Building Your Own Home For Dummies

Wood versus Steel By far, the most popular home construction technique is conventional construction, which uses vertical studs to create the home’s skeletal system of both exterior and interior walls. Choosing conventional construction allows for a wide range of styles; the studs are simply the basic ingredient. The studs in your walls will be eith

When you need new kitchen cabinetry, you usually don’t ask a cabinetmaker to haul his tools, crew, and raw materials to your home to build cabinets for you on-site. You pick a style at a cabinet supplier’s showroom and order the number and size you need. The supplier sends your order to the manufacturer, who goes about building your cabinets in a f

When choosing the right architect, look for someone that fits the needs of your particular project and working style. You may want someone who manages the whole process or perhaps will work with you in a teamlike manner. Plan to have several discussions with two or three different architects so you can choose the right one for you. Here are the imp

Ask the contractor for a complete address list of homes he has built in addition to a list of references. Make sure you look at houses built ten years ago as well as newer ones. Remember, just as a car with 50,000 miles drives much

In our experience, putting off the shopping for materials until the end of the project is the No. 1 reason for projects going over budget! Spend time at the beginning to make the decisions or pay your architect extra money if you’re using one. You need to pick out every hinge, fixture, and appliance before you get price estimates for your project.

Steel offers the greatest strength for the lowest price of any building material. Steel is inorganic. Galvanized steel doesn’t burn, warp, rot, split, crack, creep, or get eaten by termites and other creepy crawlers. Steel is dimensionally stable. It doesn’t expand or contract due to moisture. With steel, you have less scrap and waste (2 percent fo

you absolutely need to know what is happening with the property 24 hours a day, you may consider putting up cameras and broadcasting the signal to the Internet.

When paying by the hour, time is money. Use the architect’s time for providing information and education. Keep all discussions or disagreements between spouses or partners at home, not in the architect’s office while the clock is ticking. Absorb as much information as possible and take detailed notes to review on your own time. The more you prepare

Use the following suggestions for setting up categories for your filing system: Architecture and design Contractor communication Contracts Financing Invoices Land purchase Materials information Paid receipts Permits and approvals Subcontractor communication Warrantees