Can I Build a House if I’m Not a Licensed Contractor?

Yes, we are still planning on building.  There has been a lot of behind-the-scenes work going on so lots of topics to blog about;-)

We’ve gotten a lot of strange looks when we’ve told people that we are building this house ourselves (meaning that we are acting as the general contractor).  Most of the time, responses are laced with a lot of sarcasm and good-luck-with-that-but-I-think-you-are-going-to-fail-miserably glances.  My take on it is just like I look at everything…am I going to look back on this and wish we would have tried?  If the answer is “yes” then why the heck not try!!!

In the State of Tennessee, a person who owns property is allowed one permit every two years to build their home as long as it is not for sale, lease or rent.  This is according to TCA 62-6-103 and Rule 0680-1-.22.  This topic is covered on the State’s “Frequently Asked Questions” page link below.  A good place to start is your local Building & Codes office — ours is located in our civic office complex.  Every state has a different policy regarding this issue so make sure you know what the law says.

The problem that we ran into was getting a construction loan secured without having a licensed contractor.  The banking and mortgage industry is a different animal than it was only a few short years ago.  As much as I would like to pay cash for this house, it’s not in the cards right now so we sought financing through a local bank where we had an established relationship.  If you are able to stockpile the funds to build with cash, that would be the way to go as it would eliminate this potential bottle neck.

State of Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors – Frequently Asked Questions

HINDSIGHT IS 20/20:  We were still required to obtain a letter from a licensed general contractor (GC) for our financial institution.  If you know a GC who is willing to offer advice, counsel, and potentially the name of some subcontractors, that would be a good place to start.  Every bank and credit union I talked with had a different policy, so it’s important to shop around.  Each was different regarding customer service, lending amounts, fees, timelines, and requirements…for us it was important to stay loyal to the institution we bank with regularly so we overlooked the minor stuff;-)  I started this process 6 months ago so that when the time came to get the ball rolling, it was a quick and painless.

Stock Up and Save?

Our pile of stock plans that sits by my bed...

Part 1

Looking through house plans has been a hobby of mine since I was a kid.  For “fun” I would sketch out my dream home on graph paper.  I know exciting stuff.  The home of my dreams had stables in the back for my horses and an inground pool.  Little did I know I would one day be allergic to horses and have a fear of water brought on by an early childhood viewing of Jaws.  Things change and each of us has very particular preferences.

As Rusty and I have planned for our home, the question came up as to whether we should choose a stock plan, go with an architect, or seek the services of a home designer.  Everyone has a differing opinion as to the best route to take.

We have literally gone through thousands of stock plans — in books, magazines, on the web — wherever we could find them.  There were a handful that came really close but there was usually a major issue — too much square footage we couldn’t afford or a crazy roofline that made you go “huh?”  Beyond this, we wanted an open floor plan.  It’s really hard to find a stock plan without walls;-)

So how do you know which option is for you?  If you are like us, the stock route just wasn’t working.  It was an exercise in frustration.  Next, I called every architectural firm in our small town asking for a residential designer and you guessed it — there wasn’t one to be found.  The common response I got was, “Won’t your contractor do that for you?”

Well, no…because we are the contractor and we don’t possess that skill.  That’s when we started calling contractors thinking that we should give up on acting as an owner-builder.  All but one of them wanted a set of plans they could “modify.”  There was one outfit in town that charged you 15% (12% for building the house and an additional 3% for the plans).  If you are building a $200,000 home, this comes to $24,000 for contracting the house and an additional $6000 for the plans.  Plus, you had to pick from their portfolio of plans.  While the homes were nice, they were simply a smaller sample of the same stock plans we’d seen over and over.  But you had to use them to contract the home to get the design service.  No thanks.

That’s when our hunt for the right residential designer began…