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Forum » Anyone here buy land then build a house instead of buying one already made?
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Thread: Anyone here buy land then build a house instead of buying one already made?

post 1630216923 01-31-2021, 07:06 PM
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Originally Posted By SmillironS⏩
Nobody’s doubting your ability chief, but writing novels in response to basic questions is making me question your integrity as a contractor. Biggest tell of a con artist is using way more words than necessary and attempting to talk over the head of the person they’re pitching too. Read several other threads with people talking about their industry, specifically the stock market bro’s, none of them post over aggressive and largely unnecessary responses like you have done consistently ITT.
No, I just have a particular annoyance of people who know very little who like to give out advice. That happens a lot with questions on working out at this place. But if it is too many words, than pictures are worth 1000. Current home pics below.

Feel free to post up some to support that people should take your advice.




















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post 1630217113 01-31-2021, 07:09 PM
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As a taper by trade I can only say one thing.. Don't cheap out on the fkn drywall lol. You get what you pay for. Have someone who knows wtf they're doing not your buddys friend who did a patch once in 93.


Used to do residential work before I moved into commercial. Almost every house I worked on (remodel) had nasty ass corners, humps in almost every buttjoint, screws were showing in at least every room lol, etc

Granted you don't have to go out and get the most expensive drywall company (trust me a lot of them charge a lot for subpar work) but make sure you feel you're picking a good reputable company that knows what they're doing and have the right tools for the job. This will make your life easier especially when the painters come in (they love to say the jobs not ready because the taper missed a lot)


Also do smooth wall none of that hippie orange peel or even worse knockdown.
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post 1630217193 01-31-2021, 07:10 PM
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following

looking for like a 6/3 on 10+ acres which around here runs about $2M

could buy and build and would spend barely over half of that
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post 1630217773 01-31-2021, 07:21 PM
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I was very close to building but decided not to.

I'm convinced that most people will have a better experience buying existing vs building if they have little to no experience in a building trade. There's just too many opportunities to screw it up and get taken advantage of.
post 1630218193 01-31-2021, 07:28 PM
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I'm considering building a cabin or tiny home on a plot out west within a couple years.

Otherwise I'd probably just "write the check instead of turning the wrench" for an expression.
post 1630219133 01-31-2021, 07:42 PM
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Originally Posted By turdburglar9021⏩
I was very close to building but decided not to.

I'm convinced that most people will have a better experience buying existing vs building if they have little to no experience in a building trade. There's just too many opportunities to screw it up and get taken advantage of.
yea, you really do have to watch every contractor and check the work daily
post 1630224903 01-31-2021, 09:01 PM
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[QUOTE=induced_drag post_id=1630216923]No, I just have a particular annoyance of people who know very little who like to give out advice. That happens a lot with questions on working out at this place. But if it is too many words, than pictures are worth 1000. Current home pics below.

Feel free to post up some to support that people should take your advice.




[img]https://i.imgur.com/SUIo3Ss.jpg[/]

[img]https://i.imgur.com/Tcdmdqi.jpg?1[/
]



[img]https://i.imgur.com/FmVQ6fW.jpg?1[/
]

[img]https://i.imgur.com/OUmcv6t.jpg?1[/
]

[img]https://i.imgur.com/8UZVCm4.jpg?1[/
img]

[img]https://i.imgur.com/jz2PLyJ.jpg?1[/]

[img]https://i.imgur.com/Qfogrqb.jpg[img]

[img]https://i.imgur.com/UrgPmMi.jpg?1[/][/QUOTE]Really badass work. The home in the vid you posted is beautiful. Not my style but really impressive.

Any suggestions for the best places to save money through the custom home process? Currently in the foundation stage. Not planning on skimping on flooring or cabinets. Planning on paneling on exterior. I do think I’ll ask for basic lighting/fans because those are things I could easily replace down the line by myself.

Also, what do you think about imperfect smooth drywall? My wife likes it and I think it looks terrible. Probably just a subjective thing but I have a feeling this is going to create an argument when it comes time to choose.
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post 1630227803 01-31-2021, 09:43 PM
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Originally Posted By EDcellent⏩
I'm considering building a cabin or tiny home on a plot out west within a couple years.

Otherwise I'd probably just "write the check instead of turning the wrench" for an expression.
Haven't done it, but my ambitions to build are more on this scale- cabin/cottage.
Originally Posted By induced_drag⏩

Glad you have work that you enjoy.

I'm a fan of a this type of pantry. Super functional for a galley style set up in a small cottage: stove & sink on an outside wall, long kitchen table for seating/extra prep, and an enclosed shelved pantry w/fridge at one end.
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post 1630241633 02-01-2021, 03:28 AM
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Originally Posted By induced_drag⏩
Good luck. Seen many people over the past 20 years fail. Most dont even know they have failed. Like do you know how far off a toilet flange sits off a wall so when you are supervising your framers that they dont put joists right next to your toilet? With poor quality labor, the framers wont, but the plumber knows when he drills down and hits your TJI which requires you to get a 250 letter from your engineer for the notched chord and the $500 trip for your framer to come back and block off and header the joist.

I have been involved in FIXING many homes over the years that very smart, successful people felt they could build. There used to even be a company that would claim to help people. I can think of several Dr's, even the CEO of a company who's company is big enough to buy a super bowl commercial. They all failed miserably. In the end, they paid more than it would have cost time to hire a good contractor in the first place.

Not to mention, you probably do well in your day job. The time away has an 'opportunity cost'. Consider twice what your true value is. My guess is the first timer, AT BEST will save 10% on a home building it themselves as a FULL TIME job. A good builder has a 25-30% GROSS margin which gets whittled down to 12-17% after unknowns on the net side.

If you attempt to do it, good luck. But I have seen most fail. I know...I know...you are the one that can do it. Good luck. Consider what your time is worth.
Nah, I'm not delusional. I know I'm going to phuck a bunch of stuff up but I want to do it myself anyways. I'm retired, so I'm not concerned with opportunity cost etc. I also do have a a general contractor friend who will be supervising the build from start to finish. Him and his family only build custom homes starting at 2MM+. Currently they are building a 20MM mansion on a private island, and had to install a bridge so it wasn't boat access only. I trust their judgment and will take their advice.

Building homes has always interested me, so I want to learn the process.

Also nice pics you posted. Very nice homes.
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post 1630243843 02-01-2021, 05:01 AM
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Cool stuff posted ITT. Because of all my weird tastes and idiosyncrasies, I've been seriously considering having a house built in the future. While the land around where I live is great, whenever a large plot comes up for sale, the house on it doesn't work for me.

For those that were nice enough to post details and photos ITT, can you give an idea of price as well? I know prices will differ with location, but I'm just looking for a very rough estimate at the moment. Anything you can share would be appreciated.
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post 1630245643 02-01-2021, 06:11 AM
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Originally Posted By BrotienShake⏩
As a taper by trade I can only say one thing.. Don't cheap out on the fkn drywall lol. You get what you pay for. Have someone who knows wtf they're doing not your buddys friend who did a patch once in 93.


Used to do residential work before I moved into commercial. Almost every house I worked on (remodel) had nasty ass corners, humps in almost every buttjoint, screws were showing in at least every room lol, etc

Granted you don't have to go out and get the most expensive drywall company (trust me a lot of them charge a lot for subpar work) but make sure you feel you're picking a good reputable company that knows what they're doing and have the right tools for the job. This will make your life easier especially when the painters come in (they love to say the jobs not ready because the taper missed a lot)


Also do smooth wall none of that hippie orange peel or even worse knockdown.
Any advice on replacing dry wall on an old house? My house is 40 years old and have a lot of the issues you are describing.
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post 1630246673 02-01-2021, 06:40 AM
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Just keep in mind that lumber is way up there right now as well as in short supply. Overall cost will probably be a lot higher than it was a couple years ago. Also, any good contractor is going to be booked for the next 12-18months right now.
post 1630246883 02-01-2021, 06:46 AM
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Originally Posted By criminal_manne⏩
Any advice on replacing dry wall on an old house? My house is 40 years old and have a lot of the issues you are describing.
Get good with tape and joint compound. I have a painting business and only work on homeowners houses. A lot are older houses with plaster walls. We can do a lot with tape, joint compound, inside/outside corner beads and even cutting out sections of plaster and replacing with sheetrock.

If you have any questions I guess you can message me with a picture and I'll tell you how I'd take care of it for a customer.

Edit- Here's a pic I had onhand for my ******** ads If I remember correctly we cut out and put in a full sheet of 3/8 sheetrock into the wall. Tape and 4-5 coats of joint compound.


post 1630247303 02-01-2021, 06:56 AM
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Originally Posted By criminal_manne⏩
Any advice on replacing dry wall on an old house? My house is 40 years old and have a lot of the issues you are describing.
Probably plaster walls bro, used to hate doing those but for the most part if its really bad I would usually skim coat or even put up a 1/4 sheet on top of the existing as to have a new "template" so to speak.

If its a lot of walls/ceilings I would honestly rip the old off and start with new drywall.


If you need help shoot me a pm brah srs



Edit: Brah up top also right
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post 1630247323 02-01-2021, 06:56 AM
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Originally Posted By jtaylor2010⏩
If so what advice/tips would you give? Thinking of going that route since there aren’t many houses on the market right now.
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post 1630247993 02-01-2021, 07:11 AM
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Originally Posted By induced_drag⏩
No, I just have a particular annoyance of people who know very little who like to give out advice. That happens a lot with questions on working out at this place. But if it is too many words, than pictures are worth 1000. Current home pics below.

Feel free to post up some to support that people should take your advice.

Very nice work man. I took on my own major remodel....only because I thought it would be fun learning experience (not to save money).
I followed and studied Matt Risinger and a lot of his lessons on my build. Did closed cell spray foam around the envelop of the home. Brought in heating and cooling via a Variant Refrigerant flow system for about as much as traditional cooling would cost and coupled that with am ERV to bring in fresh air. I didnt do the Zip R system on the outside due to not having access to the entire outside envelop (remodel). Used a fluid applied water proofing for all my windows and doors.

Was a fun experience and I definitely learned alot. Im sure I made a lot of mistakes but I felt like my attention to detail ended up resulting in a much cleaner house than if I let a GC do it.
post 1630248113 02-01-2021, 07:13 AM
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Originally Posted By ezra76⏩
Just keep in mind that lumber is way up there right now as well as in short supply. Overall cost will probably be a lot higher than it was a couple years ago. Also, any good contractor is going to be booked for the next 12-18months right now.
True. But you can utilize less common building materials for a custom home if it fits your taste and local codes.

Barndominiums seem to be gaining popularity in TX. Earth sheltered, or earthbag homes can have some advantages.

My FIL found a glass foam that he was really interested in and thought would be great for walls due to its insulating qualities. His father was a home builder and he used to work as a carpenter.
Originally Posted By donblaximus⏩
Very nice work man. I took on my own major remodel....only because I thought it would be fun learning experience (not to save money).
I followed and studied Matt Risinger and a lot of his lessons on my build. Did closed cell spray foam around the envelop of the home.Brought in heating and cooling via a Variant Refrigerant flow system for about as much as traditional cooling would cost and coupled that with am ERV to bring in fresh air.I didnt do the Zip R system on the outside due to not having access to the entire outside envelop (remodel). Used a fluid applied water proofing for all my windows and doors.

Was a fun experience and I definitely learned alot. Im sure I made a lot of mistakes but I felt like my attention to detail ended up resulting in a much cleaner house than if I let a GC do it.
That is really cool. I don't love traditional central HVAC, but my budget is more like window units, a good stove/fireplace, and cracking a window.
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post 1630248423 02-01-2021, 07:19 AM
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Originally Posted By QuickShotSteve⏩
All that said, I would never do it again, would find a custom house for sale that fit all my needs.
I did this a few years ago. Bought from the estate of the original owners, a custom 80s contemporary style home we found by accident, just stopped in for the open house. Nobody wanted to look at it because the pictures were bad, but it was a nice home in person. It was total luck after home shopping for 2 years, talking to builders, etc.
post 1630248573 02-01-2021, 07:21 AM
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Thanks for the lots of good advice in this thread, hope to make my way around with reps.


From what I’m reading so far it doesn’t sound like the route I want to go. The whole point in paying someone else to do it is to avoid the headache and make sure it’s done right. If I have a headache the whole time from babysitting idiots then thats a big drawback. Not particularly looking forward to arguing with my wife about every little detail either, though we’re pretty good about working through things. Somehow I hadn’t even considered the huge jump in cost of lumber, so that’s another negative(though if I get a new build anywhere that would be included). And on top of that I don’t want to wait another year. We were already planning on moving last year and bumped it back to let some of the uncertainty in the world settle down. Adding another year to the wait isn’t the way to go if we can find a great option this year.
post 1630248583 02-01-2021, 07:21 AM
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Originally Posted By BrotienShake⏩
Probably plaster walls bro, used to hate doing those but for the most part if its really bad I would usually skim coat or even put up a 1/4 sheet on top of the existing as to have a new "template" so to speak.

If its a lot of walls/ceilings I would honestly rip the old off and start with new drywall.


If you need help shoot me a pm brah srs



Edit: Brah up top also right
At first I'd shy away from those jobs but once we got good at it, it became more profitable than simply painting houses in good shape. Plus the satisfaction of the customer seeing something go from a total mess to looking great is cool.
post 1630248783 02-01-2021, 07:26 AM
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Originally Posted By BrotienShake⏩
Probably plaster walls bro, used to hate doing those but for the most part if its really bad I would usually skim coat or even put up a 1/4 sheet on top of the existing as to have a new "template" so to speak.

If its a lot of walls/ceilings I would honestly rip the old off and start with new drywall.


If you need help shoot me a pm brah srs



Edit: Brah up top also right
How much would that cost for a 2500 sq ft house? Don’t want to do it myself I just wanna pay someone. Prob don’t need the entire house redone, just a few rooms.

Not sure how bad it is but you can see the ceilings are kinda wavy and lines running through them like they are bending inwards or something. Same with some of the walls.
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post 1630249123 02-01-2021, 07:31 AM
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Originally Posted By ezra76⏩
At first I'd shy away from those jobs but once we got good at it, it became more profitable than simply painting houses in good shape. Plus the satisfaction of the customer seeing something go from a total mess to looking great is cool.
That's true, you make a name for yourself and get referred to new customers as the person who actually can fix/make it look nice. Used to be such a chore but after a while I got used to the jobs where it was just a bunch of patches on plaster walls all over the house. Portland is literally all houses like that. Decent money if you know what you're doing and can get in and out fast.


Went commercial and nothing like seeing a whole hallway of apts all hung ready for taping hnnngggg. Bust them out with the quickness
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post 1630249143 02-01-2021, 07:32 AM
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If you're in love with the land location. If you want something wacky like off-grid passivehaus then yes. If you're doing it to save money then no. You usually get a cheaper, better located home if you buy an existing house.
post 1630249233 02-01-2021, 07:33 AM
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Originally Posted By criminal_manne⏩
How much would that cost for a 2500 sq ft house? Don’t want to do it myself I just wanna pay someone. Prob don’t need the entire house redone, just a few rooms.

Not sure how bad it is but you can see the ceilings are kinda wavy and lines running through them like they are bending inwards or something. Same with some of the walls.
Without pics bro I can't really give you a bid. How many rooms/walls are like that?
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post 1630249273 02-01-2021, 07:35 AM
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Originally Posted By OntheClockNE⏩
Doing it right now. Should be finished by June or so. We wanted to buy a house but hardly any houses on the market here.
doesnt it cost the same to do it this way as it is to buy an already built house?
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post 1630249933 02-01-2021, 07:48 AM
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I bought 1000 acres and built a house on it last year

I did all of the work myself, minus the drywall (wasn’t comfortable doing a good job at taping)

If you have trade experience and the machines it’s pretty easy honestly, I did every aspect of the build including the concrete work..and from start to finish it took 4 months. Built a nicely finished 3600 sqft home with a big garage for around 350k.

If I had to do it again I could probably do it in under half the time. The first time doing anything takes a lot longer to figure stuff out
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post 1630249983 02-01-2021, 07:48 AM
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Access to services is usually the biggest problem we face.

Personally I wouldn't go fixed price, any contractor will add on 40% as a buffer. Instead I'd use local people off recommendations.

I've known people on fixed contracts and when things go badly wrong the contractor just liquidates. And the individual is left out of pocket with an unfinished house. No contractor is going to take a large hit for spiralling costs just because of a contract.
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post 1630250243 02-01-2021, 07:53 AM
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I considered it 15-20 years ago. My ex-wife and I needed to move to a better school district, and my parents offered to give me an acre of land, they have 4.5 acres in a nice town, and 1 acre is already zoned to sell. After I got over the weirdness of possibly living next to my parents, I realized the cost of building a home, even with a free lot, was as much as buying an existing home. It seemed like the equation yeilded that the lot my parents would give me would essentially be worthless, and if I had to sell, I would only recover the amount I put into the home - and my parents thought they would be giving me something worth 400K.

So we bought a nice older home and put about 90K into renovations, and ended up in about the same place without my parents having to give us a gift. I do feel like the 90K was very well spent.

Right now, I'm considering whether I should put another level on my ranch house or move when I need more space. It seemed liek putting another level on was the way to go, but post covid lumber prices have changed the equation again, and as mentioned contractors are booked solid, and charging a premium since early last summer.
post 1630250433 02-01-2021, 07:56 AM
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#59
  1. JStrez
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  1. JStrez
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Besides the obvious stuff, make sure your contract is bulletproof and has retainage, and that you NEVER pay them until the job is done done. They'll get like 90% of the way through and then dead you because they have other jobs to do that make them more money. Then they send like 2 guys over every so often to finish the place and it wastes time. Might be hard to get someone with an iron clad contract like that, but one guy I know who builds houses using other firms, will put liquidated damages in his contracts. Essentially saying if this and this isn't done by this date, I legally get to fine you from your contract a certain amount per day. This dude builds like legitimate mansions and high end homes, and doesn't fukk around. Also if you have any buddies who are in construction, might be worth it to have them walk your house every so often to check on stuff. Sometimes they do sketchy ass chit with the plumbing and electrical to make it cheaper for them, and a pain in the ass for you years down the line when you need to maintain things. Last thing I'd do is keep the set plans of what you have, where wires are run, pipes, etc. When you want to make future modifications or repairs, or even sell the house, keeping a log like that is critical for potential buyers. My one friend built his own house out on a development, and then he modeled the entire house in 3D. Dudes an architect by trade, but when he makes a modification or extension, he has a live model of what's where. When your dumbass drills into a wall and cuts off power to your entire Den, you'll wish you had that, or an electrical detector on your stud finder.
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post 1630251113 02-01-2021, 08:08 AM
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#60
  1. BrotienShake
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Originally Posted By JStrez⏩
Besides the obvious stuff, make sure your contract is bulletproof and has retainage, and that you NEVER pay them until the job is done done. They'll get like 90% of the way through and then dead you because they have other jobs to do that make them more money.
Define pay. No way I'm even considering doing a job without a deposit for material/labor. Depending on size of job I would also get paid after hanging rock and balance once taping/texture is done.
Hala Madrid
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