How much time do you have? Do you work full time? You HAVE to know and get GC prices from the subs......period! They usually charge 40-50% less to GC's than consumers at least in this area near Charlotte. If you don't you will probably spend just as much paying a GC or even more. S. Fl......you might want to look into ICF for hurricanes. Probably would reduce your home insurance. You would need to hire a ICF contractor for that and then do the rest on your own. That would also reduce your HVAC tonnage reducing the price.

It generally is too herculean of a task. The problem is that subs don't like dealing with an owner as they may have unrealistic expectations and so they may charge you more. Mistakes happen and how they are handled is what the GC is really worth.

Let's talk a/c. Replacing a unit is not at all the same as a new house. Let's start with planning the duct work - size and run. Sizing the unit. Running new lines from unit to air handler. Building a base for the unit and air handler. Warranty calls for hot/cold spots. Testing for duct leaks (pretty sure Fl requires this). $22k for 3400 sqft is a bit high IMO. I have paid that much for a slightly bigger house but you can get by with less. At least in my area, who knows what your area would ask for. Lastly - ductwork is not that easy and you are underestimating the cost significantly.

There is a lot of crap in dealing with building a house - I am on my third. It is fairly stressful. Skip a GC and that stress is magnified considerably. There is a huge shortage of competent trades people and they will go to the GC's they know, some will travel to hurricane areas, and the few left for you to pick from will do shoddy work, slow work or find ways of charging you more later - oh no, your quote didn't include caulk...

10 years ago - maybe. Today - you are absolutely crazy.

What is your experience in construction?

Before becoming your own GC, you might want to offer your plans to a few more contractors for bids. Being your own GC, unless you have a lot of experience, could be fraught with problems. You don't know what you don't know until you're knee deep in problems. And then no professional wants to step in and fix your mistakes.

My understanding is that in Florida this would not be allowed. I have clients there and they could not even install their own cabinets all work has to be done by licensed professionals. That was a few years ago maybe the rulles have changed. I will tell you that most people who act as their own GC live to regret the decision and usually end up having to get someone to now fix all the problems that are created and you will end up spending more than if you just hired a GC.UNless you are on site 24/7 and have a huge understanding of the building process you are in for a huge surprise.An AC unit might cost 4K but that does not cover install and that is just the beginning . No matter which route you take the cost for repuable workers will not change ans as for prices for granite etc that is actually set by you not the GC.I think you need to do a little more research before embarking on this project.

What you are saying may be true ... however there are downfalls. Banks will not finance owner build, contractors you may not give you the best prices, or priority, they may start the build and leave for a month. Understand if you overpay lets say 20% on labor - you might as well hire a builder.

If you have a good amount of time - you can do it. Also I believe Florida has 75k improvement limit exemption and require YOU to directly supervise, you can not delegate this supervision; you also have to stay at least one year in the house. Some of it probably is not enforceable.

22k for high-end HVAC may be in the ballpark, for low end 5k over.

Can I recommend you https://www.costtobuild.net/ they are fairly close to reality. Set your structures to like "1" and then bump up appliances and cabinets.

"I have reached out to independent contractors (via Home Depot, Lowe's and Costco)."

Answers all I need to hear. Hire someone, as none of those places are where you look for quality subcontractors.

Are you sure building a home is the right fit for you? It sounds like you're approaching this suspicious of qualified builders, convinced that each phase should "only" cost X (based on... ?), and you seem to think the box stores are where the best subs are hiding. As a landscape guy I'm the last one in when a home is getting completed, so I see how a lot of rough builds end. You could very easily end up with a) a finished build you're unhappy with that cost you WAY more than planned, or b) a build that never finishes, whether it's due to cost overruns or conflicts with the trades, etc.

There are folks who approach building a home as an adventure, where they plan and plan and take plenty of precautions, but go into it looking to be delighted. And there are those who approach it like they're gearing up for a war so bloody even Game of Thrones wouldn't show it. No one in the latter camp is ever happy. If you feel like every step is going to be a battle, why do it? Life's too short.

In Florida, you can apply for a permit to act as your own general contractor. You must plan to live in the house, and can not sell within one year.

You can get financing on owner-build. Although I am not sure which banks in Florida you would start with. Many banks will not do owner-build due to the extra risk. I have a local (midwestern) lender who does many owner-build loans. Make sure you know the fines if your build goes beyond 365 days!

We are going to owner-build our home. We also intend to do a chunk of the work ourselves. We have already redone a house ourselves. DH can do plumbing and electrical. We both installed shingles and sheeting. I do our painting and staining. We have both installed engineered flooring. I installed all of our trim. DH did our doors. Our 11 year old son helped nail siding to our cabin. I am sure we will recruit him for both siding and decking.

I do believe that owner-build makes more sense if you have prior experience with construction. For us, it makes sense as we will also be doing a lot of the labor ourselves. We also love to work together on our projects. Managing the bids, schedule, etc will be a full time job for me, in addition to my (flexible schedule) paying job and running 3 kids to activities! DH also has a full-time job. He works odd shifts, and is off 1 weekday each week and 1 morning until noon. I imagine we will be very tired this time next year!

It is also even more important to get your materials and finishes picked out early if you are owner-building.

I see disaster on the horizon...

Online calculators are scams designed to direct you to paid advertisers.

Just checked the last one cited here. Totals were within about 20% making it appear legit; however, individual line items were often 50-100% off reality both directions.

Do people really think big box contractors can do equal work as builders trade contractors, while still paying fees and commissions to those big box stores? The big box number is bigger than you think.

Your A/C cost expectations are way off. The compressor may cost $3-4k, but you may need two (given the size), and that doesn't include installation nor the inside coils and furnace/air handling nor ducting.

And Home Depot/Costco as a source of contractors? Bwahaha! Look through this forum for the myriad posts by people who bought kitchen cabinets/counters/appliances and had installation done by Home Depot 'contractors'. They are barely handymen, much less contractors. They can't make it on their own, so they take low-ball work for $10/hour from HD to fill their time.

And--This is a forum about design, not contracting and owner-build. It's the completely wrong forum for this question.

Thank you everyone for the useful answers. I truly appreciate the advice provided here.

To answer your questions:

1. I do not have experience with construction.

2. I do not have a lot of free time. From now to April, I am busy working 7 days a week. After April, I do get some more free time.

3. I can do small handy jobs around the house, but I am not qualified to actually do even the smallest construction work (painting for example) myself.

4. I am not looking to add more stress to my lifestyle. If I was idle or retired with nothing to do, this would become an adventurous project to be embarked.

@jn3344

Thank you for the tip about specifying all the material choices upfront.

@jeffrey

Thank you for the clarity on the big box store. I made an assumption that is not necessarily true.

Now, to my follow up questions:

1. Say I hire a GC to build the house. (as opposed to Owner-Builder). However, I would like to bring in my own companies for the HVAC, Kitchen, Plumbing, Electrical etc. How does that work? Are the GC's OK with that?

2. How do I ensure that what I am being quoted for the job is fair market rate ? In short, how do you avoid getting ripped off. Here in South Florida, the construction industry is known for rip-offs and uncompleted projects.

The more I read your responses, I am convinced this is not my cup of tea. I do not want to end up with a house I do not like living in once its completed.

Your GC will have a lot nbetter chance of having tradespeople on site when they are needed this is a big job and you do not have the skills to know a good trades person from a bad one leave this to the GC The reason Florida has all the rules is because poor tradespeople did poor work.

Please simply buy the home you can afford. with small renovations you can manage as needed. You are not qualified to become a GC. It doesn't take a meteorologist to see that lighting will be striking this project on a regular basis.

Too bad you don't have time. You could learn a lot. And after that you could have a better chance of choosing people to help you with your build.

Right now you're a near perfect example of a client who is given the highest price. Or worse.

When you negotiate with a GC you can specify terms. It'll be up to the other party to agree.

Again, the more you know the better your negotiating position will be. Everything is negotiable.

In my state an owner can do most things. You have to pass each inspection. Inspectors are a good resource.

Wow, you definitely should not be building your own home!

As for your question #1, a GC, or General Contractor, is like a symphony conductor. His subcontractors are all the various instruments in the orchestra. The way you get a beautiful sound from the orchestra is that the conductor knows his musicians and knows how to direct them for the best outcome. Similarly the GC builds a good home by using his tried and true subs, whom he's worked with and knows how to communicate with to achieve the best possible outcome. Trying to hire a GC and then subbing out the various trades (plumbing, electrical, HVAC, etc.) to your own subcontractors defeats the purpose of having a General Contractor. I doubt any good GC would agree to those terms.

Amit-If you don’t have time and experience, then you are right that owner-building is not for you. My husband and I will each spend at least 20 hours per week working at our house build. Our paid worktime will be spent thinking about our house. We will rely heavily on my MIL for child-care and my FIL for helping with the house also. Between FIL, DH, and myself, we have the skill set to catch mistakes made by contractors (and likely fix them ourselves). DH also has a very good electrician and HVAC guy as good friends. If I didn’t have control issues, I would probably hire a GC and not loose a year of my life. This is truly a bucket list item for me.

Instead of thinking that GC are making out like bandits, realize that they are taking on a lot of your build risk. They need a broad skill set and understanding of all the trades. They also need excellent time management skills to get your project done in a timely fashion. Realize that the reason many would hesitate to use a contractor that you picked out from Home Depot is they don’t know the quality of that contractors work nor do they want an unknown contractor holding them up.

Our drywaller was telling me how he lost 2 weeks of work in the last month due to a project not being ready. Since he plans to hang on Monday and mud/finish the rest of the week, he has to have drywall delivered usually prior to Monday. If your HVAC (for example) isn’t done by Monday, my drywaller can’t start Monday. And it is too late to get the next jobs drywall lined up for Monday, even if they happened to be ready! I will also say that I will rarely take the lowest bid from a contractor. More than just price pays a part in making decisions on who to have work for you. Let’s say you are looking for a secretary/assistant....if the wage someone is willing to take per hour the most important factor? Likely, you would be willing to go above what you budgeted if the perfect candidate came along?

To ensure you are getting a fair price, start by getting multiple bids. Then pick out your finishes and figure out how much those choices will actually cost you versus the allowances given. Even better would be to pick all your finishes with detailed quotes on them to turn into the builders for a better bid. Make a list of other questions for the builder as price should not be the only factor. Get references. How does he communicate and how quickly should you expect responses. How much lead time should you expect to make finish decisions. How long have his contractors worked with him. How many other houses is he working on. When can he start your project and how long will it take? Come up with some more that are important to you. I doubt you would choose the cheapest financial manager for your retirement accounts. I also doubt you will hire the cheapest builder you get a bid from.

OK...you are beginning to see that there's more to building a house than you know or can do, given your limited knowledge and available time.

Now, let's talk about subcontractors. Why do you think a reputable contractor, who has his own dependable sub contractors would work with sub contractors he has never seen, has no idea of their skill, work effort or dependability?

And why do you think you, as a one-time home builder can find and convince dependable sub contractors to take the time to give you a bid for your work when they can bid and work with general contractors who give them job after job...?

Are you starting to see what you are up against?

You do not have a realistic stick idea of either the costs or the time needed to build a new custom home. It will not cost the amount at which the cookie cutter house is being advertised for sale. Double that, and hope you are ose.

Building is a 60-80 hour a week commitment from a GC. Who knows what he is doing in selecting, hiring, and scheduling subs. A good GC earns the fee.

Despite whatever silliness robin wants to throw out, the end profit figure is going to be 4-8% when it's all over and the overhead is taken care of. Your efforts will cost well above that figure. For a more stressful, poorer quality build as the result. As a all cash build, or at a higher interest rate and slower time frame than a GC build.

Thank You! Thank You! From the bottom of my heart, a very big thank you to all of you.

I am now convinced with all the reasons you have given that this is not something I should undertake.

Following your advice, I will be getting bids from other contractors to compare and contrast. You are correct that a good GC earns his cut. I do not have the time or expertise to do this. It is best left to professionals.

I would rather get a house I like with few regrets than save a few bucks (which is doubtful from what I am hearing here).

My next step is to research the exact materials and finishes I would like for my house.

Once again, I am awed by the collective intelligence of this forum.

I am glad you've decided not be your own GC as you don't have building experience. I built a house in Florida (much further north) and can tell you that I spoke with probably 20 builders before I found my builder. My father and family are in the trades, so I grew up with a lot of construction knowledge, but did not GC my own job.

Please do not just compare costs when deciding on a builder. My builder regularly built the most beautiful custom homes in my area, homes in the 5, 6, 7k sq foot range. That was not my range but he told me he also built my size home, in the 2300-2500 sq ft range.

The bottom line is I had the most amazing builder, who engineered my home for savings, who told me it would take a little longer than average to build my home because he had subs he liked (I had the best tile work ever throughout my home) .... a totally great experience, and I do not know many people who can say that about their building experience.

We gave up probably 300 square feet to meet our budget with this builder, to build a home that was custom, far superior to homes not built by this builder, that was timeless...

So, please, carefully look at the homes your builder builds. If he builds specs, look at his/her models. See if you can talk to the builder, or are you just talking to a salesperson?

I would strongly suggest that you find a friend or relative who has some building experience who can talk to GCs with you, so you can find out what it is you're getting for your money.

A good GC is priceless, and well worth the trade off in a few hundred square feet to build a beautiful and structurally sound home. A home is a huge investment and not a commodity.

Good luck on your home build!

"...would rather get a house I like with few regrets than save a few bucks (which is doubtful from what I am hearing here). My next step is to research the exact materials and finishes I would like for my house..."

OK, that's your first good decision. Now...is it time to suggest that your first step is to find an experienced and talented architect to work with, rather than simply looking at builder's houses...?

My architect has agreed to provide consultation on an ongoing basis. So far, I have received 2 bids. One of the bids is very detailed down to each line item and sub-section of the house. All allowances are marked clearly as well. I can post that bid here (without identifying the builder_ if someone would like to review and provide feedback.

My goal is to get a good job done at the end without major headaches.

Would anyone be interested in providing feedback on the bid proposal?

Yes go ahead and post it.

Attached are the pages from the first detailed bid proposal. I would love to hear your thoughts on this? What follow up questions should I ask ?

More detailed pages broken down by craft/sub-division.

Where do you see any out-of-line numbers, if any?

Get. Rid. Of. Allowances. These will end up way off guaranteed.......................

You haven't spent enough on design to specify things properly. Way too many red flags in allowances. Add 15%.

That 7k allowance for irrigation and landscaping is woefully inadequate. I just glanced thru the others. They all seem low.

Why not specify everything? Then get a real quote. You might be off by 100k here from your expectations. How would you know?

Knockdown texture? Means they do terrible drywall work. Which is borne out by the cheap price. 5K for tile isn't enough to do a master shower properly. Cabinets are low if you want anything beyond builder grade cheap stuff. Counters are way low. 5K

for paint is hysterical. As is the 2.5K for all of your plumbing fixtures. That's your master tub, and nothing else.

There is no "Lighting" allowance, just an "Electrical" one. And appliances aren't mentioned anywhere. So much wrong here.

This is more than 100K light. Lots more. You're dealing with a lowballer who relies on a massive amount of change orders to make money. He will make a lot of money off of this.

Spend money on better design work up front that eliminates most allowances. Spending 150K+ in change orders is a really bad way to build a home.

So is the next step a letter of intent, and you pay a design fee to narrow down actual selections that lead to a construction contract? Or is this considered the bid document for the actual build?

The numbers don't necessarily look out of line for your price range or location, but only other pros working in that price range and location would know.

Allowances are useful as a guide to make selections and keep within total budget. Have the contractor provide references and review each allowance line item in their office across a table.

The first allowance on the list is Landscaping $7,000

My questions would be

1. How did you come to that number?

2. can you show me examples of a $7000 job?

3. Can you show me examples of other jobs your clients have done and how much.

(BTW, I only have enough landscape allowance in projects today to cover undefined "city trees" and undefined "yard drainage systems" assuming the client will instead hire a landscaper and I would credit)

Adjust if necessary.

Allowance for pavers is $5760

Allowance for Countertops is $8325

Same questions

How were the allowances arrived? DO they include installation or is it only materials. Did you measure and calculate or is this just a job average? etc.

You can get through this in 90-120 minutes.

You can ask similar questions of their referenced previous clients... were the allowances enough? Where did you exceed?

I've done allowances for my entire career, mostly because clients won't pre shop materials but they've usually seen one of my homes. My least amount of overages was $360 for the entire job as client was disciplined and had seen one of my homes. The highest number.... add some zeros, but the client planned that.