That's a big undertaking (Contracting yourself) for what is likely to be one of the biggest purchases of your life.

I guess it depends on how much you know about building houses, plumbing, electrcal work, etc. If you have some general background, it may help. Your father-in-law may be of some help, but remember you're likely going to be contracting major jobs (concrete, framing, electrical, plumbing, etc.) to many different companies. THese companies are also working on a lot of different projects for other contractors. If it comes down to doing your job (where you are the contractor and likely never to use them for a major job again) or a job being done by a contractor (who may have several big jobs for them yearly), your job may be put on the back burner, meanwhile the other workers that usually follow each job are left waiting and may skip your job in the process. It may help if you know several of the major players in each field prior to the job.

It will save you money if you contract yourself, but remember, when you pay a general contractor, all the problems are his/hers and they have to deal with it. If you have a regular day job, it may be difficult to follow up on problems that occur thoughout the day, when the workers are there.

I wouldn't have done it myself, but then again I had no experience with house building/carpentry/electric. etc. I have a few friends who are in the business (like electric or carpentry) who have friends that have helped them build their houses and they did their own contracting, but then again, they knew what to look for and how to pull stings in the business.

While I've never built a house from scratch, I've done extensive remodels that were probably more involved than building from scratch.

The most important question is: whose money are ya using? yours or theirs?

Most loan companies will not allow you to be your own general contractor. Yes, that sucks - because it also means you'll be paying a general contractor something like 15% of the overall cost of the house.

Lazy subcontractors are the reason for general contractors. That roofing crew isn't gonna care if *your* project gets done in a timely manner - if you're the general contractor, Why? Because their reputation is safe if you're only a G.C. once. They don't have to please you in order to get more roofing jobs. Get mad if you want, they honestly won't care.

I imagine your goal is to save as much money as possible by doing everything yourself. That will still be possible, even if you are required to hire a general contractor...although you won't recover his/her fees.

There are a lot of tasks that are best left to 'professionals'. Sure you could probably do it yourself, but it won't be worth your time nor the money saved. Drywall finishing, concrete, and roofing come immediately to mind. Those are jobs where skilled workers can finish in a weekend - but unskilled labor could take a month. With iffy results.

I completely gutted and remodeled a house without hiring a G.C. It took me $50,000 and 3 years of weekends to finish. I hired outside help on 3 occasions. The first was an electrical service upgrade [$1,000] (the power co. required licensed electrician else they wouldn't connect their lines to it). I then hired a heating/cooling contractor to install ductwork and air-handling equipment [$7,000]. Finally, since I was such a wussy, I paid a plumber to crawl under the house and install the washing machine plumbing [$675].

I did all the other work myself. Turned out very nice.

Time is money. How much time you got?

Though I posted this almost a month ago, I wanted to respond to the great comments. They reinforced what I've sort of half decided.

I'm not a builder, I'm okay with my hands, but I don't think I would hold up under that kind of workload (along with my current 9-5) I could potentially save a bunch of money, but it would probably be smarter to spend the time and get some freelance design jobs or some smallish web-programming things to make extra money.

I think the main thing that turned me off to building is the responsibilty. Like Spliff said, if the roofer doesn't show up, its nothing to them, but its up to me to figure out what to do. The other thing, is if someone gets hurt (especially say my wife or another family member) I'm responsible for that.

So, I guess no GC for me. Probably better that way. Thanks for the comments.

Take the advice from the one on the right.