Building Your Dream Home

Written by Mark Donovan


For most of my adult life I had thought about someday building my Dream Home. Several years ago I finally gotrepparttar chance. I had purchased a lake front lot with a small cottage on it. My initial intention was to userepparttar 100005 property “as is”, and someday razerepparttar 100006 old cottage and build a new home in its place. After a couple of weekends inrepparttar 100007 musty old camp I came torepparttar 100008 conclusion that I needed to speed up my timetable.

Part ofrepparttar 100009 dream in building my own home was to act asrepparttar 100010 General Contractor and to personally supply a great deal of sweat equity. I accomplished both of these goals, however it was not easy. There were many roadblocks and bends inrepparttar 100011 road alongrepparttar 100012 way. Inrepparttar 100013 subsequent parts of this chronology, I will review my experiences in hopes that others may gain from my experiences.

Determiningrepparttar 100014 Home Style and Size

After makingrepparttar 100015 decision to razerepparttar 100016 cottage and build a new home, I had to first determine what type and size of home to build. My lot was limited in size and required careful planning to ensure that I would meet all ofrepparttar 100017 setbacks governed byrepparttar 100018 town I lived in. Although I had these concerns, I decided to forgorepparttar 100019 Architect route. I deemed it too expensive and probably not necessary forrepparttar 100020 style of home I wanted to build. Instead I picked up a handful of Home Plan magazines and surfedrepparttar 100021 internet for home designs. I also picked up an inexpensive software package for designing homes and floorplans. After a week of reviewing home plans, I found one that met most of my requirements in terms of a floorplan. The footprint was smaller than I wanted, but I concluded that I could redrawrepparttar 100022 floor plan accordingly using my newly purchased Home Design Software Package.

The Home Design Software package was not as simple to use asrepparttar 100023 instruction manual implied, however after a couple of weeks I had a floorplan with allrepparttar 100024 dimensional information.

Assumingrepparttar 100025 role asrepparttar 100026 General Contractor

As I had indicated earlier, one of my goals was to assumerepparttar 100027 role as General Contractor on this project. I quickly learned that banks frown upon lending construction mortgages to everyday homeowners and to folks who have little professional building experience. I got around this issue by deciding not to userepparttar 100028 banks for financing. However, from what I learned later, it may have been possible for me to assume a construction mortgage if I had quit my day job and applied forrepparttar 100029 loan as a “full time General Contractor”. Indeed, I would have needed to complete a full proposal torepparttar 100030 bank with all costs and subcontractors identified, but this is necessary anyways.

Asrepparttar 100031 General Contractor I developed a build schedule and task list. Some ofrepparttar 100032 top items included: Identifying subcontractors, pulling permits, and having a septic design approved.

Carefully Pick your Sub-Contractors

Identifyingrepparttar 100033 right subcontractors isrepparttar 100034 most important task a General Contractor performs. Poor selection of subcontractors can lead to delays in schedules, cost overruns, poor workmanship and strife betweenrepparttar 100035 various subcontractors onrepparttar 100036 job. Prior to hiring subcontractors, it is important to visit their current jobsites. Review their work on existing jobsites and mingle withrepparttar 100037 other subs to judgerepparttar 100038 working relationship. In addition get two or three reference checks onrepparttar 100039 subcontractors. If there are poor workmanship, personality issues, or references move on. Do not settle for second rate subs, even if it means slipping your schedule or costs goals, as you will more than likely suffer even larger schedule slips or higher costs by hiringrepparttar 100040 wrong people.

Buying an Unfinished Home maybe Your Answer

Written by Mark Donovan


Forrepparttar first time “want-to-be” homeowner, purchasing an unfinished new home maybe justrepparttar 100004 answer. With mortgage interest rates still at record lows, there has not been a better time to purchase a home in decades. However, home prices have dramatically risen overrepparttar 100005 past several years, and even with low interest rates, for somerepparttar 100006 dream of owing one’s own home has still remained out of reach.

Purchasing an unfinished home can save tens of thousands of dollars, thus enabling some prospective homeownersrepparttar 100007 opportunity to buy a house that they may not have otherwise afforded. Unfinished homes are particularly attractive to young couples with no children and who have limited financial resources. The unfinished home concept allowsrepparttar 100008 young couple to grow/finishrepparttar 100009 home as their family and financial resources do. In addition, ifrepparttar 100010 new homeowners are willing to put in sweat equity they can save significantly on finishingrepparttar 100011 home.

Typically an unfinished home has a completed kitchen, living room, bath, and at least one bedroom. This is pretty much required by mortgage lenders and building inspectors asrepparttar 100012 home would otherwise be considered unacceptable for living standards. In many two story unfinished homes,repparttar 100013 entire upstairs maybe left unfinished.

When purchasing an unfinished home there are a few items to consider first, such as; what isrepparttar 100014 expected timeline for finishing the

Cont'd on page 2 ==>
 
ImproveHomeLife.com © 2005
Terms of Use