We’ll go into more details on each of these steps in a moment. But, for now, these are the basic steps to building a house:
- read books related to home building
- ask questions
- read magazines related to home building
- ask questions
- spend time visiting and observing your intended building site
- ask more questions
- help somebody else build their house, even for a day
- ask questions
- look through mountains of plans
- stop at houses you like and politely ask questions
- go on new home construction tours
- go to home shows
- ask questions
- attend some building workshops
- ask around about good subcontractors
- examine your finances
- research covenants, codes, setbacks, zoning, etc., on your piece of land
- talk to your future neighbors
- pick a likely plan and build a model from it
- ask questions of your bank about their building restrictions for approving a loan
- investigate other funding sources as a backup
- plan your temporary housing options while your new home is being built
- have an architect look over your final plan
- ask questions
- dig the hole, frame the walls, run the wiring and plumbing, put the roof on
- move in
- work like a dog to pay off your loan
Ok, ok, so this is a bit of an exaggeration. What I really wanted to do here is emphasize how critically important the planning phase is. There is so much to know about building even a basic house, that you will never be able to know everything before breaking ground. Even folks who make home building their living are always learning. There’s a mountain of knowledge you can acquire before setting shovel to soil. The more you know before jumping into your house building project the greater your chances of things going relatively smoothly.
So what would a more realistic list of steps in building a house look like? Let’s look at it from the likely possibility that you want to be the general contractor for the project, but not necessarily do all the typical subcontract work. While keeping in mind that the planning, research, questioning, contemplation, etc. phase is all important, it would probably look a little more like this:
- thorough planning and research
- site selection and evaluation
- finalizing plan selection, including working with an architect on detail adjustments if necessary
- draw up a materials list and get quotes from 2 to 4 supply yards in the area; this includes truss design and ordering
- mortgage or other finance acquisition
- construction site insurance
- permit application and approval
- establish temporary electricity from power company
- interview and secure contracts with subcontractors
- survey site, find a good excavator, triple check property boundaries and setback laws, stake out foundation corners, and set up erosion control
- remove topsoil from site and set aside, dig hole for basement (or whatever foundation type you’re using)
- put in gravel road base for driveway
(keeps the mud down a bit)
- set forms for footings & pour concrete
- set forms for foundation walls & pour concrete; waterproof & insulate exterior of foundation
- backfill foundation after thoroughly set
- frame floor joists, apply underlayment
- frame walls, apply exterior sheathing & house wrap
(if putting in a single unit tub/shower surround make sure to place it in or near the future bathroom space before too many interior walls are framed up)
- frame the roof or place roof trusses
- apply exterior finish to roof
- wiring & plumbing
- install heating & cooling system (duct work?)
- for country setting: dig well & install septic system
- exterior finishing
- interior wall finishing
- bathroom finishing & kitchen finishing
- final grading & landscaping of site
- final occupancy inspection and permit
- house warming partaaayyyyyy!
Truthfully there’s many of these steps that are done concurrently. And some simply have to be done before others. It should be obvious that walls can’t be framed up before the first floor joists and underlayment are set down, and that the concrete of the foundation walls has to thoroughly set up before applying waterproofing, rigid insulation and backfilling (they usually say 3 to 5 days depending on temperature).
Unfortunately, there is one step in this process that I didn’t do. Number 6, construction site insurance. During the whole construction process of my house there was only one injury, and pretty serious at that. But, the guy had great health insurance through his employer so it all turned out ok in the end. I don’t even want to specify what the injury was for fear of his insurance company tracking me down, even after all this time. All I’ll say is it had something to do with a pneumatic hammer. In hindsight we were pretty damn lucky that nothing else happened.
This list (well, 2 lists really) on steps to building a house is based on my experience of house building. Depending on the area of the country, or planet, that you’re building, your permit process, legal restriction, and climate and soil factors will be different. And there will undoubtedly be problems and dilemmas that come up during the process that will throw you for a loop. The inspector many not like something and insist that it be changed before signing off; there’s a strike at the truss factory and there’s no definite delivery of your trusses; the color of your special order roofing material is wrong and has to be exchanged. I could go on ad infinitum. You get my point, though. Planning is critical, but it’s best if you’re adaptable and flexible when glitches come up.
The most important step to reach, beside the final inspection and occupancy permit, is to get the materials and structure under cover. Buy or borrow lots of tarps. Cover you pile of building materials with plenty of tarps. Get the walls and roof framed and sheathed as quickly as possible. If the final roofing material isn’t available, put tarps on the roof. Short and infrequent exposure to rain isn’t too much of a problem, but several days of rain and standing water on the plywood and OSB is bad. This kind of manufactured lumber has lots of glues and resins and will easily de-laminate when soaked long enough, which is about a day or less.
If you experience a pouring rain make sure to get into the structure and sweep out any standing water on the underlayment. This is the main reason the basement floor concrete isn’t poured too soon. Even with the roof on and the exterior walls sheathed there’s still many large openings (future doors and windows) that can let in a driving rain.
Building on a slab is a whole ‘nother ball game in terms of deflecting standing water. Rob Roy told of a home builder that had half finished cordwood walls on their monolithic slab. After a rain there was sufficient standing water on the slab floor next to the cordwood walls to cause some serious water absorption and expansion issues. If you’re intending to build on a slab at least have a raised curb incorporated into the edge of the structure. This extra 2 to 4 inches will raise the water-absorptive materials out of reach of all but the deepest, flood-level, water. Just a suggestion.
These lists will give you a good start in contemplating drawing up your own list, too. The list of inspections that will be done on your house is also a good guide to the order of things. Even if you start out with a list that comes from an experienced builder you’ll find there are things you’ll change to suit your own unique project. Best of luck on your adventure in house building! It’s an experience I’d recommend to anybody that wants a serious challenge in their life.
I have not personally tried this product, but if you’re tackling a larger home building project Home Building Project Plan has software for steps to building a house. Even if you’re of the type that likes a lot of control over the fine details of a project this could be just the ticket to help keep you organized.
If you’ve tried this, or other organization software like this, please drop me a line to let me know how it worked out for you. I’d be very interested to hear your experience.
Other People’s Lists
How House Construction Works by Marshall Brain at How Stuff Works.
There’s some good pointers in this list of steps to building a house. It’s several pages long. It’s actually a subcategory on a site about Kelowna, BC, Canada. (They recently took down the page so I don’t have a current link for you, unfortunately.)
Here’s a very basic 5-point list at About.com on step to building a house. You can’t get much simpler than 5 points: budget, lot, your team (contractor, subcontractors, etc.), floor plan, and contract negotiation. I think you can see there’s a little more to it than that.
Here’s a pretty good list at wikiHow on How to Build House: Step-by-Step.