Coming soon! A site dedicated to helping you become an owner-builder for your custom house build. It will save you money and result in a higher quality home.
If you choose to hire a builder, I'll help you navigate that relationship and provide steps to personally check on the site.
About me
I recently finished building my own custom house, but not without some serious hiccups. Our first builder dropped the ball so many times, we ended the contract before the foundation was even poured. Our second builder made giant mistakes, racked up costs, then went bankrupt before they finished framing the house.
After a moment of panic, my husband and I decided to become owner-builders and be the general contractor for our own house. While it took a ton of work, I was much happier and was less stressed knowing things were being built correctly, and if there weren't I was able to get it quickly fixed.
What to expect
I want to educate you on the entire custom home building process and experience, including:
- Detailed experiences with our two different types of builders (and how to survive a builder bankruptcy)
- Hiring a builder (pro's and con's) & why I wouldn't hire one again
- Builder fee structures
- Title companies: why you should absolutely use one
- Permit process & tips
- Requesting bids from each trade & what to look for when making the hiring decision
- Our positive experience working directly with trades as a homeowner-GC
- How to submit draws (payments from the title company) + templates
- The order of each part of the build (foundation, framing, windows, drywall, electrical, etc)
- Timeline of each build process
- Details about each process of the build & what to look for on your own inspection
- "In the weeds" details, like vacuuming stud bays before insulation goes in, or why you should cover vents during the build process.
- Costs for various professionals (including architects, structural engineers, and construction lawyers)
- Case studies of my house & others, on what can go wrong and how to fix it
- Products we used & evaluated (from insulation to countertops)
- Insights as a female GC (general contractor) in this field
Lastly, we will share what we've learned along with links to resources written by experts in each field and interviews with tradespeople. That should save you a lot of time searching for the information yourself, which can be hard to do when you don't even know what terms you should be searching for (like a vented or unvented roof, or the best type of sealant to use on ducts).
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