Why Build Your Own Home.

Ok, so why would anyone want to build their own home? Well, I had never given it a thought until my wife and I decided we wanted to retire in the Texas Hill Country.  We spoke with a few custom builders and discovered that we could not afford a custom home. We had a budget of around $220,000 and the least expensive custom home builder gave us an estimate of $350.000. Obviously a professional builder knows what he’s doing and I don’t. That’s the thought that went through my head until I heard of a couple of firefighter buddies who were building their own homes.

They told me that there’s nothing to it as long as I had a good professional building inspector on my side. I would hire my own sub-contractors and the inspector would check to make sure they did a good job before I paid them.  I have to say that was the best piece of advice I received.

While there is nothing wrong with hiring a professional home builder, you only pay him or her to hire subs and inspect the work. Keep in mind that his inspector works for him and not for me. By building myself I had total control of the project and each individual or company hired was eager to keep me happy. They wanted to do a good job for me because I held the checkbook.

I also had more choices in what went into my house. I could buy the inexpensive faucets, flooring, tile, etc. as offered by a builder to keep his costs down or I could buy upgrades that enhanced the beauty of my home. Since I controlled the budget I had that option. I knew what I could afford.

And that’s the gist of the story. Building your own home gives you control over the budget, options for upgrades not available from builders or available at a higher cost, and the satisfaction of knowing the job was done right. Every person or company is hired by you and wants to make you happy. Should you find a problem area, and you don’t want to confront the contractor, your inspector is right there to talk to the contractor and get the job done to your satisfaction. My inspector checked every phase of the operation for a mere $1,200. A cheap price to pay for the piece of mind you get.

In these economic times it just makes sense to depend on yourself to get the job done as opposed to paying someone to make some phone calls, oversee the project, and get the benefit of your hard earned money. And remember, you meet with your builder at the site to go over decisions right? Well, leave the builder at the office and check on your own site. You won’t spend any more time at your own building site by doing it your self.

Would I do it again? Heck yes!! I saved over $100,000 for my family, my equity sky rocked, I have upgrades like granite counter tops and wood flooring that increased the value of my home, it was built in a shorter time than other builders in the area, and I had a blast doing it. Actually, I’d like to build another home but my wife does not want to move again. It was a great experience to be sure.

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