Part of the dream in building my own home was to act as the General Contractor and to personally supply a great deal of sweat equity. In the subsequent parts of this chronology, I will review my experiences in hopes that others may gain from my experiences.
For most of my adult life I had thought about someday building my Dream Home. My initial intention was to use the property “as is”, and someday raze the old cottage and build a new home in its place.
Determining the Home Style and Size
The Home Design Software package was not as simple to use as the instruction manual implied, however after a couple of weeks I had a floorplan with all the dimensional information.
After making the decision to raze the cottage and build a new home, I had to first determine what type and size of home to build. Instead I picked up a handful of Home Plan magazines and surfed the internet for home designs. The footprint was smaller than I wanted, but I concluded that I could redraw the floor plan accordingly using my newly purchased Home Design Software Package.
Assuming the role as the General Contractor
As the General Contractor I developed a build schedule and task list. Some of the top items included: Identifying subcontractors, pulling permits, and having a septic design approved.
I got around this issue by deciding not to use the banks for financing. I would have needed to complete a full proposal to the bank with all subcontractors and costs identified, but this is necessary anyways.
Carefully Pick your Sub-Contractors
Identifying the right subcontractors is the most important task a General Contractor performs. Poor selection of subcontractors can lead to delays in schedules, cost overruns, poor workmanship and strife between the various subcontractors on the job. In addition, get two or three reference checks on the subcontractors.
Pulling Permits
Once all are agreed upon with the house plans and the location of the home, contact the building inspector and review with him/her your plans. There are frequently town and state forms that need to be filled out regarding wetlands, and home thermal analysis. If I had used the initial home plans I had obtained, those would have been sufficient.
After about a week and several hundred dollars later I had the permit to build a new home.
Septic Design
After making the decision to raze the cottage and build a new home, I had to first determine what type and size of home to build. Instead I picked up a handful of Home Plan magazines and surfed the internet for home designs. The footprint was smaller than I wanted, but I concluded that I could redraw the floor plan accordingly using my newly purchased Home Design Software Package.
My home required its own septic system on site. As a result, I required a septic design and an associated permit for the new home. I recommend pursuing this as early as possible in any new home project as this can take up to 2-3 months to complete as both town and state approvals are required, not to mention site and engineering work.
Once all are agreed upon with the house plans and the location of the home, contact the building inspector and review with him/her your plans. If I had used the initial home plans I had obtained, those would have been sufficient.
Without knowing exactly where the septic system and tank will reside, it may be difficult to locate the exact position of the home and in many cases the building inspector may not approve the building permit until the septic design permit has been obtained. I was at financial risk, however, in the event the new septic design was not approved or needed to be repositioned from the proposed location.
