Build your own house

Learn to build your own house

"Planning. Most people decide to build a house, and immediately start looking for a general contractor. How can you hire someone to build a house, when you haven’t even decided what you want? I’m not talking like what style of home you want, or what colors you want throughout. I mean what kind of flooring do you want in the laundry room, how many outlets do you need in the kitchen, what style of showerhead are you putting in the master bath? If you go meet with a general contractor before you have made every little decision, you are asking a complete stranger to give you an estimate on a general idea of what you like. How can he quote you an accurate price? He can’t! So instead, he is going to be forced to quote you high in order to give himself a cushion when you decide you want hard wood floors instead of linoleum. It’s the same thing when you are your own GC. You are trying to hire someone to draw up your house plans, someone to lay your flooring, someone to wire your house, etc. How can they quote you a good price if you don’t know how many outlets you want and where you want them? It will also require more time if you haven’t made these decisions. And time is money. Especially when your getting charged by the hour to meet with your house designer. How to be your own general contractor and save thousands on your dream home The other HUGE advantage that planning has, is that you know months in advance what you need to buy for the house. If you go shopping at home depot and they are having a one day clearance sale on all appliances but you don’t know what fridge you want, you have to let that money saving opportunity pass. If you had made the decision before hand, you could have had your dream fridge for half the price. And Home Depot will hold it for you for a few months until you need it too! How to be your own general contractor and save thousands on your dream home Planning ahead is the #1 way we have saved money building our own home."