Ask the Readers |Frugal House-Building Advice?
Recently, I got an email from a reader asking for advice about building a home. While I do have some experience in home fixing-up and I can paint All Of The Things, I have nooo clue about actually building a house!
Image thanks to Armchair Builder via Flickr Creative Commons
However, I'm positive that some of you have been through this process and have some wisdom to share. Read the email below, and please do leave your advice in the comments!
(Email subscribers: so that this reader can see your comments, click on the post title to come to the actual blog and leave a comment. Clicking reply will send your comment to just me!)
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I'm in a bit of a desperate hunt for house building advice. My husband, three older kids, and I just sold our house (had to actually pay money to do it), but made ourselves free to move to our 5 acres with the intent of homesteading. Anyway.....
The only debt we have is the land payment and we are stuck on what kind of house to build. We have chosen a few smaller home plans (1300-1400 sq ft) but when we add in a basement option, a mud room option, hardwood floors (I don't want any rugs at all), a metal roof (good in warding off any fires from the forest), non vinyl windows...... it all adds up.
We can swing such a payment but were kind of hoping to have a very small mortgage payment. We even considered converting our 30'x40' garage on our land not our home. But we fear, in the end, it would add up to be as much as a house built for us. And we certainly need a garage if we homestead. There's a lot to consider.
Have you come across people who have built their own homes? What have they done in order to remain frugal? When I look up frugal homes on the internet I find tiny, tiny homes or ones that are just plain strange.
Thank you,
Karen
I know a family who built a basement, finished it completely, then put a roof on it. They lived in the finished basement until they had saved the money to build the house! They had a two car garage that held the entry to the basement and then a roof just a foot or so off the ground. It looked a little strange, but they were able to build a home they loved by being patient and saving money while they still lived on their property.
Our house has been a work in progress for 25 years now. While most people wouldn't be able to do things exactly like we have because of circumstances, we built ours much like Danielle says here. We didn't live in the basement, but we did go without some of our windows for a while, adding windows later as we had money to do so. We had a dirt floor in our cellar for a few years, until we'd saved to lay cement. The upper story of our Cape Cod was completely unfinished when we moved in. We had plywood floors for a while, which we painted, and then added permanent flooring as funds allowed. We added an entryway and a full dormer as we went along. Much of it has to do with your circumstances and skill set. I married a very handy guy and together we have been able to do all of the work ourselves, (with a little hired help on the dormer because when you tear half your roof off in the middle of the summer, it's kind of important to get it back on rather quickly!) A lot of it has to do with your expectations. Some would rather have more now and make the payments each month, but the financial security and peace of mind from not having a large mortgage to pay off has more than made up for any inconveniences in our minds. Hope this helps--and hope it all works out for you!
The best advice we got from our builders when we built our house was to splurge on the things you can't easily change. For instance, we wanted architectural block instead of stucco or vinyl siding, so we got that. While I would have loved granite countertops and all hardwood floors, we went with formica countertops and linoleum floors since those are things we can change later when finances allow. We also wanted a metal roof, but the cost was much more than shingles. The builders reminded us that roofs do need to be replaced after several years and that we would probably be more financially set to put on a metal roof then. Just think about what you can live with for a while that you can easily change versus what is difficult to change. Good luck.
I will second what Sherri said...purchase quality of items that are difficult to change! Roofing, windows, make sure your floors meet the requirements of what wood flooring you "want" to put in. Plumbing, make sure it is run for items you may want to install later (like an additional bathroom). Furnace, water heater buy energy efficient and quality items.
We built, you must have nerves of steel, our builder was wonderful, expect to have overruns - stuff that just comes up. Also please if you are not super handy and trained with electrical, plumbing etc hire the work out, don't sacrifice safety and quality work.
When we originally started looking for a home we were pretty surprised and the number of homes that the homeowners decided...to make improvements and their work was absolutely garbage. That is why we eventually decided to go with a builder who had a great reputation.
This is the perfect question for Mr. Money Mustache! He's a builder AND lives a within-your-means lifestyle. I browsed through some of his posts and, while I didn't notice one that was directly on house-building, there are a few posts about housing costs that are worth checking out. You can take a look at all of the posts here: http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/all-the-posts-since-the-beginning-of-time/.
That's just what I was going to suggest! 🙂 Mr. Money Mustache has some great advice (he's currently building his own super efficient house) and was part of our inspiration to live frugally, be content with simplicity, and be unashamed about it!
Me three! After FG and NCA, MMM is my favorite blog.
What blog is NCA? I'd love to take a look. 🙂
NCA = non consumer advocate
some things to be frugal..do your own painting...have a painting party.....find kithcen cabinets at a better price....then paint or stain yourself...find A habitat restore to buy tiles,cupboards etc...do your own landscaping...if i think of more i will write laura
Check out Ana-white.com. She's building a duplex for her mother and mother-in-law in Alaska so she talks about how she considered the house layout (square for maximum square footage with few exposed walls for heat loss) and building materials (poured concrete walls--so cool) all with cost-effectiveness and efficiency in mind. Also she's all about DIY so lots of plans on how to custom build stairs and decks and kitchens and tiling.
Exactly my thought! I know Alaska is different than the rest of the country (no building permits for houses), but a lot of her ideas, like custom building your own kitchen cabinets, thinking through the design process thoroughly to avoid extra costs down the timeline, like making sure to leave openings for dryer vents in the poured walls, or thinking through the order in which to install things, are still applicable.
My first step would be to thoroughly research permit requirements in your area, from what you would need to build new to what you would need to modify or convert an existing structure.
I'm just a spectator in the house-building foray, so take this for what it's worth:
1. Yes to the MMM suggestion. Read his stuff.
2. You don't want tiny, and I concur, but there is a lot of information at building frugally at assortmentblog.com. Their cabin is 665 sqft, too small for my taste, but she blogged so much information about the thought process that went into it.
3. How about a manufactured home? There are a number of respected modular home builders. An episode of "This Old House" featured a segment on how they're built, and that might be something to watch.
I was thinking a manufactured home as well. Lots of people have them in my county...and the specs are built for your particular geographical area.
This area went thru Hurricane Katrina, and it didn't matter whether you had cement walls or tin walls. It all came down or washed away.
Manufactured homes can be bought for a song, if they have been repossessed. Insurance is a bit more on these, but most people I know get a break or discount when they brick the exterior and put on a metal roof....if it doesn't already come with a metal roof.
Totally worth looking into, in my opinion.
Good points, Jeanine. Our neighbors built their own basement and then put the manufactured home on top of it, which proved cheaper than hiring a contractor for the basement. Plus, if you have a floor plan you're in love with, your designer/sales rep can work with that to make the home you want.
We built a house in Anne Arundel County six years ago. I would NEVER consider building a house again. Buy one already built, there are thousands out there and bound to be some that suit you.
It took 3 years and some $60,000 to get the permits. Yes, just to get the permits! The county have THOUSANDS of employees whose only job is to make it harder and more expensive to do anything that you want to do. They have NO employees whose job is to help you.
When the builder took off with the money after he was half finished - he found that he only had to tell the bank he had finished and they would send him the money - there was NO ONE who would help go after the bank. Not the County, or the State, or the Federal govt, or the bank commissioners or politicians. NO ONE. Not even lawyers would take on the banks!! "You don't have a chance against banks they said, they have thousands of lawyers." So we lost it all, savings, IRA's, everything.
So, to repeat, my advice is NOT to try and build a house. You will have everything and everyone against you. You will age years for every week that you TRY to do it. It will take 10 times as long as they will tell you, and cost way more, and you have a good chance of losing everything. Buy one.
I am so sorry this happened to you. I thought the only way to drawdown funds was to have two or more signatures.
Yes but someone - builder or bank? - photoshopped my signature on all the draws, except the first one that I signed. All the other signatures on the draws were identical!! The builder went bankrupt as soon as he got all the money. I tried to get the OCC (Office of the Controller of the Currency) who "Control" the banks to investigate, but the banks control the government not the other way around. So that went nowhere.
Karen,
You might check out Tiny Texas Houses. (TinyTexashouses.com) While they do build smaller homes, you can learn how to recycle lumber, windows, etc. to build a house which might help you accomplish your goal of a smaller mortgage payment. And, you'd have a one of a kind house. If I was in the market to build a home, I would certainly look into this. Of course, you can buy a "Tiny Texas House" from them, but if you're going into homesteading (which I'm assuming that you're a "do-it-yourselfer"), this might work for you or at least give you someplace to start from. Good luck!
Have you thought about a modular home? It is not a double wide. They are actual stick built houses that are made in an assembly line fashion and the materials are never exposed to the elements. Yes your home comes in two parts or more depending on the style you choose. From order date to move in is maybe 3 months. We took this route and found that you had lots of plans to choose from, could make some changes, and you had enough choices (cabinets, floor covering, windows, paint, upgrades, etc.) to make it personal. Our modular builder even let us do some things ourselves to save money. We built a cape code with unfinished upstairs and completed it later. We also were given the same advice of put in up front what can't be changed later first and live with some things till you can afford them. To be honest, if something happened to my home today, I would take the modular route again in a heartbeat. Do your homework though on researching the brands. Ours is a Cardinal Modular home built in Wyliesburg, VA. I would stay away from manufacturers who also make mobile single-wide or double-wide homes as I've heard horror stories on them. Good luck and I pray a solution will come quickly for you.
As a builder I can recommend a few of option to cut cost. With recycling becoming more and more availed in many areas you might want to look into recycled lumber. I have a client who purchased all the wood beams she wanted from the old Diamond Match factor then used or had it milled to what she needed to build her home. One advantage of doing so is that the beams where solid redwood. Redwood after time petrifies and it is a material that most insects do not have a taste for.
In my area (CA) and in my sister's area (CO) there is an organization that is called Habitat for Humanity. Although this organization builds/repairs homes for the needed they also have an outlet store where builders and homeowners can go to get recycled items such as tile, flooring, sink, toilet...you name it...if they have it in stock you can purchase it at a much lower cost because it has been donated for the cause. Not all the item are new as much of there stock is from remodels/ homeowner who have removed old and installed new. All of the item new and used are in good working order.
The third item is purchase a whole house. If you look around you may be able to find an entire house that cost pennies. This of course is usually done to off set the cost of having the house moved to a new location. I know in my area when the city decided to use certain section of our city for new buildings there was a 4 block area of Victorians that sold for $100 a piece. Most of them where bought up the few that remained where eventually torn down to make way for the construction (as a builder that just broke my heart).
You can also search out liquidation stores. The only issue you might find by using such stores is that what is in stock is what is left from when it was originally made. Make sure that you calculate what you need plus a minimal of 10% to make sure you have enough material. Cuts in such things as hardwood floors and tile can add up quick if you have not calculated correct you will find yourself in a predicament. Also keep in mind that if damage occurs to anything you might want a couple of boards/ tile around to do repairs.
Many vinyl flooring companies that have installers have a section of their store where remnants are kept. They range in size from something that would fit in a small bathroom to something large enough to do a good size kitchen. Because they are remnants they usually sell for far less then what is on the roll.
Hope that helps and good luck with new home.
Not only can Habitat for Humanity be a good source for building materials at low cost, but they can also be a source for training in construction. I have a friend who has volunteered at Habitat for Humanity builds specifically to gain the skills needed to re-roof and re-wire his home. The main cost of building a home is paying the workers. The more you do yourselves, the lower your end cost.
I had no idea that they also trained. I knew volunteers did the building under supervision yet never put the two together. Great information if ever I should find something I don't know how to do, lol (been building for 30 years).
I totally agree with the main cost of building is paying the workers and that the more you do for yourself the less it will cost! I have clients who call me and ask what/how to do things. Most listen then say, " Can't go wrong and if I do I can always call you to fix it". 🙂
Have you considered a used or new manufactured home. we just retired by buying one and we love it. they are very moderately price when used.good luck to you and your family
We built a small cape cod, then when we saved up enough money, finished the 2nd floor. We have the master bedroom and a small den on the 1st floor (which we used as a bedroom until we finished the 2nd floor), shared that master bath etc... It made an affordable mortgage but you have to make sure to save that money for the future improvements! Since then we've added a large family room and three car garage with a playroom above it. It took 13 years to have our dream home but it was worth it. We do most of the work ourselves and have gotten a huge amount of satisfaction out of it.
Good luck to you and look at it as an adventure!
I second the idea of leaving some spaces unfinished until your finances allow you to finish them. Also, be aware of the fatigue that comes with such a large project. Plan as much as you can in the beginning before you get tired. It's easy at the end to go with less frugal options because they are easier and you are just ready to be done.
Steel buildings, like the kind used on farms for barns, garages, workshops, etc. They are inexpensive and easily convert to a house. You can insulate them, sheetrock the inside, add brick to the outside, etc. There are some pre-fab steel home kits but the steel garages are cheaper. They easily accommodate high ceilings and open floor plans. Search "metal building house" under google images to get some ideas.
I didn't build my house myself, but I did have a house built for me while trying to save money. Step one was finding an experienced and trustworthy builder who had access to good workers and subcontractors. He is a frugal guy himself and helped us save money, but he also knew when to spend money for quality where it was important. For instance, never go cheap on basics like the septic system and foundation, and don't go cheap on things that will go behind walls like your plumbing and electrical. It's easy to switch out a used sink from Habitat for a new one later on, but it's hard to get into the walls and fix poorly done pipes or wires.
As far as house plans, our lumberyard had a designer who put together a simple plan for us. Square footage costs money, but so do the cute details they love to put on internet house plans like multiple rooflines, dormers, etc. A simple rectangle shape with a plain roof, like a house a five-year-old would draw, is the cheapest and quickest to build. You can also save money with careful planning, like keeping your plumbing close by backing up the laundry room to the bathroom, etc.
We got our basic building supplies at the lumberyard known for good quality and a good return policy (our builder is picky about boards), and then bought things like flooring at big box stores when they went on sale. I wanted wood floors but saved money by installing vinyl plank floors that look (kind of) like wood, and when they wear out in 10-15 years I can replace them with wood.
Unless you are really experienced, I would suggest hiring out for the basic build and doing the finish work yourself. If you mess up while installing your flooring it will probably just be a little ugly. If you mess up while installing your electrical it could be dangerous! I ended up just doing little things myself like painting and installing bathroom and cabinet hardware and closet shelving, and it still was a lot of work! Good luck!
Libraries and big box lumber stores have large choice and selection of books with house plans and how to instructions. Youtube is an awesome resource for videos of how to build and some of them are extremely detailed.
buying 2, 2 car sized garages and putting them together is a good option too. You can ask around your friends too and see if any of them have any experience too, but be careful there. just because someone says that they know how to do something doesn't necessarily mean that they can do a "good" job of it! check out exactly what it is that they say that they have done for themselves.
My x-husband and I built our house without a mortgage. and we had help from our friends as they joined us on a few weekends. We would have weekend 'camp-outs with a modified "barn" raising (the studded walls) and pot lucks. The 3 areas that i would not skimp on are the roof, electrical and plumbing, including septic. those usually have to be done by someone who is licensed and they have to be done to code. Skimping on those can and will cost you more to repair after the fact if you screw them up. We also paid to have our foundation built.
a lot of the work you can do yourself and you certainly don't need to be an expert at it. i, myself did a huge part of the interior work. i did all of the insulation and sheet rock plus i also got up on the roof to work on the shingling it. I also built the window and door casings and the floor board. i also built the interior doors for the rooms. I built then in a z pattern barn door style. They looked great and rustic.
Don't be afraid to try.. You just might surprise yourself with all that you can do on your own!
More thoughts...Buy an older RV or trailer and live in it on your land as you build. You can use it as an RV or sell it when you're done. Takes a lot of pressure off, as you'll have a roof over your head for not a lot of money, with all the comforts of home. There is a site (no affiliation) called Cranky Ape that auctions repo'd RVs. Lots of interesting options and they have five locations around the country.
Don't forget about how much it will cost to run your home once it is built. If you can put money into energy efficient and cost saving items upon building, then you will save money in the long run ie: heating/cooling systems, insulation etc. Hard to upgrade/change that stuff once the house is built. Esthetics can always be done later, but big structural things are easier to do when the house is being built.
My husband and I have built several houses. It is A LOT of hard work. No matter what you plan, prepare for it to take at least twice as long and cost a lot more than you budgeted--things always crop up. Plan to be very patient, and expect issues. sorry to be such a downer, but that is just the honest truth. 🙁 That being said, we saved a lot of money building it ourselves. My husband and his family is very handy, and we basically did all the building ourselves.
Also, be prepared to have to make a lot of decisions of money vs. energy efficiency. Yes, you want low e windows, but the ones at Habitat for Humanity (or Craigslist, or whatever) are less than half the price. We scoured CL, HfH, and garage sales for all kinds of stuff: doorknobs, light fixtures, cabinetry, bits of tile, etc. It all helps.
Just a thought on hardwood floors. We got them in our current home. We got some upper mid-grade, hoping they would be better and less prone to stratches. We don't wear our shoes inside the house, and have "sliders" on all our chairs and furniture, and still have gotten a few scratches. If you plan to wear shoes inside, or will be in and out a lot, I would suggest that you consider tile. Perhaps some that look like wood??? It is harder on your feet, but can be installed yourself. For smaller areas like bathrooms and laundry rooms, you can always find remnants for those areas quite inexpensively.
One last thought, my local "big box" hardware stores were a great help in teaching me how to do different things--like laying tile, staining cabinets and trim, etc. They, and Angie's List, can be a big help in locating contractors that are reputable that can do the work you are not able to do yourself.
Long post, I know. Sorry! Best of wishes to you on your endeavor! Be patient! Laugh often, forgive quickly, and love your family well!
Speaking of tile floors, yes a good tile floor will last a great many years. Unfortunately most do not care for tile in large areas because they feel it is to cold on the feet. That use to be a huge down fall for areas where a fireplace was not being used to radiate the heat through the tile. There are now system you can install rather easily that are call by several name such as warm wire and radiant heat flooring just to name two. The are very fuel efficient and feel grew on the feet. Animals, especially older ones, tend to 'camp out' on said floors because of the radiant heat. These type system come with a thermostat one sensor (a second sensor is recommended to be installed for that 'just in case' factor) and sized mats or wire that you fit to the room size (the loose wire also needs a special hoop section to keep the wire in place). The system come with full instruction and I personally have contacted this particular company when I install this system because it was my first time doing so. Also this video states that a designated circuit must be used...this is only true on some of the system although a GFIC must be used at one point or another in all system whether by use of a bathroom GFIC or an actual GFIC breaker at the electrical box. Here is just one of the many videos that can be found of said type system, this just happen to be the one I installedusing a glue gun:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4ykN_hdQYk
So many good suggestions! When we built, I found house plans for "under 2000 sq. ft." etc., in books and online -- there are a number of nice little house plans for 1300-1600 feet, and less. We built small, because our kids were 13 and 16 -- in less than 10 years, both were out of the house permanently, and the house became just for the two of us. That was our biggest saving -- not building a house the size everyone thought we must surely need. We honestly had no trouble with fitting the four of us in it; we had 3 bedrooms and two baths and put the space where we most would use it -- kitchen, porches and living area. A friend of mine built a 2500 sq. ft. house with kids the same age of mine at the same time. My house is paid off, her house is still being paid on, and she and her husband rattle around in it. She has to clean all that, too. You say you have older kids -- remember that before long, you'll be empty nesters, so how much room do you really need? Maybe less than you think. Good luck!
we built 9 years ago......splurge on what you can......a 1400 sq ft house is perfect w/ a basement...apr. ours...we have hardwood in all areas upstairs besides the bathrooms & laundry room & their we put laminate not tile....tile is expensive & In our book not worth it.......we have an open floor plan w/ basically no hall which saves a ton of space & I love it....2 bedrooms, 2 baths, laundry, and a nice size living, dining, kitchen large room all on main floor....then in basement the 2 childrens bedrooms(boys share a room....doesn't hurt them) a bath and a huge open area.....we did put carpet in downstairs bedrooms simply because it was on cement made it warmer for them.......I have an island in kitchen and splurged for it & got granite but rest of counter tops laminate....love our house...one thing put laundry on main floor you will never regret it....we have metal roof & love it also....check your local area for any places like habitat for huminaty or other places like that for cheaper items....good luck and enjoy the building process 🙂
My favorite house building book is The Not So Big House by Sarah Susanka. She teaches you how to figure out how you live in your house therefore what you really need to build. Will you actually live in both a living room and a family room? If you always eat in the kitchen do you need a dining room? And things like that. Her houses are not cheap because she spends the money saved on size by adding detail but you don't have to do that. If you build the right house for you, you will live in all of it every day.
Heya- I haven't built a house or anything but if I were in her position, I would start with the Walter Segal self-build system - it's an architectural system designed for people who want to build houses cheaply and have no or limited building systems. It uses simple carpentry techniques predominantly, and walls can be easily moved around/new rooms added. More here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Segal; http://www.segalselfbuild.co.uk/home.html
A fabulous example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9hmpytgQEI
Also if you don't know Carmella's story, check out her blog: http://www.assortmentblog.com/assortment/665-sq-ft.html
They built a portable wooden cabin that fits a family and looks beautiful.
What are your absolute basic needs? For how long can you maintain that level? How much work can you legally do yourself? What is your exit strategy to the whole building process? Have you familiarized yourself with the permitting process-stages?
We opened up an account at a big box builder store. We not only get materials pricematched, but the store beats competitiors prices by 10%. We also get an itemized monthly statement. There are no restocking fees either. You will find that many builder stores charge up to 20% in restocking fees. No thank you.
We had a home built in 2011. We originally left the upstairs unfinished, but my husband has started working on that now.
We went ahead and did the expensive things that we thought would save us money in the long run, like energy efficient windows, an on-demand water heater and foam insulation, but we went with inexpensive countertops (laminate) and flooring (stained concrete). Other things we did to save money included doing all the interior trim work and painting, as well as construction cleanup and final grading and cleanup outside.
If you're looking at house plans, watch for plans with minimal exterior corners, simple rooflines and minimal unused interior spaces (such as hallways). While it is nice to have special architectural details, they all add to the cost.
As another commenter stated, it is almost always less expensive and 'greener' to buy an existing home. I love my house, but I was shocked at how many resources go into building a home from scratch, as well as the impact on land that I was already attached to. Everything went fairly smoothly for us, but I'm not sure I would do it again.
So many great ideas here. We have not built but have remodeled. A few tips that might be helpful:
--Big box stores (like Lowes or Home Depot) will price match. You can also purchase coupons on ebay for 10% at these stores. 10% can be a huge savings on cabinets, lumber, etc. We found that Menards has the best prices + 11% rebates sales at times + you can use those big box 10% off coupons.
--On Craigslist, you can find whole kitchens for sale for pennies on a dollar. Granted, you have to plan your layout according to theirs. But the kitchens can be really nice. People sell everything (cabinets, countertops, appliances) when they want to upgrade.
I've never built a home but I have a friend who built a metal home. It is beautiful! It was basically a metal building they built & designed it into a home instead of a shop. It's all hardwood inside with gorgeous high ceilings in the front & a stairway leading to a balcony that over looks the main living space & leads into the private bedrooms & baths.
On the outside they added a beautiful porch & landscaping so it doesn't look like a shop at all but a cross between a modern home & a farmhouse. It sits in the middle of their wooded land.
Maybe your reader could search metal homes or converting metal shops to homes for ideas?
Here's a suggestion: Build the garage first while you are paying off the land. Plan to live there for at least a couple of years while you are getting yourself together financially for the bigger project. Put in a small basic kitchen area, a bathroom, and at least two bedrooms while planning the layout so that when you finally build your dream home, you can easily convert this space into whatever type of storage/workhouse, etc that you may need. That way you are not sinking yourselves into a mountain of debt, nor are you resigning yourself and your family into living in an RV which can be extremely uncomfortable, especially during the winter months, or hot summer months if you are from a southern state, not to mention confining. Not only will you have peace of mind, but you will get your toe in the water as to how the whole building process works. You will also quickly get a good idea of how rapidly the costs for such projects add up. My family spent a summer in an RV one year when we built one of our houses. Things can deteriorate pretty quickly when you combine the stress of home building, maintaining your careers, confined living, and construction mud and barrels of musty laundry everywhere all the while trying to keep family morale up. Not to mention hauling water and emptying the sewer. We vowed we would never do it again.
Ana White. She and her husband built their house in Alaska, and recently built a duplex for their moms, the Momplex. Anawhite.com