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The Owner-Builder Book
So a few years latter when I decided that I could afford a new home, I asked my friend how he had built such an amazing house for so little. He pointed me to "The Owner-Builder Book." When I saw the subtitle to the book, I was a little suspicious: "How you can save over $100,000 in the building of your custom home." I had seen a few too many infomercials making similar promises, but my friend had done it, so I figured that I could too.
Now, a year later, I have completed building my $550,000 home for $320,000. Much of my 41% savings can be directly attributed to this book:
Chapter 1: You Can Save $100,000
Chapter 2: Learn The Wealth-Building Secret
This is the pep-talk part of the book written to give you incentive
to read the next 300 or so pages. This chapter talks about how custom
homebuilders know and use the ideas in this book all the time. Ever seen
an ad for a "builder's own home"? Why are they always the upper-end
homes? Hmm.
Chapter 3: Contractors Aren't What You Think They Are
Chapter 4: You Can Manage Better Than a Contractor
Chapter 5: You Will Profit By Building a True Custom House
These chapters dispel myths about contractors. Hint: A contractor is
very simply a project manager, and usually not a very good one at that.
Among other things, they rarely shop around for better material prices.
They usually use the same lumberyard that they have always gone to. I
saved over $20,000 just by telling my framer that I was going to purchase
the materials from a different lumberyard, all he had to do was give me
the list.
Chapter 6: Conquer Details Room By Room and Save 20%
Chapter 7: How to Get the Subs on Your Side
Chapter 8: How to Build a Budget That is a Powerful Miracle Tool
Chapter 9: Commando Shopping Techniques
Chapter 10: How to Schedule the Work at a Savings
These chapters talk about how to actually save money: The key points are
planning, getting down the details of exactly what you want, (i.e. I want
two phone outlets in every room with two strands of cat5 and coax.), and
make sure to shop around. As an example, I had bids ranging from $5,000
to $15,000 for my electrical. One would assume that with 5G's you would
get less than with 15G's, right? Not necessarily: for $5,000 I got
everything that I wanted, plus I was able to add a bunch of outlets that
I hadn't thought of at the last minute for free cause the subcontractor
was a nice guy. Now I love that TV above Jacuzzi tub.
Chapter 11: How to Make Your Lender Swoon
Chapter 12: Paperwork Before You Begin
Chapter 13: Six Months to Victory
These chapters help you get the paperwork ready that you will need
throughout the process. Remember contracts with liquidated damages and
lien release forms! I only had problems with one subcontractor that my
wife had been responsible to get fill out our contract with and had never
done it. But, luckily their own contract, which my wife had signed with
them, covered most of what we needed. I even got to keep an extra $2,000
dollars because they didn't have time to come back and stain the stairs.
Let's see, $50 in stain and supplies, 3 hours time. Yeah, I'll take the
$2,000.
Chapter 14: Smooth Execution Saves Money and Improves Quality
Chapter 15: Mistakes You Can Avoid And Successes You Can
Achieve
These chapters drill into your head what planning and details mean. I
had one major problem over the course of building my home. The truss
company built my trusses wrong. It took them three more tries and fourweeks to get me a completed set. Because of my contracts and planning, I
cut the cost of the trusses by almost half, but the time hit was the most
damaging. My total time to completion was 7.5 months. I had planned for
6.
Chapter 16: If You Decide to Use a Contractor
The final chapter discusses how to choose and work with a general
contractor if you decide that being your own general is too much for you.
Conclusion
Don't leave with any illusions: this book will not build a custom home
for you. By planning and following through on the information in this
book, you too can build your dream home.
The first page of each chapter is available online at: http://ownerbuilderbook.com/book/Ch1.cfm, and a free CD-ROM with software templates for budgets, contracts, the entire book in MP3 format, and a previous edition of the eBook in PDF format is available. You can purchase The Owner-Builder Book from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to submit yours, read the book review guidelines, then hit the submission page.
Average savings is 35%. As mentioned in the book.
I do everything the voices in my head tell me to...
My uncle is a contractor, he builds spec and custom houses in Berkeley. I pity him. People are a**holes about their houses. Sometimes they ask for something, and then insist that it be ripped out, just because they saw something in House and Garden.My uncle gets paid for it, but who wants to waste time?
Now, anyone who builds custom needs to remember that there are 3 people important in your project.
You: the owner
The Builder
The architect
Now, if you cannot work together, then it will be a very painfull process. Remember that anything you ask for has to be feasible and buildable. If you develop a good relationship with an experianced architect, and a builder that is used to custom jobs, not just 'tract houses' then you should be fine. Also, remember that you have to live in the house, so make it comfortable, not trendy.
Sig (appended to the end of comments you post, 120 chars)
Building you own house doesn't look like a job for a software engineer in my opinion. I'm sure the software deadlines would never be hit if all the engineers here oversaw the building of their house.
1) Why would it fall down? It's not like you built it yourself, you just acted as your own contractor. The contractor doesn't build anything, they just hire the people who do.
Now I would be happy to be able to pay my rent on a monthly basis in this economy. Many of us are out of job and actively looking for one, something like "Custome Business Book" review might help a little more.
/. polls on how many of us are really in the position to even buy a small apartment, let alone to be able to shelf out $300,000 for a custome home.. you.. you insensitive nerd!
It'll be nice to run a
geek page at KY speaks
You're doing the work the contractor does. Not everyone will have the patience to run through all the steps in the book. Therefore, people hire contractors to do all this for them.
This book will appeal to a rather limited audience who has the time and energy to do all this themselves. Despite the savings, most people would rather "take the easy way out".
I am the evil aardvark!
Most contractors are idiots, I am glad to see this book agrees. Remember when dealing with most "profesionals" that they usually have side deals going. While they are working for you this time, they alwasy work with their people. Their prime interests are not yours. That is why they will steer you towards certain yards and certain sub contractors. Not becuase they are the best or the cheapest but because they get a kick back.
A peice of advice not mentioned, from personal experience. While the contractor and the sub-contractors may be who you deal with they are not the ones doing the work. The work crews are the ones that are acutally attaching things to other things. A $60 investment in pizza or beer dropped by the site one day will pay of huge in the long run. If the crews personally like you then they will take more care in constructing your house and be friendlier to change requests. I have seen crews who had been taken care off take all the bad material out of the construction piles (warped or knotty studs i.e.) and place them to be moved to another site for use simply because the homeowner thought enough of them to bring them coffee in the morning. They put the good materials in this guys house and the crap went to everyone else.
Papa Legba come and open the gate
Not everyone can do it. Especially if your work and other commitments aren't flexible enough to allow it.
"A contractor is very simply a project manager, and usually not a very good one at that."
:-) I think I will have to go with the professionals to handle the work. )
Knowing a friend who's father built a quite expensive house. As well as knowing contractors myself. I can attest that this is not always correct. You have to understand that a contractor knows the people to go to, and generally who to trust and who not to trust.
If a contractor can save money he will, but unless he is a bad contractor (in which case he won't be around long), they won't purchase the lowest quality materials just because they are cheap. They try to find a happy medium.
Unfortunately, the biggest problem with hiring a contractor is the fact that you have to pay the contractor on top of everyone else. You have to remember though, that you are paying for the contractors time spent in arranging contracts and getting the right people together at the right time. If you take all of that upon your own shoulders, then you are also taking the stress of finding the right people, controlling them, getting good contracts, etc.
If I had the extra money, and a choice. I would hire a quality contractor (one that had been recommended to me), since I don't have the time or the strength really to handle all of the work necessary for proper contracting.
It is true though, that if you are knowledgable on prices for various products, and services, and are willing to take on the work. It is better for you to do the work then the contractor, since you might be able to find deals that the contractor wouldn't know about due to unforeseen circumstances.
In general though, this sounds like a useful book for people who are willing to put in the effort needed to handle a large project like this. (But for my future $1,000,000+ home that I am planning on buying.
~ kjrose
Hmmm... isn't that the same argument PHBs use to justify choosing Microsoft over Linux?
As someone who is planning my own home (brother is an architect, so that saves me some money right there...), this sounds like a great book to check out.
I would have liked to have a small summery for each chapter, but that's all.
Thank you for your review Jeff.
III.IIVIVIXIIVIVIIIVVIIIIXVIIIXIIIIIIIIVIIIIVVIII
Contractor, schmontractor. I built my own house with my own two hands. It takes over a couple year's worth of weekends to do, but you get exactly what you want (or what you are willing to do,) and you pay as you go. Once built, it's paid for. Now I just have to finish paying for the 32 acres of land...
"What is the sound of one belly slapping?"
I hope the contractor who installed the TV did a proper job of bolting it to the wall. Otherwise it'll be 'TV in Jacuzzi tub', which could be unfortunate if you happen to be in there at the same time.
Best Slashdot Co
Still, sounds like a good book for those in rural/suburban areas.
It sounds all fine and good to manage the construction of your own home, and even buy the lumber and whatever else you need. But you'd better have some carprentry experience before you do so.
I could save a lot of money by building my own file server too, but then I wouldn't have a support contract to go with it, and getting any warranty work done on it would suck, and would probably result in two companies pointing the finger at each other, saying "It's their fault!"
By the same token, if you go out and buy lumber, and have your framer put it together, and something goes wrong, he may say, "Well, the lumber you bought wasn't so great, there's only so much I can do." Going to the lumber company results in, "The framer must have done something to the wood, that was my best pressure-treated.." If your framer picks out the wood, then you definitely a case and can put it solely on his shoulders.
This is just an example, IANAC (but my brother is).
The Right Reverend K. Reid Wightman,
Well, i don't own a home yet. and for a forseeable future i don't plan to. however, the apartments that i've been renting have been pretty good about phone lines. i have a wall mount for phones in each bathrooms! but to a nerd like me, phone lines mean nothing if they don't carry DSL service. i was thinking about drilling some holes to wire the apartment with cat5 to get back to the DSL router but with the (relatively) cheap wireless hardware out there, i'm pretty set without the holes. someone mentioned wiring for cat5 but then later upgrading to fiber once fiber becomes cheap. i would imagine wireless would follow 'moores law'/n curve. i, for one, would consider being a little behind the curve in terms of bandwidth in exchange for not having to wire the house at all! most of my traffic is out to the internet which is limited by the DSL bandwidth anyways. why wire the house now with cat5 and then rip that out and rewire when fiber becomes cheap? use wireless! (and pray that it keeps getting fatter in terms of bandwidth).
If you want to do it yourself, you had better know what the hell you are doing. You can't learn overnight reading a book. My house, which was all I could afford for a first home,is full of some clown who thought he was handy's botch jobs. It's a disaster! Cabinets hung too high to reach, and I'm a tall man! Doors are hung backwards, and nothing is level or plumb. Some things are worth paying for, like competent contractors.
The Uncoveror: It's the real news.
People can be real idiots. I'm sure the person who wrote this book, and the person who wrote the review, used software supplied by our friends from Microsoft. So I wonder what the markup on MS software is? Prolly a _lot_ more. Why aren't they complaining about that, and providing 15 easy steps to saving $$$$$ with computer software? I'm in the housing construction industry, and I don't see too many "fat-cats" around me. Most people make enough to provide for themselves and their families, but they're definitely not living in half million dollar homes. And I might add, the products they turn out with their daily work, generally aren't the cause of great frustration, without needing an monthly or yearly upgrade, etc, etc... This book is a variation of those "Get Rich While Sitting in Your Lawnchair Surrounded by Beautiful Babes" type books. The only people who benefit from this sort of book is the author and publishing company. Now that I've gotten rid of some steam, I'm going back to work :-)
Why did I post this? Ask me now!
A nerd doesn't need a house, just a big fat T1 into his cardboard box. Pfah, homes are for wusses.
Avantslash - View Slashdot cleanly on your mobile phone.
Basically, this book is saying that if you have the skills of a project manager and the time, patience, and persistence to act as your own general contractor, you can save money and get a higher quality house.
No doubt true - IF you have those skills, if the plumber who used to beat you up in high school can't still intimidate you, and if you have the time.
You also need to consider, however, that most contractors/subcontractors in a given area form their own community, and generally will work together to take advantage of any "lone wolf" outside the system. You will also have a difficult time figuring out, e.g., who the good HVAC contractors are vs. the rip-off artists. This is something the general brings to the game that you can't duplicate.
Anyway, have fun!
sPh
Along the same lines, Tracy Kidder (of "Soul of the New Machine" fame) wrote a terrific book called House telling the whole story from dream to carpentry to $$ etc of a couple building their first home... Great book.
A beginners' guide to Portland, OR?
My family is about 2 weeks away from finishing our home. We have built 90% of it ourselves. It is not as hard as most people think (but its not a walk in the park either!) We have saved over $100,000 by building it ourselves.
If you build your own home you don't need to worry about it falling over, because that's what a building inspector is for. He makes sure you do everything right.
Avoid the "edifice complex". Do you really need 4400 ft^2? Sure, I understand that a smaller house would stand out like a sore thumb in a smaller neighborhood, but thats a lotta house!
Every week in our real estate section we can find featured houses that are less than 5 years old, being sold by the people who built their "dream house" only to find that its now too big. IMHO a house that big is like a St. Bernard puppy, you don't realize how big it really is when it grows up, especially the cleanup!
Another pet peeve. Ever been in a 4400 ft^2 house that echos like a gym because the new owners can't afford nice drapes and furniture and art/mirrors to fill the place up?
If you can afford the neighborhood, the taxes, the furnishings, the maintenance and the upkeep of a house that big, then saving $100k might not be that high on your priority list.
My family of 5 live more than comfortably in a 2300 ft^2 house.
Real Estate with no money down!
Book reviews on Slashdot have hit a new low...
I am not a number! I am a man! And don't you
Ok, maybe it says it in the book but how much time did this take? 1 year, 2 years? Most homes built by a home builder are completed in a 4 to 9 month span. Try paying rent or an existing mortgage while you are waiting to finish your home.
My big question though after reading this post is if you DIY the home yourself do you still get a warranty? Probably not. Most states require a home builder to guarantee the structure up to 7 years. Second, I imagine it is very tough to get financing for this type of DIY construction. Let alone getting financing for the land. Usually a bank requires collateral and you will not have that much if all you have is a pile of lumber.
I recommend contracting with a home builder for new construction but just don't layout cash to the first who comes along. Look into them and ask around. Most of all make sure you are comfortable laying out that type of cash to someone you do not know.
A hand up and a foot on every chest...
I am in the process of building a custom home at this time. Here are some things I've discovered along the way...
The primary job of an architect is to add design features to your home. In other words, they charge you money to make your house more expensive. You almost always DO NOT need one.
Instead, I recommend a good structural engineer. Start out with a pretty good idea of your budget, and a pretty good idea of what you want for a house (look through the $5 house plans magazines and books and free sites on the web until you think you are going to be sick).
The structural engineer will take care of the rest.
We started with an architect. $25,000 later we had house plans that we couldn't afford to build, and didn't even have the structural engineering done yet. Everything that the builder and subcontractors and permit process need are provided by the structural engineer, not the "architect".
After abandoning that approach, we purchased house plans from one of those house plan books. Only to discover that it couldn't be 'stamped' for the state we live in (Ohio) and had to be completely re-engineered anyhow. Another $1,000 wasted.
Once we got this part of the process right - the structural engineer cost us about $4,000 (to do everything).
I read a bunch of books on being your own contractor. Indeed the job description is basically that which we in IT call a project manager. I figured I'd make a go of it myself.
Then I discovered the next issue - every single material supplier and subcontractor had higher prices for me, than they did for a full time general contractor. 'Contractor Pricing' was often 1/2 of what they would charge me as an independent general contractor.
On top of that I had a really hard time finding a bank willing to do a construction loan without a trade contractor involved.
Lastly, I found the government inspectors to be very grumpy and skeptical about dealing with an independent contractor.
Therefore I was able to actually save money, as well as many headaches (there are enough already) by hiring a general contractor.
O=='=++
My parents built the house they live in now. Friends and family did the framing. A few things, like the plumbing, cabinetry and masonry were contracted out. My granddad did the electrical and Dad and granddad did the finishing.
The only way this was possible in the first place was that my parents have a good friend who is a (very good) building contractor. He sort of tutored them along. Still, there were plenty of problems. My folks paid a premium for the "best" masons, who left mortar stuck all over all the face of the brick. Dad had to spent days with a rented acid washer cleaning up the mess. The guy who laid the marble in the foyer screwed up so most of it has cracked over time. My granddad fell off the porch roof that he was shingling. Luckily his paratrooper training kicked in-- he tucked, rolled, and was fine. But mostly it was the countless little things that just add up.
Was it worth it? Certainly my parents have a much nicer house than they otherwise could have afforded. But I think it put a huge strain on my parents' marriage. My parents were able to do things exactly the way they wanted, but later they discovered that some things they thought would be really cool just weren't. (The bathroom setup though good in concept has proven to be particularly sub-optimal.) We had to live with my grandparents for a while during the construction and that was pretty hard sometimes.
Basically, I don't think my dad would do it again.
With one of these, who needs a house!
The job of the building inspector is to enforce the building code.
Now, every few years they revise the building codes to say that you absolutely shouldn't do the crazy thing they recommended last year because it's faulty and dangerous. The best new building techniques are often not covered by the code so many building inspectors will reject them.
Sure, some building inspectors are really good guys who care and they make allowances for the good engineering. However, often they're just there as an excuse for issuing building permits, which are, in turn, just notifications for levying taxes.
The problem is you have no choice but to accept what the local building inspector says. You could hire the most qualified structural engineer in the world to approve your work, but if the building inspector is grumpy that day, it doesn't make a difference.
When building inspectors are independent and licensed, then we'll have a reasonable system.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
The same house can cost 2x, 3x or 4x to build, depending on where you build it, becasue of local codes, materials costs, etc. Also, the difficulty/expense of building the house is influenced by location in another way. If the area where you live has strong, tightly knit unions (plumbers, carpenters, etc.), then you may not even be *able* to get your work done in a timely manner. If there just aren't many non-union plumbers, etc. in your town, and the union doesn't like its members to work on building jobs without a GC, then getting the work done will take forever. The GC's most important role may just be as an insider, a familiar name that can grease the skids in getting work, inspections, etc. scheduled. What you'd be paying for in that case is the guy's connections and knowledge of the labor environment.
The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them. - Mark Twain
Even a nerd is smart enough to build equity.
And when I moved into my starter home (town house, actually) I was fully on the DIY kick. I pulled down wallpaper, put up dry wall, changed and added light fixtures, and painted, good lord how I painted!
Now we're planning on adding a deck in the backyard and we spoke to different contractors. After getting the used-car-salesman "what can I do to make you sign the contract today?", the run-around, the week-to-week price change, and the shady "we'll drive around in my truck and I'll point out the one's I've done, you don't NEED references!"- I've decided to build it myself.
For a savings of $1,500-3,000 USD (depending upon who's estimate you believe).
So this book is right up my alley!
In the future, I would want to not be isolated from my friends in the Space Station.
...a coffee mug someone gave me:
"If builders built buildings the way programmers write programs, the first woodpecker that came along would destroy civilization."
"Oh God help us. We're in the hands of engineers."
Ok, I've worked as a real estate and development consultant for the last three years. I help major developers decide what they should build and when they should build it. I have a little advise for all of you out there. You may not like it, but it is the same advise I give family members and anyone who asks.
NEVER buy a new home unless you plan to live there the rest of your life. Why, you may ask - They don't appreciate in value. It's simple as that. Usually it take a generation for a home to gain in value (above and beyond inflation and interest rates). This is because the new neighborhoods are designed very poorly and gain no real character until the trees are grown and people begin to take down or modify neighboring homes. My advise if you absolutely have to have a new home: buy one outside the city on a few acres and, yes, build it yourself. That way the land will appreciate greatly as the city grows outward. If you ever decide to move, you then have the chance to make out nicely. It's not that easy, though, so be careful. You are better off buying in an up-and-coming neighborhood that is older. Somewhere closer to the downtown (commute times are beginning to be very important to home values). You will then have to put a little time and money into the home - maybe upgrade appliances and add on. But the rewards in terms of value will be immediate, allowing you to move into an even larger/better home sooner. What I advise:
(1) Never buy a new home in a new development (there are exceptions - like downtown condos, which tend to appreciate greatly in good economies i.e. not in the current Seattle situation).
(2) If you have to have a new home, buy/build it somewhere that the land will have a chance to appreciate.
(3) The best thing to do is buy a home near the city, in a neighborhood that is beginning to revive itself (i.e. you don't have to worry about getting shot). Do some upgrades on the home and you will immediately see appreciation.
Here is a strategy that I think is even better than this for running cat5 and such:
The people who install home security systems tend to be extremely skillful about putting wires through walls. If you are getting a home security system, these people can often put your networking equipment through the walls for a small surcharge, and do it with much more ease than you could yourself. This was how the home my family bought, which was 30 years old and had exactly 2 phone jacks in it, was increased to 22 jacks over 2 lines plus cat5 in all the bedrooms, living room, rec room, plus coax from the satellite in a couple of the bedrooms and rec room as well.
_______
2B1ASK1
That said, there are some really bad contracters out there. Some places have huge building booms (Toronto for instance :-) and all sorts of fly by night organizations and people are head contracting these days. Picking a good contractor can be harder that just doing it yourself.
My dad just had a brutal experience last year where he ended up doing a lot of the project management because the head contractor was so bad.
Either way, as somebody else said -- ALWAYS and I mean ALWAYS take the time to buy the guys who are doing the work beer or coffee. Construction guys always do better work for somebody they know and think is an ok guy rather than some anonymous jerk who phones in complaints to their boss.
It's true that people automatically equate "dream home" with "custom home", which refers to slight modifications to a cookie cutter style house plan found in a circular devoted to large collections of cookie cutter homes. These homes are designed to appeal to the lowest common denominator; as a result they don't fulfill anyone. Why do people support the cookie cutter home industry? Reason: it's a lot easier than using ones imagination or simply asking "what do I want in a home".
Thanks for the Mockbee link. He spoke to my design class at UF about five years ago. He was much more interesting than Rem Kookhaus and the other Overpaid Professional Eardrum Masturbators (OPEMs) that UF acquired to indoctrinate us with their postmodernist mumbo-jumbo. Most of these OPEMs exist on a purely intellectual level and are incapable of truly connecting with their clients. Two things can happen as a result: either the potential client will avoid hiring an architect, or the client will feel so intimidated by the architect that the architect will dominate the client, building a home that really means nothing to the client.
Anybody interested in owner building should buy this book and look into Mockbee's work. His studio has built some of the most beautiful and inexpensive works in the South. More importantly, he finds uses for perfectly good materials that would otherwise be destined for the landfill. Funny how a home built for someone with an $8K/year income can feel more homey than a house built for a millionaire. Anybody with a DIY mentality and a little imagination can explore the region around their home site to get a feel for regional material preferences and building styles, analyze their site to understand where the sun will be at certain times of the day throughout the year [the reality factor], find creative sources for materials, think of ways the house can accomodate your hobbies, and build a home as opposed to a house.
I was very happy when Sam spoke at UF. He had just received the MacArthur foundation grant and was very upbeat about the freedom that money gave his whimsy. He even went drinking with us after the speech! Sad to hear that he died though. The world has lost a great architect, but Sam made many more great architects.
"What is the sound of one belly slapping?"
Maybe someone with more knowledge can check me on this, but isn't using conduit a potential building code violation? At the very least, you have to use the more expensive plenum rated cable instead of the more common version. (Which is nasty stuff - instead of the insulation burning in a fire, it just melts and gives off toxic fumes. Bonus!) I know that putting pvc pipe in so that you can pull later cable more easily is cheap and convenient, but I think that the pipe in this usage is considered a fire risk, since it allows a fire in one location to more easily spread to another.
Check local codes first. You don't gain anything if you have to rip it all out later.
You're just jealous 'cuz the voices talk to *me*
With the Urban Sprawl that has been experienced in the United States, do we really need to be promoting building of homes?
Perhaps building where are previous building was torn down would not be a bad thing.
I'm assuming you're European?
That's the problem here, there aren't really any "previous buildings" being torn down. At least not in suburban areas that are desirable for new homeowners.
In England, you have restrictions to stop sprawl and re-use existing space; most of this is related to the fact that it's a small island and if there were no restrictions, the whole thing would look like a borg cube of industry and residence, with almost no greenspace.
We're at varying degrees of that is this country. (Another thing neglected by many Europeans who have not visited the central/midwestern USA is the sheer size of the land that has yet to be developed here. Remember, we haven't been putting up stone structures for a thousand years or more.)
Based on climate, time since settelment of the area, and natural resources; we go from overdeveloped (Boston, New York City) to medium/mixed (Ohio/Pennsylvania, which is medium urban areas surrounder by huge suburban sprawl, followed by forests and trees for a hundred miles til the next metro area. The other extreme is Wyoming, where I lived briefly: Beautiful, cold, sparsely populated all over, largest city of 50,000 people. You have mountainous terrain that does not lend well to utility building (electrical, water, gas, fiber)... while this can be overcome, it is not economically prudent because of the sparse population. Which doesn't entice new population to move in, because there are no utilities. Vicious cycle.
As far as the population needs/wants: More and more people are renting old homes out instead of selling them, so even traditional "apartment dwellers" are willing to rent a home until they can afford to buy one, as opposed to "flat living," which Europeans seem much more content to work with. Everyone here is looking around and seeing people in houses, and seeing themselves as inferior if they are "so poor" that they have to live in an apartment.
Myself, I'm planning on living in my apartment for a fifth year yet before I buy a house. And I won't be building new, as land costs are usually outrageous in desirable locations.
SlashSigTheorem: Humorous, Political, Critical, Constructive- If you have a
Can you build your own linux distribution, from scratch, starting with a kernel tarball and stub compiler? This project is FAR easier to complete successfully than being your own general contractor. One of my relatives builds houses on the side, and he's *always* on the phone to someone. But, as he's a workaholic, he doesn't mind. On the plus side he's picked up a nice Spanish-speaking ability with a mean Mexican accent and peppered with a wide vocabulary of vulgarities (according to my friend from Spain).
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
When my dad retired from a job with a building materials manufacturer he bought a lot in Florida to have his dream house built. He hired a contractor with a good reputation who'd been building high-end homes in the coastal town for over a decade. Half-way into the project, he hears from subcontractors (who he talks to frequently because he's renting the house next to the site) that they haven't been paid. The contractor leaves town, is tracked to the Panhandle, but by that time has transferred all his wealth to his wife's name. My dad is out $100,000 that he'd given the contractor to pay the subcontractors. His lawyer informs him that Florida courts consider this a "contract dispute," a civil rather than criminal matter to steal $100,000 in this way. There's zero likelihood he'll ever collect if he brings a civil suit, since the contractor technically has no wealth, having passed the bag to his wife.
This was not the only project this contractor had going. He probably walked with similar sums from a half-dozen to a dozen other projects. So at least in Florida it looks like the cards are stacked so as to allow any contractor to at any point cash out with on the order of a million bucks without penalty. Thank the gods we don't have the kind of government which stifles initiative!
"with their freedom lost all virtue lose" - Milton
You forget that a good percentage of /. users are gainfully employed and a smaller percentage are well rewarded for their work. ;)
/.ers are married. While I can't fathom the notion, I suppose it's possible.
And the "Love" poll, a few polls back, indicated that several
I know someone who did this, and ended up spending more money on extras. $30,000 worth of extras is really easy to add. Unfortunatly for them, their house isn't worth that extra $30,000, so they paid more for the house than it is worth on the merket. When you allow $400 for lights (true case) and spend $1,300 it doesn't seem like much difference, but it all adds up a little at a time.
Be careful, that extras do give you a better house. The $250 kitchen faucet is better than the $40 one, but they look the same and in the end your house isn't worth more after putting in the more expensive one.
Get references for your contractor and look at their past projects. If they don't have any past projects, don't pay them a premium.
Don't be naive in thinking that you know plumbing and electrical just because you like to tinker. I have watched folks drop $200-$300k on bungled self-contracted jobs. Don't buy into the /. arrogance that tells you that geeks know better.
Most home inspectors are failed contractors. There is your industry insiders tip. They will not save your project.
Try finding an empty lot that is open for development and for sale to individuals. I dare you.
There are enough contractors out there that you can shop around. Maybe doing it yourself is the way to go, but if you end up surfing the yellow pages for a subcontractor, you likely are about to enter the pain cave.
Also, many good contractors do a fair deal of the work themselves. Mine put in my windows, did some closet carpentry, etc. This guy did not just stand around and eat pizza.
Yes, you can get mortgages for unbuilt structures. They have higher interest rates, but it's generally not a huge issue. They're pretty common. Go searching on some mortgage info sites if you really want details.
My parents are architectual drafters. (They're the ones you would go to for house plans and engineering if you were to build your own house.) I've watched while I was growing up several people try to build their own houses. And while many save a lot of money, an equal number of people get into serious financial problems really quick.
By the way, I bought a house rather than building my own, dispite being in a family who is in the construction business. Partly I did so because building your own house is a serious time commitment (you don't think that $20-80K savings comes for free, do you?), and partly because where I live (Los Angeles), the only available buildable lots are located tens of miles away from where I live. (The closest lots I could find in my price range were located about 30 miles from the Glendale/Pasadena/Burbank area where I worked--while the house I live in is in Glendale--I can see the downtown skyline from my front yard.)
Anyways, the two most common mistakes that I've seen are (a) overbuilding what you can afford, and (b) not settling on a design before beginning the construction process.
In the first problem, many people who try to build their own house try to "overbuild"; that is, they try to build a much bigger house than they really can afford. It's not that they can't afford the shell of the house; they just can't afford to put stuff in it, and plant the lawn, and pay for the cooling costs and everything else associated with house ownership. Sure, perhaps at $70/sqft you can afford to build a 4,000 sqft house--but all those rooms are going to look rather stupid if you don't have any money left over to buy furnature. Likewise, if you are paying all your money into making the strokes on your house loan, how are you going to pay for electricity, water, gas, sewar?
My parent's advise is to always build smaller than the biggest thing you can afford. Instead of building a 4,000 sqft house which maxes out your monthly budget (and omits property taxes, utilities, that extra T-1 line from the equation), build a 3,000 sqft house but then decorate it nicely.
Keep in mind that "McMansions" are no longer in style, by the way, but smaller (but cuter) "bungalo" houses are all the vogue nowadays. Your profits after reselling your house will be higher, and your enjoyment of your house will be greater, if you build under what you can afford, so you can live in your house comfortably.
The second mistake many people make, which eat up that $100K promised savings faster than an OC3 connection, is not to plan every detail of their house before pour the foundation. Meaning they will often decide, after the foundation is poured, that perhaps they really want a 9 ft. plate line instead of an 8 ft for higher ceilings, or maybe that downstairs bathroom should be moved over two feet so they can have a bigger closet. Granted, each change doesn't seem like it should cost that much, and often you think of things that didn't come to you in the planning phase that you really wished you had. But take it from someone who has seen a couple of folks driven to bankrupcy (literally!): creeping featurism in the house can suck your wallet dry.
Part of the problem is that a house is a complete system: each change you make can have consequences farther down the line which you didn't account for. For example, making the ceiling taller may only take an extra few thousand in framing costs--but it can have consequences on the plumbing of the second story, or the exterior windows, or the amount of siding you need: in short, that one change can seriously affect your budget in other areas in unexpected ways.
Further, unless you plan right down to the fixtures from day one, you may find yourself doing stupid things like throwing in the $800 sink instead of the planned $80 sink in the bathroom, or upgrading the kitchen cabinets, without realizing these things can quickly eat an additional $30K real fast. (When I redid the bathroom in our house, we upgraded the fixtures and cabinets. The price difference in that one upgrade (four prefab cabinets, two sinks, one toilet and one bathtub) was around $5K--for one 7x9 bathroom! We did it knowing the price, but some people just start writing checks without keeping track of their budget, and quickly blow their budget out of the water.)
Oh, and on finding the right subcontractors: I would seriously talk to the archetectual drafter or designer in your area for references. You'd be supprised the number of contractors out there who simply don't bother to show up at the job site, or who flake out, or who are completely incompetant.
And my other advise: learn how the framing schedule and the standard framing details work, as well as how siding should be applied and how wallboard should go up. (Pick up a book at your local "do it yourself" hardware store such as Home Depot.) You'd be supprised at the number of guys out there who will cut corners and use structurally unsound framing or construction techniques in order to cut corners or to use hardware he happens to have in the truck rather than going out to buy the correct fastener or the proper nails.
Just my two cents worth.
The *overall* unemployment was 5.8%, but unemployment figures usually vary by sector and location.
In the metro Denver area, the figure I've heard (very quietly) is that unemployment in the IT fields is around 25%. But again that varies by subsector and experience, and the market seems to be preferring less experienced developers, with almost all companies are extremely "brand" conscious. Some of these cases are extreme - one company has been advertising for "java" or "embedded" developers for 6 months, but unless you have at least 3 years of experience on a specific "set-top" box in the consumer cable TV market you're not worth talking to. In some cases it's clear the company is just trying to rehire laid-off employees, but almost all publicly announced positions have some type of mandatory application experience.
Among my immediate friends and acquaintances, *two* are still working in the IT field. Another is a certified Oracle DBA decorating cakes in a supermarket (last I heard), another is getting into marketing, a third is talking about opening a sub franchise store in the Middle East, and I'm signed up for some sysadmin training so I can get past the "ten years of related experience, but never in my job title" barrier. That's 66% unemployment, far beyond the unemployment rate in the great depression.
But there is good news! Bush is trying to streamline the H1B visa process so the big companies can bring in even more foreign workers, since these companies have found it so hard to find qualified candidates. Why, how can any company be expected to find local talent when a single ad on Monster or Dice may bring in a thousand resumes?
For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong. -- H L Mencken
This book is not a typical story. I'm in the industry (structural engineer with an architectural firm) and have seen many different scenereos...many of them not pretty. Here's some basics:
If you take a typical tract home (built by an experienced, if average, builder) with basic finishes (paint, carpet, vinyl, MDF trim) and standard items you can expect $80/SF for the house and $20/sf for the land/improvements/utilities to purchase the house...we'll use this $100/SF number as a good basis number.
The contrator is only going to pay about $55/SF to build your house in material and labor. That means he's going to make $100 on a $75 investment. Remember, he'll have to pay $3-5 to market/sell, $3-5 in interest expenses, and his time and liability exposure.
You'll be competing with this guy for subs and materials. He'll probably only use one material supplier (or just a few) because HE GETS A DISCOUNT! Sometimes is overt, like 10% across the board. Often it includes perks like free job-site delivery, or extras such as a boom truck on drywall deliveries. It's only a couple of percent, but it adds up. You'll be paying full price. His subs, to whom he supplies work on a regular basis, will get to his job before yours - even if you called them first. So what - it's just time right? Well, if you're paying 9% on a construction loan, time is money.
Don't forget that you're going to need flexible job hours - often your low bidder sub (and even some high ones) aren't nearly as particular with their work when they're not being checked. A neighbor-owner/contractor had the felt left off his roof assembly by his roofer. He found out when a shingle blew off and there it wasn't! He got the roof replaced for free, but only after several weeks of arguing and calls to the building department. You don't need to be there all the time, but you do have to be able to check in on them.
Finally, if you don't understand how buildings go together, you could be in for a nasty suprise. A contractor generally started as a carpenter, and has seen lots of houses go together. He recognizes when something is not-quite-right. You won't. Trust me - you'll miss something. Did you check to see that the all the hurricane clips were installed, installed properly, and in the correct quantity before the drywall went up? Do you know what the right one looks like - there are different types!
Which leads me to liability. If you build your house and it doesn't work the way it's supposed to (it leaks, sags, cracks, or worse) you are the one responsible. Sure, you can try and strong arm the subs to fix it if its one discipline. But what if the problem is not obvious, such a coordination issue (framing to siding, or plumbing through the roof?) Normally, you'd stick it to the General Contractor - they're required in most states to warrant their work for a year. Guess what - THAT'S YOU! YOU are responsible, financially, for those problems.
Finally, if you're getting a $500,000 house for $300,000, you're doing your math wrong, or aren't comparing apples to apples. Most building products are commodity items. Same time, same area sales won't vary by more than 5% or so. You'll save the GC fee of, say, 20% to 25% of the cost of the construction, but you'll pay a little more for everything you get. That cost may be direct, such as paying $30 for every delivery or not getting the 15% volume builders discount at the Midtown Tile Hut, or it may be indirect such as the time it takes you to run around and compare prices, or wait two weeks for the electrician to get around to you because he has higher priorities.
Oh, one more thing. That lot you just paid $45,000 to buy? The buider paid $5,000 or less because he bought ten acres and cut it up into 10 lots. Don't forget the whole picture. If you "built" your house on a lot you owned and spent $120k, and the neighbor paid $160k for the identical house next door, you've just spent all your time and effort for the exact same thing as your neighbor got for signing a check. Don't laugh...I bought my 8 acres for $55k two years ago. The land next to me (11 acres) just sold for $90k. No well, no septic. The builder down the street (and a good friend, I might add) bought 35 acres of the same farm three years ago for $35k and is putting up six houses. He just bought 55 more acres down the way for $130k, and is getting about $50k for the timber on the land, then he's going to divide it up into 5 acre chunks and build some more houses.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
Basic Economics. I couldn't afford to be my own contractor. Say, if you make $100/hour, you can't handle pissing away all that lost billing time to make sure that the plumber shows up on the right day and installs things properly. All those hours supervising adds up to a big total.
I had a truly custom house built recently and stopped by almost every day after work. With all the decisions I had to make, I can't imagine how much more effort it would have been to have to manage the subs and all the other stuff.
T
---- It puts the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again. It does this whenever it's told.
Check out the monolithic dome institute's website. Some very interesting concepts for building your own house. I don't work for the company, but I am interested in one day building one of these for myself, when I can afford it.
You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
Who said profit was a dirty word?
[reads original post -- looks for negative reference to profit]
I'm not sure where you saw that reference, but it sure as hell wasn't in the original post. The original post simply said you could save money if you were willing to do it yourself. Why is DIY a dirty word?
--kurt
Gentoo Linux http://gentoo.org/
... you could put out a hit on the contractor, and (maybe) his wife. It's important to make sure the subcontractor you hire to do the job has a good reputation for quality work, and won't do things with shoddy tools. You don't want the $5000 sub to just use an ice pick that could leave the hit still alive, when the $15000 sub could use a proper high-caliber weapon to turn his face to mush.
Some are inclined to do their own contracting, but I've found that the federal inspectors tend to be grumpy in these kinds of situations. I'd suggest that folks leave the work to those with the right skills and cope with the additional cost.
EOM
Yes, you can get mortgages for unbuilt structures. They have higher interest rates, but it's generally not a huge issue.
I don't know for sure, but I would expect that once the home was completed that you could conceivably get re-financed at a more normal rate. With the bonus that if your completed home is worth more than it cost to build (not all that uncommon I should think) you could end up with some automagic equity built in.
I agree with the above posting, about contractors being more that project managers. Whoever said that they're just PMs, and not very good ones, obviously didn't work with my contractor. There's even more to it than their relationships with the subcontractors.
I recently build a custom home -- less than $500000 (USD), but not by much. I went with a highly recommend general contractor, who was not cheap.
At first, I was alarmed by how much money was going to the general contractor. But I was way out of my depth, and I was much happier than I would have been had I gone to a tract builder.
Then, the problems began, and I was so glad we had a good contractor on our side.
I can't imagine having to deal with all of these problems myself. Sometimes I wonder if the general contractor even made money on my house, after all the things he had to pay for!
So, be cautious before you think, "I'll do it myself; after all, what good is a general contractor?"
This is shit.
"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free." -- Goethe
If you are planning on doing this kind of work, do yourself a favor and do some research on the national and local code, the practicalities, and your options.
Generally speaking, you are going to want to use riser rated (not plenum rated) cable in conduit and firestop all ends of the conduit.
But again - either hire someone fully qualified in this area, or do the detailed research.
sPh
Re:Things to do with the money you save on your ho
How much do you save on your ho, exactly?
Best Windows Freeware
"The last job I was at, I asked the foreman how much material was in the duplex (both sides). He replied: $16,000. I suspect there is room to save money in building your own house."
Awesome! So how about I mail you $25 for metal and silicon and you build me a computer?
P.S. Make it have lots of Megahertz. Those are good.
------
Today's Top Deals
Review? No, this is not a review. This is marketing. It's a press release, or an "Advertorial." It's like paid programming on TV, but Slashdot didn't get paid.
I learned how to do this a few years ago in a class called "promotional writing" for my degree in Advertising. This is a textboox example.
Timothy, remove your head from your ass! Filter this stuff out! A genuine review with a geek slant (ie, how to deal with electricians who wire RJ45 jacks improperly) would be useful. This, is not.
Dental Hygene: Have some. Buy toothbrush and use it regularly, yet not more than four times a day. Unless you grew up in the sewers of Calcutta, at some point in your childhood a dentist showed you how to brush. Dredge your memory and do it - If it seems to take twice as long as normal, you're probably on the right track. Try to avoid having things caught between your teeth, even if it's a hunk of CAT-5 insulation.
Auto Repair: Go to garage. Pay money. Would you trust your mission critical software to a mechanic who "plays with software?" Didn't think so...
How to remove tough Stains: Point out stain to drycleaner. They will remove it. Unless you're the kind of person who regularly spills stuff on your clothes (in which case, try to stop,) it's cheaper to pay them occasionally than to buy a whole bunch of cleaning products that will sit unused under your sink 99% of the time.
Arctic Survival Skills: Stay warm. It only takes a tiny fire to warm an igloo. Remember the fire needs a chimney hole. Note "warm" doesn't mean room temperature - It's surprisingly easy to melt a hole in an igloo, or have the whole thing collapse on you while you sleep, which kind of defeats the point of survival. If you kill a polar bear, don't eat the liver, as it has a toxic level of Vitamin A.
Fashion (in general): Fashion is designed as "planned obsolescence" without an upgrade path. Designers want you to replace everything every six months - This is why fashion changes every year. The easiest rule to avoid wasting your money is only buy "the look" the year after it's first seen. If it's going to be around for a while, they'll be still selling it. If not, then you avoided having to toss out things after six months because that's "soooo last year." You do get what you pay for, but after a certain point, the incremental return is marginal. These points are (approximatly) Shirt: $45, Pant/Skirt: $80, Shoes: $130, Suit Jacket: $450.
Men's Fashion: "Sloppy Chic" is not only out, it was never really in. Shirts should have measurements for both sleeve and collar, not S/M/L/XL. No woman on earth is impressed by your "Mozilla 1.0" Tee Shirt. It you're wearing a tie, you should barely know it - if it's choking you, either you tied it too tight or your shirt collar is too small. Pants come in other fabrics than Denim. Shoes should have laces, not velcro or buckles, and cover your whole foot. Mixing and Matching Rules: Solid+Solid or Stripe+Solid or Pattern+Solid - There are no other valid combinations. Easiest way to accessorize and match: Go to Macy's/The Bay/Marks&Spencer and buy the exact same outfits the mannequins are wearing. Don't try this at K-Mart/Zellers/Tesco. It's far easier to be successful dressing "somewhat conservitive" than "modern and fashionable." If you saw it in a magazine and the model's hair was not combed, you have almost a 0 percent chance of wearing that garment successfully. Try mixing in at most one (1) "fun" or "trendy" thing with your outfits (i.e. shirt, tie, shoes.)
Women's Fashion: See "Men's Fashion," but you have both more choices and more lattitude. If a boot comes less than 1/2 the way up to your knee, you should not see the top of it (They're called pant boots for a reason.) Don't mix clunky with sleek. Undergarments should not show through clothes. If more than 1/2 the time you're wearing the outfit is indoors, wear hose or socks. Never be seen in public in a Mu-Muu.
Extreme Sports: Have a good medical plan and life insurance first.
Gourmet Coffee Reviews: I don't drink coffee, so I can't comment on this.
You speak the truth. Saving money or not, if you've got an area you did yourself, and you did a good job, it pays dividends in pride.
You can get away without a truck if you've got a car which can tow 1000lbs (most can). For about $200 or $250, plus $100 in lumber and an afternoon of cursing the assembly manual, Harbor Freight sells a 4'x8' trailer kit that will hold 1120 lbs (?) of stuff. Anything that's too big to put in my trailer tends to be worth paying $30 to have delivered by HD/Lowes.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
The problem in Florida was due in large part to builders who failed to follow even what building codes there were because they were trying to build as many houses as possible as quickly as possible as cheaply as possible.
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
I'm doing it right now. You get a "construction loan" which is similar to a mortgage but is designed for this type of thing. Basically how it works is you pay based on how much you have used to date (up to a set cap). To get a construction loan you generally have to have a bit more down than a typical mortgage (25% usually), and you have to somewhat know what you're talking about and be able to provide and discuss plans/schedules/blueprints/etc...
They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty nor security
In most climates, wood frame construction is actually less efficient than other building methods.
In Nebraska, back in the olden days, they had no wood to build homes (and it was cold in the winter), so they dug a hole, and covered it with sod and straw. Great insulation. Cob and straw are catching on in North America now.
Straw bale and cob are more energy efficient, can be used to build zero-toxicity homes, and are often cheaper to build (though that assumes some owner-building). They can be made to comply with building codes, and people are even getting bank-loans to build them.
Amazon has a couple of good books (both of which I own):
Serious Straw Bale
The Beauty of Straw Bale Homes
Save the 3-little-pigs jokes. Most people interested in straw bale have heard them, oh, 5000 times already.
Plenum cable is more expensive and is required when cables, instead of being run in conduit, are run in areas, like heating/air-conditioning ducts, where air that is breathed by building occupants passes through. It is designed to give off less in the way of toxic fumes in the case of a fire.
There are different types of conduit. Some of it made of metal, some of PVC, and what is required or allowed depends on what the local code says. The reason you don't have to use plenum-rated cable inside conduit is because, although the conduit system probably isn't perfectly airtight (a little leakage at the outlet boxes, etc.), there's very little airflow in it under normal circumstances, even if the building is on fire, so the cable inside is less likely to catch fire or melt in the first place and less likely to be able to fill the air where the people are with fumes if it does get too hot.
All that said, if you're building from scratch, find out what kind and size of conduit you can legally use and consider it strongly. Then when Extended Expanded Cat 5 plus extra sooper-de-duper cable is considered ancient, you can use it as a pull cable to install whatever the not even invented yet state of the art thing is at the time. For example, if you had built a house 25 or 30 years ago and put in oversize conduit for the phone lines or the TV cable to all the rooms, you could wire up for Ethernet now (a concept-a home computer network- very few would have forseen back when the Watergate break-in was just hitting the news) with very little trouble.
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
I live in the Chicago area. Near the western suburbs. I agree that europeans don't understand how much land there is here, but I do not think that this is reason to squandor it.
Most of the area in the midwest is wetland. I look at the tract housing being built out here and shake my head. 50% will have floding problems within the next 10 years.
And there is plenty of wasted space in the more "inner city" suburbs, but the drive to move into "newer, modern" housing continues to extend the urban area.
Given the trends in food production and consumption, and knowing how profitable the soil is in northern illinois, I see no reason for such action.
As for the -1 moderation, you know it's interesting. I've had comments with a score of 4 and no responces, now I have an item with 3 or 4 intelligent responces moderated down to 1 from my +1 bonus. I just don't understand that.
Yep, I'm a licensed contractor and when through all that hassle to build my own house a number of years ago.
Practically, being a contractor is a 5hitload of headaches and worries about scheduling, people (eg, some of the framing crew didn't show up, are in the slammer for DUI, etc.), and money.
What I found was that whatever money I might have saved by being my own contractor got used up in buying better quality construction at each stage of the process. I know my house is not going to have the same raft of problems as most tract houses do after 7 years, but I paid extra for doing things the right way with the right materials.
There are a few important lessons I learned the hard way.
And, absolutely, no matter the story (and you'll hear them all), don't pay people too much too soon into the job (I liked dividing into thirds).
"Provided by the management for your protection."
Even a cardboard box can build equity -- if it's well situated! In Silicon Valley, where buyers are often shocked at how little house they get for their money (I once saw a half-burnt red tagged house go for about half a mil!), they realtors say you're really just buying expensive land, the house is just bonus!
I guarantee you when she takes a look at the psycho who has kidnapped her about locked her in his pool area, she will be petrified!
- For the complete works of Shakespeare: cat
Anybody have experience with building a custom home using geodesic design? Supposedly many of these can be built with very little if any hired labor. Or how about straw-bale construction?
As an architect (technically, I've completed the IDP and I'll be taking the ARE very soon) I have to say that I have a different perspective. The role of an architect is not to add doodads. There are several perspectives, but fundamentally an architect adds value to your project, not to mention being legally required in many areas for a varitey of reasons - health, safety and public welfare being high on the list. Let me say at the outset that there are goofball architects, just as there are quack doctors and MBAs who have zero business sense. If your goal is to get a conventional house for the lowest possible dollars per square foot, there are architects who can help you. There are also archtiects who would hinder you. Take the book's point, shop around - talk to people - look at your options. For your first experience with building a house, a knowledgeable architect can guide you through the legal and financial minefield and hopefully get a more beautiful end result. The world is full of horror stories of financing scams, vanishing subcontractors, code problems that shut projects down, structural 'omissions' and on and on. Designing a good house takes a fair amount of skill. Most smart people can get a few of the 'balls in the air.' You can develop a decent floor plan, think through the basic cost implications of what goes where and have a sense of how it's going to work in three dimensions. This is usually enough to get someting built, but is the result 'good' or 'great'? Someone with experience designing buildings thoughfully (a.k.a. a good architect) will add value, both qualitatively and functionally. A cynic would say that the market for housing in America has pretty low standards for quality of materials and design. But this is YOUR house we're talking about - do you want the Windows 3.1 of houses? A structural engineer can also be an important part of the team. While many architects can do the structural engineering part of the design process, particularly for conventional houses, structural engineers can't do a lot of very important parts of the design process. SEs have stacks of code books and manuals that deal with their parts of building design, which are very important, but don't have a lot to do with the simple construction of houses. Their field of expertise doesn't cover things like the codes that relate to your family not burning to death in a fire. Another issue is 'plan stamping'. In areas where an archictect is required by law you may be tempted to try to find a scumbag to apply her seal to some pre-drawn plans. This is a bad idea. If you need the 'what's in it for me' reason try massive dollar costs. 'Stamped plans' are likely to have problems with local codes which can cost you tens of thousands of dollars in fines and rip-and-replace costs. I can fudge together shell scripts or bits of C++, but am I a programmer? No. Could I tackle a moderately complicated programming task myself? Maybe, but it would a nasty mess, inefficient, buggy and take a long time. I don't have that expertise even if I know a fair amount about how computers work and know what I like in user interfaces. Don't see architects as an enemy or hinderance. Look for one who wants to work with you in your way for your project and take advantage of her ideas and experience.
Besides, who ever heard of a cardboard box with a deck?
Riser rated cable, otoh, is supposed to limit vertical flame spread. This would help to prevent flame from travelling up the conduit from floor to floor. Although in a residential application the benefit would be small - the key would be to firestop the conduit openings after the cables are in.
sPh
Okay, I'm going to have to ask you to back up that polar bears/vitamin A thing. Extraordinary claims and all that jazz.
--grendel drago
Laws do not persuade just because they threaten. --Seneca