I'm thinking about the same thing, and this summer I took a two week Home Design/Build course at Yestermorrow (yestermorrow.org). I really recommend it as a way to work through your designs, both on the broad scale and in the specifics (building to code, budgeting, utilities, etc).
Ask HN: Have you built a house?
201–210 of 229 posts
Re: Ask HN: Have you built a house?
#202Currently building a small (real small by US standards) 95 sqm. passive house in Romania. I dared to do this by myself as I'm a trained structural engineer (now a SW developer).
I can not emphasize enough on the energy efficiency of the house as energy costs are high. Take a look on how and why to build a passive house, it will change your life.
I can take a look here and see if you have one in your area... if it's a certified one you can visit it between 9-11 of Nov., this is a world wide event. More here: https://passivehouse-international.org/index.php?page_id=262
Also here you can find more info regarding passive houses in USA: https://naphnconference.com/
Re: Ask HN: Have you built a house?
#203Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think that depends on personality maybe? I'd rather live with sloppy work I'm proud I did myself than to think I hired somebody and they delivered a bad job.
I think his point was that you don't look as closely to the works others people do than the works that you do. Sure if you know there's flaws on both and they are identical, I agree with you, I would rather it be from myself, but I would most probably not takes as much attention at the works others people do than on mine.
I think that's a property of having experience doing something, rather than of having done that particular instance of it.
For example: I re-did some grouting in my bathroom, and only after that started to notice the imperfections in other areas not by me. Bits of tile I'd seen everyday for a years, that only after I had experience grouting I realised had grout smeared over them and let to dry.
Re: Ask HN: Have you built a house?
#204Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've never seen a pro use tape, unless they are spray painting. My guess is that it takes to long when you're probably being paid by the job not the hour.
Yes, and when you paint as much as they do they get good at it. I've seen a guy who's freehand looked better than what I can do with tape - and he was much faster.
I often get frustrated and resort to tape, but although it seems better while I'm doing it, I remove the tape and invariably discover that it's hard to (or at least, I'm bad at) taping straight.
Re: Ask HN: Have you built a house?
#205Earlier quoted context omitted.
Needed more practice in construction estimating, which is yet another discipline that you wouldn’t immediately think of when someone says “build a house.”
After spending his entire career in construction, one of the last jobs my dad had before retiring was in preparing bids for proposals. The company wanted people with lots of experience in the bidding process. Not just on-budget, on-schedule, but people that had been through over-budget, behind-schedule so that they knew what to be aware of as potential pit falls.
When I was in college one of the big promises of BIM was "we'll have information rich models that will make estimating easier and more accurate!"
I'm not directly involved in that process in-industry (ended up in light fixture manufacturing), but my impression is that BIM models are usually good enough to kick out a set of drawings, but you wouldn't want to count on any information that you pull out of it electronically being accurate.
So you still have "contractor to verify quantity" notes on everything, and presumably someone going through the drawing figuring out how many "Type F 2x4' troffers" and how many faucets and how many of every other little detail that will take money or time.
It's a pretty intensive process, but given the amounts of money at stake if you screw it up, hugely important to get right.
Re: Ask HN: Have you built a house?
#206I have built a house and a garage. For the garage, I was the GC, but for the house, I hired a GC. The garage was 500 sq ft and easy enough to manage all the subcontractors. The house was a much bigger project; an infill development, 3500 sq ft, two floors with big expansive rooms, which required a lot of steel since we are in an earthquake zone. I was on-site every day reviewing progress and managing up and down the chain. Also, gain a working level of Spanish if you are building in California; it's essential for communicating with the tradespeople.
In both cases, I used an architect to professionalize the basic design and help walk us through the city review, approval, and permit process (edit: this added tremendous value for the house environment and style [1] ). We used an independent, licensed structural engineer for the house, but the city still found issues with the work (the city will often subcontract the review to another, usually an out-of-state engineer) and needed to be convinced the design was correct in some cases and reworked in other cases.
The review process, while often criticized, is for your benefit and safety. If you treat the reviewers as a partner the project will be better for it.
The project itself is hard enough using industry standard conventional building techniques. If you try to do something too original or unorthodox the system has many obstacles in place to force you to prove your project is safe.
If you are serious about this I suggest the following: 0) learn SketchUp or a similar 3d modeling system, 1) choose a location in a rural area to reduce the complexities of building in a crowded area, 2) find a retired GC who is interested in the idea and wants to learn more about it and hire them as a consultant, 3) start small and build test cases (dollhouses, then a shed, then a garage, and finally scale up to a house) to build skill and discover your skill gaps.
Best of luck, it sounds like a fun and challenging project.
[1] https://www.houzz.com/projects/439864/mountain-view-prairie-...
Re: Ask HN: Have you built a house?
#207I have built a house and a garage. For the garage, I was the GC, but for the house, I hired a GC. The garage was 500 sq ft and easy enough to manage all the subcontractors. The house was a much bigger project; an infill development, 3500 sq ft, two floors with big expansive rooms, which required a lot of steel since we are in an earthquake zone. I was on-site every day reviewing progress and managing up and down the…
> Also, gain a working level of Spanish if you are building in California; it's essential for communicating with the tradespeople.
Not just California -- most places. My neighbors in VA were Hispanic construction workers who did mostly concrete pouring. When I helped my folks refurb their properties in rural NY and PA easily 60-80% were Hispanic, even the GC/PM.
Re: Ask HN: Have you built a house?
#208actually I'm framing a house right now with my uncle. Having difficulty breaking into programming / dev jobs after graduating this past spring.
End up working 10-13 hours on the house, and try to work on projects when I'm finished there for the day. Still been applying!
Re: Ask HN: Have you built a house?
#209I've lived in 7 different brand new houses within a relatively short time period. Brand new meaning I was the first person living there. Even different countries, contractors, etc. The whole experience has made me quite strong-minded about a few things. And I've also converted to hardcore minimalism. First, I've seen so many crazy bad construction jobs that whenever I buy a new house I'll try to buy something modular…
Koda is lovely, but expensive. Nothing wrong with that, but might be an obstacle for the value-seeking segment. https://katus.eu/learn/news/koda-prefab-homes-2-years-later and a related read: https://katus.eu/learn/news/new-hype-airbnb-prefab-modules
You seem to be knowledgeable about the topic.
Any other, perhaps better value, options you may know about?
I know Arcelor EU has a really nice and relatively cheap prototype that is about to enter the market.
Re: Ask HN: Have you built a house?
#210Earlier quoted context omitted.
+1 to this post by koliber. Only thing I would add is to plan as detailed as you can everything beforehand. Draw it up, visualize it. What sort of hinges on doors, how will the cabinets swing, etc. etc. Before you even start building a wall you have to decide how wide you want the trim around the doorway as you'll want the light switch just that far from the door and you'll want a 2x4 there with electrical. So there…
Absolutely. First, try to understand a process. Draw it. Imagine going through the process of building it. Draw it again. Look at your friend's house to see how it is different. Try to imagine how that one was built. I have an interesting tale of how the patio door installer almost caused my kitchen countertops to be installed 2 inches lower. The story is a bit convoluted because many things are tied together in the…
Are the software tools used to build a buildprint smart enough to take into account the local code, comfortable spacing/clearances, etc.? Is there a blueprint equivalent of lint?