If you want to ignore the wisdom of those who’ve been down that path, no one can stop you. Who can stop you is you. If you can’t save 160K, and not 80K, then you need to get that better paying job. Or get a second job. It’ll be good training for when you do build, considering it is a full time second job.

There are minimum service contractors who will act as advisers for your build and many banks will accept these. Ubuildit comes to mind for people set on doing something like that. I am not advocating for that, I am just providing information.

You can start talking to banks whenever you want, but the equity requirements for builds can be a bit messy. You should spend some time understanding how it works, because if the house doesn't appraise, you might need to pony up more than the 20% you originally had planned. Which is the main reason that most people don't build their first home.

It isn't that you are doing anything so outrageous as far as knowing what you want in a home. No one knows what they are going to want in a home in ten years whether it is your first home or your tenth home. It is just that very few young people have access to six figure equity/liquidity.

I would advise access to 40% of the expected building costs to really protect yourself. Maybe not all of that in liquidity but some way to tap into that much money.

You can save a lot of money by being your own general contractor . . . if you survive.

The Hotel Del Coronado was built with unskilled labor. They started in areas of the building that were less complicated, by the time they reached more complicated parts, they were skilled.

Good luck with your adventure whatever you decide.

you can do it.

a bunch of owner builders here
https://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?action=forum

including one guy who had to be out of his house in 30 days and built his house in 30 days.

they are all small houses but that's a good way to get your feet wet and make your mistakes.

heck of you don't mind a small house you can build it for what the down payment on a 400k house would be.

check out migraine Craftsman's channel. he just built a small house for about 100k.i think it took three months. and I believe it was his first one.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1dbmuQ4FRhE7yIXmRhVptQ

Do yourself a favor and don't check out the Migraine Craftsman's channel... His channel is ridiculous and for anyone who can do some math it is a compelling reason to not build a house, which you are not looking for.

He built a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom, 930 square foot house for $103,000, and then sold it for $126,900 after realtor fees.

This just means he is bad at business and building. You are paying $140 per square foot to have a contractor build you an inexpensive house. Only it isn't inexpensive, you can get much nicer homes for built in the same area for $90 per square foot. There are many fairly new homes (built in the last 10 years) that are both bigger and cheaper.

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In fact, don't get hung up on any of the salesmen for small non-marketable builds that some anti-establishment website is pushing. If you really want to build your house yourself, that is great, but you should be doing it for reasons other than simple cost savings. Keeping it small is fine, but make it marketable.

ETC: corrected wording that made it seem more profitable.

migraine Craftsman's channel is great because he freely discloses the costs of the build every step of the way. good luck finding that kind of info elsewhere. he built a very simple house and then sold it very quickly - so much for marketability concerns.

Do you have a Habitat For Humanity project close by? Sign up for some volunteer work with HFH, and get a good idea (if you don't already know) of where your natural talents and skills lie. :-) It's also a good place for networking, or so I've heard.

Good luck, and I hope you share your progress with us!

Where I live, there are courses, on line and classroom, for people wanting to GC their own projects. Some are simply one-day orientation to the various legal, financial and insurance requirements, while others are six-weeks or so on construction fundamentals. Maybe there are things like that available where you live.

I live in Australia, where things are a lot more structured than the US, so most of the states here require owner-builders to have passed one of these courses, and also have taken a course on workplace safety. Even if that's not necessary where you live, it's still a good idea.

And then, as others have suggested, get your hands dirty, working on local housing projects. Get used to tools, construction, and working a day job while devoting evenings and weekends to volunteer projects. It'll give you a foretaste of what you'll be getting into.

The problem is you don't have a backup plan. If another recession occurs or you lose your job you will be lucky to break even.

if you re skilled and good with your hands you can do it. If you have a job that offers flexibility, you can do it. If you have some friends and family that are in similar boats - even better!

You will likely need a lot more down payment. Maybe if you already own the land outright AND have 20% of the build in cash you can convince the bank. Alternatively, you may be able to find a retired GC that will help you with some connections and light supervision and can be the named GC. If you can find one - he can treat YOU like a sub - deadlines, quality, etc. and help you supervise any subs that will be there when you are working. And believe me - they will need supervision. Questions come up - someone needs to be able to answer - otherwise, they will make their best guess and keep going.

Do it for the sense of accomplishment. Don't necessarily do it to save money.

Alternatively - consider a house you can buy, live in and renovate. If you are good at that (and you can get conventional financing) and sell it at a profit, you'll be a lot further along in 1) funds, 2) experience and 3) a track record of building!

Good luck!

I just want to correct something bry911 said: I believe I live in the area of Migrane Craftsman’s build. It is an area with high housing demand and there are very few houses available at $90.00 a square foot, and those are rotted out fixers in bad locations. This is why he was able to sell his small house for around 230k.

It is not really possible to build a well constructed, energy efficient house around here for $90.00 a square foot. And it is a false economy with energy prices always rising.

All I can offer from our experience of building is that it’s wildly expensive. When the home is built, you’ll need to pay for appliances, window treatments, lawn, landscaping, and, right around this time, the higher taxes kick in. It was an eye opening experience to come up with all the extra money required, while giving up all disposable income for a time. Total first world problem, but it stings a little bit more when you’ve brought it on yourself.

bry911, his video series on his first build is one of the best resources out there for the diy GC.

Herein lies the problem and it is very simply a cognitive bias. You lack the understanding and ability to even evaluate resources for quality. There are many good resources out there for people interested in the owner builder route and many of them have detailed price and cost information.

Unfortunately, good tools are usually long and are not going to be in video form. There are many websites, blogs and other tools with actual resources from people who have been down this road. It is easy to figure out which ones are high quality, as they stress planning and provide resource after resource for planning and scheduling but don't stress costs.

I have acted as a G.C. for two of my own houses (in a similar cost of living area) and my costs came in around $100 heated per square on both. That was some time ago and inflation and demand would probably drive that up to $130-$140 per square, but that included a full unfinished basement and garage so I would argue I had better value. I sold both of the houses once I had the tax exemption and my return was better than what he is going to see after taxes.

I can get a simple 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 1242 square foot rental home built for $120 -$130 per square and that is turnkey from a G.C.

ETA: I am not, nor have I ever been against, people acting as their own G.C., I am only against people believing that a G.C. has no place in the value chain and you can simply realize savings by eliminating the G.C. The key to G.C.ing your own house is to become better at some of the key jobs a contractor has than the average contractor. The things that are going to make you successful at building your own home are many of the same things that would make you successful were you to decide to open a business being a general contractor.

Since most people don't have experience or contacts, planning and scheduling is the only route available for them to create value. So you can watch videos all you want, but if you are trying to create savings in any way other than planning and scheduling, then you are probably in for a rough ride.

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I am not going to continue this discussion with someone who has not actually built a house, but already believes themselves an expert.

Most banks will require a GC/builder on the paperwork. That's who will submit the request for bank draws. There are some alternative lenders out there who may not require that but it will take some searching.

After your 20% down, you will need more in cash during the build. You'll have to pay subs in advance, order supplies, etc before you get your draw from the bank. My DH and I paid out thousands of $'s every week to keep the build going from our savings and then would get reimbursed by the bank the following week. Our account was overdrawn more than once during the process because of the timing of checks clearing and bank deposits happening. Not a great feeling.

I highly recommend tackling a renovation project or two before jumping in a new house build. You'll get some experience with getting your hands dirty, planning, scheduling, dealing with subs, etc. If you do a good job, it will give you some credibility with subs later who will be more willing to work with you and do a good job for you.

We're a bit ahead of you in the process, but are targeting a similar price point.

If you are going to work with a lender (whether as your own GC or hiring someone) as opposed to cash-flowing the house build slowly, the upfront cash requirement is unavoidable.

80k is just a starting point. When you look at the estimated cost breakdown your lender can provide, you may not see critical items like well, septic, and utilities included. In our case, we need to cash flow those items as well as the clearing, grading, and driveway installation... effectively increasing our required cash need to closer to 100-110k. And that is above-and-beyond the cost we paid for the land... certainly not for the faint of heart.

Good luck with your build.

Since you have not yet bought land, hold off. Find a small house in not the greatest condition as your first house. Consider that your practice to ramp up to building. Tackle renovating it. Use any profit from that to boost the funds for the eventual build. Don’t start off in the deep end of the pool if you've never waded in the shallow end.

The Hotel Del Coronado was built with unskilled labor.

That point seems to be missing from the Wiki entry. But certainly an interesting build boasting a lot of firsts.

I've known a few diy gc builds. My favourite was 4,400 sf managed by a successful restaurant owner.

First thing, he had friends rent bulldozers and backhoes for the excavation. Two weeks in, they were in danger of undermining the foundations of the adjacent homes. The city slapped a Stop Work order on the busy playground. Shortly afterwards, the site was cribbed by the new professional contractor like a major high-rise build while the owner-builder went back to his restaurant business. Turns out success with souvlakis wasn't the best background for homebuilding.

As someone who has built a house acting as my own GC before and currently in the process of doing it again, I can tell you, you are going to have a VERy difficult time getting a bank to give you a construction loan.

If you are not a tradesman by profession it is very hard. Like I said I have done this before and also had a house we gutted and rehabbed. I also have excellent credit, we owned our land outright, had done my research and picked all my subs, had pricing from the subs, had completed plans, a fully specced out budget, money in the bank and still it took me almost 2 full months to finally get approval. I also had 2 other banks turn me down just on the GC part. They really don't like the risk.

I do wish you luck though and hope at some point if this is something you really want to do, you can.

Oh and the whole save 20% thing is BS, I will just tell you that now. You can save money doing work yourself, shopping around etc, but you are not getting the same pricing on subs that an experienced GC will get as he can offer future work to those subs as incentive, you don't have that.

If you want to ignore the wisdom of those who’ve been down that path, no one can stop you. Who can stop you is you. If you can’t save 160K, and not 80K, then you need to get that better paying job. Or get a second job. It’ll be good training for when you do build, considering it is a full time second job.

Grumpy much?

migraine Craftsman's channel

Since we're throwing out opinions, I did not find it relatable.

Do you have a Habitat For Humanity project close by?

That's an excellent idea! No financial outlay for you, but it's a chance to get some real experience ... and then you can accurately judge whether you want to continue with your current thoughts or tweak them.

Where I live, there are courses, on line and classroom, for people wanting to GC their own projects.

I've heard of this. They offer such things at the community college.

You will likely need a lot more down payment. Maybe if you already own the land outright AND have 20% of the build in cash you can convince the bank.

Yeah, this sounds true. What you're proposing is a risky proposition for the bank; if you were older and could pay cash, you'd be in a stronger position to move forward with this plan.

Have you considered building a garage with a small apartment first ... with the idea of waiting for the house-house?

Or have you considered one of those kit homes that gives you the shell of a house ... then you could complete the inside?

The source of the information about Hotel Del Coronado is from the book Shingle Styles: Innovation and Tradition in American Architecture 1874 to 1982 by Leland Roth and Bret Morgan.

Years ago I had a client that informed me he was going to do all the stonework on a cottage (4,200 sf) I designed for him. I asked him if he knew how to do that; he looked at me and said, "I will when I'm done".

Wow. I salute your enthusiasm. I'm genuinely serious - I'm in my 5th decade on this earth and have had 2 new houses built for me, and you seriously couldn't pay me to try to do what you want to do.

I know you said not to try to talk you out of this but I'm also genuinely concerned for you.

New builds have cost over- runs. All the time. I'm concerned you are trying to work on a razor-thin margin and that's just not a good idea on a new build.

Please don't forget that time is money too. If you find a bank willing to give you a construction loan for this idea, you're making interest payments during the build. Depending upon how much longer it takes you to get the build actually done, you can eat up any potential savings in added interest payments.

I wish you well, and truly hope you'll keep posting here as you work all of this out.

I admire your determination and your thirst for adventure!

The problem with the "adventure" of being your own GC --even if you have considerable experience in construction project management--is that it is limited both by your personal equity stake in the project and the willingness of bankers to color outside the lines. As a whole, bankers tend to be a pretty risk averse group. See what they say, and let us know how it goes.

Best wishes for a successful project.

Years ago I had a client that informed me he was going to do all the stonework on a cottage (4,200 sf) I designed for him. I asked him if he knew how to do that; he looked at me and said, "I will when I'm done".

Did this story have a happy ending?

My parents GC’ed their own house 20 years ago. They saved quite a bit of money. They didn’t take a construction loan; they paid in cash as they went.

I’ve GC’d my home back in 2010. But not just GC’d. Basically did everything except electrical and concrete flatwork myself.

It took 4 years to complete. All cash, no loan. It was a weekend/evening project and the best time in my life.

As it became my hobby, I started an addition in 2018. Again a cash build.

Time flies like you wouldn’t believe if you do this besides a full time job. Keep this in mind if you work with a bank. I am glad I don’t have to deal with that stress.

Your FIRST house at 400k!!!!! Where are you.......CA? IMO.....that's insane for a first house. You can do it. It's not rocket science to build a house. Over the past years I hope you have been watching 100's of homes being built and asked allot of questions to the subs.

I probably have no business commenting on this thread since I have zero experience of knowledge of general contracting a house, but what the heck! The first thing I thought of when reading this thread was my first sewing project in school. I wanted to make an extremely fancy dress and was very enthusiastic. Not surprisingly, it was a mess and a total waste of money because no matter how carefully I followed the instructions I had zero experience and training. Most people start small when learning any new skill. They have training and much practice until they have improved to the point of being independent. Once independent, they start with the more simple tasks, continue to learn from others with more experience and further refine the skill. They progress to larger and more difficult projects. Think about that before diving into a project that could end up bankrupting you if not done right. I read that OP is a cancer survivor. That is something to be incredibly thankful for. I wish him or her luck whatever is decided.

Shop around for banks. Our own bank wouldn't do an owner/GC loan, but we found a great little local bank who was very eager to help. We had equity in our former home but didn't want to move until the new one was done, they were able to do a short-term bridge loan that was paid back after we closed on the old house, so there are creative ways to finance if you have the right lender. But they are going to be hard to find with a short credit history.

I did the GC work myself, and I can second the comment above about having a flexible job. Normally, my job isn't that flexible, but circumstances worked out that year, and we happen to be building just a few blocks from my work. I spent many lunch hours and several other quick breaks running to the build site to take care of different issues or meet with subs. It would never have worked if we were farther away.

Because you are a "one-off" job for the subs, be prepared to get bumped by bigger jobs, although sometimes a small job fits nicely while they are waiting to start a bigger one. It can wreak havoc with your timeline though if one sub is delayed by a bigger fish. Work with your suppliers--we found great framing, roofing, and brick mason subs by getting names from the lumberyard, roofing supply company, and brickyard. Use written contracts for all the subs and have them sign lien releases when you pay them.

I gotta say the OP sounds a bit like me when my kid's birthday rolls around. Sure I know it's work but it'll turn out JUST like I'm imagining...

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