Has anyone here had a new home built?

[Arkitech]

So any ATOT members here ever had a new home built?

How long did the process take?
Did you save any money by hiring the builder yourself as opposed to buying a new home already built?
Are you satisfied with the work and craftsmanship?


I'm looking to build 3 new single family houses this year, I plan on selling 2 and living in 1. So I'm really doing my homework right now and trying to learn as much as I can before I select a builder. Anyone have any advice they want to pass on?

 

[733SHiFTY]

My pops and his freind built ours. Donno how long it took, but I think when you DIY, and have the proper skillz, you can be sure the work is done right.

 

[Arkitech]

Originally posted by: 733SHiFTY
My pops and his freind built ours. Donno how long it took, but I think when you DIY, and have the proper skillz, you can be sure the work is done right.

I'm terrible with a hammer, besides I don't think I would have time to actually build one myself anyway.

How long did it take for yours to be completed?

 

[spanky]

Originally posted by: Arkitech

Originally posted by: 733SHiFTY
My pops and his freind built ours. Donno how long it took, but I think when you DIY, and have the proper skillz, you can be sure the work is done right.

I'm terrible with a hammer, besides I don't think I would have time to actually build one myself anyway.

How long did it take for yours to be completed?

the ppl next door built their house. i would estimate it took about 4-5 months.

 

[DeadByDawn]

I actually contracted my own house 2 years ago, new construction. It's a lot of work, but I saved a ton of money. I built the house for under $50 a sq ft, including everything. And I didn't go cheap on anything, only high quality materials. I did a lot of the work myself, or with family help. Make sure you hire the best framer available, so much depends on their work. I loved it, because I was involved every step of the way and got the house I wanted exactly. It's a lot of work though.

 

[DeadByDawn]

Oh yeah, mine took about 6 months from the time they dug the foundation to completion.

 

[CrimsonChaos]

Great thread. I'm interested in hearing people's experiences as well.

In addition to the OP's questions, I'd like to ask if it's really as much of a hassle as some people at my work say it is. They claim you need to visit your new property on a daily basis to monitor the ongoing progress, and to ensure the contractors aren't short-cutting anywhere. This seems pretty extreme to me, but would like to hear others' input.

 

[DPmaster]

I would highly recommend monitoring their progress as much as possible (daily if you can). Of course you have to know what to look out for. I'm not really familiar with this but my father is. He would go with his friend (who was having his home built) and see that they would try to cut corners like not putting in all the nails where they should be.

Remember that your house isn't the only one they are building. They have other homes to build and will try to complete yours as fast as possible (even if it means skimping on materials here and there). You have to let the builders be aware that you ARE watching them as they build your house...this gives them the idea that they can't cut corners.

 

[daveman]

We built a house last year. It took about 5 months. It is a brick ranch, about 1900 square feet with a full basement. We hired a contractor and was pretty satisfied. The good thing about having one built is you can get exactly what you want. The main thing is to stay on top of it and don't let the contractor by with anything. You can fire the guy if things arent going like you want.
Anyways good luck. pm me if you have any detailed questions

 

[spanky]

Originally posted by: daveman
We built a house last year. It took about 5 months. It is a brick ranch, about 1900 square feet with a full basement. We hired a contractor and was pretty satisfied. The good thing about having one built is you can get exactly what you want. The main thing is to stay on top of it and don't let the contractor by with anything. You can fire the guy if things arent going like you want.
Anyways good luck. pm me if you have any detailed questions

if you fire the contractor, what happens with the cost?

 

[meltdown75]

We've been in our new house just over 2 years. There have been no problems as of yet. Amazingly, our place was built in just over 2 months. The builder had no other projects on the go and was really able to concentrate on our house alone. I used to work in the residential department of my job, handling a lot of building permits for new housing starts. Two months to me seemed impossible, but it got done and the only things that needed to be finished when we moved in was touch-up painting (final coats, trim, etc.). We were doubly impressed by the job he did. I had a couple people walk through looking for anything that might have seemed like a cut corner, but he actually went above and beyond what was required to be considered a quality build.

All in all, I would say he did a fantastic job. He had worked for another company and didn't like some of their practices, so he started up his own company. He was extremely eager to to absolutely everything to make sure that it was his best work to date.

It's a raised ranch, about 1150 square feet on the main level with the lower still unfinished. We love our home, and I am confident that it is one of the better built homes in the area. Actually, our neighbour's basement flooded a while back and ours didn't - doesn't say much but it's a sign of either deficiencies on the part of their builder or the superiority of ours.

 

[Arkitech]

Originally posted by: DeadByDawn
I actually contracted my own house 2 years ago, new construction. It's a lot of work, but I saved a ton of money. I built the house for under $50 a sq ft, including everything. And I didn't go cheap on anything, only high quality materials. I did a lot of the work myself, or with family help. Make sure you hire the best framer available, so much depends on their work. I loved it, because I was involved every step of the way and got the house I wanted exactly. It's a lot of work though.

:Q

holy crap, less than $50 per square foot!!! That's friggin amazing. Do you have experience in construction? Did you hire all of your contractors directly and play the role of GC yourself? How did you find the time to do everything and still work a job?

 

[daveman]

Originally posted by: spanky

Originally posted by: daveman
We built a house last year. It took about 5 months. It is a brick ranch, about 1900 square feet with a full basement. We hired a contractor and was pretty satisfied. The good thing about having one built is you can get exactly what you want. The main thing is to stay on top of it and don't let the contractor by with anything. You can fire the guy if things arent going like you want.
Anyways good luck. pm me if you have any detailed questions

if you fire the contractor, what happens with the cost?

Not really sure. Thank God we didnt have that problem. But like DPmaster said you should check out the work daily and advise the contractor asap if there are any problems.

 

[gscone]

My folks have a large 5500sq ft home built on the north shore of LI 3 years ago. Took the builder about 12-13 months to do all the work. The builder was awesome and had some awesome ideas. Cost of the project was close to 450k w/o land of course. If my parents house was on the market today, it would sell for 1.8-2.0 mil easy..

 

[Fritzo]

I'm in the middle of building one right now. Took them a week to lay the basement, the it went pretty fast after that. They're just up to putting siding on the outside now. Here's some pics (dates are below pics):

Started end of May, projected finish is October.

 

[daveman]

Originally posted by: Fritzo
I'm in the middle of building one right now. Took them a week to lay the basement, the it went pretty fast after that. They're just up to putting siding on the outside now. Here's some pics (dates are below pics):

Started end of May, projected finish is October.

Looks like it gonna be nice. I bet your family is real exicted.
Congrats

 

[gscone]

Originally posted by: Fritzo
I'm in the middle of building one right now. Took them a week to lay the basement, the it went pretty fast after that. They're just up to putting siding on the outside now. Here's some pics (dates are below pics):

Started end of May, projected finish is October.

Looks good..what town/city is this in?

 

[Arkitech]

Originally posted by: Fritzo
I'm in the middle of building one right now. Took them a week to lay the basement, the it went pretty fast after that. They're just up to putting siding on the outside now. Here's some pics (dates are below pics):

Started end of May, projected finish is October.

How did you find your builder? (recommendation, advertisement, etc.)

 

[dirtboy]

Do you have enough income to get qualified for 3 loans?

Do you have a plan on what to do if you can't sell 2 of your 3 homes?

Do you have a plan in case you can't rent 2 of your 3 homes to cover the entire cost of your mortgage?

Do you have any experience flipping real estate?

Do you know what the real estate market will be like when the 2 houses you are flipping will be like when they are done?

Do you understand the taxes and costs associated in flipping property, and do you know if you can make a profit?

 

[dirtboy]

Originally posted by: CrimsonChaos
Great thread. I'm interested in hearing people's experiences as well.

In addition to the OP's questions, I'd like to ask if it's really as much of a hassle as some people at my work say it is. They claim you need to visit your new property on a daily basis to monitor the ongoing progress, and to ensure the contractors aren't short-cutting anywhere. This seems pretty extreme to me, but would like to hear others' input.

Visiting "your" property while being built by someone else is called trespassing. You don't own anything until the loan closes. These days, you'll find the workers don't want you around and if you show up, the builder can have you arrested.

Tract houses are just that. You're often not allowed to make changes or do anything until the house is done. Read your contract and know what you can and can't do.

 

[DeadByDawn]

Originally posted by: Arkitech

Originally posted by: DeadByDawn
I actually contracted my own house 2 years ago, new construction. It's a lot of work, but I saved a ton of money. I built the house for under $50 a sq ft, including everything. And I didn't go cheap on anything, only high quality materials. I did a lot of the work myself, or with family help. Make sure you hire the best framer available, so much depends on their work. I loved it, because I was involved every step of the way and got the house I wanted exactly. It's a lot of work though.

:Q

holy crap, less than $50 per square foot!!! That's friggin amazing. Do you have experience in construction? Did you hire all of your contractors directly and play the role of GC yourself? How did you find the time to do everything and still work a job?

haha, yep. The whole house including well and septic, concrete, yard, dirt etc cost 98K, and it's just shy of 2100 sq feet not including the garage. I had no experience. But I was lucky because my father in law had just done the same thing (contracted his own house) about 3 years prior, so I asked a lot of questions. And he had lots of contacts. I hired people to do the work using some of the same people he had used that did a good job. Also I wired the house myself (under supervision of an electrician friend), my dad & I did the plumbing, my wife and I painted the house etc. It's worth way more than what I have in it. Oh, i live in a cheap cost of living area of the country also.

 

[Arkitech]

Originally posted by: dirtboy
Do you have enough income to get qualified for 3 loans?
I'm already pre-qualified for the loans, I also have the down payment needed

Do you have a plan on what to do if you can't sell 2 of your 3 homes?
I can carry the mortgage if neccessary until the homes are sold, but I should'nt have that issue considering almost every new home in my area sells very quickly

Do you have a plan in case you can't rent 2 of your 3 homes to cover the entire cost of your mortgage?
see above response

Do you have any experience flipping real estate?
I have about 3-4 years experience and several deals under my belt

Do you know what the real estate market will be like when the 2 houses you are flipping will be like when they are done?
Unless the economy or real estate market crashes completely within the next 3-4 months it should be pretty much similar to what it is now

Do you understand the taxes and costs associated in flipping property, and do you know if you can make a profit?

I've flipped properties in the past so I'm familiar with capital gains taxes and the entire point of me wanting to build 3 homes is based soley on profit.

Since you have so many questions I'm assuming you're in RE market in some way. Do you have any advice?

 

[Arkitech]

Originally posted by: DeadByDawn

Originally posted by: Arkitech

Originally posted by: DeadByDawn
I actually contracted my own house 2 years ago, new construction. It's a lot of work, but I saved a ton of money. I built the house for under $50 a sq ft, including everything. And I didn't go cheap on anything, only high quality materials. I did a lot of the work myself, or with family help. Make sure you hire the best framer available, so much depends on their work. I loved it, because I was involved every step of the way and got the house I wanted exactly. It's a lot of work though.

:Q

holy crap, less than $50 per square foot!!! That's friggin amazing. Do you have experience in construction? Did you hire all of your contractors directly and play the role of GC yourself? How did you find the time to do everything and still work a job?

haha, yep. The whole house including well and septic, concrete, yard, dirt etc cost 98K, and it's just shy of 2100 sq feet not including the garage. I had no experience. But I was lucky because my father in law had just done the same thing (contracted his own house) about 3 years prior, so I asked a lot of questions. And he had lots of contacts. I hired people to do the work using some of the same people he had used that did a good job. Also I wired the house myself (under supervision of an electrician friend), my dad & I did the plumbing, my wife and I painted the house etc. It's worth way more than what I have in it. Oh, i live in a cheap cost of living area of the country also.

Kudos man, that's an awesome story. I would imagine your equity should be pretty sizeable.

 

[Fritzo]

Originally posted by: gscone

Originally posted by: Fritzo
I'm in the middle of building one right now. Took them a week to lay the basement, the it went pretty fast after that. They're just up to putting siding on the outside now. Here's some pics (dates are below pics):

Started end of May, projected finish is October.

Looks good..what town/city is this in?

It's in a suburb of NW Ohio called Whitehouse. It's about 20 minutes from Toledo, OH.

 

[dirtboy]

Originally posted by: Arkitech

Originally posted by: dirtboy
Do you have enough income to get qualified for 3 loans?
I'm already pre-qualified for the loans, I also have the down payment needed

Do you have a plan on what to do if you can't sell 2 of your 3 homes?
I can carry the mortgage if neccessary until the homes are sold, but I should'nt have that issue considering almost every new home in my area sells very quickly

Do you have a plan in case you can't rent 2 of your 3 homes to cover the entire cost of your mortgage?
see above response

Do you have any experience flipping real estate?
I have about 3-4 years experience and several deals under my belt

Do you know what the real estate market will be like when the 2 houses you are flipping will be like when they are done?
Unless the economy or real estate market crashes completely within the next 3-4 months it should be pretty much similar to what it is now

Do you understand the taxes and costs associated in flipping property, and do you know if you can make a profit?

I've flipped properties in the past so I'm familiar with capital gains taxes and the entire point of me wanting to build 3 homes is based soley on profit.

Since you have so many questions I'm assuming you're in RE market in some way. Do you have any advice?

Based on your first post you sounded like a noob, which is why I am wondering why you asked the questions that you did, because if you are experienced, you'd either: already know the answers, or know someone you trust who could answer the questions for you.