We provide education and resources to help people build their own home. We are opening our books to share information most builders consider to be proprietary information. From house costs to profit margins, our videos take a look behind the scenes to empower consumers to build the home of their dreams.
A very good explanation and defense of homebuilders and their profit plan. I worked for a Westlake based builder for a few years thru 2005, after a stint with Bob Schmitt Homes, and I can honestly say that was our average margin and estimated goal....to profit approx 30% on a typical 4-5 Bedroom/2-3 Bath semi-custom built home. My builder was a smaller local one who built in Bur Oaks, Westlake, and other areas such as neighboring Olmsted Falls and Columbia Station, OH. He would build smaller 2000 SF or less homes but did not prefer that as his margins went down considerably to the lower 20% range. Very well done video Michael.
Another great video. If it were longer or maybe a different video, I'd like to see one with the first floor decking as an elevated or suspended slab. My design extends the first floor out beyond the perimeter of the foundation footprint.
Nice video. I like that you included the IRC's and the rebar grades. My preference for these poured foundations is to also install a perimeter drain tile over gravel to transport leached runoff. Let's keep the basement dry. (also either painted on, or rubber membrane).
When I lived in New York every house had a basement, but here in California all the homes are on slabs. 25k seems worth it for a rough estimate of all that is needed to include a 1000 ft basement. Thanks for the info and knowledge!
You can buy a three bedroom one bath house with a garage and a nice neighborhood in Pensacola Florida for 100 And have plenty of money to buy a toy dollhouse to play with
Sure, you can buy a lot for 100k like "armchair builder" suggests, but those are typically undesirable areas, and you could probably buy an existing neighboring home for about 300k (or way less to have a fixer upper that will save you much more money). I work for several developers. Honestly, all of the margin on houses is now for the land prices. The profit is made on obtaining cheap land in a desirable location at a bargain. Trust me, you will spend a MINIMUM of 200 to 300 dollars per foot just for construction depending on how much of the labor you try to do yourself and how many corners you want to cut. So if you want a 1500 square foot home with a 500 square foot garage, you are talking more like 400k-600k to build the home to a decent level.
I see a hundred videos encouraging owner builders but not really saying much about how to get financed. Yea Mr RU-vidr, sounds great. Id like to build my own home. Only one tiny problem.... FINANCING!! These banks are more than happy to lend me money so long as I fork 20% over to a GC.
Probably because GCs have given themselves a fat raise doing the exact same thing as before wheras the labor hasnt gone up and materials have gone up only some.
Good luck getting a reply. These are videos seeking views. Keep dreaming. He says just go out and build as if owner builder is such a thing. There are companies that will let you build and assist you and will get that loan, but they still require a minimum of 30k for the service and you still have to do everything. There's just no way.
Home Depot has it on a banner in front of all the cash registers that they'll beat any competitor by 10% though. So if I go to them with a lumber quote from a lumber yard, why not go there and get what I need for 10% less?
Makes no sense tons of available land people are homeless and struggling. But homes start at 100k too many zoning laws, rules and more rules squeezing people. Government only care about building high rise and projects.
The new homes are so pathetic and cheap in appearance that they should be outlawed. They look like the first try of a high school kid. As a designer and builder (woman!) I am disgusted with the incredible greed and carelessness of these designs. It takes so little effort to turn a plain home into a real nice house and costs so little more that it is insane not to do it. These "homes" are results of reckless moneymaking. In the South one should at least spend the money to place the home on a slab foundation and cover the exterior with some sort of man made cement veneer. It keeps the house cool and helps to keep the bugs out.
notice quite a few owner-builders planning/building pole-barn construction to save money on huge sqft... kinda sad & unfortunate, imo, as a weak & weather/pest prone structure will have costly maint & energy bills. typical stick construction isn't much better, but there seems no convincing people an added upfront cost for a proper envelope is worth more than fancy finishes & stadium-seating sized rooms. developers have known this forever. there's no profit in an efficient sustainable build, but loads in cheap sqft (bedrooms/office/den/game rooms/etc) adorned with shiny things. only ourselves to blame?
I’ll tell you why….they are too busy, complacent etc. It’s GOOD to be a gc, plumber, roofer etc.and these guys are disproportionately not super organized,or they would have hoe. Into a different line of work, excelled at school k-12 etc. And hate paperwork, or even reading architect’s plans -lol….what can you do? Offer to,pay more !a good customer is, let’s face, a client with more money than brains…
When I was young, i asked a home builder hey, should i get into this stuff, he said nahhh there is no money in it, so my gullible young butt decided to listen to him and went to University, turns out the guy was making millions at the time and just lied to me, he was also a fairly racist ws guy. Meh I know better now and know how to frame a house in full and have a high level of edumacation, would not want a contractor anywhere near my property within a 100 meter perimeter. Contractors are as legit as crack dealers. Most are pure lying scum and home owners have no clue how badly they have gotten graped..U think u are a high flying lawyer or doctor making lots of money and it aint worth it to spend the time ur self to do it, since u make so much money, well U are 100 percent WRONG. It is 100 percent worth your time to do economically especially if u live in any major city where the dirt alone is north of a million. Yes if u ive in texas or alabama or ect where a new build is 500k it is not worth it, but if u live in cities like Los Angeles, Vancovuer, Toronto, where the dirt is 2 million, you 100 percent need to do it ur self, and do not listen to any trades ppl, they are lying to u! Do it ur self. U will easily save half a million and have higher end materials in the home. Builders do not profit, they are looking at retiring off of U in 1 year from your life savings! Stay away.
Contractors in expensive housing markets are not trying to make a profit, they are trying to retire off the profit from building your house! Never ever ever willl i give a contractor to build my home ever. Id rather stop working for 1 year and i will still be ahead at least 5 years of work by doing it myself! Lying is like air to contractors. NO THANK U. Also most home owners will 100 percent do a better job, seen so many contractors who know nothing but yap yap yap toot their own horn and talk crap about others and their work, same crap over and over again. No thanks..Bye bye
Start saying the cost of a home... then.....add into it a " dream home " ??? So...whats the cost of a basic " home " with out the extra cost such as a fire place ?? Please its not needed... nor is an attached garage ! So.whats the real cost ? Just had a neighbor try to " give " away a house.......because of road construction. After a year and a half......no takers he trashed the home . People expect too much !
I started as owner builder. As each home got finished I sold it & started again. Never had a client, my family travel the world. I got registered as a builder. Built over 600 homes. I am now retired. I had a great life in Australia. Build your own home. My hammer hand worked with me for over 27 years & his own home is now worth 2 million today. Good luck to all that build.
We built a 2 storey 8" ICF house in 2020, and we're so happy. We ran into difficulties when it came to siding but managed it by doing it ourselves. It was time-consuming and we ended up putting on rain-screen boards along ICF nailing flanges to give us something predictable to nail our hardy board lap siding to. The moral of the story is to do this with eyes wide opened, and in the end, it will be well worth it. I don't know how people can live in those cheap wooden houses anymore 😂
Can't wait for all the calls to come in when the walls start sweating due to no air movement. A house that is too air tight is not good. Get solar panels if you worried about electric cost. A house must breath.
You don’t need to seal electrical. You screw the boxes plastic studs at every 8 inches. It’s faster to cut with a foam knife than a wall than to drill dozens of studs.
People are going broke. Today at HD I saw several contractors and workers actively soliciting work. People are broke, the money is collapsing and unemployment is on the rise. Buckle up
Why can’t you lay conduit inside the ICF with rebar etc so the electricians have their own channel, plumbing pipes too? What is max width of ICF, 12” walls?
A major problem is not living in the correct location. Unless you live in a major metro area, it's going to be VERY difficult to find affordable and skilled contractors. No one wants a 100+ mile commute. This means finding someone who is prepared to live in your city during construction. Oh, and you're going to have to pay for the mileage and lodging for the workers while they are working on your project. Think long and hard before buying a rural home. Especially one that needs to be fixed up!
Trades are shorthanded and the companies are probably very busy with building the new houses. You probably want an experienced grey hair who is semi-retired and not wanting to be PRODUCING HOUSE,
fellow builder here. I have a single electrician who can do the same. He cant do it in a single day, but can certainly be inspection ready within a few days.
I know a guy who operates like this but his day is about 12 plus hours on site and doesn’t include his time to bid, pick up materials ect. But he is extremely expensive and the home builders he works for ok good with the price because he is reliable and the can drastically improve there schedule. Insulation and drywall can get in very quick. If you are fast at a job because you are so experienced or fit or because of specialized tools you should still charge above market rate because you are providing time to the builder which is worth a lot.
