How to Build Your Own Home: Everything You Need to Know

There are things you can do by gut feel alone, with no instructions, guidelines, and precautions needed. Building your own home is not one of those things. With home construction, it’s important to get things right the first time so you don’t end up tearing down a whole wall because you forgot to consider where the electrical outlets will be placed.

Building your own home sounds like a challenging endeavour, but it can be overwhelming and complicated because there are many details that you have to put together. Here’s everything you need to know when building your own home:

Check your finances

Before you can build, you have to have the resources to do so. This involves serious financial planning and budget-making. Determine how much you can spend, your home’s estimated cost, and how much you need to borrow from the bank.

When all of your finances are in order, you can look for land to build on and put together a house plan. Verify that the cost of your home’s construction will fit into your budget. At this stage you can start looking for subcontractors, material suppliers, and building supply stores.

Get insurance

Get construction insurance, of which there are three types: course of construction, general liability, and workman’s compensation insurance. The first is an all-risk policy that covers replacement cost, fire coverage, extended coverage, vandalism and malicious mischief insurance coverage, and builder’s risk. Course of construction and general liability insurance are both required by banks, while workman’s compensation insurance is only mandatory if your contractor or builder has employees.

The basics

If you have already selected a site on which to build your home, the next thing to deal with is the site’s topography so you can determine the water flow. Before digging, take care of these pre-construction chores first:

Building permit - the building permit is issued by the city or county building inspector. You will need to submit your house plan, site plan, and specification sheets. Once you have obtained the permit, post it at the job site.

Utility tap – you can obtain temporary water and power for your construction site by taking a copy of your building permit to the utility office.

Dumpster – you will have to deal with a lot of rubbish during construction, so a dumpster is necessary. Order one and place it in an area that doesn't get in the way of the utility tap and material delivery.

Portable toilet – when nature calls, you’d be glad to have at least one on your building site. Its presence is required in construction sites, anyway.

When you have all of these ready to go, then it’s time to get those shovels. The contractor can take over the digging, concreting, and laying down the foundation. It is highly recommended to hire a full-service plumbing contractor and let them rough in the water and sewer lines before pouring the foundation. You can check online for sump pump prices and types so you can determine the best one for use in your home.

Now that you have the basics covered, it’s time to start shovelling!