Is It Really that Easy to Build Your Own Home? (And Giveaway!)

This month we're talking about the book Be Your Own House Contractor. The book's basic premise: you can save 25% on building your home by being your own general contractor and you don't need specialized knowledge to do so. Most people love the "save 25%" part but are leery of the "it's easy to do" part. But here's what the author says:

Just remember, every builder in the world started with their first house. Most of us didn't have a book or a website to guide us. You do.

[The book] won't teach you about wiring or plumbing, because you truly don't need to know. It will teach you how to find, hire, supervise, and pay the professional electricians and plumbers who do know how, and at builder's cost. That's the role of the general contractor.

Want to know more? You can win a free copy of Be Your Own House Contractor. Here's how it works:

1. Leave a comment below -- any comment.

2. Sometime tomorrow, I'll stop by the post, stop the submissions, and name the winner.

3. It will be that person's responsibility to check back to see they are a winner and then email me their contact information.

4. I'll send all the winners their books in one mass mailing going out the second week in September.

A few rules for these giveaways:

1. You can not win more than one prize.

2. I will be the complete and final judge.

3. Legal disclaimer: I can not guarantee safe delivery of the items. I'll send them via US Mail, so it's likely they'll be fine, but I can't control it and won't be held accountable if the mail system messes up.

4. If you win something and do not contact me within a week of winning, I reserve the right to give your prize away to another winner. Note again: I won't track down the winners -- it's your responsibility to come back and see if you won.

Good luck! Post a comment below for a chance to win this book!

Comments

[Carl Heldmann]

Thanks for these posts, FMF. Your readers' questions and comments are inspiring. Even if they don't win this great giveaway, they can go to my website, www.byoh.com for immediate answers and lots of FREE stuff.
Carl Heldmann

[Ryan]

Second!

[Scott Moonen]

Thanks for the chance to win!

[Richard M.]

Please enter me again.

Thanks.

[Scott Kustes]

I could really use this book. Thanks for putting this together FMF.

[Armel]

"Any Comment" =)

[Brian]

Well, my father is an electrician, so I'll be able to wire my house with his help. And hopefully he won't charge me an arm and a leg.

[Jay]

I would love to read this book (for free). Sign me up.

[Harley]

pretty please (again..)?

[Larry]

Count me in.

[GeekMan]

Free book = goodness.

[Michael Kear]

"Most of us didn't have a book or a website to guide us. You do."

Well, not yet... but with any luck, I will!!!

[Barbara]

Thanks for doing this, FMF. It's really got me thinking about taking such a project on.

[JM]

Trying again. hehe, I wonder how many commenters are going to go out and buy this book if they don't win.

[zobie]

Please enter me in the contest... thanks!

[Richard]

Looking to be a winner today

[beast]

Want this book!

[Familyfinanceguy]

Thanks for the contest. Here's another attempt! PS When are you doing another Moose Tracks contest?! :-)

[Cam]

Throwing my name in the hat again :D

[Dan]

I don't get it!
If this book was right, then every General Contractor makes a profit of 25% of the final house cost on every house. That ain't so! The actual profit margin the GC business is closer to 4 -6%! Admittedly, as a home-owner you can avoid some of the overhead costs of an established business but not enough to create savings anywhere near 25%!
That said, the book could still be useful as a how-to... readers should restrain their savings expectations. Even if you save 10%, that can make a huge difference.

[FMF]

FamilyFinanceGuy --

I was just thinking of that myself! ;-)

[FMF]

Dan --

Stay tuned -- I break the 25% down in a later post.

[C Li]

I'm in again for the drawing.

[Nathan]

Looks like a great resource!

[Goose]

Please pick me!

[Dee Whit]

I would love to read the details of this process in the book!

[Matt G.]

I've always said that I would like to build my own home, but never knew how to get started. Thanks for all the posts and the book giveaway. Maybe I'll be able to build my home afterall.

[Dan]

Seems to me that wiring and plumbing are probably some of the easier aspects of building a home...

[JH]

.

[Chad d]

I too am skeptical of the 'easy' part.

[paidtwice]

I'd love a book :)

[Seth H]

Trying again! Thanks!

[MFJ]

I'm in

[Matt]

Pick me! Pick me!

[Steve M]

A second chance to win! In my experience it isn't "easy" but it does save. In our case, we saved 35% remodeling our basement ourselves by hiring subs (drywall, HVAC) and doing some work ourselves (electrical, framing) compared to quotes we received from remodeling general contractors. On the downside it took a lot longer to find good, reputable subcontractors than I thought. It wasn't that we were trying to be particularly cheap with finding subs either. It just took long to find subs that would return calls, show up to do estimates, etc. If we were building a house I think it might be quicker to find subs because the job is bigger, but the savings probably wouldn't be quite as great. I think GC's building homes have less markup than "remodeling" GCs.

[klauss]

Tough to know if you are getting an appropriate cost when the job goes beyond ordinary. A very ineffieicient market.

[Kelly]

I wonder if I will be up early (or late) enough to be the first to post.

[JMS]

Trying yet again...

[Reto]

Another day, another chance....

[DG]

Let's give it another go.

[Courtney]

We considered acting as our contractor for the house we are building currently. We decided not to for two reasons- we both work full-time and do have alot of extra time on our hands and the wholesale prices the builder can get more than save his fee.

Looking back on the process, I am so glad we chose this route. The structural engineer was not specific enough on the roof supports and the builder came through for us with a design. We would not have known it was substandard and you can't rely on inspectors to catch everything.

Many, many other details have been caught and corrected due to the builder's experience. Things we definitely would have missed and regretted at some point in the future.

[BradM]

Did someone say "Free Book"?

[Brad]

another entry

[SC]

Count me in.

[Jonathan C]

Love the blog, here's my shot at winning a book.

[Ginny]

Enter me, I'd love to win!

[JJessup]

Books Books Books, I love Books especially if I can learn something from them. Enter me.

[J at Inexpensive Home Building]

(1) Being your own General Contractor (GC) but sub-contracting the work and (2) actually building a house yourself are 2 different things. Either can be done if you have the ability and time.

[Cherly]

I think that by now you know that I want this book!!!

Pretty Please?

[Harrison]

This book will the cool if it teaches me how to find, hire, supervise, and pay the professional electricians and plumbers who do know how, and at builder's cost. This just make me more easy and save more money in building my first dream house.