How to Build a House

Building your dream home can be one of the most exciting and rewarding projects you can undertake. Getting the opportunity to plan out each step of the process and make the decisions about your building project is a big responsibility, and can be overwhelming for even the most experienced do-it-yourselfers. Taking the scope of the project into account before you get started can help make the process go a lot more smoothly. Learn the proper ways to find the right location, design your home, acquire the correct permits, and start breaking ground. See Step 1 to learn how to get started building your own house.

Select a desirable place for your house. There are many factors to consider when finding a suitable location on which to build your home. Think about a place you'd like to live long-term and keep in mind things like:

• Climate. Special considerations must be made for building in flood, hurricane, intense heat, frigid cold, and other extreme weather and climatic conditions.
• Ground stability. Houses built on shifting sand, mucky soil, or other unstable earth will likely fail over a short period of time unless they are built on special foundations or pilings.
• Availability of utilities. If you intend to have electric power, potable water, telephone, and other conveniences, make sure these utility providers offer them at your location.
• Community infrastructure. If you plan to raise children, make sure good quality schools are available. Check to see if you are in a police jurisdiction to protect you from crime, look at the distance you will have to travel to acquire basic commodities, and whether medical help is nearby.

Select the property on which you are going to build and purchase it. This may be a hurdle, depending on the cost, and your available funds. Building a house is an expensive process, but purchasing suitable property is also a major investment just as important as homebuilding. Decide how you're going to pay for your building project going forward and start that process with the land. Some homebuilders will elect to get a construction loan to purchase the land and secure funding for the building project. This requires that you enter into a contract with a builder or a contractor, and the loan must reference that builder's resume and serve as a contract between you and the builder, as well as a source of funding for the project. To do this, you'll need to wait until you've hired and vetted a builder before purchasing the land.

Have the property surveyed and the footprint of the house located. This is not absolutely necessary, especially if you are building on a large parcel of land, but if there is any doubt about the property lines, have this done to assure you are not encroaching on a neighbor's property, or the city's. This will be useful as you move forward with the building process.

Consider access issues. On large parcels, especially, you will need to ascertain the route for a usable driveway if you depend on a car for transportation. Look at any low area that would become impassable in winter mud or heavy summer rain, how installing driveway will effect the landscape, and whether a driveway will be in conflict with underground utilities.

• Pay particular attention to the way surface water will drain off the property. Every effort should be made so that water drains off and away from the driveway. This may require the placement of culverts or pipes under the driveway to avoid puddling along its sides.

Design your own home, or consult an architect. Architects and engineers have special training and years of experience in designing houses, and are necessary for most building and zoning jurisdiction code requirements. Regardless of whether you contract their services or elect to design your own, the house you build will be built for you, so you should be involved closely in the design process.

• Before you hire or consult an architect, find out what management services the firm may or may not provide. Some architecture firms will help hire contractors they know and trust, as well as consult and inspect the contractor's work as it progresses, making necessary revisions and additions as the work progresses. This can be a significant headache relief in the process.
• Before building, you'll need to submit plans to the city or county building commission for approval. Unless you're an experienced architect, it'll be very difficult to produce the necessary to-scale production drawings and engineering specs necessary for approval. To save time, energy, and money, it's recommended that you consult a professional and work along side them to design the home you want.

Design the living spaces. The fun part of designing a home is imagining your new life in your new space. Spend some time researching pre-drawn floor plans for inspiration and consider using them as a guide for your own space. Homebuilding guides are commonly available for free online. Give lots of thought to what kind of rooms you want, the number of bedrooms that will be necessary for your family, and what sort of a style you want in the rooms you'll be spending the most time in.

• Bedrooms: For a family house where the possibility of additions exists, remember it is simpler to add a room during initial construction than to remodel or build an addition later. If you only need 2 bedrooms at present, an extra room might be used for an office, storage, or even left unfinished and unfurnished until such time as it is needed.
• Bathrooms: In practical terms, one bathroom can suffice in almost any circumstances, but if the house is for multiple people, two makes life much easier. Having two or more bathrooms will also increase the resale value in the convenience minded home buyer's mind.
• Special function rooms: Consider if your lifestyle requires rooms suitable for special functions, such as formal dining, office space, a den, or a play room.

Design the utility areas with an eye toward function. For family life, having a laundry room, and possibly even a garage can be a real help in managing day to day chores. Planning out the necessary house-running spaces is a critical part of the design process. It's also important to design them to be as easy-to-wire and outfit with plumbing as possible, making it important to consult an architectural engineer when designing the home. Carefully design your:

• Kitchen
• Garage
• Laundry room
• Storage areas

Secure a construction loan. If you haven't already started this process when securing the land, you'll need to figure out a way to fund the project and a construction loan is the most recommended method of doing so. Apply for a construction loan by filling out a loan application, called a 1003, and submitting it to a loan officer along with a credit report. The completed loan application will need to include information like:

• The type of loan requested
• The amount of money requested
• Your current living situation
• Your social security number
• W-2 info

Get construction insurance. To engage in a homebuilding project, you'll need three types of construction-related insurance, some of which may be provided by the builder, some of which won't, depending on the state you live in and the nature of the contract you've signed. Typically, it's required that you provide:

• Course of Construction Insurance to cover against unforeseen loss including damages from fire, accident, vandalism and malicious mischief.
• General Liability Insurance is sometimes provided by the builder and sometimes not. It is a comprehensive liability coverage against accident on the workplace. You should only hire builders who provide this insurance themselves, as it can be quite expensive and could be indicative of shoddy workmanship if a builder doesn't provide it.
• Workman's Compensation Insurance is necessary if your builder hires their own workers. If the work is subcontracted (a common practice) you'll need to provide workman's comp and the builder must write a letter acknowledging that they do not have employees and will not provide compensation.

Secure the proper construction permits. A building permit is a basic requirement in many areas, particularly for permanent construction. To obtain this, you'll need to provide detailed architectural diagrams, engineering load specs, and other materials to your state's Department of Housing. It's likely you'll also need the following to comply with local codes and zoning requirements by obtaining:

• A septic tank permit
• An electrical permit
• A plumbing permit
• A mechanical (HVAC, or air conditioning) permit
• You may also find you are required to apply for and receive an environmental and/or impact permit. Having the house location marked prior to obtaining your permits will help to work details out in the environmental permitting process.

Prepare an Estimated Cost Breakdown (ECB). This is the breakdown of each particular cost of construction of the home. The foundation, lumber, framing, plumbing, heating, electrical, painting, and builder's profit, etc. When you hire a builder, they will usually complete this form to show you exactly what it will cost to build your new home.

• Price building materials in the area. How much is the cost of wood in the prospective area? Labor? Vinyl? It's helpful to give some though to how much the process will end up costing, aside from the land purchase itself. Try and get a rough estimate of how much it'll cost to build the kind of house you want to build at the location you're considering.

 Decide how much of the actual construction you will do yourself. Building a house involves several specific trades to ensure quality work, so it is usually better to have trained craftsmen perform things you're unable to do at an expert-level. You can probably paint the house and put up drywall yourself, but maybe you want to hire those jobs out. Try and find an economic and practical balance between doing projects yourself to save money and hiring out more intricate and difficult work.

Consider hiring a builder on contract. Everything will be made easier if you hire an experienced builder to oversee the project. You won't need to worry about doing everything yourself, hiring out particular tasks, and securing the permits yourself. It's also much easier to secure a construction loan if you're working with an experienced builder who can include a statement, resume, banking and experience references, a line item cost breakdown of expected costs (an ECB), a materials list, and a construction contract.

Install roofing felt for use as a moisture barrier. To make sure the elements don't set you back as you're working, it's important to install a moisture barrier on your roof even before it's completed. Use 15 or 30 pound roofing felt tar paper and simplex nails, roofing tacks, or plastic capped felting tacks to secure it. Begin felting the decking at the lower edge, allowing it to hang over slightly, and overlap subsequent layers to keep water from getting under this moisture barrier. 

Install the exterior siding and exterior features such as windows and doors. Many locations require some type of metal flashing to prevent water from penetrating the edges and the gables, but you may be able to seal them sufficiently with caulking if it is permitted and you are able.

Install pipes for potable water, waste drains, and drain vents in walls. These can be capped off to trim out after the walls are finished, especially if the local codes require pressure testing before finishing may be done. 

Rough-in electrical outlets. Most likely, there will be electrical outlets, light fixtures, and special wiring required for large appliances like water heaters, stoves, and air conditioning that will be necessary to do as soon as possible.

Install appliances and have the utilities turned on. To start checking to make sure everything's working appropriately, activate the water and electricity to start experimenting with your handiwork. Adjust the jobs as necessary and work on finishing the house to a state at which you'll want to move in and start enjoying your new home.