Who Has Built A House?

like! Has a Cotswold feel to it.

My wife and I have been going through the building process for the last 2.5 years which has certainly been a massive learning process for us. As fans of the show 'Grand Designs' you often see people have a certain budget and/or timeframe and then blow through it - I proudly said to my wife "that won't be us, I won't let it happen"... well... took over a year more than we wanted and 25% over budget.

Saying that, we have built the home we (mostly) wanted in an area we couldn't afford to build a house like this in so I guess the stress is certainly worth it.

My advice for people going through the process (and for me again in the future)
- Make sure you understand planning restrictions in your area, in Australia they can be VERY strict, especially in existing built up areas. We added $30k to our build for things we didn't want, but needed to do to meet council requirements (changes to walls, additional build textures etc)

- Think carefully about things that a future buyer wouldn't care about, and are expensive. There were a number of things which my wife and I love about the house, but a future buyer will not understand the cost and will not be considered on a future offer. We decided we don't mind too much about this but if you were planning on flipping in the short-ish term it could be an issue. Things like fireplace, upgraded door handles, sliding door tracks being recessed into the slab, and higher quality windows

- Consider all the 'other' costs which come up, things like any planning or permit costs, landscaping, driveway etc etc. That is easily 10% of the total project cost and things which we hadn't thought too much about until the last stages of the build.

- It's going to take longer than you think, make sure you have a plan for your living situation during that time. We are fortunate enough to be stay in our previous home. A good friend is currently in a tiny rental with two young children while they build and each month of delay is costing them significant money and stress.

I am sure I'll have plenty more notes when we move in next month 😀

My wife and I built ours. It took two years 1999 and 2000. There wasn’t an aspect of the building process that I didn’t have my hand in in some way. Much of it I did myself or with the help of someone I subbed out work to. That said, it was a complicated process. I didn’t have a cell phone to document the process, so all I have are still pictures of the build.

Long story very short…I took a 1970 brick ranch house that was solid as a rock but was going to be torn down. I tore the roof off of it, pealed the brick off it, moved it 30 miles to my property, added a new second story and a new full basement, totally renovated the original house, removed walls, re-wired, refloored with wide plank heart pine, and built back with antique architectural detail that I scavenged for two years prior. All the plans for the build my wife designed on paper. She is not an architect.

My doors are over 100 years old. My wainscoting in my formal dining room is walnut and came out of a Pennsylvania Mission Church. All door ways have antique fluted molding and bullseye rosettes. The stairs to the new second floor came out of an old Victorian home. I built a two story front porch. I could go on…

I am very fortunate that my wife and I agreed 98% of the time. I built a solid 5500 sq ft house and built 200k in equity in the process of my sweat. I’d do it again, but only with the younger version of me. Looking back, I was absolutely nuts for trying it but was young enough and hard headed enough to try. It work out well in the end. God certainly smiled upon us, even through the frustrating moments of a complicated project. I’ve attached a few, more recent pics.One is the re-roof job from a few years back but you can see the house.

My advice is to find the enjoyable moments of the process of creating a new home and learn to make the issues that are inevitable minor ones…even if they are major. Good luck to all who are working on theirs!

My wife and I built our house in 2013 (well a builder built it). At the time people told us it takes three builds before you know what you are doing and can get it right. I think there is some wisdom in that.

We were lucky that both of us had quite different wants for the home. I was super keen that the house was warm, easy to maintain, and low maintenance. My wife had an interior design in mind and basically designed the whole fit out.

Our learnings were:
- it’s going to cost more. Every builder expects to be able to pad out the costs with variations and there are usually lots of unknowns which come up in a build. When a builder includes a priority sum it’s probably too low.
- buy flat land. Building on a view is harder and therefore more expensive
- the small decisions take soooo much time. We put many hours into designing the fit out
- landscaping costs lots of time and money. As we built in bare land there hadn’t been decades of people before us landscaping and changing the garden. Since then I’ve had a project or two every year building decks or making gardens.

For us it’s been worth it. We love our place and don’t plan to leave.

Just bought this to renovate and flip.

Building a house is definitely an adventure! One thing I wish I knew before starting was the importance of thorough research and planning. Clear communication with builders and contractors is key to avoiding misunderstandings and ensuring the project stays on track.

Update on the demo and remodel of the 1945 house: The place was dated and nasty. A remodel job done in the 70s and again in the early 90s left the old girl looking tired, dark, and dreary. Cabinets were built onsite and were dimensionally huge. The walls were covered cheap paneling. Carpet has been removed throughout the house and I now have a blank slate to re-design the kitchen, which will include highlighting the heart pine 1x4 tongue in groove walls. That pile of rubble and paneling was all removed yesterday by early evening…and I found a hidden doorway behind the paneling behind the refrigerator.