any new home construction experiences?

[arklan]

so i (finally) got a decent job after quite sometime unemployed. yay! one of the things this leads to is figuring out where to live for my wife and i. we're at her parents house now.

one option is to build a house on their land. they own it free and clear, there is over an acre. i know loans from banks for homes are common, and that home construction loans when you already own the land DO exist. but i haven't got any idea how much i'd even be looking at.

i mean, how much does it cost to build a house? materials, different techniques (modular, prefab, stick build, poured concrete, brick?) labor? how much could we (and friends) do ourselves and what sort of legal stuff is there to deal with?

i just have no idea. not even sure where to begin looking for info, so here we are.

this is in texas, btw. i'm sure it differs by state.

any advice?

[solitare]

They would have to deed you a lot to build on before a bank would give you a loan.

Make sure you hire a reputable builder that has insurance. (So you can sue them if they mess your house up)
They are hard to collect anything from if they don't have insurance.

You can do things like paint, and other interior work to save money.

Good luck.

[Vixmore]

If you already have the land for free, then just build the house. You can make it really personalised.

[arklan]

thanks guys.

[Lieldoryn]

It seems to me that the material from which to build a house depends on the area in which it is built. There where a lot of forests to build wooden houses. Where next city is brick or concrete plants building a stone house. In Texas most often I've seen teams at home. They are lower quality, but cheaper and faster to build.

[crypto_ranger]

Just don't build your house out of wood. The possibility of a fire is not to be underestimated, and when all of your belongings have burned and all your years of hard labor have been for nothing, and you have to start over you'll wish you had built your house with more fireproof materials. There are things which insurance can't replace. Source is personal experience.

[arklan]

Just don't build your house out of wood. The possibility of a fire is not to be underestimated, and when all of your belongings have burned and all your years of hard labor have been for nothing, and you have to start over you'll wish you had built your house with more fireproof materials. There are things which insurance can't replace. Source is personal experience.

seeing as my father in law is a supervisor at a nearby concrete plant, it seems likely that we'll go that route. forms and rebar, pour concrete, hey look, walls. more or less, anyway.

[Mang86]

Well, I don't know where you are from, but in Croatia, for a decent family house you need at least €150 000. I speak from personal experience
note: average salary in Croatia is €800