I have heard a number of people in my life talk about building their own home with their own hands. My Uncle Ted built his, mostly with his own hands, when I was very young. It became a dream of mine. A dream I fulfilled. I built my own home from the foundation to the roof and everything in between with my own hands, tools, and books. My advice to others, DO NOT DO IT ! Here's why.
There are better options. My house will never be finished. I have been working on it for 10 years and I will die and it still won't be what I want it to be when I die. The reason is that what I want it to be continues to change. Take careful note of this.
It is normal for folks to want to change their habitat several times over their lifetime. If you build your own home, you invest so much of your life and family in it, that you can't bear to part with it. Which leaves but one course of action. Constant modifications, additions, subtractions, and remodeling. It is easier to buy and sell a few houses in one's lifetime and enjoy each for its own characteristics, than it is to modify the same structure several times during one's lifetime.
If however, like me, you are stubbornly intent on building your own with your own hands, build small. Altering a small structure is vastly easier and less costly than altering a large structure. Build multiple connected small units. This makes future modifications, additions and subtractions, modular, easier, and far less costly. Take extra care however, with modular components on insulation. Modular units expose far more external wall and roof to the environment. Double recommended insulation on modular units and keep window spaces minimal if you live in cold Winter or hot Summer climes.
I love my home, and am content to die in it. If I had it to do over again, I would subcontract some of the more time consuming and heavy labor projects like foundations and slabs, and interior finishing. The greatest fun is in the designing and seeing that design become real. The actual construction, while it can and will provide many personal and psychological benefits in terms of skill building and discipline, is largely boring, repetitive, and very slow.
Side Notes: Build to code standards or above, even if your property lies in a jurisdiction that does not enforce building codes. Safety first has to be adhered to when building one's own home. The peace of mind falling to sleep in your owner built home knowing it is a safe home, is worth every penny and hour spent.
Don't build on credit cards. Save up the cash. An owner built home purchased on credit card interest can cost double what a mortgaged or builder loan subcontractor built home might cost, after all that high interest has been paid. Some folks I hear have paid a general contractor a few hundred dollars to come out a few times and inspect the critical work you are doing, and sign off on your construction when finished. Not sure of the legality of this procedure, but, it does permit one to obtain a builder's loan, and insurance, while the home is under construction.
Build a small living structure to live in while building your main home (great practice) , or live in a trailer on your property. Then convert the small structure to a guest building when you move into your home. Build a separate workshop to house your machines and tools and protect them, and you, from the elements while the house is under construction. Consider making this your permanent garage after your home is built.
Whether building in hot or cold climates, consider building an earth bermed house. The energy and maintenance cost savings will be monumental. Provide area for vehicles to pull in and turn around, and for material deliveries to be dropped off, out of the way.
Also, try orient the longest side of the House to the South. This maximizes heat gain from the Winter sun in the winter months, reducing heating bills. It also positions the shorter walls to the East and West which gain less Sun heat in the Summer in the mornings and evenings. Consider generous roof overhangs in hot climates to block rising and setting sun from entering through windows.
Maximize storage space under stairs with drawers,cabinets, or closet. Consider adding deep storage above kitchen cabinets, and provide for a closet or clothes hanging area off your bathroom, or create and adjacent laundry room. Definitely install a passive solar water heater on your roof if building in Southern climates. They aren't very expensive anymore, and will reap solid savings in water heating bills in just a few years.
Plan your landscaping before building, to insure that you can maximize tree shade and wind breaks to protect your house, without compromising your underground utilities, septic tank, or leach field. Water is becoming scarce in many areas. Consider planning on capturing rain water from your roofs to use for landscape watering. Even if you have a well for water, it takes electricity to pump that water out of your aquifer, and rain water is free.
One day, you actually do get to move in as these photos below show.
With a sense of Pride.
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