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Builder Launch

Public • 469 • Free

21 contributions to Builder Launch
Construction Loans Extremely Tough To Get Right Now!
Words of warning to anyone who has not acquired land yet but is considering this avenue. I have spoken with several owner builders that have had problems with this recently, and even big builders are under pressure seeing banks trying to shrink their access to credit. If you can get a smoking deal on land right now have a long time horizon, it can be worth considering, but otherwise, you should be aware that this is likely the number one hurdle you will face right now outside of the fact that material and labor prices still have not come down enough to make building your own home lucrative at our current resale prices. At this moment, resale prices seem to be falling faster than the construction inputs to build new (material and labor), so the ideal time to build your own home if your goal is to maximize your upside or value for your dollars does not seem to be at this part of the cycle. I hope everyone is well. Take this time to learn and be patient, the time to buy land and build will return. If you already own land, simply GC'ing your own build at this time can still save you money vs paying a turnkey builder, but if you have not committed to this route yet, beware of the current challenges.
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New comment Jun 6
1 like • Jun 5
I can vouch for this. It took us almost 6 months to resecure construction financing from a private lender after our first construction loan approval was cancelled...after we had sold our house and broke ground. I was able to secure an exit mortgage and construction financing with virtually no issue in June 2023. Fast forward to October 2023 - our permit was taking too long, so I found out from our broker on the day our permit was issued that our financing had been cancelled 😕. From here it took months to acquire an exit mortgage as interest rates had climbed significantly and banks were much more reluctant to finance a rural self-build. I would have to agree with Mitch that you may face a very uphill battle when it comes to self-building right now. On the upside, at least lumber prices have remained stable 🤣!
Slab-on-grade stone prep
Hey all, Perhaps a really stupid noob question, but my excavation contractor and I have been going back and forth on best materials to place under my slab prior to concrete. We're trying to find a balance between ease of digging for running conduit and plumbing, cost, and ease of getting compacted/leveled. Any insights or thoughts are greatly appreciated! Cheers, Matt N.
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New comment Apr 16
0 likes • Apr 14
@Steven Verbeek I am using 1/2" x 6" concrete anchor bolts 48" OC. The holes get drilled out after the concrete has cured. OBC requires fastening the sill plate to the concrete in some form or another. Best to check with you AHJ for their preferred method.
0 likes • Apr 16
@Steven Verbeek it should make the concrete finishers job a little bit easier not having to trowel around dozens of bolts. For a prefabricated structure like I'm doing, there is a fair amount of precision required in placing the mudsill, so anchor bolts seemed like a better option than cast in place bolts.
Affordable housing + passivehouse building standards
While not everyone's cup of tea, we need to be building more homes like this: https://youtu.be/EhnbpakXk7U?si=h7GEjH3b62rVt2-o
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New comment Apr 5
Affordable housing + passivehouse building standards
1 like • Mar 8
@Ahmad Zee weird. The channel that posted it took the video down.
0 likes • Apr 5
@Evan Bell I'm fairly sure it was Ekobuilt Passive Homes out of Ottawa. They had built an 800ish sqft home to passivhouse standards. Not sure why they took the video down.
Full Coaching Program For Owner Builders & First Time Builders
I started this group many months ago with the intention of it being a simple place to go to understand whether or not building your own home was feasible for you. My intention was that, if it was feasible to build, I would be building out the perfect solution to help you manage your first build with a full video library I had been working on from a real build over a period of 9 months. What I have found so far is that people need far more help with budgeting and feasibility analysis than I first anticipated. At first I thought most of the help people would need would be on the technical and logistical side of actually being in charge of the building process, but I see now that a high level of help is needed from day one. With all that being said, I know that in order to actually help everyone in here move forward meaningfully, I would have to start hosting at least weekly calls, and pulling in more resources, experts, templates ect for people to follow. In order to be able to set aside the time required to do this, I would need the time invested in these activities to produce some revenue to offset the time away from my regular business. I am currently in the middle of considering whether it is best to: a) Leave this as a free group in its current format, more or less user driven without much direct guidance. b) Start to charge some kind of a monthly fee for remaining in the group, but include more direct coaching and continue to build out the video lesson library. c) Start a second group aimed only at the most serious owner builder/ first time builders at a higher one time fee to provide a high level of direct support and consulting. Please take a moment to fill out the survey below, and feel free to chime in with comments or shoot me a DM if you have further thoughts on this topic. Regards, Mitch
Poll
23 members have voted
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New comment May 12
2 likes • Mar 22
Hmm, this is tricky. I personally feel like I 'might' have paid for access to information, but this is only after realizing it has taken me 4 years of research to get to the point of being able to self build. To me, the finance side of self-building is the most challenging aspect; perhaps a two-tiered approach is best. An open forum for general building questions, then a more guided and paid service for navigating the financial end of things.
1 like • Mar 22
@Mitch Cleary I think it's a case of "the more you know, the more you realize you don't know". I think having some.paid guidance early on would have helped.
Framing Price Per Square Foot Quotes
I’ve been chatting with some framers this week and hearing that local framing prices are ranging between $15-$20 per square foot depending on roof complexity. This is labor only no material of course. I remember about 7 years ago when it was closer to $10 per sqft! Has anyone else gotten quotes to compare notes? If so post below!
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New comment Mar 6
0 likes • Mar 6
@Jonathon Jack This is an interesting observation. My building inspector was telling me that single family dwelling permit application numbers have fallen off a cliff in our municipality. Definitely sounds like there will be a bit of 'herd thinning' in the near future.
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Mathew Newcombe
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30points to level up
@mathew-newcombe-3939
First time home builder with off-grid energy system installation experience. Background in industrial automation and electrical controls design.

Active 22h ago
Joined Aug 29, 2023
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