Is it cheaper to build a house than to buy a pre-exisiting or pre-build one from someone else?

Congratulations on your new homestead.

There are all kinds of ways to go here. You could actually do pretty well with a mobile home – lots of people do – and there are all kinds of deals to be had on them, both new and used. Some of them are quite nice.

You can even find people who have “a house” that they no longer want or that has to be torn down (or moved) because of “urban renewal” or sale of the underlying property for commercial or industrial development, and you can arrange to move the house to your property. You can get some great deals that way, but there’s certainly a lot of prep work to be done, and you need to contract with someone who is capable of making the move for you.

Modular homes can be a good option, as you’re seeing, and there’s no lack of sources for those, too. (Some mobile homes are actually touted as “equivalent to modular”, and in fact the moves across country are made pretty much the same way.)

A “stick-built” home can be an inexpensive option if you can do the work yourself, as you note may be possible, and if you’re willing to be your own general contractor for the work you won’t be doing: civil prep of the lot, including excavation, foundation forming and pouring (assuming a poured cement foundation), or masonry if you do a block foundation, electrical, plumbing, windows and doors, rough and finish plumbing, trim and painting, insulation, etc. There’s a lot to be done, and it will take a good while to do.

I know..it’s exhausting me to think about! I’m just afraid that the inside will LOOK like a modular home, and I certainly don’t want that….moving a house is an idea. But it seems like moving a house would cause all kinds of structural problems…

Sorry for the typo in my question, mods! Don’t hit me!! At least, not very hard!

Can you research ratings or reviews from recent buyers? I’d be more concerned about energy efficiency and insulation comparisons (to ground built) than it looking “modular” inside. I’ll bet you’ve got a lot of choices for interior finishing- don’t think your walls will be textured plastic sheeting like old school mobile/modulars. Congratulations of the property & plans! ;)

That’s a beautiful house. I know you’re deleting all the bedrooms on the right side, but that’s still an excellent design to put the kids as far away from the adults as possible with extra bathrooms for everyone :-p

Here’s another bit of advice: Don’t set that on a concrete slab if you live in a cold climate. The concrete slab will suck all your heat away in the winter. Don’t believe the builder if he tells you that the carpeting will act as insulation.

Simplest answer is it depends.
Can your husband or son get the other skills you need by trading their work with other craftsmen and friends? Do you have friends with some of these skills for whom you could trade labor? Do you know how to get builders’ discounts?

On the other hand, I saw what was to me a miracle once. Back in the late 70s I visited a commune with my s/o at the time and saw that people who had moved out of the communal buildings had built their own homes—some not much more than packing crates but some very respectable homes. Then they told us of a couple who had left and bought land to build a home on. When we got there they were living in a pleasant log cabin they had built [with a child] and told us they had lived in a tent while they built the cabin.

But the real miracle was that they were building a large Tudor home! It was partially built when we got there. And they had scavenged much of the material including wood for the huge exposed beams, slate for the roof, copper and god knows what a all. They didn’t have a bean. except for the land. Their next door neighbor was a prosperous physician. I never saw them again but I was AWAZED.

Wow…this wasn’t the “dome homes” commune, was it? Where they build the homes in the commune from scrap car metal?

@HungryGuy That’s the thing…all the kids are grown and gone! It’s just the two of us! He needs a den (which is already built into the plans) ‘cause he works from home, and we need a spare bedroom for something.

We’re going to pour a basement for a storm shelter and for storage. Basements are nice to have in Kansas! We’ve gotten one estimate of $15,000 just for the basement….does that sound right? Sounds really high to me…

@Neizvestnaya Yes, I need to do that—check the ratings and review. I am very concerned with utility efficiency, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a beautiful home inside. I have to live there and look at it every day. Tacky would drive me INSANE!!

I wonder….if they can leave the walls unfinished and my son (and husband AND me, but my son is better than both of us!) can do the sheetrock and mud.

We really need to go see a model home and talk to some people.

@Dutchess_III – There are too many variables to consider. I can’t second-guess your builder. What kind of soil do you have? Are you on a rise or in a valley/depression? Is the area prone to flooding? Do the neighbors have issues with damp/wet basements? These could drive up costs in building a basement.

A big issue to consider is: Are you drilling your own well and putting in your own septic system? Those are both HUGE variables that can’t always be predicted accurately how much they will cost. If you’re getting town water and sewer, then no worries. But if you’re building your own, and if your soil is mostly clay, then building your own septic system will be, er, problematic. And your well will depend on how deep your aquifer is and how many neighbors are drawing upon it (consider future development…very important that if you don’t want to drill a new well when your area becomes highly developed).

@Dutchess_lll That’s what I would choose, do the final finishing yourselves :) That looks exciting and hopefully you’ll have a good amount of distance from neighbors in your new spot.

@HungryGuy Thanks..the well is already dug. 160 feet. It just needs to be tested. We’re building above a pond…it’s about 30 feet down to the pond and we’re on the highest part of the land, so we’re safe there.

As to neighbors…all around is is farm land. We’re like this oasis of trees in the middle of the fields. About a mile to the South and North are the farmers. They have a vested interest in who that property is sold to and what it’s used for…not sure what the deal is but I think the original homesteader homesteaded 350 acres and left this little bit unfarmed…we even have a picture of the original house, and the foundation is still there, very close to where we plan to build. I THINK the “neighbors” may be descendents of the original home steader. Anyway, they have this Declaration of Restrictive Covenants that we’re supposed to sign..long story short, they don’t want no Sanford and Son trailer trash living there! The only thing we have a bit of an issue with is that the agreement lists a septic system, and initially we’d like to go with a lagoon until we can save up for septic.

@Dutchess_III – Sounds like a plan. But I don’t think any building codes anywhere will let you dump raw sewage into a lagoon.

@Dutchess_III I love modular homes, they generally don’t tend to “Look” like mod’s… THey are better than regular homes in many ways.

And I find most of them really cute and modern.

I like craftsman type homes too though, it depends on your budget and your personal preferences for what makes a house a home. You don’t want to end up living in something out of convienience but style that reflects you personally

if you can come up with a happy medium all around problem solved!

@HungryGuy No that’s true, no one will legally allow that.

I like some of the other custom homes-that-arrive-on-a-flatbed better.

This is very exciting , however.

LInwood Cedar

Vermont Timber Works

And this one in the KS, MI area Log homes.

Here’s a wonderful looking 1800 square foot log cabin, with photos of the construction, from start to finish.

http://www.littlecedarloghomes.com/sh.html

Are you near enough to New Warsaw, MI to take a look at this?

@gailcalled I’m in Kansas! I LOVE that link! A log cabin really was our first choice…I just wasn’t sure how much we could do ourselves, and how much required a contractor who specialized in log cabin construction…I don’t know if they’re easy or hard to build…

You have sent some AWESOME links! I’ve bookmarked them all!! Thank you!

I need to check further on the lagoon issue, guys, but I called my husband, who’s on a fishing trip IN ARKANSAS WITH HIS FRIEND AND NOT ME!!!. His friend is a VP/Loan officer at a bank. They both said lagoons are legal, but have to be approved by the county, and they make their determination by the type of soil you’re on. A lagoon breaks everything down quickly, no muss no fuss. No more smell or health issues, either, than with all the deer poop and dog poop and bird poop and squirrel poop etc. that gets “dumped on the ground.” What would make human waste more dangerous than animal? Anyway a lagoon is like 13 feet deep and has to be so far away from the house and not within X feet of a well that is less than 100 feet deep (ours is 160.) So I’ll call the county on Monday and find out more info.

@Dutchess_III – Do let us know. I’m very curious now.

Me too. Everything that I’m reading on the internet says it has to go through a septic system before it’s dumped into a lagoon for absorption by the ground. So…we’ll see and I’ll let you know.

If your land had and passed a “perc test” prior to purchase – which is pretty typical in the Northeast before the bank will approve a mortgage for land you intend to build on and which doesn’t have access to municipal sewer lines, and also a requirement for the building permit, I believe – then you’ll more likely use a leach field with a septic tank. Otherwise, it’s possible to build a mound system, in which the leach field is more or less “created” with suitable soil above grade, and the septic system is contained in that. Those are sometimes common in places with high water tables, for example. So if you’re living 30’ higher than a pond elevation, I doubt that you’ll have a problem in that regard.

Damn C! You know something about everything! Except I’m in the Mid-West. : )

You said in which the leach field is more or less “created” with suitable soil above grade, and the septic system is contained in that. In other words, are you saying that with the proper soil, the soil acts as the “septic” system?

I’ve never really studied the (very few) mound systems that I’ve seen. But now you can know all that I know about them. I lived in the Midwest, too, if Michigan counts.

@Dutchess_III: I know you live in Kansas; hence the link. After seeing all the wonderful choices, I am tempted to tear down my house and build a small and more sustainable one.

LOL @gailcalled! I just love some of those plans!!

--@C....Does Michigan count as the Mid West? I thought Michigan was in Antarctica or someplace like that!... ?

@Dutchess_III: Keep up posted.

Here’s the official (whatever that means) definition of the mid-west.

Subdivisions:

East North Central “Great Lakes States:“Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota (Midwestern states that come in contact with a Great Lake),

West North Central “Great Plains States;” Iowa, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Kansas (states that are located within the Great Plains region of the country).

: ) I knew that! But Mi is still far, far away from Southern Kansas.

Hey..what do you guys think of this place? I think I absolutely LOVE it!

I love it too. And can you make your pond look lake-like? And what about using sheets of glass without the little panes? Much easier to wash. And it would match the other large windows.

And I would consider putting an interior window in the loft wall facing the great room, or simply making it a half wall with a nice guard rail.

My living room has a clerestory roof with a little balcony around three sides (enough for a little chair and table.)

Here viewed from LR

Here view from balcony which is attached to MB.

@Dutchess_III: Everything is still far, far away from S. Kansas.

…I’m pretty sure that’s how the loft is already designed…open to the room below. But I like the window idea better…something that we could draw curtains across. It would give some privacy if the loft was used for something other than my husband’s office…like people sleeping over.

Ah! You’ve showed me those pics before! Your house is just lovely!

It’s actually a pretty good sized pond (except not at the moment with the drought we’re in, although since it is spring fed there is still more water in it than most other ponds.) We’ve tossed around some ideas of how to improve on it….and what goes through my mind is “How much to rent a back hoe??” But…if we do it at the same time we get the basement dug…

Oklahoma isn’t far away! 15 minutes or so. : )

@Dutchess_III I don’t think so. This was back in the 1970s

Well, this WAS back in the late 60’s and early 70’s, of course. That’s when all the flower children were communing!