Project Homestead - Part 1 - The SLOW start.

After searching for months trying to find a home we'd like to buy in Price, we eventually decided there was nothing worth purchasing. Everything was either far beyond our price range (the new homes), in need of far too much repair/renovation (most of the homes in our price range) or BOTH. There is an astounding number of older (1950's or 1970's) home in Price that have had minor renovations and are now priced more expensive than brand new homes in some other areas.  The phrase "polished turd" kept coming to mind but it didn't really apply because most of them hadn't been polished.

Rather than paying too much for something that still needed a lot of work, we've opted to build our own home. I've done some framing before and seen, at least at some level, everything involved in building a home I'm just foolish enough to tackle the entire process, and much of the work, myself and will document the experience here.

In February 2011, we chose a house plan from an web store and purchased it for $700. We wanted a few changes but figured we could hand draw the changes we needed.  After talking to the local building inspector about the plans though, it became clear they would need a lot of change to pass 2009 code because these were from 2006.  I spent $100 for a home design software application and started re-drawing the plans and putting in the necessary changes. We were still saving up money for the down payment and so the extra time didn't matter much.

In March, 2011, we made an offer on a lot we really wanted but were turned down. In July 2011, we finally felt we had enough money saved up to get started and that we'd have the plans ready soon so we placed an offer on an alternate lot. It wasn't the lot we really wanted but the price was within our budget, we already knew some of the neighbors and it was laid out just right for our home plans. There was some confusion with the real estate agent and the developer/seller over which lots were actually still available and so we didn't get the lot we wanted.

While trying to clear up the confusion regarding which lots were available, the real estate agent remembered the lot we originally wanted and mentioned that another on the same street had just sold for a price we could afford. We made an offer and landed our preferred lot for the same price as the second choice lot was selling for.  SCORE! The lot we grabbed is on a street of new homes, across the street from a church next door to friends, and up the street from the school Leslie teaches at and Haylie attends. BIG SCORE!!

We lined everything up with the bank and headed to the city offices to have our plans approved. That's when we hit our first setback. The "setback" requirements on the lot meant our home, as designed, wouldn't fit on the lot and we'd need to re-draw the plans.

The same week our plans and lot were going to the appraiser as part of the loan process, I had to completely redesign and redraw the entire plan.  Three days later, we had something the appraiser could use and a week later, we had something that would pass inspection.  UGH - that was a LONG week!
The loan process was easy and we signed the papers mid August 2011 with our approved plans in hand.

Building a home was no longer a dream, it was a commitment we had to come through on.

LESSONS LEARNED:
1) That 20% down is due when you sign papers on the owner/builder loan. You don't have until the home is complete to have the 20% ready. They also add 10% to the projected costs betting that a non-professional builder is going to go over a bit.
2) Building code requirements have come a long way since our previous house was built in 2004.
3) Washington Federal in Price, UT (the bank we used) is really friendly and helpful with the whole financing and planning process.