Gathering information can get very overwhelming very fast. This is mostly because of the amount of information you will be dealing with, but also because of the type of information, the stresses that will be put on you, and the timeline that you are trying to accomplish it in.
Everyone who builds their own house will be at different levels. Personally, I knew next to nothing about construction of any kind. I had no experience dealing with permits, power, water, or anything else I have had to learn about over the past couple of years. You will be different than me though. You might know more about something, and you might know less. You will have different resources, contacts, and connections than I do. But what we do have in common, is that we both have a lot to learn.
This step will be all about gathering information. If you followed steps 1-3, you already know what you want and how you want your house to look. Now you need to find out how to make that happen.
Just like in Step 1 where you planned out everything you want, try not to look at it as 1 entire house. Think of it in small manageable steps. There are thousands of steps you are going to take, but it you focus on 1 or 2 at a time, it’s going to feel a lot more doable. I am here to walk you through every single step so that you can look at each one and figure out how to make it happen.
I highly suggest getting started with all of these “pre-building” steps as early as possible. Some people make the mistake of thinking that they can start working on house plans, permits, research, loans, etc a few months before they want to start building. This is a bad idea for several reasons.
- It’s not enough time. Problems always come up, setbacks happen, unexpected changed occur, and if you have a tight schedule then you will be stressed out and frazzled through the entire thing. 6 months is not enough time to prepare to build a house if you don’t know what you are doing. I created a FREE pre-building timeline with everything you need to do, and when, before you break ground on your house. Sign up below for the FREE schedule, plus all my other free house building resources. The earlier you start, the less stress it puts on you to “hurry” and the less last minute decisions you will have to make.
- This is a very mentally challenging thing to do. It is overwhelming at times, and you will be researching things you know nothing about almost every day. When you are mentally exhausted, think about how much worse it makes it to have a deadline. If you don’t give yourself the time to get everything done and, just as important, the time to take breaks from general contracting, your mental health will pay for it.
- Planning ahead saves money. As I said in Step 1, the more time you take to plan, research, and shop, the more money you will save. If you don’t have the time to get and compare quotes, to discuss options, and to make changes on paper, it will end up costing you precious dollars.
- You can’t build relationships. Some of the sub contractors that I have hired, have ended up great friends that I trust completely. The only reason I became friends with them is because I spent months talking back and forth with them. I emailed them questions and house pictures. We discussed options. I met with them. I followed up with them. I tried to help them if I could because they were helping me. Would you rather hire a friend that you know and trust, or someone you spoke on the phone with one time? Cultivating relationships is a much bigger part of building a house then people realize. Give yourself the time to do that and it will make your job easier.
From this step on, the process will start to mesh together. Each step will be intertwined with the step before it and the step after it. Don’t let that scare you, just know that you need to be reading the steps before and after the one you are working on. Gathering information will be something that you continue to do for the rest of the building process. Each step will be different information that you need to figure out how to keep organized. So let’s start with the information you need to be gathering now:
Contacts. You should always be adding to your lists of contacts. Anybody you hear about that does any job you can think of, add them to the list. Keep it all in one place so you can find phone numbers and people easily. Add to your list your county or city offices, the power company, banks if you are getting a loan, and any other friend or relative you have that knows anything about the house building process.
Building Permits. Call your county or city office and ask them to send you the information you will need to build a new house. Tell them you would like them to email it to you and also to mail you a copy if that’s okay. You want them to email it to you so you can have it immediately and you can print off copies any time you need to. You want them to mail it to you because often times they circle the things you will need, write notes on it, or send you extra things. Remember, the more information you have, the better. They will ask lots of questions like where you want to build, whose land it is, when you are hoping to start, if there are any other structures on the property, and your contact information. Have the information you have gathered so far handy so you can refer to it if you don’t know an answer.
Step 5 will be building permits, so to prepare for that you need to figure out a few things.
- Will you need a well?
- Will you need a new power pole set?
- Will you need a septic system?
- Do you have water on your property? (drains, creeks, ponds, etc.)
- Are there any easements or right of ways on your property?
- How far away from property lines do you need to be?
- Is your property hilly or flat?
- Is there an existing entrance or will you need to create one?
- Will you be using propane or natural gas for anything?
The secretary at our county office was incredibly helpful. She was happy to answer questions and very patient with me when she found out we were building our own house. It’s okay to tell people you don’t really know what you are doing. Whenever I tell someone I have no idea what I am doing, I can almost hear their brain click into a different mode. They explain things using words I can actually understand, and they go into a lot more detail. Very rarely do I have anyone get short with me, and when it does happen, I just move on to the next phone call.
There were 4 people we actually had to hire before our permits were finished. The first one was our house designer, which in our case turned out to be 2 different people. The second was a septic system designer. If you are building in a place that isn’t part of the city sewer system, you will need a septic system. I will go into detail about this in the next step which is all about building permits because it was a permit we had to get. But for now, figure out if you will need a septic system for your new house. If you do, start making a list of possible septic system designers. Our county actually had a list of approved designers that they sent to me. It made my job very easy because I didn’t have to find anyone. The third person we had to hire was a septic system installer. These are two very different things. Some companies do the design as well as the installation, but a lot don’t. The designing is all about drawing up the plans on a computer. The installation is excavation work on site, followed by piecing together your septic system, and then covering it back up with dirt. See how different these two jobs are? The fourth person we had to hire was a wetland scientist. I will explain this one better in step 5 as well, because it was another permit. What you need to know now is if there is any wet areas on your property. Because our land had a drain through it, we were required to have an expert come check things out and make sure we were building far enough away from the wet area. Every piece of property will have different things the county/city want to know about.
Look closely at your property. The county wanted to know every single detail about every inch of our ten acres. By the time the building permits were done we had people look at our property lines, dig holes, study the dirt, check out the water, analyze the google map of our property, write down what weeds were growing there, and anything else you can think of. If there are any red flags where you want to build, they will most likely find them. Gather all the information you can find now so that down the road you are prepared to deal with it.
The real work is about to begin. Once you start building permits, the clock starts ticking. You will start having deadlines you have to meet and schedules you need to follow. I can’t stress enough to you to prepare every single thing you can think of now before you start feeling rushed. Building permits in my county are good for 3 years. Loan deadlines are much shorter, usually around a year. So are septic system permits. Here they are good for 1 year. Gather your information, stay organized, and take a deep breath because building permits are exactly the least fun part about building a house.
Need a refresher on Step 3: Hiring a designer/architect? CLICK HERE
Or move on to Step 5: Surviving Building Permits
As always, let me know if you have any questions or want something covered a little better.
Good Luck!
~Farmer’s Wife
P.S. I have created a FREE pre-building timeline to help you know when everything needs to get done. It lays everything out so you will know exactly when to start each new step. You can sign up here for a FREE pre-building timeline and access to all of my other FREE checklists, schedules, and printables.
Lisa says
Thank you thank you thank you!! My husband and I are looking to build a house on some property (still to be found and purchased) and even though we both have various construction and handyman(woman) skills, we’ve never been the ones to see a building project through from start to finish, and like you we’ve never been “been someone’s boss.” I am finding your information so helpful and encouraging to read through. Thanks!
farmerswife@therealfarmhouse.com says
You are welcome Lisa,
Good luck on finding the perfect property! It’s a fun adventure 🙂
Ruena balarote says
A very helpful idea and thank you very much.Useful.
Diann says
hello! awesome site, are you in the US or Canada?
farmerswife@therealfarmhouse.com says
US 🙂
Danielle says
Thank you so much for all your great information and insight into the building my process. My husband and I are about to embark on a major renovation of our home. While it’s not a complete build from the ground up, we are starting with a basic shell.
I honestly have no idea where to start. But I am trying to plan, organize all my designs and ideas together so that when we get to the point of putting it all on paper then we can hit the ground running.
But, what would be a great place to start? We’ve got ideas, we’ve got an idea on the layout. Would the next step be contacting a designer? We won’t be starting the project for atleast another year. Is it too early to get a house design and start getting bids?
Thanks for any insight!
farmerswife@therealfarmhouse.com says
Hi Danielle,
1 year out is absolutely NOT to early to start. We started deliberately planning and shopping for a designer almost 18 months before we broke ground. If you know what you want for your layout, there is no reason to wait on hiring a designer to draw it up. Once you have your plans drawn, you can start making a lot more decisions and taking action. We drew up our plans and began working on permits about 11 months before building. It’s way better to start early than it is to be rushed. You can’t really start hiring subs yet, they usually don’t like to do that until it gets closer. But you can shop for materials and plan everything out.
Jessie Smeltzer says
We were told a designer would cost us $20,000. What is your experience? We have a general footprint but need help perfecting it. Our property has huge boulders on it and we plan to build over them and do not wish to disturb the natural land as much as possible.
farmerswife@therealfarmhouse.com says
designers and architects prices are all over the board really. A lot of that depends on where you are building at. It also depends on if you are hiring a designer vs an engineer vs an architect. I have heard of engineers and architects being that expensive, but never a designer. Designers in my area run from $600-$2,000. In larger cities that number is more like $2,000-$10,000.
I would suggest for you to shop around and look in the surrounding areas. You do not have to hire a designer that lives close to you. If the price difference is in the thousands, I would opt for someone farther away and offer to pay their travel expenses if need be.
We only paid $750 for our plans and they turned out excellent. Shop around until you find what YOU are happy with. It’s YOUR house!
Shelby says
Hello, first of all, this is awesome and so so helpful on home building!! Do you happen to have a list of all the sub-contractors you had to hire? I am just wanting to have a compiled list that I can check off after talking to each contractor! Thank you!!!
farmerswife@therealfarmhouse.com says
Hey Shelby, do you mean the actual companies and subs that I hired, or do you mean a list of the different trades/subs that everyone will need to hire? I don’t have that list quite finished yet. However, I do have a list of all the sub contractors I hired for my own house that I recommend. That list is on the checklists, schedules, and printables page for subscribers.
Jennifer says
After looking for a house with property for a year we are now looking into building. I found your information through Pinterest. Thank you and I look forward to reading more.
farmerswife@therealfarmhouse.com says
You are welcome Jennifer!