We're in similar situation as you, and opted to find land first. It took two years since we had some specific wants on our list re: layout, location, etc. Our bank gave us the option of buying land outright with 20% down, or to include land on a construction perm loan. If you go with land first, the bank will happily convert that to construction perm loan later (ours will anyway). They probably love that option since they get two closing fees.

If you can find a plan and builder you love while you also shop for land, it will save you $$ by doing everything at once up front.

All that said, we're having a harder time nailing down the house plan and builder than we thought. Agree with neonweb that you may want to change certain elements based on location (i.e. our Northern side will be more exposed to neighbors, so we don't want our master on that side).

Don't buy the plan before you have ballpark estimates from builders to make sure you can afford it.

Hope that helps!

I would say "what general 'kind' of home do you want"? Once you know that, then you'll have a better idea of what type of land it's suited for. If you always wanted a log home, for instance, it's going to be out of place in a subdivision...

One thing to keep in mind when selecting a lot is where will the garage go? Is the high side (typically where the garage will go) on the opposite side as you drive up?

I cringe when I see side entry garages jet out and you can't see a home as you drive up. That is one of the most disastrous mistakes I can come up with.

I would try to find the land first. The right piece of property was our biggest priority, and we kissed a lot of toads before we found our prince. You should have the property before you design, as the lay of the land can have a huge impact on the appropriate design. The longer you can study the land before siting the house and finalizing the design, the better. I recommend a lot of research before you buy. Many parcels have restrictions, or may have issues such as flood zones and other topographical issues. DO NOT let anyone tell you that such-and-such 'isn't a problem'. Do your own due diligence!

Only the local building authority can advise you on building fees, what's required in the way of plans, and who can act as the GC, or do other work. In our part of SC, the permit was only $400. I have a friend in New England who paid $66,000 because of required variances and wetlands encroachment. We didn't even have to submit plans when we pulled our permit. The plans are turned in after completion, and can be basic pencil sketches. Other locations may require numerous copies of professional plans, and engineering stamps. Lastly, I was able to do all of my own work here, the only rule being that I can't sell the house for two years after completion. They'll also tell you what building codes you'll be required to follow. Again, this can have a huge impact on cost.

All that being said, you'll then have to find out what the bank will let you do. I did most of my own work, and paid for everything out of pocket, so I have no experience dealing with banks. If I were the bank, I would want a licensed GC in charge, licensed subs doing all of the work, and would want everything to be new, and approved by the GC. You have to remember it is really their asset, not yours until it is paid off. You probably need to have an exploratory meeting with the bank first, and explain what you want to do. If they toss you out, try as many banks as you can. If you can't get the funding, everything else is moot.

The best thing to do right now is to communicate with that in house expert with 20 years of building experience. Communication is the most needed skill of anyone undertaking this. Most of your questions should be able to be answered by him, if he's going to quit his job to focus on building this house. If he's not going to do that, or not able to answer those questions, then why are you even considering owner building?

270K is low for a build. Not impossible. Just limiting. Very limiting. You will need to be in a very low cost area of the country and plan something small, basic , square, and utilitarian, on not a lot of property. Your money would go much further to buy existing than to build. The only reason to build is if you couldn't find an existing property that met your needs and were willing to pay more for that privilege of personalization.

Do you have any savings beyond the equity in your home? Can you afford a second mortgage payment? I would be looking for land now, and if possible, buy it and work on paying it off while you go through the design phase. Hopefully then by the time you go to sell, you'll have more equity in the house, meaning more cash for the build. You'll also be in a rental for a shorter period of time, and that's a common gripe about building is dealing with living in temporary housing while waiting for a build to be finished.

We have been looking at plans and land for years, we just tromped through two different parcels of land on monday just to get an idea of what's for sale etc... we do have a strong idea of a home style... it would be simple! A box with one roof line... etc... no garage. We could probably float another small mortgage if we found the perfect land right now, and that is for sure an option.

Also, what do you think of sites like this: http://costtobuild.net/index.html

I have used two different sites and plugged in the info for our preferred home plans, and it always comes in WAY below our budgeted price?

Great point about doing your due diligence when evaluating the land. Two builders walked a lot with me and said A ok. Another brought up some issues that then led to multiple calls to various folks that worked at the county. County engineer said he doesn't know why more people don't do what I'm doing to avoid surprises later. That explained why it was so difficult to get information.

Plugging in our numbers in the cost to build calculator you linked seems very low.

There have been threads discussing http://www.building-cost.net and other people's experiences show that it is reasonably accurate and it is more in line with estimates we are getting from contractors.

The calculator that squiggles posted was almost dead nuts to what we have...first time I've seen that. Most are usually too high.

I found the first calculator low compared to my personal real world project. It gave me a price that was 20 years out of date. Multiply the result by 1.6 to get accurate numbers for me.

Same for other projects that I've been involved in. Multiply those calculator results from anywhere from 1.3 to 2.0 for real world costs.

LWO, did you try the second calculator? For our project it was about 1.8 times the result of the first calculator. Would be interested in your take on it.