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MikeBRLA 
LSU Fan
Baton Rouge
Member since Jun 2005
8743 posts
| re: General Contracting your Home Build (Posted on 2/14/12 at 2:10 pm to XxxSpooky1)
quote:
Get prices for everything, get numerous bids, get references, go look at their work.
After you did this for every single sub you would have wasted enough time to more than make up for the Builder's Fee.
Like I mentioned earlier, unless you have A LOT of free time and/or relationships with subs somehow already, it's going to take you a ton of time to do a half way decent job.
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ScottieP
LSU Fan
Baton Rouge, LA
Member since Feb 2004
1551 posts
 Online
| re: General Contracting your Home Build (Posted on 2/14/12 at 3:29 pm to MikeBRLA)
quote:
quote:
Get prices for everything, get numerous bids, get references, go look at their work.
After you did this for every single sub you would have wasted enough time to more than make up for the Builder's Fee.
Like I mentioned earlier, unless you have A LOT of free time and/or relationships with subs somehow already, it's going to take you a ton of time to do a half way decent job.
Getting quotes does take some time. But not that much. I was home recovering from hand surgery and started making calls. I bid out everything. I mean everything and it took about a day or two.
I will agree with you on one thing. Having a relationship with the subs does make it easier. My old man is a plumber that does alot of residential new construction so I got alot of quotes from guys whose work he was familier with. With that said I did not always use the lowest bidder and also used guys that I did not know and the only problem I had was with my foundation diggers.
Like earlier posts said never pay in advance and hold the subs money until the work is done to your satisfaction.
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Who Me
LSU Fan
Ascension
Member since Aug 2011
5014 posts
| re: General Contracting your Home Build (Posted on 2/14/12 at 4:44 pm to TigerEye2)
I recently built my house and was the GC with very liitle knowledge about building a house. The construction was an amazing success.
You can do it depending on a few things. I had a couple of friends and a coworker that were enormous help by having done it themselves and they were more helpful than anyone. Having someone you can call for solid advice throughout the process is invaluable.
Also, I work shift work which allowed me a lot of opportunities to be around the jobsite during the day and keep an eye on things. If you work and M-F job with business hours, that will make things more difficult.
As far as subcontractors. Try to use only ones that come highly recommended from peronal friend references. I did not always select the cheapest bid if it was from someone with no references or I didn't know much about them. The only problems I had with subs during the construction was from the ones that I found on my own instead of the ones recommended by my friends.
Good luck.
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TigerEye2
LSU Fan
Prairieville
Member since Aug 2011
147 posts
| re: General Contracting your Home Build (Posted on 2/14/12 at 5:13 pm to Who Me)
The knowledge on building a house is not my problem. I have helped several friends and family build their homes with each acting as their own GC. Biggest problem I found was simply the time required to stay on top of the subs. Many would not show up as promised without keeping a foot up their ass. So I completely understand the importance of having reliable subs. Of couse these houses were being built during the housing boom and evry sub had more work than they could handle. Times and the market have changed and I am sure their is more competition now to get contract work.
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aaronb023
LSU Fan
Member since Feb 2005
7325 posts
| re: General Contracting your Home Build (Posted on 2/14/12 at 6:10 pm to TigerEye2)
Subs and suppliers don't have to know you are only building your house. Blow smoke up their ass. For all they know you are building 5-10 houses this year.
And yes, sometimes they don't show up when they are supposed to. You do have to stay on their arse sometimes. shite happens and they can't get to your job until they finish another. It only becomes a big deal after you have taken a few draws and have to pay interest.
$85-90/sf seems to be the going rate for the average high end home these days. That's about what I was looking to spend. Granite, crown and trim, nice appliances and fixtures, etc.
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TigerEye2
LSU Fan
Prairieville
Member since Aug 2011
147 posts
| re: General Contracting your Home Build (Posted on 2/14/12 at 6:38 pm to aaronb023)
What is the going rate or percent most builders are charging. I have seen 8% - 15%. Does this vary by the complexity or quality of the home being built?
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guttata
LSU Fan
prairieville
Member since Feb 2006
18349 posts
| re: General Contracting your Home Build (Posted on 2/14/12 at 7:27 pm to TigerEye2)
My builder is charging 8.5% of the estimated cost to build. I'm paying him a flat fee based on his estimate.
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Coon
Nicholls St. Fan
La 56 Southbound
Member since Feb 2005
14879 posts
| re: General Contracting your Home Build (Posted on 2/14/12 at 8:04 pm to ashy larry)
Ashy, what's the name of your company?
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aaronb023
LSU Fan
Member since Feb 2005
7325 posts
| re: General Contracting your Home Build (Posted on 2/14/12 at 8:39 pm to guttata)
Guttata, that's probably a pretty good deal. Does the estimate include administrative costs that you would consider overhead?
This post was edited on 2/14 at 9:22 pm
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fishfighter
LSU Fan
Baton Rouge
Member since Apr 2008
11862 posts
Online
| re: General Contracting your Home Build (Posted on 2/15/12 at 5:18 am to aaronb023)
I did mine about 15 years ago. Cost for a 2500 living was just a bit over 50 grand. I was a shift worker, so I did have time to be on the job. I also knew people in the trade. One other thing I did was hire a home inspector. Had him come in 3 times as the build went on. First time was when the slab was about to be done to check plumming. Second was after the house was black in and all ruff elec,plumming and ac/heating was in place. The third was done when the house was finished. He only charged me $75 per inspection at the time. As thing progress, he did point out a few things that did save me big money.
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ashy larry
LSU Fan
Marcy Projects
Member since Mar 2010
3286 posts
| re: General Contracting your Home Build (Posted on 2/15/12 at 11:08 am to Coon)
quote:
Ashy, what's the name of your company?
no company. I don't build for a living. I've built/remodeled a few houses for myself over the years. When I was single it was a nice way to supliment my income. Buy a house, live in it while i do improvements, then sell it and move to another project. I have also built a couple of spec houses, but I am not doing that now... not that banks are eager to loan money for specs anyway. I've also helped some friends self contract.
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XanderCrews
LSU Fan
Member since Mar 2009
239 posts
| re: General Contracting your Home Build (Posted on 1/16/13 at 7:18 pm to ashy larry)
Bumping for a quick question.
I plan on GC'ing myself and something I have always wondered is of those of you that have built houses, would you pick a certain time of year to start?
Did you find yourself saying "I wish I would have started in Jan because" ...... Or Start in the summer?? Any help is appreciated.
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BIGFOOD
Austin Peay Fan
Member since Jun 2011
247 posts
| re: General Contracting your Home Build (Posted on 1/16/13 at 9:43 pm to XanderCrews)
I build during all 12 months and prefer the summer. I got 4 customs going now in different stages and one of them is at a stand still due to the weather. Have to bring in a dozer tomorrow to do some grading, turn the dirt and lay down some rock in hopes it will allow me to get some big trucks to the wooded site for materials. Winter builds suck imo
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saderade 
New Orleans Saints Fan
America's City
Member since Jul 2005
19785 posts
| re: General Contracting your Home Build (Posted on 1/17/13 at 3:06 pm to BIGFOOD)
I am in the very early stages of this right now. Met with our builder last night. The system he has set up allows us to be our own general contractor and we pay a monthly fee to him to oversee and handle all subs. All of his pricing is set up beforehand. We can use our own subs or we can use ones he has previous relationships with. We pay the subs directly and he does not get a cut. This also allows to be as active as we want to be in the building process.
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