re: How Much Cheaper Would A Home Be If The Owner Built It Themselves?

Reworded the OP.

You can save a lot, but you have to have the equipment and know how, and some one who can pull permits(or live in area where they are lax in codes).

My uncle had a back hoe, and other heavy equipment, so he was able to do a shite load of expensive work. He let carpenters and drywall guys do their thing.

He did plumbing, electric, and hvac by himself and his worker(he had a business doing insurance work on homes).

We used to own a man-made stone business. The kind you see on homes, apartments, stores, etc... We did about half residential and half commercial From experience I will tell you that about half the owner builder homes we visited were a disaster area.

First, they normally have enough lumber and plywood piled up in the "cut" pile to build another half a home. Second, I cannot tell you how many times I saw windows installed wrong. Just no way they will be water tight. I have gone into homes where folks thought the stairs into the foyer stuck out to far and decided to push the landing back. The result is some pretty steep stairs where you almost have to turn a bit sideways to go down safely. I have seen gas tight gas lines run up the side of brick or siding into a hole in the second floor. I have been in bed rooms that had 4 windows but outside it had 8. They sheet rocked over the 4 small windows above the large ones. I've seen it all brother.

If you know enough about construction to subcontract it properly and do a few things yourself (CORRECTLY), you can save some significant money and have good equity the day you move in. Only about 30% of the people that do this have the skill set.

If you purchase an owner builder home that didn't require electrical inspections then say a prayer every night and make sure your smoke alarms and fire extinguisher stays charged... just in case.

ADA compliant???? For hearing impaired, sight impaired, reach impaired, mobility impaired???? I would rely less on a set of govt standards and more on the person that will be the determining occupant. There are many things that can be done to make a house easy to live in.

You pay for his ability to complete quickly. Is a sub going to work for a one-timer or his gravy train? Be prepared to wait or pay more to get your subs on the job. Self perform in all phases will produce spotty results

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You mean value my work at zero?

You're not very bright.

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Maybe you don't understand the question.

Maybe his co-workers are the 3 little pigs!

You're getting a little undue hate here. However, this is one of those things, that if you have to ask, you're not qualified.

We built my parents house, it's worth roughly 3x of what was paid for in materials and random contractors in an upper end Ascension neighborhood. We did everything except plumbing and the highest peak roof framing.


Whatever you do save, you pay for in labor, headache and time. If you are not highly qualified, its likely you should pay someone to do it.

I've been looking at homes on Ebay. They come as a package. You can set some of them up in a day or so. Some are nice.

IMO it's better to work overtime in your profession to pay others to do the work you need done.

You'll get much better results with WAY fewer headaches. And you won't have mama crawling up your arse bitching about when you're going to be done.