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Building Outline
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This will be an ongoing outline page that I will update as I experience all the different stages of building this home ... I will try to include items that catch me by surprise or things that are typically overlooked or not always mentioned by the builders... IE hidden costs as I encounter them ... this will be done in a Outline format and you may need to look elsewhere in this web site for a more detailed explanation of a line item included here... If you find an area you do not understand or cannot find elsewhere in the web site Email me and I will reply to you with the answer or update the site to include a better explanation to your questions so others that may also want to know that information will be informed also... Please Note: copies of documents used in this building process are available .. now my personal information and cost will be removed but can be tailored for your own projects... please contact me for cost ... and we will get you the information you need..
Single Family Residence Outline...
1) Purchase Land... now this is how we did it ... it may or may not be how you do it ... but I do not know about you but I am not made of money ... so me and my wife back in 1995 where looking for a new home ... but we could not find any houses that we liked so we decided we build a home ... but if you know me ... I have to have my fingers in everything ... so I found a lot that was for sale by owner... and bought it ... this saved me 10% to 15% by not having a realtor ... they change about that to list a property in the MLS ... INSANE I know ... but I bought direct from the owner on a lot I found my self so I got the property cheaper and the owner made more money for the sale .. a win / win transaction ... 2) Pay off land... this is also not typical but ... it is what we did and I will tell you why... 80% loan to value ratio ... you may ask why is this a big deal ... well if you have less than a 80% loan to value ratio you are not required to carry Mortgage protection insurance or even have an escrow account if you do not wish to... I will have an escrow account but the insurance I will not carry ... this will reduce my monthly payments... 3) Design your home... I found this allot of fun ... but also I have to have my fingers in everything so Yep you guessed it .... I designed and drafted my own set of plans .. you can see them in this web site ... that is my hard work.. and so far they are working perfectly... so have fun and try and not let your imagination out spend your wallet ... I know I did ... that is in truth my second set of plans I drafted ... my first set was way way to expensive... had to get realistic... 4) Find a Contractor ... Now under Florida state law you can act as your own contractor... that means you can pull your own permits... and build your own house ... I came close to doing this but I got a contractor in the end... now I did most all of my own cost breakdowns... planning ... permitting... and design work... just because that is how I am ... yep got my fingers in everything... some would call me anal .. or a pain in the butt... I call it detailed oriented ... Now with that all said ... because I had done all this work and research ... when I went to talk to contractors .. I was very quickly able to tell which ones where talking trash and looking for an easy target ... and which ones where straight forward and honest.... you will also find out that if a contractor knows you know what your talking about ... they are not as likely to try and run costs up on you... a certain amount will happen no matter what you do .. but you can limit it... remember a contractor can be your best friend or your worst nightmare... pick wisely .. and check their references... 5) Find a bank... When looking for a bank to finance your house construction .. you need to shop around ... find out if they allow Owner contractors... or if they need a Licensed contractors... also you need to get the best rates ... so compare rates... closing costs... how they roll the construction loans into perm loans.... know if they will be selling your perm or maintaining the loan themselves... my bank allows Owner contractors and will be selling my Loan .. but they are very responsive and have very competitive rates... I used Wakulla Bank .. Mrs. Linda Pettis worked very close with me on my loan and was very pleasant to work with... A) Building contract ... There are many different contracts that you can use ... the one I used I ended up having to write myself ... because the original contract I had was not for a Cost plus building ... but a fix cost building ... in a cost plus contract you agree to pay the contractor a set amount and you pay for the cost of the house and no more... This type of contract can be a double edge sword ... so if you do it ... KNOW WHAT THINGS COST!! .. otherwise ... just pay the higher set amount for the house .... cause you will lose your ass in a cost plus if you do not know what your doing... Only other way to say it ... is that you have do allot of hard core negotiations with every single person or supplier that works on your house .. and keep every one of them in budget... B) Cost Breakdown ... you can make a cost break down of a thousand items ... but that is a bit to anal for me .... and most likely will not be that realistic ... what I did was pick the minds of 4 or 5 different contractors that I know and work with as their engineer... so in the end my cost break down had about 150 line items... on a side note... getting close to my first 25% draw and only have one Change of work order .. and made other contractor alter their contract to cover it... I WILL NOT pay for the "Oh it is his responsibility excuse" some one has to do it ... and I have to pay for it... but you do not have to pay for half ass estimates or quotes... if the quote gets to bad ... fire that sub and get someone that knows what needs to be done... and move on.. C) Materials Specification ... This document is a supplemental document to the contract ... it outlines what materials will be used in the house .. the quality of the materials... and it also has the allowances that the buyers will have available to used to pick out items that will be installed in the house ... I.e. ... Light fixtures... Fans... Faucets... Tubs... Carpet... and so on... Please note with reviewing a contract go over this document closely and see if the allowances and specifications are realistic to what you seek in a house... THIS IS WHERE MOST COMMON MISTAKES ARE MADE... and where most all lose a ton of cash / blow their budgets... D) Draw Schedule ... This document is provide by the bank ... and every bank has a different one .. they are all similar in concept thou... they allow a portion of money to be paid out at certain stages of construction completion... E) Builders Warrantee ... A standard warrantee is a one year warrantee for the residence being constructed... Now their are some contractors that have a 10 year Limited warrantee .. this is more of an advertising ploy ... these type of documents are offered by a third party and are more of and insurance policy that contractor buys... they mostly only cover... the main structural systems in the home... you need to read the documents ... they can be useful but not every builder provide these documents.. it is much more standard to get a one year warrantee... and with anything that is built wrong or with sub par parts most of the time they will show up in the first 6 months... F) Value Engineering Bonus ... Performance / Value engineering Bonus will be paid to the builder at a rate of $.50 on a dollar for every “dollar saved” on the construction of the single-family residence..... now that is a very simple overview of this document ... but I am not sure I wish to share this publicly .. It took a bit of work to develop this agreement and protect both sides .. so you will need to contact me if you wish to obtain this document... 6) Closing Costs... Well this is always a fun thing to pay... let see .. you got 1 pt ( 1% of the loan amount) for the bank to do the cons tuition loan ... Title doc stamps.. runs about .70 on a 100 dollars... surveys... insurance... filing fees... inspection fees... Kick back fees... (just kidding on the kick backs).. but their are so many fees I really do not know them all but I can tell you on a 220,000 dollar loan ... with a construction loan that will be rolled to a perm... there is 2 closings .. and the total cost will run you about ... 9500 dollars... so remember that is money you need to have to come to the table with ... and they WILL NOT like it if you have to take a loan out to get this money... also remember that in Florida ... or is it a federal thing .. I forget... but you can get a Gift from a family member up to 10,000 dollars that can be used for these fees... you will need to have a gift letter signed but the person giving the money... but the bank will accept this cause it is not a debt that will occur a monthly cost... thus allowing you to pay your mortgage... 7) Permitting ... Every area in Florida is different .. but In Leon county ... They do their best to make residential permitting as easy as possible ... I personally found it very easy to work with ... and the reviews very pleasant and nice... This may be because I do so much Commercial permitting in Leon county that I had a better experience than others ... but I like to think I just did a bang up job on my plans ... thus my house just sailed right thru... In Leon County you submittal all the permits in at one time ... you can separate out the septic if you like but do not have to ... you give them 2 sets of the plans.. and the requested documents and reports... then wait for comments on items that do not comply with the Florida building code... I did not have any comments or revisions.. the plans I had were permitted as submitted.. A) Septic Tank Permit ... this permit looks at how large a septic tank will be required based on appliances ... square feet of heated and cooled residence... number of bedrooms .... it also looks at the soil conditions in the field to determine how large a drain field will be required ... this is normally done by your septic tank contractor as part of his fee to install the septic system ... I personally did my own just so I knew it was done correctly.. The permit on Leon County currently runs about 200 dollars to obtain... B) Driveway Permit ...In Leon county this is pretty easy permit you do not need a very detailed drawing .. basically you need the lot boundaries some drainage arrows to indicate the storm water flow and the size of the culvert you propose under your drive way... well also you need the with and material you will construct the driveway out of.. but that is about it and really the inspector will tell you the size of your culvert.. C) Building Permit ... This the main permit you must obtain when building a single family residence in Leon county ... you must have the four elevation drawings ... Manual J energy forms... Wind Analysis (signed by a licensed professional engineer)... Soil borings (signed and sealed) .. Flood Letter (Signed and Sealed)... Wall sections ... Stair Details.. Foundations Plans... Electrical and mechanical plans ... Plumbing layout... Once you have all these elements together in a set of drawings you are ready to pay your cash and get your permit.. Oh I almost forgot... you also need a Florida Approval number form to indicate what materials you will using in building your home ... if you Email me I can provide you with a form filled out with very common materials used to build houses in this area... D) Environmental Permit ... This a single drawing that will deal with environmental concerns you may have on your site... Protected trees that may be removed .. or impacted ... Placement of silt fence locations ... Septic tank locations ... if you have hundred year flood planes ... endangered species / plants... or other sensitive areas.. you will locate your home on the drawing.. and show what trees you are removing .. locate your silt fence ... and provide topographic information so they can determine how storm water will effect your home... this is not as intense of a review as most environmental reviews ... but you still want to make sure you do not hide or misrepresent what is on your site or you will find yourself with allot of hoops to jump thru.. best just to deal with any environmental issues have onsite straight up or get a professional to help you with this part.. E) Concurrency / Zoning / Addressing / Status ... all these permits are really just fees ... all the work is done by county staff and they will tell you what may be a problem with your property ... as long as your zoned to place the residential structure your proposing this will be issued once your fees are paid... Please note these are submitted for at the same time you submit your building permit.. 8) Site prep ... This is very straight forward... you have a contactor onsite to remove trees .. top soil and other existing items from your site to allow the placement of your building pad... they may need to install tree protection barricades ... silt fences... and other Environmental protection devices that may or may not be required to be installed prior to construction... this will very depending on your local regulating agencies.. 9) Port a potty ... During the construction of your house you will not have bathrooms available for your workers... so you must provide a toilet onsite for them to use ... this will save time and keep them onsite working instead of running to the nearest quick-E-mart... this saves you money... make sure you get a good company that keeps them clean and empties them often.. you be surprised.. you yourself will end up using them ... and if you have ever been in one before .. even the cleanest one is still nasty ... so you never want to see a really nasty one... 10) Temp Utilities ... you need to get this paid for and installed as soon as you can ... this will be the water and power you use to build your house... so do not delay and get with your local power company and get it rolling .. 11) Temp power pole ... I include this as a separate step because this was kind of confusing about who would set this ... without going into allot of details ... your electrician will set this and then the county will inspect the instillation once inspected .... Talquin will come out and set your temp meter.. 12) Batter board ... once you are ready to start laying out your foundation set these boards at the proper elevations and pull string as required along the outside edges of the house... the batter boards should be set outside the actual foundation approximately 24 inches... the strings will do 2 things ... outline the external edge of the foundation and define the finish floor elevation of the house... 13) Form boards ...Now that you have the foundation laid out you place the foundation form boards up so that when you pour the concrete these boards will retain the product in place for finishing and curing... you will notice that the boards are placed at all different elevations and depths... this is to allow the construction of brick ledges ... porch step downs ... built in showers... slopes in garages ... and many other features that are inset into the foundation... 14) Sand Placement ... Spread out the material being brought in from the sand pits... now this soil is a clean sand ... it compacts very nicely and is not to expensive ... runs about 100 dollars a truck ... an a truck deliver about 16 Cubic yards... now you need to place this material in no more than 18" lifts ... once that much material has been placed and compacted ... you need to have it tested to make sure that the contractor is constructing your pad properly... a poorly compacted pad will cause cracking in the foundation... brick siding ... and many other problems ... DO not skip testing ... it will cost you big time in the end... 15) Foundation Rough In ... Once the sand is placed and formed boards are up .. your plumber will come out to the site to rough in the sewer and water pipes... now copper will corrode if in direct contact with the concrete so make sure your plumber has the lines completely sleeved thru the foundation .... make sure you double check the placement of all pipes and drains... you will not want to cut the slab to relocate misplaced pipes and drains... 16) Slab Compaction ... this should be tested in 18" inch lifts to make sure you get proper compaction ... this will stop any differential settlement or other major foundation failures... 17) Soil Treatment... for this you will hire a local exterminating company to come out and spray your pad once it is ready.. the cost is only $0.07 per square foot .. well that is how much I paid ... but my first contractor tried to tell me it was .87 per foot .. so I know he was trying to pad the bill .. so check around yourself and do not let your contractor make some extra cash of you by padding the bills ... Neal Fogler has been awesome in getting all the prices down ... he has really impressed me in his abilities... 18) Rebar / vapor barrier ... 19) Pouring the slab ... 20) Pump Truck ... 21) Spreading / Floating concrete ... 22) Setting Anchor bolts ... 23) Concrete Finishing ... 24) Concrete Curing ... Concrete takes a full 28 days to reach its full strength ... so beware... now depending on the concrete mixtures this can vary ... but we where taught in school that concrete will reach 85% strength in 7 days.. and 98% in 28 days... so keep the framers off for a minimum of 7 days... also you will want to place a sprinkler on your slab to keep it wet once it has set for 24 hours... concrete needs water to cure properly.. this will also minimize cracking in your slab if you cure it correctly.. now some contractors will wait a day before starting to frame the house... to me this is utterly insane... I seen to many law suits over cracking slabs... So take the week and relax get stuff ordered ... and keep that slab wet... but take a breath and do not rush it...Trust me this will pay off in the long run ... 25) Concrete Testing... 26) Pipe clay / Special foundations ...basically this is beefed up foundation to prevent the expansive clays from destroying the house... it makes any soil movement under the house to effect the whole house and not just one isolated area.. if you have this soil condition the extra money you will spend on doing this will save you 20 fold later in repair cost if it is not done... 27) Chalk lines / house layout... 28) Bottom plates.... 29) Wall framing.... 30) Bracing.... 31) Trusses.... 32) Wall sheathing.... 33) Roof sheathing.... 34) House wrap.... 35) Setting windows... 36) Setting Doors...
Ok this is where I will leave off for now ... it is very incomplete .. but It is a work in progress... so just keep checking back...
later for now ... Mark
P.S. 2/20/2005.... ok unless requested to finish this part ... This is where I stop ... I have to much work to do .. and projects on my plate so I am going to wrap this up here .. sorry if you wanted more ... if you email me I can answer any of your questions ...
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