# how much to build my own house, by hand?



## JumboJack (Aug 14, 2007)

J87513 said:


> give me a break, it's past midnight over here.


????
You posted this at 9:30 pm PST...


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## Dustyrose (Feb 13, 2009)

J87513 said:


> give me a break, it's past midnight over here.


No it's not. :no:
It is 1:40 am in Ohio so in CA it is only 9:40 pm.


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## Workaholic (Feb 3, 2007)

neolitic said:


> Yeah, probably he time change
> is what got him thinking about
> easy DIY projects. :thumbsup:


 In his other posts he is asking licensing questions for Florida, NYC and Jersey. The guy is traveling man. :whistling


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## ScipioAfricanus (Sep 13, 2008)

Originally posted by OP



> Ok well **** you all very much!



That will get a lot of help.

Andy.


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## Dustyrose (Feb 13, 2009)

Workaholic said:


> In his other posts he is asking licensing questions for Florida, NYC and Jersey. The guy is traveling man. :whistling


Yea. Just viewed that myself. Not to mention on 3/16/08 he "asked how to learn plumbing" But he is a plumber. :thumbup:

I think he needs to go away


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## nEighter (Nov 24, 2008)

HusqyPro said:


> If you need the material costs go to www.homedepot.com and keep adding material to your cart until you have enough to build your house.



I always wondered how much they or bLowes has in inventory. Do you think you could build 2 houses complete with all they have there? Or would it just be one? Or more?... always wonder that when I go there..


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## 480sparky (Feb 1, 2009)

Dustyrose said:


> No it's not. :no:
> It is 1:40 am in Ohio so in CA it is only 9:40 pm.


Hate to say it, but Ohio and Caliphonie are only three hours apart, not four.


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## HusqyPro (Aug 3, 2009)

nEighter said:


> I always wondered how much they or bLowes has in inventory. Do you think you could build 2 houses complete with all they have there? Or would it just be one? Or more?... always wonder that when I go there..


Only one way to find out. Meet me at the Home Depot in Lewiston. Bring a major credit card. :thumbsup: I know a guy w/ a semi. Bring a fuel card too. :laughing:


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## Dustyrose (Feb 13, 2009)

nEighter said:


> I always wondered how much they or bLowes has in inventory. Do you think you could build 2 houses complete with all they have there? Or would it just be one? Or more?... always wonder that when I go there..


Well go check it out. Load up your cart and have them ring you up. When the give you the total just tell them you have changed your mind.:thumbsup:


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## Dustyrose (Feb 13, 2009)

480sparky said:


> Hate to say it, but Ohio and Caliphonie are only three hours apart, not four.


Not according to the world clock on my cell. Shows CA time 4 hrs behind us.


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## HusqyPro (Aug 3, 2009)

I'm on Pacific time. It is now 2303 hours.


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## Workaholic (Feb 3, 2007)

Dustyrose said:


> Yea. Just viewed that myself. Not to mention on 3/16/08 he "asked how to learn plumbing" But he is a plumber. :thumbup:
> 
> I think he needs to go away


 I did not go that deep into it at first, but he has been asking about a license in CA, AZ, too. At least he wants to be licensed.


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## 480sparky (Feb 1, 2009)

Dustyrose said:


> Not according to the world clock on my cell. Shows CA time 4 hrs behind us.


You need a new phone, then. Ohio is Eastern time zone. Go west through Central and Mountain, and arrive at the left coast in Pacific. Three hours diff.


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## barnbuilder1 (Dec 6, 2008)

50 x 2000 = 100,000 lot easier to plumb yourself AND WIRE SAVES A LOT.


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## Dustyrose (Feb 13, 2009)

480sparky said:


> You need a new clock, then. Ohio is Eastern time zone. Go west through Central and Mountain, and arrive at the left coast in Pacific. Three hours diff.


Maybe I'd rather head east and take the senic route.


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## 480sparky (Feb 1, 2009)

Dustyrose said:


> Maybe I'd rather head east and take the senic route.


OK, 21 hours difference, then. Just remember to take your passport. And don't drink the water! :laughing:


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## ChainsawCharlie (Jan 16, 2008)

480sparky said:


> Hate to say it, but Ohio and Caliphonie are only three hours apart, not four.





Dustyrose said:


> Not according to the world clock on my cell. Shows CA time 4 hrs behind us.





480sparky said:


> You need a new phone, then. Ohio is Eastern time zone. Go west through Central and Mountain, and arrive at the left coast in Pacific. Three hours diff.



Man...you guys will argue about anything.:laughing:

BTW, It's only 8:15 here.


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## ChainsawCharlie (Jan 16, 2008)

And your map is bogus. Hawaii doesn't observe DST either.


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## 480sparky (Feb 1, 2009)

ChainsawCharlie said:


> Man...you guys will argue about anything.:laughing:


Yea..... so? You wanna make something of it???


















ChainsawCharlie said:


> And your map is bogus. Hawaii doesn't observe DST either.


Ain't my map.


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## Dustyrose (Feb 13, 2009)

480sparky said:


> OK, 21 hours difference, then. Just remember to take your passport. And don't drink the water! :laughing:


I bound to swallow some. That's a lot of swimming. 
Promise not to pee in the big pool.


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## woodchuck2 (Feb 27, 2008)

480sparky said:


> I get the feeling I should ask my mechanic how much it costs to build a car.


 Would that be a Yugo or a Bentley?? 

Is this fella building in a trailer park or next to the ocean??? Still seem to be alot of variables.


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## Framer53 (Feb 23, 2008)

woodchuck2 said:


> Would that be a Yugo or a Bentley??
> 
> Is this fella building in a trailer park or next to the ocean??? Still seem to be alot of variables.


That is why the tree fity response is best


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## jtpro (May 21, 2009)

HusqyPro said:


> Does anyone know if the cost estimator on www.houseplans.com is at all accurate?


Not sure about that one Bo....er Husqy but, ones like Walker's use to give +/- percentages for regional but like all major cities within those regions prices vary so even if they gave an average for say Jax. the northside prices for material and the west side apples and oranges. A 2X4 on the westside say $2.69 less then 20 miles awy in orange park $2.89.

A smart guy like you (unlike the OP) could just take local unit prices X amount of material and be more accurate then a "blanket" quote. :thumbup:


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## slowforthecones (Aug 24, 2008)

houseplans is over priced. you can get free plans by going to your local building office and asking for a copy..the fee will be a nominal i think less than 25 for a complete set of any house you have a address for. with that in mind...houseplans charges a lot for a set of drawings that don't confirm to the grade/site conditions.....as a structural engineer & g.c., I think they are a ripoff.


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## HusqyPro (Aug 3, 2009)

I like surfing houseplans.com and looking at all the different plans. With 28,000 different plans to look at it's a fun place to pass the time and get ideas. I haven't bought any plans from there yet. They do have some cool stuff though. Recently I started surfing through their duplex plans. Lots of great ideas there.


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## slowforthecones (Aug 24, 2008)

they have great plans to look at to get ideas. I find the best way to get ideas is to look at other architect engineers work when new tract homes or condos are being sold, models shown..go in there and get copies of the floorplans and snap pics. note what u like in your ideal custom home, then talk to a engineer to come up with something that is do-able.


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## HusqyPro (Aug 3, 2009)

What I like is that I can see styles of homes that aren't very prevalent here. Flatroof houses are cool, but not very common here. I guess due to snow loading. Now with the price of land on the Palouse (we have the most fertile dry farm land in the world) I would have thought multi story homes with a small footprint would be more popular. They're not, and theres some real cool plans for them on the site. I need to be a real estate developer. Already found 15 plans I'd love to build.


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## Cdat (Apr 18, 2007)

Just _'aquire' _the materials from the legit guys and then it is only labor you need worry about.:shifty:


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## constructonomics (Aug 11, 2009)

For a rough estimate I would look at about $125 per square foot of house. Then take 45% off for material costs. The rest should be labor cost, back out what you think you'll pay the plumber and electrician and that is how much you're going to save in labor. 

I doubt you will save a lot of money buying the materials yourself because contractors probably get a discount and then mark them up.


www.constructonomics.com


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## Bob Kovacs (May 4, 2005)

slowforthecones said:


> houseplans is over priced. you can get free plans by going to your local building office and asking for a copy..the fee will be a nominal i think less than 25 for a complete set of any house you have a address for. with that in mind...houseplans charges a lot for a set of drawings that don't confirm to the grade/site conditions.....as a structural engineer & g.c., I think they are a ripoff.


Hmmm....so you're suggesting that it's a good idea to go get a set of plans that are copyrighted by the original designer, and then go duplicate them on another lot? Sounds like a great idea........:blink:


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## hbelectric (Oct 8, 2007)

I think it would be easier to go to Menards website, they have prepackaged houses, they just are not rated for certain states, California being one, not sure about Florida with those hurricanes.


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## slowforthecones (Aug 24, 2008)

Bob Kovacs said:


> Hmmm....so you're suggesting that it's a good idea to go get a set of plans that are copyrighted by the original designer, and then go duplicate them on another lot? Sounds like a great idea........:blink:


copyright only applies if you are using the exact same plans...however if you make changes and alterations and offcourse make it work for a site condition.... it is considered fair use. Notice you are a "consultant".....that itself says a lot keep in mind that to be alleged for copyright theft, no 1 design is duplicated in the same way thru a set of plans. owners/clients always request alterations for site conditions or personalization. I haven't heard of a case where someone got sued in California for that lately.


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