Owner Builders -This is the real cost in building a new home. 

IMO (if you can afford it) the extra cost of high ceilings are well worth it. Maybe not the most 'efficient' way to design a home, but high ceilings can make even a small home feel like a palace.

My hubby and I built our own home. The only contractors we used were for the foundation, rough in plumbing, and sheetrock. My husband built the quarter dawn oak cabinets. We did a double walk-in tile shower and laid all the floor tile. We have solid red oak floors. Wrap around porch. Vaulted ceiling in the living area with 14 ft walls (best decision in the design ever) We did the electrical and finish plumbing and did the roofing. We did the framing (2X6), the roof trusses we had made by a company and delivered. Board and batten siding from the trees that were cut to clear the building site. Granite countertops. High end appliances. Pocket doors throughout. We had duct less HVAC installed. 3 years of work. Our cost $80 sq ft. What it boils down to is that labor costs a lot in the price of a home. If you can do a lot of the work yourself, you can really save.

My wife and I are currently about half way through a new build and are self contracting. I think your advice is spot on. Thanks for sharing your years of hard earned experience and wisdom.

I'm retired now but I was a builder for over 50 years. This is a VERY good video with tons of solid advice! You own choice of exterior finishes and ultimately 'the look' are hard to deny to save money. No one wants to live in the 'tract' homes of the fifties. The materials used in creating the exterior walls can also be a factor which he addresses to some extent. Good video overall.

Glad someone referred me to your content! You obviously know what you're talking about and are willing to do something about it (looking for new ways to make things better using new technologies). Too many builders don't know or if they do are stuck in status quo.

As soon as I heard ICF I was sold. I've been doing a lot of research into those and although they do cost a bit more they do save a lot of labor and eliminate some contractors and from close up onward are saving money. Live within your means and think about the value you are passing on and can charge for to the next owner. Research is your friend and is time well spent. Knowledge is critical from bottom to top. Thank you so much for sharing Keith.

Great information. Practical knowledge and experience goes a long way in this business.

Just putting things into perspective as you did is fantastic. Of course there are other things one may add or different markets etc. But to look at it as a series of contractors for a given spot is invaluable. Thanks for opening up my eyes!

Thank you for your information. I have a large log home built with Canadian hemlocks. Trying to heat and cool this home is an absolute nightmare.

A good product to build the shell of the home is ICF - Insulated Concrete Forms. Works especially well in colder climates

you have a really impressive channel, this is all very helpful information. I hadn’t considered the issues with costs for gabble roofs before this

Going to build in about a year on a lot that I already own. I appreciate your info.

2021- The real cost is sky high lumber prices.

Helpful information! Thanks

Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

I wanted to go crazy on ceiling height too but this made me reconsider.

Wisdom right here. Thanks!!! 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

Thanks for the video, very insightful.

Good tip about increasing roof area and decreasing wall area.

He neglected to include the electrician and plumber inside those walls.

Practical advice. Thanks.

You are taking my thoughts and opinions, and you are putting them into words!!!!! haha I love this video

GREAT advice! Thank you.

Same on the wood technology. I'm in Florida

Thank You

Very good! Just want I am looking for. Thank you so much!

Excellent, easy to understand concept. Build your own tiny home and you can eliminate, oh, say 10 subcontractors!?

The real real cost in building is the building lot in a good location.

The best new (old) technology: rammed earth build, you don’t need many subcontractors, especially if you are doing it yourself

Thank you.

The foundation for my 3200 dq ft house plus 4 car garage cost me $80,000. Don't forget electrical, plumbing, HVAC, and cabinetry. All of those trades are very expensive labor. If you are building a house or even having a custom home builder do it for you, start with a very large pile of money. We burned through $100,000 before we even closed on the mortgage.

Liked and subscribed. Good stuff, thanks.

Thank God I can do everything myself or with a hired family member, 5th gen builder here

Thanks Keith!

Very well put.

Interesting ideas to save costs.

I hired the well drilled, and the water run into the house. I WAS the sub who did everything else. I was the true 'owner builder'.

I've always used subs just for the stuff that didn't make sense for me to do. I've typically found that Insulation subs are almost free. If I compare the cost of what I can buy insulation for, compared to what they charge for it installed, it's a pretty minor difference.

We are in Florida. We just hire the termite, electrical, our friend that owns air conditioning company. Other ourselves. Plus remove & additional culvert pipes It costed us $57k Even upgraded all our appliances Now we are doing our swimming pool That will cost us $18k We we are saving tons of $$ and paid off . No mortgage payment

Excellent video

Those T-studs are awesome.

Appreciate your intelligence

I've done painting and a bit of plastering now I'm planning on doing my apprenticeship in brick and blocklaying hopefully when i get qualified i would have saved enough to build my own home either way it should be a lot cheaper if do the plastering brick and painting work myself

Hey Keith, those T-Studs are interesting especially the one you highlighted as the "naked" T-stud. They can just blow the insulation into those.

I had the same reaction initially, until I understood that the point of the video was to introduce the notion of ‘vertical’ structural costs vs ‘linear’ square footage. As an owner-builder, I too overlooked both the financial and the practical implications of building a structure with 12 foot ceilings. I could have easily achieved the same expansive feeling with 10 foot ceilings at a much lower cost. I would have also reduced off cuts and construction waste, again all of which come out of the budget = my pockets. Thanks for the informative video! Please keep them coming.

Gotcha thanks man

Hi ✋my husband has a SIP business in East TX. We are on the verge of building our home and will be using the Structural Insulated Panels for our walls interior and exterior throughout.

I've built a single family home with just me the one contractor. took a little while but got it done

I've found Hvac,plumbing,elec to be more expensive in ny srea

SIPs are the best eliminators of contractors for the house envelope. They come with interior and exterior OSB and insulation, eliminating the framers (for the most part), and insulators.

you have forgotten two or three other contractors, Exterior painting contractor, Finish, woodworker, window and door installer and trim. Have to also consider your Electrical contractor.

Hi, I'm really interested in learning more about the wall with the Installation built into it.

Saving on gable end siding makes sense. But the hip roof system cost more. And I more complex. I would go hip ends because I think it looks a lot better.

Where I live I can do it all without inspectors. The only thing that had to be certified was the septic. I’m just finishing a duplex living in a completed half. Nothing is cheap. I did double stud walls with R40 foam. Things I contracted out were foundation and drywall.

Excellent, thanks!

So on the cross section of the wall you have 1. Framers 2. Siding 3. Insulation 4. Drywall 5. Paint

Roof/ceiling has insulation, gypsum, taping and painting, too Hip roof less maintenance

if possible, could you have someone chalk draw this out, or chalkboard draw out the differences, so that people can see the differences between the 5 contractors for the wall and the 2 contractors for the roof. I also think people should realize that insurance and overhead are part of the 5 subcontractors, and the savings possible for having fewer contractors. Thanks for making this video- It is clear and helps see where the big costs come from.

The engineered 2X6 was actually designed to conduct less heat in order to save on cooling and heating cost.

Please provide information about composite walls. Thank you.

Here is the ultimate way to cut building costs. Build half a house and put a huge angled mirror on the other side and you got a whole house for 1/2 the cost lol. Good video. If the prices of building materials(mainly lumber) keeps going up I'll be using aluminum cans, empty boxes, and toilet paper tubes to build with.

T Stud are amazing.

Do some of the work yourself. Such as insulation. Some of the easier wiring. Installing windows. Appliances. Painting.

That’s a good point on avoiding gable ends. Having just completed the exterior of a house with gable ends - it does add effort and time to the build. The extra height requires a lot of ladder and scaffolding work and therefore reduces safety. The siding for the upper gable has to be cut at an angle and it complicated the installation of the rain screen/Cor-a-Vent. The eave walls were relatively easy - working lower down also the siding is cut square. The hop roof adds a little bit more complexity - there are four ridges rather than one, however the drop off on all sides is lower and safer. Flashing details are the same all around.

Learn and build it yourself, one step at a time. Save bundles.

I plan to use aluminum+glass curtain wall to build my house, it’s expensive but avoid the 5 contractors as you said. If it’s feasible?

Hi! Can you provide me any more info on the one-step stud/insulation combo? That is super interesting. Huge help on thinking about the 2nd story/high ceilings. Guessing it would be more cost effective to build a 2nd story loft area "into" the roof than to build it on top of the roof?

Perhaps a low-wall, spread-out building with lots of roof is cheaper to build, but a taller (two-story) with less roof is cheaper to heat and cool and will have a smaller footprint (thus a cheaper foundation/cellar slab). It'd be interesting to see how many years' of lower heating bills in the taller home would recoup the extra cost of construction.

2 years ago I built my sons hse for 60.00 a sq ft. Upscale ,oak floors, hickory cabinets w granite,premium vinyl siding, we still have to rock the foundation. This was before lumber prices got crazy. I did all the carpentry work on the inside,hung doors,oak floors,trimmed out,etc. I have a friend contractor that dried the structure in for me. What I couldn't do,I hired subs myself for elec,plumbing,hvac,and to install insulation, I want to build one more house for myself, but lumber prices and Biden have me scared to do anything. Hope prices for mail drop nxt summer or fall.

I can do the foundation myself. I'm a concrete finisher by trade. That's a huge savings.

I’d love to know where to acquire the wood with built in insulation!

The biggest costs people don't take into account is the operating and maintenance costs. If you have a poorly insulated home with cheap exterior materials, you will have much higher utility bills plus you will be replacing your windows and siding at some point. Use high quality exterior materials and lifetime shingles on your roof along with excellent insulation. It will pay for itself each and every day.

I waould love the information on that option to 2x6.

what is the difference regarding long term energy saving if you were to do your insulation separate from the wood and would I need more insulation on top of that?

If you go ICF. you eliminate more. The Concrete contractor can do the foundation, the walls and it is already insulated. Much faster build and better cost efficient as per heating and cooling plus other incentives.

I’m looking to build my home next year. I already have the lot; I’m gonna need some advice.

roof vent are just another place for rain and other unwanted things

I've been considering a build with pre-cast basement walls. I know they can go above grade as well. Curious to know the costs of that compared to wood above grade. I know someone who built a commercial building and went that route and they said it saved time and money.

I would add electrical and plumbing could be in that wall layer. SIPS could reduce the contractor number...

you need gable ends to remove the heat.

Another point about hip roofs is FAR better wind resistance. After a lifetime along the coast I think any house within 80(?) miles of Atlantic or Gulf Coast should have hip roof. Gable ends are nothing but big "sails" waiting for hurricane wind to topple.

would like to know where you found the insulated and new framing tech. Thanks.

Try to build more of a square than a rectangle if possible. You get more square footage per perimeter wall.

I am struggling a little with how the use of the foam insulated studs can eliminate an insulation contractor.. or did I hear that wrong? All those do is provide a thermal break in the stud itself. You still need to apply insulations between the studs, right? I think a better option would be to go with a product like the Zip insulated R-sheathing.

Great tips. I am local St George as well. What do you think about icf's?

I'm interested in the options for walls that you ve found that are available on the east coast.

What a house is worth and what it cost to build are mostly unrelated. Too many people over-build for the area, especially when renovating. I looked at a house once where the owners wanted 150% of what houses in the neighborhood were selling for because they overspent on cabinets and flooring. Needless to say they wound up having to eat those costs.

Laughing in ICF. But actually, right now the cost of lumber and sheathing for the roof is a killer.

Thanks for the video..will the budget sheet and other forms from your self management course work on an iPad?

Going to build ICF home ticks a lot of the boxes on eliminating trades and with the price of lumber skyrocketing I think it makes a lot of sense,

I thought "owner builder" meant the owner doing most of the work.....the way wife and I built our first and current home.....as in laid all the foundation block, (and brick in current home) drove every nail, pulled every wire, plumbed every fixture, hung all the drywall/siding, built the kitchen cabinets, and so on. In the current home, I went one step further and logged enough timber off our 75ac (made possible by the sale of the first home) and sawed it into framing for the house. The only subcontractor here was carpet laid, (since removed and self installed hardwood floors and tile thruout) and had concrete poured for the driveway (but I did the form work....220yds of concrete was simply more than I wanted to take on). Oh yeah.....no mortgage on the current home ever. Been mortgage free for over 40 years now.

this cuestion is to anybody who can answer it,if i build a block house by my self but i hire contracts for the roof electricity plumbing and a/c and finish the drywall in the future the city have no problem with that? i live in fl by the way

Thank you, what is the new insulation technology you mentioned in this video? Thanks, JR

you don eliminate insulation sub with those walls-they still have to do the roof/attic and probably the basement foundation insulation

Hi Keith, would love if you could do a video about passive homes.🙏

Very usual info!! What is that framing you showed called? Any thoughts on Cross-Laminated Timber? Could that replace sheetrock & interior paint? TIA!

T-stud is a great thermal break, but I would rather add Zip-r and get a true thermal break. If you are up north you will likely have to have some insulation (like rockwool) outside your envelope. The main thing we need to do as a culture is move back yo quality over quantity.

Is it fair to deduce that with going with a post and beam and sip panels. Sip panels help reduce number of contractors involved in handiling thia type of project via framer,insulator, interior osb and exterior osb. In essence material cost would outway multiple contractors. Martin - Texas

I’m interested in the new tech wood. Thanks