topic Re: Question on time frame for building a house in Home

Question on time frame for building a house

ccassaday — Tue, 22 Nov 2016 23:29:22 GMT

For those of you who have built a house how long did it take. We are hoping to start by April. Would it be unreasonable to expect to be in the house by nov. just some background the house is a custom ranch on a full basement. That main level is around 2400 square feet. We are hoping to be in before thanksgiving next year.

Re: Question on time frame for building a house

qvcfreak — Tue, 22 Nov 2016 23:38:58 GMT

I downsized and my new home is 1380 square ft, , They started October 8th and I moved in New Years Eve

And yes, I think you will be in your new home next holiday season

Re: Question on time frame for building a house

sweetee2 — Tue, 22 Nov 2016 23:44:47 GMT

We built our own home going on 40 years ago. We literally did everything ourselves. It took us 9 months, every night every weekend. If you are going with a builder it take about 4 months for a starter home size, about 5 for medium size and about 6 months for a large. But I guarantee it will be longer. There are always hiccups along the way. Good for you.

Re: Question on time frame for building a house

roxxy1 — Tue, 22 Nov 2016 23:52:26 GMT

I work iIn the construction office/building dept. of a local municipality. Time frame for you to be in the house depends on a few things. Mostly, the general contractor and his crew. Hopefully you have a good relationship with the GC, and he has a large enough crew to show up everyday when expected. At least if you live in colder climate, starting in April shouldn't be an issue with trying to break ground before frost sets in. Also, the city/town inspectors, need to do the inspections in a timely manner. But most importantly you need to continually check on the progress to make sure the job is progressing at the rate you expect. Your time frame isn't outrageous, but just stay involved during the entire construction process. Good luck on your new home !!!

Re: Question on time frame for building a house

ccassaday — Wed, 23 Nov 2016 00:38:23 GMT

Thanks everyone. I told my mom maybe by Christmas. A couple things. The builder we will most likely go with is the builder my sister works for. She has already done our plans. They do a lot of homes. So that could slow things down. The other builder we are talking with does maybe 10 homes s year. So we would have all their attention. My dad has done quality control as a job so he will defintly be on top of things.

Right now we are not signed on to a builder. Hopefully we will chose one before the end of the year. Once you chose one how long does it take to get the contact signed and done and to start on your house? Our house we live in now hopefully will be going up for sale in March. We are moving to a rental. Because I am disabled we have to move to a rental then take out the room we made did for my shower downstairs. So if we are in a rental by March hopefully our house will be for sale by April and we can start building. We live in northeast IN.

Re: Question on time frame for building a house

Carmie — Wed, 23 Nov 2016 01:41:17 GMT

We broke ground on our 2 story house with full basement in November. It was under roof before the snow started falling and the inside was worked on all winter long when they were able.

We got our occupancy permit and were able to move in May 1st.

We had some delays because some of the finishing materials like our flooring and counters were discontinued by the manufacturer. We had to start from scratch and try to pick out colors that would go with what was already installed. The inspector also make the builder tear out the basement stairs because the pitch wasn't up to code.

One of my sons recently built a house. His wife went to check the progress after work and found the wrong color stone was laid. The have a taupe/tan stone and gray siding. This was not what they wanted, but they got a price adjustment because it was too late and too costly to remove the stone. It looks okay, but would have looked better with gray colored stone.

Be prepared for changes.

If your marriage can survive building a house, you can survive anything, It can be a very stressful time. Some of my friends said they would never build again, but I would.

Re: Question on time frame for building a house

ccassaday — Wed, 23 Nov 2016 02:24:12 GMT

@Carmie wrote:
We broke ground on our 2 story house with full basement in November. It was under roof before the snow started falling and the inside was worked on all winter long when they were able.

We got our occupancy permit and were able to move in May 1st.

We had some delays because some of the finishing materials like our flooring and counters were discontinued by the manufacturer. We had to start from scratch and try to pick out colors that would go with what was already installed. The inspector also make the builder tear out the basement stairs because the pitch wasn't up to code.

One of my sons recently built a house. His wife went to check the progress after work and found the wrong color stone was laid. The have a taupe/tan stone and gray siding. This was not what they wanted, but they got a price adjustment because it was too late and too costly to remove the stone. It looks okay, but would have looked better with gray colored stone.

Be prepared for changes.

If your marriage can survive building a house, you can survive anything, It can be a very stressful time. Some of my friends said they would never build again, but I would.

I totally get about it being stressful. I can't believe how much my parents have argued over floor plans. My mom said it was to big. It started at 2600 and it is now 2400. She keeps saying it's still to big. She wants it around 2000. But yet she can't express or come up with where to cut it. They argued over 300 square feet. I thought that was ridiculous. They have now agreed on the 2400 sq foot plan. The good thing is they have been looking at new builds and getting ideas. As far as interior colors and furnishes I think they agree on those. The design meetings should be easy compared to getting a floor plan they can agree on.

i really hope we can get started in April and be in by thanksgiving. But realistically I think it will be Christmas or after the new year. I don't think there will be many changes after it starts because they know what they want. Unless something happens with the builder being able to get something.

Re: Question on time frame for building a house

Sooner — Wed, 23 Nov 2016 02:32:26 GMT

@ccassaday wrote:
For those of you who have built a house how long did it take. We are hoping to start by April. Would it be unreasonable to expect to be in the house by nov. just some background the house is a custom ranch on a full basement. That main level is around 2400 square feet. We are hoping to be in before thanksgiving next year.

If it is a custom and the builder is VERY picky about his crews, materials and everything it will take longer than that. If it is a company that builds houses I think your time frame is good. But could be a tight fit depending on availability of materials and workers.

Good luck!!! I think 2400 feet is a good size. But 300 ft. here and there can cost a lot. Cost per square foot is around $175 to $200 or over--and I suspect it is a very low number compared to where most of you live.

Re: Question on time frame for building a house

ccassaday — Wed, 23 Nov 2016 02:55:09 GMT

@Sooner wrote:
@ccassaday wrote:
For those of you who have built a house how long did it take. We are hoping to start by April. Would it be unreasonable to expect to be in the house by nov. just some background the house is a custom ranch on a full basement. That main level is around 2400 square feet. We are hoping to be in before thanksgiving next year.
If it is a custom and the builder is VERY picky about his crews, materials and everything it will take longer than that. If it is a company that builds houses I think your time frame is good. But could be a tight fit depending on availability of materials and workers.

Good luck!!! I think 2400 feet is a good size. But 300 ft. here and there can cost a lot. Cost per square foot is around $175 to $200 or over--and I suspect it is a very low number compared to where most of you live.

Chances are it will be the builder my sister works for. They do a lot of homes. It would be nice to have thanksgiving in our new home. We have a golden retriever. The neighbors on one side have one too. And the people who just bought the house on the other side have a two yearold golden like ours. So that will be fun. I guess it will all come down to if we stay on our plan to start in April. We are done with stuff outside and have some things to do inside before our house goes on the market. I am not sure if we have to have our house sold first. We intend to pay off our lot with the money from the house and use that as a down payment. I am not sure if the bank will give us the money they think the lot is worth before it is paid off. I mean would they give it to us as a down payment expecting the lot to be paid off by closing. I am not sure how that will work. So it might also depend on how soon our house sells. My dad is supposed to go back to the bank in Feb to start the construction loan process. But I know we will have to have a contract with a builder first. So there are a lot of things in play and whether we start in April.

Re: Question on time frame for building a house

151949 — Wed, 23 Nov 2016 05:38:05 GMT

Some friends of ours just had a custom home built and it took a year exactly. The builder told them the hold up was mostly due to him not being able to get inspectors to come out to this very rural site so they would have weeks at a time when no work could progress. They closed on the house about 2 weeks ago and are living in it but some outside work, like their boat dock & pool deck & painting the interior is still not done.So it would seem a lot depends on the builder and on where you are building it.

Our house is in a plan and took 4 months to complete even though they were building 10 homes here at the same time. Usually the builder of a custom home works on only a couple homes at a time, I believe.

DR Horton built our house and before we bought it we looked up the company, they have very good reviews online - plus my cousin owns an insurance agency in Dallas and she said they build beautiful homes there and have a reputation in Texas for building good homes at a reasonable price.

Re: Question on time frame for building a house

ID2 — Wed, 23 Nov 2016 10:55:19 GMT

Our old cottage was knocked down in April and we were in our newly built cottage by Christmas.

Re: Question on time frame for building a house

151949 — Wed, 23 Nov 2016 13:53:33 GMT

My DH just reminded me that we had in our contract a contingency that if this home wasn't finished by a certain date there would be financial consequences to the builder - ours wasn't finished on time by 2 weeks and they did have to take $1500 off the price which made us just about even since we ended up at a hotel & eating out in restaurants for 5 days. It is good to get something like this in your contract from the beginning.

Re: Question on time frame for building a house

gardenman — Thu, 24 Nov 2016 13:15:08 GMT

If time is critically important then you might want to consider a factory built/modular home. These are typically completed faster, built better than traditional stick built homes, and cost comparable. They're often 85% or more complete within 90 days. They can now be built to suit whatever style of home you're looking for and will pretty much guarantee you'll be in your home by November. (Starting on April first you'd likely be in by the house by September first, at the latest.)

Google "modular homes" and you'll likely be impressed by what you see. There's very little limiting you with a modular build and something magical about seeing a lot go from having just a basement/foundation to a real house you can walk through in a day or two.

Re: Question on time frame for building a house

ccassaday — Thu, 24 Nov 2016 15:49:16 GMT

@gardenman wrote:
If time is critically important then you might want to consider a factory built/modular home. These are typically completed faster, built better than traditional stick built homes, and cost comparable. They're often 85% or more complete within 90 days. They can now be built to suit whatever style of home you're looking for and will pretty much guarantee you'll be in your home by November. (Starting on April first you'd likely be in by the house by September first, at the latest.)

Google "modular homes" and you'll likely be impressed by what you see. There's very little limiting you with a modular build and something magical about seeing a lot go from having just a basement/foundation to a real house you can walk through in a day or two.

No way. My parents have worked hard and we deserve our dream home. Time is not important. I was just curious. And we were just thinking it would be nice to be in before the holidays.

Re: Question on time frame for building a house

RedTop — Thu, 24 Nov 2016 21:44:27 GMT

We started our house on July 1st, 1981 and moved in September 24th. My BIL didn't get all the brick work done until the summer of 1982.

Re: Question on time frame for building a house

gardenman — Fri, 25 Nov 2016 11:56:30 GMT

@ccassaday wrote:
@gardenman wrote:
If time is critically important then you might want to consider a factory built/modular home. These are typically completed faster, built better than traditional stick built homes, and cost comparable. They're often 85% or more complete within 90 days. They can now be built to suit whatever style of home you're looking for and will pretty much guarantee you'll be in your home by November. (Starting on April first you'd likely be in by the house by September first, at the latest.)

Google "modular homes" and you'll likely be impressed by what you see. There's very little limiting you with a modular build and something magical about seeing a lot go from having just a basement/foundation to a real house you can walk through in a day or two.
No way. My parents have worked hard and we deserve our dream home. Time is not important. I was just curious. And we were just thinking it would be nice to be in before the holidays.

There's nothing saying your dream home can't be a modular home. They literally make them in every possible size, shape and configuration these days. Here's a link to some of the design options available and pretty much every modular home builder will even do custom design work.

http://www.modulardirect.com/modular-home-designs/Estate-Homes/

You can make them as fancy or plain as you'd like these days. Factory built homes are assembled using dry materials, in a factory setting, on jigs and fixtures designed to ensure that everything is built square and true. Temperature and humidity are generally kept near optimal levels for the various adhesives, grouts and mortars to ensure optimal bonding. You might want to take a fresh look at what the modular builders are doing these days.

Check out the gallery on that site also if you want to see what the finished products look like. Don't sell modular houses short as being inferior or lesser quality. In most cases the opposite is true.

Re: Question on time frame for building a house

151949 — Fri, 25 Nov 2016 14:16:58 GMT

@ccassaday wrote:
@gardenman wrote:
If time is critically important then you might want to consider a factory built/modular home. These are typically completed faster, built better than traditional stick built homes, and cost comparable. They're often 85% or more complete within 90 days. They can now be built to suit whatever style of home you're looking for and will pretty much guarantee you'll be in your home by November. (Starting on April first you'd likely be in by the house by September first, at the latest.)

Google "modular homes" and you'll likely be impressed by what you see. There's very little limiting you with a modular build and something magical about seeing a lot go from having just a basement/foundation to a real house you can walk through in a day or two.
No way. My parents have worked hard and we deserve our dream home. Time is not important. I was just curious. And we were just thinking it would be nice to be in before the holidays.

I'm with you - a modular home is not my idea of my dream home either.I have seen them, we even contemplated the idea of building one at one point, but the fact is - we did not like how the walls are constructed from lighter weight materials instead of plaster board and the tub enclosures etc are also all plastic, windows are lesser quality but you are paying the same as a stick built house with much better finishes.Some of the materials used were the same as our camper has.