Building a house for penny pinchers.

[Cedarsavage]

Any penny pinchers on here that have built houses to have a minimal mortgage? We have 14 acres of vacant land we want to build on. Once we sell our current house we’ll probably have about 100k to put on the next one. We’ve talked about cash flowing a pole barn with an apartment to live in a year or so. With the idea we could avoid financing 100k of it n save some more during the build process. I’m wondering if it’s worth spending the extra money to make an apartment in the pole barn. We could just build now but we’re trying to keep mortgage/interest down. Has anyone done anything like this?

 

[riversidejeep]

A few guys around me have gotten a bigger travel trailer to live in during construction. I think one needs to go a little bigger than you want as it would tend to shrink after awhile. Are you going to do the actual construction or hiring a contractor? If your doing the construction yourself it helps alot living at the site as far as time saved. If hiring it out , the contractor will hate you by the end of the job.

 

[SWOHTR]

Any penny pinchers on here that have built houses to have a minimal mortgage? We have 14 acres of vacant land we want to build on. Once we sell our current house we’ll probably have about 100k to put on the next one. We’ve talked about cash flowing a pole barn with an apartment to live in a year or so. With the idea we could avoid financing 100k of it n save some more during the build process. I’m wondering if it’s worth spending the extra money to make an apartment in the pole barn. We could just build now but we’re trying to keep mortgage/interest down. Has anyone done anything like this?

You wanna live in a poleshed? Cannot not recommend this enough.

 

[Hnthrdr]

My in-laws have never had a Mortage, they do own a construction company and built when they had cash on hand, took the fil a 3-4 years back in the day to build what is now about a 2 million dollar home but amazing if you can swing it. He bought land and then paid for things he could when he could. How adept are you at building?

 

[jmez]

If you aren't doing the actual building getting any subs to even call you back will be next to impossible. The ones that do call back you probably don't want.

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[cnelk]

Does the 14 acres have utilities already in place?

Water/Elect/Septic/Etc?

 

[Yellowknife]

I've known many people that have build temporary apartments in basements, garages or shop buildings to avoid biting of the whole house build at once. Pretty common in this state. Sometimes it works out great, but often not. I'm personally not a fan. Usually they get burned out with the building process and end up living in the garage for years, before finally getting a construction loan for a real house. In the end, they spent more than if they just built the house and got an earlier start paying it off. There are exceptions, but I guess I've seen it go wrong more often than right.

The other issue I've seen with the concept is that until the final house is build and finished, the owners have very little equity in the place. You will spend $200k or more on the garage/apartment and it will only minimally increase the value of the land. With a major life change (births/deaths/sickness/job change), you will have your funds tied up in a place that isn't easy to move.

I built my first house on a shoe string. Finished 1200 sq ft with mostly my own labor and got a traditional mortgage. Then expanded out of pocket. By the time I sold it it was 2400 sq ft + a finished detached garage. It wasn't always fun, but served to keep our mortgage low and our equity positive.

Second house I built the full house out with traditional financing and a contractor, then added the shop and outbuildings out of pocket. More expensive, but the building process was much quicker, which has substantial value.

 

[KenLee]

T

Any penny pinchers on here that have built houses to have a minimal mortgage? We have 14 acres of vacant land we want to build on. Once we sell our current house we’ll probably have about 100k to put on the next one. We’ve talked about cash flowing a pole barn with an apartment to live in a year or so. With the idea we could avoid financing 100k of it n save some more during the build process. I’m wondering if it’s worth spending the extra money to make an apartment in the pole barn. We could just build now but we’re trying to keep mortgage/interest down. Has anyone done anything like this?

The related divorce will be more expensive than the mortgage

 

[cnelk]

T
The related divorce will be more expensive than the mortgage

The reason divorce is so expensive is because its worth it

 

[KenLee]

The reason divorce is so expensive is because its worth it

You're preaching to the choir. I'm a pro at it

 

[ODB]

If you aren't doing the actual building getting any subs to even call you back will be next to impossible. The ones that do call back you probably don't want.

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Man I hear this loud and clear and from damn near everyone I talk to about building a house.

Another one I hear here in Idaho is that no one wants to build an 1800 sf single-level practical house with an outshed when they have people in line to build a 5000sf mini-mansion.

 

[Jon Boy]

1.) if the ground and grade will allow build in a monolithic slab with in slab radiant heat. Run an ERV or air filtration.

2.) sounds like a smaller place- go with a combo boiler. Domestic hot water on demand and supplies your heat for the radiant

3.) single pitch and single level. The higher you go with more pitch changes adds up very quickly.

4.) the more corners your house has the more expensive it gets quickly.


Essentially building a box with a single pitch roof will cut down greatly on your cost of build.

I built this house for myself in the ways I describe with some nice timber frame accents for 100/sqft


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[Coopsdaddy]

Build the living qtrs with future plans to rent it for some retirement income build your house smaller and let guest stay in living qtrs.

 

[Madstop14]

We bought a camp and converted it into a year round home, but its kind of a retirement place (next year years). My first question to you is what phase of life are you in?

 

[Preston]

We have did this several times since the early 2000’s. I built my first log house in eastern Oklahoma with my brothers help in 2001 and lived in it off and on between fieldwork. Had less than 30k in land/720 sq ft cabin.
Got married in 2005 and moved west, bought land in 2013 in Montana and put in utilities, had a well drilled, installed my own septic and built a 600 sq/ft cabin that four of us lived in for six years. It was a great time with the kids being little and we all really enjoyed those times. I had 48k in the cabin and 157k for 10 acres. The neighbors laughed at me for building such a small house. In 2016 I built a second 2400 duplex from cash we had saved and inherited from my wife mom for 160-180k on the same 10 acres. It took about 2 years for us to build, hired out various parts such as plumbing, electrical, HVAC, and insulation, but we did the rest. We rented it out until 2022 and sold it for 3x what it was worth or would ever provide in rental revenue.
We started a significant 1800 sq/ft add on to our cabin in 2017 and completed it 2021. It was mostly a very stressful time building the add-on because it took so long, created marriage difficulties (divorce or even murder was mentioned by my wife several times)! It wasn’t fun and we didn’t have a good design or plan. It was facing north, hired a shitty electrician, and worse plumber, I didn’t do a good job on the drywall etc. The add-on had a lot of cosmetic issues, but was structural very solid.
Long story short we rented it out while I worked on a 15 month pipeline in MN and our renters burned it down by placing hot coals on a trex deck! We didn’t have enough insurance to cover rebuilding in 2022, but it covered about 70%. I quit my job and did the demo and rebuilt another ICF concrete house in around 6 months (was able to use the existing frost walls and footings that were also icf). I’m still working on it, only have a few items left, such a great feeling.

So you can do it on your own with good skills and be willing to work and learn. I fired several subcontractors and got burned by two of them, and hired others that were awesome. We saved a ton of money, have the house paid for, and it’s probably tripled in value from our construction cost.

In NW Montana there are all sorts of shitty, shady, lazy ass contractors, so depending on your area finding reliable contractors can be the most difficult part. It will be a real test on your marriage, and it was probably the most difficult thing we have went through. Contractors will tell you you can’t build a house for $150 sq/ft but it’s entirely doable if you’re willing to do it yourself. Best of luck.

Our 600 sq/ft cabin

 

[grfox92]

Single story 8' ceilings, slab on grade, rectangle, with a truss roof system, in floor heat.

This will be the most inexpensive house to build.

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[loganwayne]

something to keep in mind if you plan on trying to build yourself without a General contractor. Most banks wont lend you the money without a GC license. so if you start it yourself without a GC you may screw yourself later on if you need to take a loan out.

 

[TaperPin]

A fellow carpenter built his own place - 1,500 sqft ranch with a crawlspace. He did all the concrete and carpentry - only subbed out plumbing, electrical, and hvac. When he was done, the house appraised for about the cost of materials. Building materials and high labor costs will suck every last dime out of an inexpensive project.

With prices of building materials I think the least expensive house has to be a remodel of a house out of the 1970’s. New enough to have trusses, plastic waste lines and an electrical system that doesn’t need to be completely replaced.

Pole barn builders can get you into a finished house for slightly less money than new stick built, but if it’s not done to a pretty high standard, financing will be an issue, maybe a very big issue. Construction DIY outside of normal building codes can be done, but usually require an engineer‘s stamp. Most engineers won’t stamp a project without plans from an architect.

We just went through this with our oldest who was convinced a new Bardaminium on a remote piece of land would be cheap because of some YouTube video. I penciled out the costs and risks of just the utilities and site work, and that killed the project.

Turned out they couldn’t even afford remodel costs and payment of a 1970s house - at least for them and their cash flow it made the most sense to buy a basic brand new house.

 

[Team4LongGun]

Contractors will tell you you can’t build a house for $150 sq/ft but it’s entirely doable if you’re willing to do it yourself.

This. We were fortunate (after lengthy vetting process) to find a reliable, honest contractor, AND have a 1500 sq ft addition built for $115 sq. ft.

My advice is to play GC, this alone will cut costs almost in half. However, you could also have the honest contractor act as GC once you build rapport (after he frames and dries it in) he may accept the gig to finish it off with his trusted subs.

 

[*zap*]

the american dream.....