You Can Save More than 25% on Building Your Own Home (And Giveaway!)

Here's a thought from Be Your Own House Contractor:

Over the past 30 years, I've been involved with thousands of owner/builder projects and have seen some people save more than 25 percent. It all depended on how well they shopped and how well they controlled the costs. If you want to save a little more money, you can even do some of the labor yourself, if you know what you're doing. If you don't, just settle for a 25 percent savings as the general contractor.

This is what my co-worker did. He's very handy and did a significant portion of the work on his own home -- and he saved a ton (he estimates he saved $70,000 through good shopping and doing part of the labor himself.)

Me? I'd need to settle for the 25%. I'm fairly handy, but I'm not sure I'd want to live in a house I helped to build. ;-)

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

[Blaine Moore]

I'll make a go for one.

[Blaine Moore]

I'll make a go for one.

[Scott Moonen]

Lookin' for a chance to win.

[Scott Kustes]

Maybe I'll win this time?

[Brian]

Here we go again!!

[JH]

...

[Armel]

'Any Comment' =)

[Harley]

pretty pretty please??

[JM]

Does this book talk about permits and inspections to make sure your house is safe? If so, I don't see any reason to not want to live in a house you partially built.

also, how does building it yourself affect any kind of home warranty that comes from a builder?

[Curiousity]

This sounds like a good book.

[RD]

Winner!

[Cam]

I want to win one!

[Barbara]

About controlling costs---what aspect of the home building process is most apt to waste?

[FMF]

FYI -- the reason I'm not answering questions posted here is because we'll cover many of them as we work our way through the book. :-)

[Larry]

Count me in.

[Goose]

:)

[Dee Whit]

I bet if you frequently visited the major home improvement stores you could find tons of things on clearance which could save you even more money or money to splurge on things that you really want!

[JMS]

Oh how you tease and tantalize me, Be Your Own House Contractor!

[Steve Ruch]

I will take a chance!

[Hemal]

I am in.

[Seth H.]

Count me in!

[C Li]

I hope to get a copy of it.

[Familyfinanceguy]

Try try again!

[Easy Finance]

My first post here....may be I have beginners luck :)

[Richard]

I want to build a workshop, I think this book would be a great aid to a diy'er!

[juanny]

sony.......bony

[George]

The more quotes I see, the more the 80:20 rule seems to apply - "thousands of projects.....some people save...."
I'd like to see what the average person saves, how much of their time they had to invest, and what was their experience level prior to starting.

[DG]

Let's have another go.

[Topher]

Another day, another chance to win!

[Steve M]

I've been amazed at how much we've saved on a basement remodel, just by hiring subcontractors ourselves. In our case the two remodeling general contractors we received quotes from turned out to be charging about 35% more than what we spent by hiring subcontractors ourselves. In our specific case, that saved us $12,000 or so. We saved an additional $5k by doing framing and electrical ourselves, rather than hire subs.

[MAC]

Count me in too!

[Jonathan C]

I'd like to read the book--pick me.

[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]

Last?

[Reto]

Please pick me

[BradM]

Are you really saving 25% or are you just not spending the 25%? Trying to convince my fiance of this, but for some reason it's just not working! Am I the winner?

[Shawna]

Count me in, too.

[Rupesh]

Winning... a Book...

[Esther]

second time's a charm?

[James Brazee]

Today is my Birthday. THis would be a nice treat. 8-8-1950. Past the age of contracting---or is it. Maybe reading the book will put me and my wife in a new house. Thank you for the chance.

[Brenna]

I'm feeling lucky....

[mm]

count me in plz

[Dave]

Thanks - count me in

[Harrison]

Yeah, I also heard that it is cheaper to build the house instead of buying it from the developer. However there are a few problems for me:

1. In my country, it seems like it is hard to get a mortgage to build a house
2. I'm not handy and I have no idea about building a house
3. I think this going to take me a lot of time to do the research as I'm a newbie in this field.

So I have no choice but have to buy from property developer.

[FMF]

This giveaway is now closed. The winner is Topher who posted at 1:08 pm yesterday. Congrats!

Topher, please email me (see: http://www.freemoneyfinance.com/2005/04/free_money_fina_4.html ) and we'll arrange to get you your book.

To the rest of you, stay tuned. I still have plenty of copies to give away!