Be your own General Contractor
Being your own general contractor is one of the best and fastest ways you can save money building your own home. The benefits outweigh any negatives by a ton, and you would never guess how rewarding it can be to be your own GC until you try it.
Most people think that in order to build their own home they need to know how to frame, lay carpet, grout tile, and put in the plumbing and electricity. Luckily for you this is entirely untrue. You should know something about construction, but in fact, most GC's act more as managers than anything else. The hammering, nailing, and wiring is left to the specialists. So, even with a limited knowledge of construction you can act as your own GC as you build your house.
So, why would you want to act as your own GC? Well, being your own GC allows several things to happen, first, it saves you money because you are not paying someone else to do something you are capable of, and second it increases your chances of getting exactly what you want because YOU are making the decisions. Sounds pretty good huh?
Since building a house is expensive, and your own home is probably going to be one of the biggest purchases you ever make, saving money, and getting exactly what you want is pretty important.
So, how do you save money? Let's put it this way, most of your savings in building your own house are not going to come from you swinging the hammer, rather they are going to come from you planning, organizing, and controlling construction costs. So, since this is what a GC generally does, becoming your own GC makes sense. Instead of them doing it on your behalf, you do it on your own behalf; no one is going to have your best interest, and bottom line, in mind better than you. Who better than you to control, organize, and plan the construction costs if you want to save money?
A good example of this is the huge amount of savings you will find on labor simply by negotiating each task individually, and directly. Also, any extras you want won't come at the inflated surcharges that come along with fixed-price bidding. If you want ceiling fans you won't have to pay extra to get them because they don't come standard with your contractors plans, you simply pay the price of the fans and installation, nothing more!
Saving money is huge, but getting exactly what you want is just as big. As your own GC you get to pick out each portion of your house as if you were at the grocery store picking out the menu items for that night's dinner. It means that what you say goes, and you don't have to fight someone stuck in their ways at every turn, rather you want it, you got it, because you are the boss.
It is a wonderful feeling to know that as you go along if you want to make a change, or if new ideas or improvements come to you, you can do them without negotiating with a contractor. If you want to go with a particular carpet guy, or cabinet company, you do not have to worry about whether or not it is the company your contractor usually works with because you are the GC.
Being your own GC takes effort and time, but the benefits are great, and the savings are huge, so it is something that everyone looking to build a home should seriously consider.
