Anyone renovated or built a home as their own contractor

I was there the when I was off almost every day all day and worked until like 9pm most nights.

My wife doesn't work so she was there every day running the show.

Good luck if your wife works too.

It's possible. But it's not for the inexperienced, ill-equipped, or impatient.

There are very few lenders that will allow the borrower to take draws from the construction loan. Most require a licensed GC.

We didn't save any money, but have higher-end finishes because of the "savings" from self-contracting a complete home reno.

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There are very few lenders that will allow the borrower to take draws from the construction loan. Most require a licensed GC.

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This was my experience. Wife and I built our first house on some property we had already purchased. This was 40 years ago and we could not get financing without a contractor. We had a mutual friend that signed on. We used some of his subs, some subs that we or relatives of ours knew and did some of the work ourselves. Saved a lot of money but wouldn't even try without a contractor to advise.

I did it twice, one 15 years ago and one I just finished. You have to know construction well or you will get into many situations where things go bad. Never pay in advance and be careful when subs keep asking for draws because if they get 80% of the money and only 60% finished, they will move on to another job and leave you hanging. Get names for subs from the subs you hire. Drive by houses under construction and talk to subs or call the subs that put signs up in front of houses they are working on. They are proud of their work. Supply houses also refer subs, like the shingle distributor will give you good roofers. Drywall distributor will give you good names to hang and texture. Framer is by far the most important, closely followed by the foundation contractor.

Just finished up my house in December as the GC.

It’s definitely not for everyone. There’s a certain level of business acumen required. You’ll be dealing with a lot of contractors who do not generally care about you or your project, and a lot of money. It’s also very beneficial to have a high level of construction experience. Familiarity with construction methods, scheduling, etc is required to properly manage the project.

Working full time will make it difficult. The ability to meet subs, walk the job, check material, etc requires time flexibility. Not including the time required to select all the finishes, options, etc.

You can also look into alternative contracting strategies. Instead of paying a GC like a typical build, you can use a consultant to simply help you manage the project. Some GCs will operate under similar setups.

Where are you building? There are times when self contracting saves you money. High end finishes with a contactor that works on percent of mat and labor, you def come out better. But, a leveraged homebuilder that gives turnkey bids will save so much on materials, you dont save near what some people think. People that save a lot are generally people with a lot of knowledge that do high end, very custom things, that builders mark way up for time, material, and risk of redo. So it's kind of a catch 22, the more difficult and intense the build, the more you save doing self. If you do a regular custom home with nice fixtures/finishes, nice flooring, trendy stuff, you can pretty much break even when you account for time and bulk contractor discounts. I'll be 5k saved toward my fee in concrete, lumber, and shingle savings alone.