per sqft costs....

[esq187]

in January 2006: $112.13 was the avarage per sqft cost of building a home in my area


can anyone give me a guess as to what % of that i could save by doing much of the work myself?



.... Anyone?

[Don_P]

Just depends on how good you are at doing the GC and trade work and how many favors you can call in. I had one homeowner that came in at about half price and another that I'm sure came in well over what it could have. The half price HO will be paying back favors for some time though. The only way I can tell you to do it is sharpen your pencil.

[Pokey]

My opinoin is you are way better off hiring out the GC work. Most GC's an Subs are willing to work for wages at the current time. What you will save in time and aggervation is well worth any savings! Pick a few easy to tackle items and tell the gc you will do them yourself. I just did this with my house.

I did all of the clean up work
helped insulate
laid all of the tile flooring
trimmed the house out

i didn't so much save in the true sense of the word, but was able to upgrade a lot of my finishes. I was able to lay ceramic for the same price as the bulider would have done sheet vinyl. upgraded to sprayed in celulose insulation ilo fiberglass batts. added some crown molding, plant mold boxes, 5 1/4" base boards, ext.

[esq187]

I am I professional hardwood flooring installer so..things such as..

All Floor Coverings. (hardwood, tile, carpet, lino)
All Trim Work.(Door casing, Baseboards, Window casings, Crown molding)
Decks
Some of the framing If not All of it. (don’t think I want to tackle the roof though.)
Sheathing.
Siding.


These are all things I have done before and can do again without error.

I know how to deal with trades as I’m one myself.
as for the GC work.. from my understanding this basically consists of

getting the trades in and dealing with any problems that arise with the trade such as scheduling, and any problem with the house ect...
also getting permits and assuring inspections occur when they are needed.
providing supplies for trades work. (such as framing lumber.)
and to make sure all these things are done in a timely fashion.



what of the GC work am i overlooking?
Givin what your heard do you rethink your Estimate?

[Pokey]

The best vaule of using a Gc for me was he already had a good list of qualifed quality subs. trying to get bids on all of the work can be a real pain! Bids are never apples to apples, some people take forever to get you numbers, ect. If you already know the good subs are the only other value he brought was scheduling. We built our house in 3.5 months. If i would have gc'd it i'm sure it would have been a lot longer.

As for your savings it all depends on the house. I'd assume that the framing you would still need some people to help. Also a good portion of the time will be tied up in the roof so if you arn't going to do that you will need to adjust. Extremely wild guesses would be this

Framing 3-5% of overall cost
Siding 2% of overall cost
Trim 1-3% of overall cost
You should know the flooring trade side of things
Gc overhead and profit 5 - 15%
Your Mistakes, Oversights? This number can far exceed your savings.

Times are pretty tough now. I'd find a builder that you do a lot of floorlaying for and negotiate a fee for them to oversee the work. If a builder is guaranteed to make a profit he'd be more inclined to work for a small % of the work.

THE BEST ADVICE I CAN GIVE YOU IS IF YOU GO THAT ROUTE TAKE THE CONSTUCTION LOAN OUT IN YOUR NAME AND GET ALL INVOICES SENT TO YOU DIRECT.

[esq187]

Thanks so much for your Help and Pointers at least i know im heading in the right direction..
id like to post a link to an image of the site plans aswell but im being blocked by the fourms,









If Anyone needs a Hardwood Installer in Victoria, BC Look-up South Island Hardwood (.ca to see my site)