How much do you think it would cost to build this house if we could do much of the work ourselves?

Given the experience your hubby and son have, added to your (@Dutchess_III) willingness to add your “sweat equity”, I think you should be able to save a bundle over having the home built to be move-in ready. The (US) national average for union plumbers is over $20/hour, and for roofers it is over $30/hr (some roofing unions also allow their workers to work by the square, or per 100 sq ft.. Electricians get somewhere around $41—$45/hour. The general construction experience gained in your husband’s and your son’s trades will provide great insight into other aspects of construction, such as cabinet installation, interior trim, etc. I have no idea how to estimate the amount of work (in hours) your home will take, but I think you should be able to get an idea of the savings by the salaries.

It would have to be in the contract, what you’re doing and what the contractor will do. Also, there will be a gray area of if something goes wrong, the contractor will say it’s not what he did that’s the problem, and you guys will say that what you did was fine, so you may have some issues in that regard.

The price per square foot won’t change for being town or out in country. 1000 sq ft house in my area would be $45 to $80 per sq ft, contractor price, with you acting as general contractor and doing the subs for electrical, sheet rock and plumbing, it would drop to $ 35 to 70 per sq ft or $35,000 to $70,000 plus lot and utilities/water/sewer. It would depend on finishes granite and imported cherry wood floors . . . would end up on high end.

I was thinking more of codes, than anything. There are some codes that are universal anywhere you build, but they’re more relaxed about some of them in the country.

I’ve never built a house, and I’ve certainly never dealt with one of these “plan” houses. So I don’t know what you get when you buy. Just the plans and details? Or is there some kind of kit that gets delivered over time?

Assuming you don’t get pallets of parts, you’ll still need a general contractor. You can do that yourself, but it takes more thought and time than most people realize to coordinate (and cajole) various independent skill contractors. (That is, you’ll be subcontracting certain work, as you have specified, and you’ll need to be sure that the appropriate work is done on time so that it doesn’t impede follow-on contractors.)

I’m presuming that you’ll subcontract all of the civil work, for example: the digging for the foundation / cellar, pouring of the foundation or basement, drainage and water supply piping and so forth. You’ll need to bring in temporary power to the site from a drop at the street, and that will be another subcontract after the civil work is done or well underway (and there won’t be any interference). In town, you’ll need to manage and coordinate tie-ins to the sewer and water lines, or in the outer suburbs you’ll need more civil work: a well and a septic system. You’ll need to order and pay for materials as you go, and you’ll need to manage their storage and proper disbursement to the proper aspects of construction… or you’ll have to re-order.

You won’t want to order all of your materials at once, because storage, pilferage and vandalism are real headaches, and your site would look like Home Depot after a tornado hit – and be about as expensive, too. So you have to carefully monitor all progress and be sure to order materials as needed, and coordinate with delivery people to be available when they will drop the load, and where you want it.

When you start to line out an actual plan of “what” and “when” and “how long to complete” you’ll start to realize the real value of a contractor working a time-based plan (where he doesn’t get his money until the work is done). Incentives work!

If you can live with the fact that twenty years on your siding still won’t be complete, most of the interior trim still won’t be put up or stained, and the yard still has construction materials lying in wait… then it might not be so bad. I wouldn’t build my first house this way, and I wouldn’t build a dream house this way… unless you like nightmares.

Of course we’d bring in contractors do do the civil work, as well as the framing and the siding. As far as the rest not being done, yes it will! I’ll see to it!

My concern is that we aren’t that far from retirement….

I’ve no idea, but what a gorgeous house. I would have that myslf, it is beautiful.

It’s perfect for the two of us. And if I could talk my husband out of the vaulted ceiling, we’d have plenty of room for kids.

@Dutchess_III Don’t worry about age. It’s a wonderful house and a wonderful project. If you both want it, then go for it.

But I want to be able to still afford it when we retire! If we could cut the cost in half, that would help so much.

Time to learn the difference between a true general contractor, and one who’s lost his general and his tractor. You guys need to do what a general contractor does to price a job. If you’re fortunate, the plans for that craftsman cottage (and what a lovely one it is) will come with a bill of materials. Get pricing on everything needed to finish the job. Price the lot, sewer or cesspool, water connections. If you’re going to rent tools, remember to include that pricing.

Then you can check Angie’s list for the subcontractors you plan to use. Get copies of the plans to them and ask them for quotes along with a clear statement of work telling what they will do and what they expect done by you.

Best of luck building it. You’ll enjoy it all the more because you built so much of it yourself.

Wow. Awesome you guys! Hey….I don’t suppose ya’ll want to come down this way for a house-raising party? :)

Where’s “down here”? I’m long overdue for a road-trip!

I’ll let you know!

I’d love to see it when it’s all done.

Call me when you move in, I’ll bring a pineapple upside down cake with extra dark rum sauce.

Forget the cake and the sauce! Rum will be fine. ; }~

We’ll see @ETpro. We plan to put up a barn first this summer. That’ll probably be where we end up living. Sigh.

Oh, a good old-fashioned barn-raising!

With beer!!

Of course!

@Dutchess_III So invite the lot of us for the barn raising. But paying me in beer’s gonna cost ya. :-)

@Tropical_Willie is bringing rum…. :)