Building Your Own Home Boston MA

Like Rome, your new home won’t be built in a day. The custom home process is lengthy, emotional, and expensive, without much consistency to it. Face it; custom homes require custom work and plenty of it! This work makes building a custom home challenging, and yet that extra work is what makes your project unique to you. You may feel overwhelmed at times, but by trusting in the experience of the professionals you engage in your project and keeping this invaluable book by your side, you can have a manageable project that delivers the custom home you have been dreaming of.

Local Companies

Keville Enterprise, Inc.
(617) 482-3888
145 Tremont Street, 5th Flr.
Boston, MA

Antonio Di Mambro + Associates, Inc.
(617) 350-7284
75 Kneeland Street, Ste. 706
Boston, MA

Gilbane Building Company
(617) 478-3309
155 Federal Street
Boston, MA

Rider Levett Bucknall
(617) 737-9339
99 Summer Street, Ste. 320
Boston, MA

Cafco Construction management
(617) 426-7600
77 Charles Street
Boston, MA

Tishman Construction Corp. of Massachusetts
(617) 723-2050
84 State Street
Boston, MA

Garland Building Company, LLC
(617) 422-5800
31 Milk Street, Ste. 220
Boston, MA

Hardware Solutions Builders, Inc.
(617) 854-8901
343 Commercial Street, Ste. 105
Boston, MA

John A. Penney & Co
(617)5477744
270 Sidney Street
Cambridge, MA

Port Morris Tile & Marble Corporation
(617) 265-7585
66 Von Hillern Street
Boston, MA

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For Dummies is a registered trademark of Wiley Publishing, Inc. in the United States and other countries. Used here by license.

Where Do You Start? Preparing to Build Your Home

Believe it or not, the custom home process really has no standard starting place. There are some logical entry points such as finding land, but most often people start with a designed house they’ve had in mind for a long time. Where you start isn’t important; what is important is for you to make sure that you have taken all the necessary steps to give yourself the best chance for success. The following list includes some questions you need to consider before committing time and money to this project.

Where do I want to live?

How long do I want to live in this house?

How will I find land?

How much money do I have to spend on this project?

How much extra time do I have to put into this project?

How do I find the right resources to design my house?

How do I find the right resources to build my house?

Is my marriage/relationship strong enough to survive this process? (See your clergy or shrink.)

Don’t make the assumption that any one person can give you all the information you need to prepare for this process. Contractors have one perspective on the process, and architects may have a completely different perspective. Do your homework and interview as many people as you can who are or who have been involved in the process. By talking to professionals and consumers and asking them to share their experiences, you can begin to get a clearer picture of the process ahead.

Kevin recommends to all his clients that they get organized before beginning the process. Sit down and assess how much time you can put aside each week to focus on the project. Consider making a specific day each week your day for working on custom home stuff. Also clear a space in your office or den to be “Custom Home Central.” This way you always know where to find what you need for your project.

Being an Owner-Builder: More Power to You!

When you talk about building a custom home, people often assume you’re planning on pounding hammers and nails yourself. Hardly anyone does the actual construction on their own custom home project. Many people, however, do consider acting as their own general contractor. Still, doing so is such a large undertaking that only about 20 percent of all custom homes are managed by owner-builders. In many of these cases, the owner is a contractor or already has some amount of construction experience. This factor isn’t necessary, but it can make a big difference in the ultimate success of the project.

Even though the primary motivation for considering becoming an owner-builder may be saving money, the real issues to consider are time and management experience. This project will be one of the largest undertakings of your life, even with a contractor. Consider the following questions in exploring the owner-builder subject:

How is my security at my current job?

Do I have extra time and a flexible schedule?

Can I make more money at my job with the time I spend on the home?

Do I have a good understanding of the construction process?

Do I have extra time to train myself on the process?

Am I good at managing people and projects?

Do I have a good eye for quality of construction?

Do I have access to good resources?

Am I good at problem solving?

Am I good with multitasking and constant change?

Am I well organized?

Am I good at managing finances and budgets?

Will my spouse and kids stay with me if I mess up the project?

If you honestly answered no to any of these questions, then you probably need to hire a contractor. Most owner-builders are gambling that they can do a job equal to or better than an experienced, licensed contractor, thereby saving the cost of that contractor. Although an owner-builder may end up saving money, you need to weigh the risk of that gamble against the money you might save. If you’re wrong, it could cost you far more money than you planned to save in the first place.

One option if your answers were somewhat mixed is to hire an owner-builder consultant. One company called Ubuildit (www.ubuildit.com) offers expert consulting and procedures to guide you through the construction management process. The company charges you consulting fees and offers you products and services that are marked up, but the costs can be significantly less than a contractor’s fees. Ubuildit is a good alternative for saving money and shortening the learning curve; however, you still need to have the time and the management skills to make for a successful project.

Analyzing the truth about savings

The biggest motivation for being an owner-builder is the supposed savings. Ordinarily, a contractor makes money from charging a percentage on top of the cost of labor and materials used in the project; this fee or markup can be anywhere from 12 to 35 percent depending upon what and where you’re building. Generally, more established contractors work on higher margins where younger contractors with less experience may work for less.

Where materials are concerned, the discount suppliers such as Home Depot have made construction supplies available to the consumer at contractor prices, which can be real savings if you’re satisfied with the selection available at these stores. If you’re building with more elaborate materials and fixtures, the contractor may have access to wholesale pricing that allows him to make some money without you having to pay more. In some cases he may be working on a lower margin and may be able to save you some money on items with a high retail markup.

With labor, you’ll be subject to the prices and availability of the subcontractors in the marketplace. If the market is busy, pricing will reflect a direct supply-and-demand relationship, pushing prices up. If you have no preexisting relationships with any subs, you’ll end up paying the full price for their time. If they’re unable to work into your schedule, you may have other costs that come from delays on your project while waiting for the subs to become available.

Finding and managing subs

Hiring and managing subs is the hardest part of being an owner-builder. Meanwhile, a contractor has the advantage of having long-term regular relationships with subs. An experienced contractor has spent years finding framers, plumbers, carpenters, and others whom he trusts to be timely, efficient, and good craftsmen. If they’ve worked together for a long time, they know how to work together, and the contractor will know when to ask for favors.

Hiring each sub is a new experience in negotiation, management, and quality control. Overcommunicate with everyone on the job to keep it running smoothly. Keep your eyes open. You probably won’t know if you picked the right sub until she is finished and she has been paid.

Financing implications

One other challenge with being an owner-builder is the financing. Most conventional construction lenders frown on owner-builder projects. They have three basic reasons for being concerned:

The bank is afraid the project might not be managed effectively causing it to exceed the allotted time frame and budget.

The bank wants to be sure your job and income won’t be negatively impacted by the time demands of this project.

In case of foreclosure, the bank doesn’t want to have to find and hire a contractor to finish the home.

For these reasons, many banks who lend to owner-builders do so with stricter requirements than for regular construction loans, such as loaning less money relative to appraised value or requiring full income documentation. Others allow owner-builder financing only if you’re a general contractor, or at the very least they require someone with construction experience as a site supervisor. Private sources for owner-builder construction loans are available, but they can be expensive and don’t generally have permanent loans attached like the single-close loans we recommend.

provided by:

For Dummies is a registered trademark of Wiley Publishing, Inc. in the United States and other countries. Used here by license.

Featured Local Company

Keville Enterprise, Inc.

(617) 482-3888
145 Tremont Street, 5th Flr.
Boston, MA

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