New Role
Thursday 
in mid-afternoon 
Mystie
I have a new role.
We’re going to build our house soon. Several months ago Matt and I agreed that he would be the grunt labor for this project and I would be the brains, the management. He will save us thousands of dollars by putting in cabinets, nailing shingles, possibly even erecting the very walls. Would I merely sit, stitch, watch the boys, providing plenty of beef and beer, meekly awaiting my new house? No. I am administrative. Even if I do work at home, I nonetheless am master of my time and can make and take phone calls and gather information and run errands.
We have our official blueprints for our new home that we hope to start building this spring or early summer. We haven’t decided what kind of construction we’ll use (SIP or conventional framing), what kind of management the project will be under (us or a real general contractor), or whose money we’ll use (standard construction loan/mortgage or a hodge podge of miscellaneous debts and our own savings). The decisions are all rather interrelated, so we are gathering information until the choice on one of them becomes apparent, in which case the others will probably be decided as well.
I bought a box of manila folders, cleaned out my professional-looking book bag, picked up every brochure Home Depot and Lowe’s had available on their floor, and double-checked that we have lots of rollover minutes accumulated so I can make calls with impunity.
In doing our research up until this point, it has become very clear that dealing with the bank and construction loan is the #1 hassle factor. They are the ones that require all kinds of things so they know the house is sell-able if they have to foreclose, they are the ones who may or may not deal out the money when you need them to along the way, they are the ones that become a large line item themselves with closing costs and other potential fees. There is also the fact that ever since signing the mortgage on our last house, seeing that $300,000+ number which is what we would have paid for our $130,000 house if we paid out the loan over 30 years damaged Matt’s psyche just a bit and he is rather insistent upon not having any debt at all and owning our house outright within 10 years. Instead of paying many thousands of extra dollars in interest over 10 years for the privilege of a finished house, our preferred option is to finish the house out in cash or small, bank personal loans over 5 years or so.
Anyway, we need to know what kind of money we’re talking about to get a shell of a house with running water and heat and electricity so we can see if mortgage-free is even in the realm of possibilities. Moreover, if the SIP panels — which significantly cut labor, time, and complications — don’t work out, we’d probably go with a general contractor/builder to take us through at least the dry-in portion of building. Matt’s not going to be out there every day telling a framing crew what to do, but he could take a week off of work and hire a couple guys to put together an SIP house with him. But, if the panels are too costly, we’ll have to get a construction loan. If we need to get a construction loan, then we most likely need a general contractor because banks don’t like owner-builders. If we get a general contractor, maybe we should just let him build a house the way he’s used to and not attempt to find one that will do SIPs…or maybe a general contractor with framing will be significantly cheaper than a general contractor with SIPs. We have no idea. So, these decisions are all intertwined and I’m not sure how or when it’ll resolve. So, I’m plugging away and trusting that eventually it’ll all become clear.
So far I’ve sent our plans out to 5 panel companies and have received one bid back and have the promise of another to come next week. I have one HVAC bid back and am waiting on 5 others, a couple of whom want me to come in in person to talk to their salespeople first. I have three plumbing bid requests out there that I’m waiting to hear back on. I am filling out the paperwork for a permit for a septic system. And I am working with the building department to put together the stuff for a building application and examining our options for actually obtaining the land we want to build on. There are three ways to do it, two of which are free and easy and respectively involve his grandparents still owning the land or us owning 20 acres and the other which involves over $400 and a lot of bureaucracy, and that of course is the one that a bank would have us do if we want them to give us their money. Yet another decision that rides on whether or not we get a mortgage.
I need the septic permit before getting bids from excavators for prepping the land and digging the septic; I need a parcel number for the building permit and the access permit (how you get an address for your property), which number will depend on how we portion off the land; and I need a clue about what I’m doing before I get in too far and make a fool of myself.
(MCL)
with 
(personal library)
Hang in there. Just know this is going to be the craziest/busiest year of your life. You will live on the phone and run errands every waking hour of the day. Your kids will start talking in contractor-speak and you will have very limited other conversations with any one you know (it’s just that we are all interested!) The upside is your very own, built to your exact specifications dreamhouse. It will be worth it (If you can get through it :p)
Hey I just noticed we made your friends and family blog list! How exciting!!
Now, wait a second, I know this was probably 3 or 4 years ago now, but you were able to buy a house that wasn’t a one room condo for $130,000?……..Did you have connections, or is that typical over there? I don’t even think you can get a double wide over here for that anymore. Maybe four years ago, but not now! I think the average three bedroom home, no fancy stuff, no yard, goes for about $200,000 over here. Sad, but true.
Yay for the Tri-Cities! :) Yes, we bought a 1900sqft four bedroom split level for $130,000 4 years ago. We sold it three years later (with a new roof and kitchen) for $148,000 or so, I don’t remember exactly. That was the peak of the market and things have dropped a bit since then. We’re looking at new construction for which the loan amout will be in the $200,000 vicinity (with Matt doing lots of the work and with average/bargain fixtures, though)…at least, that’s where our estimates have brought us and even what the bank guy I talked to last week guessed, but we’re putting together the stuff to get a bid from a friend who’s a general contractor now. :) Then we’ll have some more dependable numbers.
I do like the Tri-Cities. :)
The Tri-Cities is amazing that way! In the Portland area, a newer 3 bedroom 2 bath house is at least $250,000. Depending on the location, age of the house, etc. It’s a whole different ball of wax - the house that I was raised in in the Tri-Cities area is probably worth nearly twice as much here!