Hi! Hello! And how do you do? 😄🤗

On my Insta stories this past Friday I posed a question about owner building and it seemed there are a lot of people interested in doing their own home building project. I would love to share my experience and knowledge for those that are interested, so I hope this blog is helpful!

For those that don’t know, “owner building” means that the owners are acting as their own project manager and there is no residential/general contractor hired to oversee the build. We recently owner built our coastal farmhouse here in Florida and this is my second time owner building. I just love everything about construction and home design! 🤓 I asked my trusty sidekick Matt 👩‍❤️‍👨 to help me develop our list of pros and cons and things to consider when deciding if owner building is for you!

The Good:

-you are in control of all aspects of the build

-you are in control of the timeline, budget, quality of work, finishes, subcontractor, ALL details

-you are in control of hiring of the subcontractor crews

-you save money by not having to pay the fees a contractor charges

-you will catch mistakes that the contractor may miss because it isn’t a detail that bothers him

-you can add custom upgrades throughout the project

-all upgrades and change orders are done at “cost” with no builder overhead added in

-you save money on materials usually because you are price checking and getting the best deal

The Bad:

-This is a huge commitment (time, emotions, money, everything!)

-You are in control (you are solely responsible for the quality of your build). You are relying heavily on your subs to do good work and be honest

-You have to put in the time and energy (and it is an everyday task). You will be pulling your own permits, making sure all materials are on site, managing your sub schedule, meeting with the inspectors, etc.

-You have to make all of the decisions throughout the build

-you are responsible for firing 😕 (if necessary) the subcontractor crews

-You need an insurance policy for your construction and that can be much more difficult to find without a licensed builder, but not impossible

-owner builders typically don’t have long standing relationships with the subs and supply houses and therefore won’t get priority for jobs, may not get the same pricing as a builder who is using them multiple times, and may not get the same quality of work as they would give someone who may hire them again

-also owner builders typically don’t have long standing relationships with the inspectors and permitting offices. Licensed builders tend to have a foot in the door with those guys

The Ugly:

-for most of us, our home is the biggest investment of money we make, so naturally it is going to evoke the most stress

-Something(s) will always go wrong. Nothing ends up perfectly, no matter how much planning you do. There will be issues that arise and you must be able to see the big picture and not get too bogged down in details.

-You’ve got to have the time, commitment, understanding of the process, patience, and conflict resolution skills.

-you are responsible for making sure you know and understand all of the building regulations in your area (ie Florida has a ton of hurricane regulations so we had to make sure everything we did was up to current code)

-From BobVila.com: “When you hire a general contractor, you are paying for his experience, competence, ability to anticipate problems, and, more than anything, for his willingness to assume final responsibility for the whole job. And he’ll get the permits, do the scheduling, and handle disputes between subs and suppliers. Being your own contractor can mean you increase the odds of getting exactly what you want. GC’s make money by executing each job simply and efficiently so they can get on to the next one. Changes along the way and variations from the usual that make a job last longer can be the cause of irritation and uncooperativeness from a GC. Thus, if you are very detail conscious and plan to be looking over everybody’s shoulder anyway, it may make sense for you to be your own GC.”

well said, Bob! 👷🏼‍♂️