Anyone here ever had a house built?

cashmoney · #1 10-05-2004, 11:10 AM

So I'm thinking about building a house within a year. One of my roomates just started his house that he's building and for him it's a pain in the ass. I want to know, for those of you that have your own house, would you reccommend building over buying anyday? Or was building just too much of a hassel? I'm trying to decide whether or not it'd be better to build one or just buy one. Can anyone here give some input on building a house?

DeltAlum · #2 10-05-2004, 11:26 AM

Buy your first one -- figure out what the builder did that you don't like, and what you do -- then if you feel the urge, build your next one using the experience you've gained in living in and maintaining the first home.

Rudey · #3 10-05-2004, 11:28 AM

You're building a tree house?

-Rudey

Dionysus · #4 10-05-2004, 11:34 AM

Oh snap!

honeychile · #5 10-05-2004, 11:41 AM

My brother & sister-in-law did, both the house and the addition. There's a lot of pluses and minuses, but both of them have a lot of construction skills. They did a lot of it themselves.

33girl · #6 10-05-2004, 11:45 AM

Everyone I know who's built a house has said that once you sign off on the plans - DON'T THINK ABOUT IT TILL THE HOUSE IS DONE. If you keep going over and over it, you'll keep changing things and it will make you insane.

If you want really specialized things, like a professional style kitchen, it might be easier to build.

cashmoney · #7 10-05-2004, 12:07 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Rudey
You're building a tree house?

-Rudey

Yea, havent you heard? In Florida its the new thing to do since we always seem to have these damn storms.

kddani · #8 10-05-2004, 12:27 PM

mr. kddani is building one right now... it has been a horrible experience (this is his second house he's built). If you do decide to do it, go with a well respected company. He was doing it privately through a general contractor and is getting royally screwed and is basically having to act as the GC now, in addition to being a partner in a law firm. After seeing all the crap he's dealt with, I would not consider building one unless something changes in my life to change my mind.

He's on the phone all day, at the house several times a day, is dealing with threats from sub contractors who the gen contractor didn't pay. It's a nightmare.

angelic1 · #9 10-05-2004, 12:31 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by DeltAlum
Buy your first one -- figure out what the builder did that you don't like, and what you do -- then if you feel the urge, build your next one using the experience you've gained in living in and maintaining the first home.

I agree with you on that. I think that personally it would be best to buy your first house or couple of houses before you build one yourself. Real estate rarely goes down in value, so you can always trade up so to speak down the road, each time getting a bigger house until you decided to build one. I think of building a house being more custom as well, so I will probably do that more down the road.

IowaStatePhiPsi · #10 10-05-2004, 02:10 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by DeltAlum
Buy your first one -- figure out what the builder did that you don't like, and what you do -- then if you feel the urge, build your next one using the experience you've gained in living in and maintaining the first home.

*nods*
seems to be my family's plan:
rent first one, but only until you are sure you wont be moving around due to job, etc (military background in family)
buy second one (and sometimes third) and maintain/remodel
build when you do not foresee any moving.

madmax · #11 10-05-2004, 02:59 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by cashmoney
So I'm thinking about building a house within a year. One of my roomates just started his house that he's building and for him it's a pain in the ass. I want to know, for those of you that have your own house, would you reccommend building over buying anyday? Or was building just too much of a hassel? I'm trying to decide whether or not it'd be better to build one or just buy one. Can anyone here give some input on building a house?

Each time you move you are going to have to pay closing costs, moving expenses and and tax on the appreciation except a one time 140k exemption. Take your time and decide what you want and make the right decision the first time out.

There are pluses and minuses to both. Simply buying an existing house is easy. Building from a production builder is fairly easy also. The major production builders around the country are DR Horton, Pulte, Toll, Ryan, Hovnanian, Lennar and many others. They build track housing and your options are limited but you still get to build your own house from scratch. Building a custom house gets more difficult. A custom house costs significantly more than a production house. If you have any specific questions pm me.

AchtungBaby80 · #12 10-05-2004, 09:49 PM

My dad built a house for my now ex-stepmom, and it was a pain in the rear-end...first the bricklayer wouldn't show up, then he had a Hell of a time getting it finished.

My sister and brother-in-law are currently building a house, and it's even worse than what my dad went through. However, I think a lot of it has to do with my sister...she's kinda high-maintenance and wants everything just so, plus, their builder is a jerk and one of their bricklayers got sent to jail in another state. I think I'd rather just buy one unless I couldn't find anything at all that I liked.

KSigkid · #13 10-05-2004, 09:54 PM

My dad built our house, in which I spent most of my childhood. It worked out much better for my parents; they were able to control every aspect of the construction, get a house exactly like they wanted, and didn't pay for things they didn't like/would have to remodel later.

However, I guess it's different for every person. It worked out very well for my parents.

Tom Earp · #14 10-05-2004, 10:49 PM

Cash, while it may not be the same some what, but figure a minimum of $100.00 per square foot minimum depending on amenietys!

When I had My first built, I was there everyday checking on them.

They will screw you when then can.

Get Bids and references first off.

Good Luck Guy!

Tippiechick · #15 10-05-2004, 11:01 PM

We were having a house built. (Until the walk-through...) We were going to move into the house in two days. Then, upon walking only on the outside of the house, we found 20 things that needed fixing. (Not little stuff, major things.)

We never even made it inside b/c the the builder's rep said he "forgot" the key to go inside.

Our rep called us 5 hours later and said that the builder wanted to let us out of the contract b/c there were too many items he did not want to fix. He wanted out b/c if he had to fix everything on the outside, (and most likely things we never got to see on the inside) he would have lost money on the house....

We had paid $70.00 in lighting overages. He refused to give those back. He charged us $50.00 for a door that was painted after being told there was no charge for it.
Someone from the builder's people went into the house after it was "done" and used up the equilvilant of 1/2 a month's water bill in 3 days. He refused to pay it even though we had no access to the house and was not allowed into it to use any water.

He then sold the house with a 10 year-old light that we brought with us to save on lighting costs. It was our light. It is hideously scratched up and obviously NOT new. He refused to give it back to us. In fact, he has passed it off as a new light until the people notice it.

BE CAREFUL WHO YOU GET TO BUILD YOUR HOUSE. We thought we could trust this guy. He was even recommended by a few people. But, he was in a hurry and his men did shoddy work. And, he didn't want to have to fix it.

In the end, we went with another house already built... We LOVE it! And, we never, ever, want to build a house again.