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by Larry Angell

In 1995, I built my first home without the help of any contractors. I didn't do it to prove anything at all; I just wanted my family and me to have a nice place to live without the high mortgage payments. I paid cash for as much of the materials that I could. Most of the time, I used credit cards and builders cards.

I did my own excavation with a pick and shovel. I made all the cement forms and had the cement delivered and poured. When the foundation was all dry and completed, I started putting on all the floor joists and covered them with wafer board and plywood. I then built the outside walls that included the rough openings for doors and windows.

I also did most of the water and septic plumbing and electrical systems while the walls were open and exposed. I made the stairs and started building the second floor. After the second floor was done, I built the roof framing and enclosed the entire house to keep the snow, ice, and rain out. I put on strong metal roofing and put in all the windows and doors.

I then built all the interior walls and finished the electrical wiring and the rough-in plumbing so I could have it inspected before the sheetrock walls were put on. After the first inspections passed, I closed in all the walls with drywall.

I installed vinyl siding and trim on the exterior. The difference was unbelievable. I had kitchen cabinets built by a cabinet maker and worked on the inside finish work and trim. I installed all of the electrical systems, appliances, and fixtures.

I passed my second round of inspections with the plumbing inspector, electrical inspector, and the building inspector.

I had all of the flooring and carpeting installed by professionals. When my house was finished, I still had one final inspection to get the occupancy permit. After we got the occupancy permit we moved into our home. We consolidated all of our debt from credit cards into one home mortgage loan with low interest. We had a good amount of equity in our home from our hard-earned labor.

My cost of materials was around $60,000. The final appraised price of my home was $140,000 when we moved in.

It was only after all of my building experience that I realized how much the cost of labor is and why contractor built homes are so expensive to buy. The price of construction labor has increased so much over the last twenty years that people who make average to good incomes cant afford average homes.

Banks have had to get really creative and take a lot of chances so people could have homes. Wages haven't kept pace at all with the inflation of homes or anything else and that's the biggest reason why we are in the financial crisis.

About the Author:
Larry Angell is the author of Sweat equity, build a house at half cost. Please see his web site for free info about house build and learn how you build your own house

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