Building a House

[FakeNameChanged]

Originally Posted by stuball

I have built 2 house myself over the years. first one in 1979 rules were very easy second house in 2003 built both houses within 3 months.. second time was much harder.. had a list from building inspector of 9 things to fix before he allowed me to move in.. the worst was that 1 of the 2 bathrooms had to have doorways wide enough for wheelchair access and 2 of 3 bedrooms same thing.
they had approved the house plans before building and did not tell me that till I was ready to move in had to redo the doors to the fed requirements.. carpets were already in.. he said I could appeal but it would take some time to complete the process.. I was able to strip a 2 by 4 from the non support side of the door frames to comply but it was a pain.. so make your doors all big enough for disability requirements.. I told all the people I hired that if they saw anything wrong to talk to me about it right away that they were the experts.. that helped alot with a couple of small changes.. both of which were improvements after they were done. very stressful but I was much younger then. We love where we have lived for all these years.. I just lost my wife 3 weeks ago to Stage 4 Lung Cancer... I did home hospice till she passed and she loved her home and wanted to stay here. I loved her with all my heart and though it was hard I would do it no other way. I have say you and your partner have to be flexible and not stubborn (same thing)

Stuball

Stuball, sorry for your loss.

[tucker6]

Originally Posted by stuball

I have built 2 house myself over the years. first one in 1979 rules were very easy second house in 2003 built both houses within 3 months.. second time was much harder.. had a list from building inspector of 9 things to fix before he allowed me to move in.. the worst was that 1 of the 2 bathrooms had to have doorways wide enough for wheelchair access and 2 of 3 bedrooms same thing.
they had approved the house plans before building and did not tell me that till I was ready to move in had to redo the doors to the fed requirements.. carpets were already in.. he said I could appeal but it would take some time to complete the process.. I was able to strip a 2 by 4 from the non support side of the door frames to comply but it was a pain.. so make your doors all big enough for disability requirements.. I told all the people I hired that if they saw anything wrong to talk to me about it right away that they were the experts.. that helped alot with a couple of small changes.. both of which were improvements after they were done. very stressful but I was much younger then. We love where we have lived for all these years.. I just lost my wife 3 weeks ago to Stage 4 Lung Cancer... I did home hospice till she passed and she loved her home and wanted to stay here. I loved her with all my heart and though it was hard I would do it no other way. I have say you and your partner have to be flexible and not stubborn (same thing)

Stuball

Very sorry for your loss Stuball. I lost my first wife to stage 4 lung cancer as well. A gut punch beyond words. Took me a couple months for the fog to clear. Hang in there and stay active with family and friends. That's important mentally.

[JustRalph]

Originally Posted by mountainman

In process of buying land on which to erect a house. Am, of course, expecting unforeseen issues, expenses, and red tape.

Have other board members, perhaps, been through this??

On the “land buying”. Dont underestimate the value of a good realtor with experience in the area the land is in. Your buying, the realtor is paid by the seller. Find a good one.

Don’t forget mineral rights etc. if it’s in a residential neighborhood make sure you know setback lines and easement lines.

A good realtor can answer 90% of the questions and suggestions you will see in this thread.

Before You decide on a builder, go look at houses They have done in the last 2-5 years. Concentrate on the ones 2+ years old. It takes time for stuff to show up. They love to show brand new houses, but it takes time for roof leaks and drywall settling to occur.

Do a google search on your builder prospect. Look for people who may have posted about them. Google crawls most websites and finds stuff.

Ask the builder if they are an LLC-Incorporated or whatever. Builders love to go bankrupt and start all over again. Ask who owns them. Get full names, google the full names and check the BBB profile. You should be able to check with the attorney general on the owners full name and what other companies they have owned. Many states do this online.

On the building part, don’t skip talking to prior customers. Good builders will not have a problem with it. Bad guys will.

On the build site. Never show up and bitch at the actual guys swinging hammers. Those guys have a million ways to get back at you five years after you move in.

On home inspection, make sure your inspector scopes the Hvac vents (trash somehow finds its way into vents) and pressure tests the vent runs and temp tests the a/c at the farthest vent from the blower.

If you can afford it, put in extra tonnage on the a/c. When it’s ten years old and running at 80-90% efficiency it will still be adequate. Hopefully.

Just my .02

[mountainman]

Originally Posted by JustRalph

On the “land buying”. Dont underestimate the value of a good realtor with experience in the area the land is in. Your buying, the realtor is paid by the seller. Find a good one.

Don’t forget mineral rights etc. if it’s in a residential neighborhood make sure you know setback lines and easement lines.

A good realtor can answer 90% of the questions and suggestions you will see in this thread.

Before You decide on a builder, go look at houses They have done in the last 2-5 years. Concentrate on the ones 2+ years old. It takes time for stuff to show up. They love to show brand new houses, but it takes time for roof leaks and drywall settling to occur.

Do a google search on your builder prospect. Look for people who may have posted about them. Google crawls most websites and finds stuff.

Ask the builder if they are an LLC-Incorporated or whatever. Builders love to go bankrupt and start all over again. Ask who owns them. Get full names, google the full names and check the BBB profile. You should be able to check with the attorney general on the owners full name and what other companies they have owned. Many states do this online.

On the building part, don’t skip talking to prior customers. Good builders will not have a problem with it. Bad guys will.

On the build site. Never show up and bitch at the actual guys swinging hammers. Those guys have a million ways to get back at you five years after you move in.

On home inspection, make sure your inspector scopes the Hvac vents (trash somehow finds its way into vents) and pressure tests the vent runs and temp tests the a/c at the farthest vent from the blower.

If you can afford it, put in extra tonnage on the a/c. When it’s ten years old and running at 80-90% efficiency it will still be adequate. Hopefully.

Just my .02

tx, ralph..very helpful......

[PaceAdvantage]

Originally Posted by stuball

I just lost my wife 3 weeks ago to Stage 4 Lung Cancer... I did home hospice till she passed and she loved her home and wanted to stay here. I loved her with all my heart and though it was hard I would do it no other way. I have say you and your partner have to be flexible and not stubborn (same thing)

Stuball

So sorry to read of your loss stuball.

[mountainman]

Originally Posted by stuball

I have built 2 house myself over the years. first one in 1979 rules were very easy second house in 2003 built both houses within 3 months.. second time was much harder.. had a list from building inspector of 9 things to fix before he allowed me to move in.. the worst was that 1 of the 2 bathrooms had to have doorways wide enough for wheelchair access and 2 of 3 bedrooms same thing.
they had approved the house plans before building and did not tell me that till I was ready to move in had to redo the doors to the fed requirements.. carpets were already in.. he said I could appeal but it would take some time to complete the process.. I was able to strip a 2 by 4 from the non support side of the door frames to comply but it was a pain.. so make your doors all big enough for disability requirements.. I told all the people I hired that if they saw anything wrong to talk to me about it right away that they were the experts.. that helped alot with a couple of small changes.. both of which were improvements after they were done. very stressful but I was much younger then. We love where we have lived for all these years.. I just lost my wife 3 weeks ago to Stage 4 Lung Cancer... I did home hospice till she passed and she loved her home and wanted to stay here. I loved her with all my heart and though it was hard I would do it no other way. I have say you and your partner have to be flexible and not stubborn (same thing)

Stuball

instructive, sir..tx very much for taking the time..may happy memories of your beloved wife soften your grief, at least a little.....

usually, i can apply searing, even obsessive, focus to things I undertake, but my son is mildly autistic, and having a forever home constructed for him has the potential to compromise me on an emotional level.. BIG potential..plus, i plan to fund the whole project with cash, and deducting that amount from shane's future inheritance was a tuff call

[mountainman]

btw..i am looking at blueprints pegged at 1700 sq feet, or so (3 bedrooms, two baths..etc)..does that size sound appropriate for me, shane, and his mom???

initially, i was shooting for 2,000 sq feet, but my sister said that's just too much house for 3 people..