the reasons cited already.

One key piece of this is assessing your own skill level. Its not trivial to get everything lined up and done properly. Heck, my one friend caught a sub pouring the concrete foundation a foot off - and this was with a GC involved!!! The GC would have had to redo it - but avoiding such a mistake to begin with is preferred.

Project management is not trivial. Keeping tabs on subs takes a lot of time/knowledge, and a certain personality (GC's that use the same subs over and over have a little leverage at least - a one time relationship has a way of being treated differently).

I do believe you can save a little money if you nail it. Van's experience (and expertise) I would wager is not the norm though, so take a hard, realistic look at your own knowledge/skill set before you get into it.

[Larry Browning]

We built our house about 30 years ago (no longer own that house). We did much of the work ourselves. My wife served as the GC, but was her full time job at the time. She knew nothing at all about construction, but learned a lot. She rather enjoyed the process. We hired some firemen to do the framing. I'm not sure that was the best way to go. It took longer than usual and we made them redo several things. He left the blue prints in the sun too long and much of the detail faded, causing him to miss the fact that there was a balcony on 2 of the bedrooms. I could go on and on about those guys!
At the end of the day we had a house though. I really don't know if hiring a GC would have worked out better, I don't even know if it saved us money. We did save a lot of money doing much of the work ourselves and I don't think we could have done that using a GC. It took almost a year to build that house, and I will never do it again, but I am glad we did it. We have since built our current house using a GC. BTW, I think it is a much better house.

[Rick Potter]

I just did a major remodel, adding 1200' to the house. In the past I have done several additions, so have a bit of experience. Others have told you of the time involved, so I won't dwell on the several trips a day to the lumber yard, etc.

Two main reasons I could do it myself are that I am retired, allowing me the time to spend six months every day, all day, and that I have a friend who has been a framer for over 40 years who was out of work. Now he has two adult sons who have been doing it at least 15 years full time for large development companies.

This friend, and his sons, did framing, roof, windows, and a lot of the trim. They gave me GOOD subs for cement, insulation, drywall, etc. I have an electrician who is very good, that I use on my rentals, as well as a clean up crew I have used before.

My wife drew the floor plan, and we had an engineering firm draw proper plans (required here). Without going into details this was a very unusual floor plan, and created problems for the engineer, and me. Resolved.

What I am saying is that I would not have done it myself if it were not for knowing I had good people doing the work.

I found a few advantages to doing it yourself. First, the city planning dept, and inspectors were very helpful to me as an owner/builder. I made it obvious this was not a spec job, and I wanted it done well. Second, we have the problem of making running changes. A contractor bids on a set of plans, and if you change anything he is going to write a 'change order' charging you for his additional expenses, and rightfully so. I was paying my carpenters by the hour, and if my wife said, "wouldn't a tray ceiling look good here?", or "can you change that roof over the bay window?", they didn't mind doing it.
Believe me, this happened several times. Thirdly, our addition was so well built that the inspector, as well as the other subs, constantly commented on how they were impressed with the quality. This made him happy, and he didn't nit-pick us.

The city head inspector even suggested a re-design of a very complicated roof, which we did, with even more modifications, which the inspector passed without our having to do engineering changes.

All this was done while we lived in the house, with no kitchen which was taken to the ground. That is the kitchen I am finishing now, 7 years after we started

So.......possible, but challenging. Very patient wife.

Rick Potter

[Greg Portland]

The "don't do it" comments are assuming that you would be able to find a top notch GC who is available & who comes in at your price point. Even with a "decent" GC you will want to be there almost every day (15m walkthrough, etc.) to make sure that things are on track and are being done to your expected quality level.

I think another question for the OP is what kind & size of house is he building? A 1200 sq.ft. rancher is significantly different than a 10k.sqft. multi-story mansion.

[Jerome Stanek]

And if you do take it on and see something that is not right don't take the we have done this 10 times and nobody else complained.

[Chris Damm]

I was the GC on my house. I was also the carpenter, roofer, electrician, plumber, kitchen installer, and painter. I was 25 at the time and while I only had to deal with the excavater, masons, and flooring installers I would never try it again! I cost me a marriage and strained my relationship with my kids that took years to overcome.

[Rod Sheridan]

In Canada, as the GC you are legally liable for the conduct of the hired trades and even site visitors.

Make sure you have enough insurance to cover the fines and costs in case a carpenter is injured on the job, and you are found at fault.

There's a case in BC now where the house owner was directing a couple of contractors and something went wrong. It cost the home owner a few hundred thousand dollars....Rod.

[Van Huskey]

Rod is correct you will need insurance coverage. General Liability and Builders Risk along with making SURE every sub has Worker's Comp, dealing with a Comp policy as a OB is too much of a hassle, bottom line you do NOT want to be an employer. Check your juristiction to ensure you don't accidentally become an employer since if you do taxes, WC insurance etc fall on you. This brings up a point IF you are financing you may want to get those ducks in a row first. Some banks are not loaning to OBs in the last few years, too much risk, some insurers are not writing builders risk policies for OBs and if financing the bank will likely require it. Point being you may want to make sure before spending too much time on it IF you are even able to be a OB. There are also liability issues that follow the house if you sell within a period of time, this may vary by jusrisdiction.

[harry hood]

Oh man, your post really brought back some sad memories. I had a good friend who decided to act as his own GC on a major remodel (essentially rebuilding the entire house). It ended in divorce (no kids), he started drinking again after being sober for nearly 15 years and the last I heard about 10 years ago somebody saw him living out of a car. If he kept drinking he's dead I'm sure. I'm glad you were able to patch things up with your kids.

[Brian Elfert]

I planned to work with a company that helps you build your own home. They are halfway between being a GC and doing it all yourself. Unfortunately, they went out of business before I could sell my house. I lost about $1000 I paid as a deposit, but I did get some house plans I can use down the road if I can ever sell my house.

[Jim Matthews]

I have no experience in something this large. It's more than just putting all the pieces together, in the right order -
a solid General Contractor will know who's worthy of the job, and who to avoid.

Perhaps there's a local trade school with someone running the training program that could steer you in the right direction.

Around here, if a GC is available in less than 6 months, I check his bona fides.
If he has a newer truck, with a magnetic business sign on the side - I ask for site references.

Even the big dogs think this kind of task is daunting, particularly for a first timer.
This Old House (http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/asktoh/question/0,,682973,00.html) has some thoughtful cautions...

[Curt Fuller]

I think that it would be a lot of fun to be your own contractor if you go into it with the attitude that you're doing it more for the satisfaction of the DIY perspective than for saving money. But I also think you'll find out why a GC charges what they charge. They earn their money. I've been in the construction materials end of it for almost 40 years and I can tell you with certainty that you won't purchase your materials with the same discounts given to a GC. And your subs won't give you the same price for their work as they do for a GC. The materials is just a simple volume issue, the subs will charge more because they know they won't be able to get in and out as easily and will have to do much more counseling, baby sitting, etc. You'll also be at a disadvantage in knowing which subs do the best work for what they charge. Get references and look at examples of their work before hiring them. Cheaper is almost never better. Listen to the advice of your subs and realize that a few bucks spent on higher quality materials is almost always worth it. In fact I'm a believer that any savings from contracting the job yourself are best spent in extras in the house. Unless you're building a house with the intention of selling it within a few years, you'll never regret the extras you put into it. And when you get all done and moved in, it should give you a huge sense of satisfaction that you did it on your own.

[dennis thompson]

Thanks for all the responses. I don't think I'm going to try it, the biggest concern I'd have is the picking out of good subs & getting high on their priority list. I would imagine that even one bad sub could cause real problems. While I know I have the time & think I have the organizational skills, it's not like making a mistake in building a table where I just throw away a few pieces of wood (I've done that a lot) an error on my part could be very expensive, not a risk I'm ready to take.
Thanks again
Dennis

[Darcy Forman]

I did it when we built our house four years ago. I also large part of the building myself. He is one bit of advice take it or leave it. You must be the type of person that doesn't get overwealmed easily. You must be mentally tough and expect to have problems. There will be problems and stress so you better to be handle those problems. My paying job is nothing but problems and challenges, so this project wasn't to bad for me. All in all it was less problems than I deal with on a day to day basis. However this is too much for other folks. This project stressed my wife big time. Good luck if you decide to take it on.

[Brian Ashton]

The one thing I see cause more problems than anything is when a person that is new to contracting tries to set dead lines when they have no reasonable as to what a job really takes. You have to accept you will have set backs and or unknown situations where you'll need to allow for reasonable time to overcome them. Both for your sanity and for a decent working relationship with your subcontractors. Nothing p***es off a subbie more than an ignorant unreasonable contractor, sometimes enough to walk off the job. Seen that many a time...

[Rich Engelhardt]

I don't think I'm going to try it, the biggest concern I'd have is the picking out of good subs & getting high on their priority list. I would imagine that even one bad sub could cause real problemsWise move..... & ...yes....your subs will make or break you.
I'm real small scale as a sort-of-GC with our rentals/rehabs.
It's take us a good 5 years to build up a list of subs - as well as generals - to deal with & we constantly, for one reason or another, have to add to and/or subtract from that list.

That's only for our "local" (w/in a few miles of home) properties.
We have one property located >50 miles & two counties away.

Seven weeks ago, I started looking for an electrician to come out and do 4 hours worth of work. Nothing major,,,running a dedicatd 20 amp circut tot he kitchen (about 35 feet from the panel), install some CFI's, encase some wire in conduit and replace a light fixture. Plus a couple other odds and ends.
I was very open as far as both price and time were concerned. I looked at it as the perfect opportunity for an electrician to pick up a quick few hundred bucks on a cake job they could use as a "filler".
I'm still witing for the initial guy I called to get back to me. Same with # 2, 3 & 4.
# 5 was "all jammed up except for on a Sunday - and of course, he'd have to charge double time and a half for that..
( funny because his house is a couple of blocks away and I drove by it several times & noticed his truck was in the driveway an awful lot during those weeks..)
#6 scheduled a date/time to do the work, then was a no show. Repeated calls went unreturned.
#7 also scheduled a date/time & he was a no show also. I called him 1/2 hour afteter he was supposed to be on site & he had the gall to ask if we'd arranged a time for him to come out,,,,he was all jammed up,,,yada, yada, yada...when I told him we'd already agreed on a time and date and a price & he was a half hour late showing up,,,he told me he was in the middle of something important and he'd get right back to me in a few min. - he called back over two hours later, BTW.

#8 was my "local guy" & by this time, I was really hurting bad for time. The 6 week "cushion" I went in with had dwindled down to a three day absolute deadline.
I had to call in a few favors & pay an extra travel charge to get him out - but - the work got done.
I would have gone w/him in the first place except he was up front and told me it would cost too much because of the drive & it would be better if I just used someone local to out there.

To give you a rough idea of what all was riding on this one tiny job...
My best worst case scenerio of potential loss would be about $5,000.00 - give or take.
It's a rental house and trying to rent anything after August - well --let's just say it's better to let it sit empty until Spring. Once the new school year starts, the overall rentability of a single family house drops like a stone.


P.S. -- edited to add....BTW,,,what I said about "wise" move? Probalby is wise,,,but maybe not so "smart"..despite everything,,,I just can't begin to describe the enormous amount of satisfaction there is once the whole "job" is complete. I just love that feeling....

[David Helm]

Probably can't add more to what already has been said. I spent 30 years as a gc, and seldom used subs (only those required by law; electrician and plumber). Hired the hole dug but did everything myself with a crew of two. Any mistakes were mine, and believe me, mistakes do happen. The most important part of the job is the beginning (foundation). Mistakes there cause further mistakes down the line. I think you would be wise to hire a good, small time gc. Talk to people around town who have used various builders. Look at their jobs. Don't go for the low bidder!!!!!!

[Matt Meiser]

You mean like the house across the street which is a real log home--and they poured the top of the foundation about 3" out of level. Homeowners were their own GC's. House sold a couple years ago a couple years after it was done (took 2 years to build) when forced by divorce. A contractor we used for window replacement was telling me about all the problems they ran into. He knew them from church and was regularly asked for advise.

[Larry Edgerton]

Probably can't add more to what already has been said. I spent 30 years as a gc, and seldom used subs (only those required by law; electrician and plumber). Hired the hole dug but did everything myself with a crew of two. Any mistakes were mine, and believe me, mistakes do happen. The most important part of the job is the beginning (foundation). Mistakes there cause further mistakes down the line. I think you would be wise to hire a good, small time gc. Talk to people around town who have used various builders. Look at their jobs. Don't go for the low bidder!!!!!!

Ditto what David said. The paper contractors add unnecessary overhead to a project in my opinion. Projects under a million are easy to manage on site, so I would also look for a guy that works the job with his crew.

But I may be biased.......

Larry

[Richard Wolf]

I just get a sick feeling in my stomach when I think about the times the "wife" was going to gc the job to save all the money. After all, she's good on the phone, she can get three estimates for every thing, how hard can this be? Boy, I can't get away from those jobs fast enough.

[Jason Roehl]

Heck, what do you have to lose? Not knowing anything about building but being able to work a telephone puts you on par with about 50% of the GCs around here. No, wait, that was 50% before 2008...I think most of those guys are gone now. But, there's still the local tradition of giving it all you have to just make code--and no more, and for as cheap as possible.

Then there's the subs. Did you know that many guys are self-employed just so they don't ever have to pee in a cup? I've been thanked before by homeowners because I'm clean-cut: short hair, keep my beard trimmed when I wear it, no tattoos or piercings, I don't swear on the job and don't play loud rap, rock or country on a radio (don't have a radio on the jobsite anyway--one more source of noise and one more thing to carry in and out). Some GCs don't care which subs they hire, but some do know through the grapevine which crews like to go down the road and burn one during lunch. Those are some of the intangible savings a good GC can bring to a job.

Some GCs also like to push their subs. That may cause a dip in quality, but it can save thousands of dollars in interest over the course of the construction loan because the house is done in 6 months instead of dragging on to 18 months while they fret over every little detail (homeowners can cause this too!).

Whomever you hire, whether you're the GC or not, be honest and thorough about your expectations (quality and $) before that person begins any work. Get it in writing...

[Jim Falsetti]

We have nearly finished adding about 800 square foot to our 40 year old raised ranch. I decided to be the acting GC. We designed the project last year, got the permits in January, and broke ground April 4th. The last sub left a the end of July. I have experience in large energy project management, but the skills required for a house renovation/remodel project are different. I mostly managed the project the way we did our projects at work - design the project, develop the specifications, plan the work, qualify and select the bidders, and then execute the project. We still have to install the finish trim and complete the final punch list, which should take about another three weeks. Overall the project has been very satisfactory. The subs we selected have been great. I suspect we saved a little bit of money, provided my time is is free (or maybe if my time is -$10 an hour).

The GC earns his money. A house has tons of detail and there is no substitute for experience. If you decide to do this yourself, without a GC, get some top-notch help, and spend a lot of time planning, designing, and learning. Expect to be on-site all day, every day, during the construction.

We started with a complete set of plans and 27 pages of specs from an experienced architect. All the contactors bid to those plans and specs, and they were included in almost all of the contracts.

The biggest surprise has been the extensive amount of earth moving and landscaping, increasing our total cost by 35%.

Jim

[Jeff Meeks]

I think a lot of it has to do with state of mind and expectations.

We decided that I was going to build our house, so we moved onto the property into a 14x70 mobile home. We picked a plan that I felt I could build in a year.

I guess I was "the general contractor" because I did everything or occasionally hired someone to help. The major tasks I didn't do myself were:
Roofing over the main part of the house (I had a small weather window that couldn't wait for my slow building style)
Plumbing
Sheetrock

I hired experienced people on an hourly basis for the foundation and some of the framing.

The only big mistake was the sheetrock. I should have fired the contractor on the second day and done it myself.

[jared herbert]

We are just in the very last steps of finishing our second home, on the north shore of lake superior. I live 400 miles away from it but spend a lot of time there. We hired a couple of carpenters to frame it up and do the cement work, foundation, etc. I did a lot of the work after that with a little hired help. The biggest pain was the electrician, getting him there to do anything and to finish what he started. The house is 2800 square feet on 2 levels, designed by an architect. Most everything went very smooth, no real problems. I attribute that to 2 things, a good plan to build from an a guy that worked at the lumberyard there who was very knowledgable about the business. He said the architects plan was one of the best he had ever seen and was very easy for him to work from. I would do it again in a minute if I could work with all of the same people again. I trusted them completely and they did not let me down. Jared

[Andrew Joiner]

I did it in 2006 and it went great. I'd done some remodeling/restoration of old properties myself. I got some experience evaluating bids by contractors on my old properties. My main expertise is furniture and mill-work.

I always wanted to build a very modern house for myself. I felt the main drawback was the codes and building inspector interfering with my freedom to push the boundaries of my design. This was based on horror stories I'd heard over the years about our local building inspector from contractor friends. Actually that turned out to be the fun part. Getting the maximum of what I wanted and still fitting within the rules. So I called the inspector and said" can I build a house with x y and z ". He didn't say no he said bring in a plan. Game on!
So I brought in a basic plan to scale that I drew myself. I have only basic drafting skills and mostly designed furniture and cabinets, so I expected the inspector to toss it at me and laugh. He looked at it and answered my basic big question. Yes, I could build a 35'x35'x 30' high steel structure all open inside with no rooms( I'd have to enclose the bathroom) . Yes, one wall could be all glass. The downside was I'd have have an engineer's stamp on the drawings before I could get approval to start. Most conventional designs can get city approval and you can shop for bids right away.
It was the beginning of a great adventure. I had plenty of time so I took 6 months to find an engineer and refine my design with a scale model. I got bids from everyone who would bid. I broke it down to parts I'd do and parts for subs. Money was tight because I didn't want a mortgage. I chose to build the window wall and all the interior. That worked out since we got the shell put up and paid for in the dry season. I could do the inside in the wet winter season.

I built lofts for sleeping areas, some enclosed, some open. The kitchen was temporary for the first year. I wanted to work with my wife in the space and show her how the permanent cabinets would function.

The key for me was doing first things first and then the next right thing. If I didn't know what was right, I'd take some time to research. My default rule was to only use time proven basic materials.

We have a beautiful dream home now. It's very satisfying to live in a home you designed.