Building 800sq ft home with General Contractor--bank's requirement:( 60K

[VermonterPups]

The Situation: I have a very tight budget to build, 70-100K for *everything,* including home, septic, water, clearing, etc. And unfortunately with a loan, the bank requires a general contractor and multiple inspections--so I can't do much myself--which I otherwise may be able to. I live in Central Vermont. Thankfully we do not have zoning in my town. I need help saving money any way I can; I wanted as much passive solar as I could, but unfortunately that may mean just orientation. Btw--I have never used a compass; how do I find True South for orientation? The following are my thoughts on a building. All input welcome. What could I cut out first if I have to?

About 800sq ft home--maybe a knee-high second floor--especially if the basement turns to 4in slab

Pex tubing for radiant floor, plastic tubing w/ return lines next to out-going hot lines 1/2"-3/4", copper pipe header to split the runs, pump placed at end of run/water is coolest, own control valve for each

Basement with bulkhead, woodstove in middle of basement--I really want a basement and a porch

Radiant Heating: centralized thermostat/expansion tank/pressure relief valve

Long side oriented within thirty degrees true south, extra large south windows with low e film

Covered porch on West side

Kitchen at NE corner of house, bathroom next to porch door

Door in a downstairs' bedroom—if there is a downstairs bedroom

4 Plug outlets, outlets outside, prewire for generator, full-size cupboard in kitchen for brooms, light in crawl-space attic, faucet on outside, recessed fridge, stacked stairs

Double stud walls joined by small plywood trusses filled (12" cavity) with Dense Pack Cellulose (exterior load bearing)

Conventional Pre-Manufactured trusses

Bathroom next to outside door

Steep metal roof

Earth Bermed?

Is it cheaper to build a 16ft wide home?

I talked with one general contractor--how does this process work? Is it better to find an architect first--and where for something this simple? Has anyone seen similar plans online? Can I find almost the same plans and just have the contractor deviate? Will he do that? Or if I have plans, am I supposed to put it out to bid just to get a general contractor?

I don't mind rustic, but the bank requires that it be finished to a certain degree. Am I nuts for getting a loan? My son is 17months. Should I just save up?

And how do I know how much overhang for the south windows?

Thanks for any input!

[Alan Gage]

Is there any reason you can't pay someone to be your general contractor and do all the work yourself? They'd just be a figurehead and would be in charge of calling in the inspections and making sure everything goes properly.

I built a very similar house (10" double stud with dense pack with some solar gain from the south). Look around on the web and you can find calculators to show the angle of the sun at different times of the year. Then you need to figure out how deep your overhang will be and how high it is above the windows to see how much shading you'll get at different times of the year. I ended up drawing something real simple in sketchup to see it. If you put in the time of day and date it will place the sun and then you can see how the shadows fall. I didn't even draw the house, just drew the windows and the overhang. Mine ended up being 3' deep and is maybe 12" above the window. I lose a little in the shoulder seasons but it also keeps the sun off the windows on some really hot days.

Finding windows that allow solar heat gain can be difficult since everyone normally just sells windows to block solar rays. I knew from research what coatings I wanted and ended up calling the company directly (took 2 tries to get someone knowlegeable) to talk to them about it. In all their literature they only offered 2 coatings but after talking to them they said they could do any coating that Cardinal made.  It was painless once I got the right person.

Be careful about hiring the work done, more for them than you. If you hire someone that normally builds run of the mill 2x6 framed houses you're going to drive them crazy with all this stuff you want. They know how to build the houses that 99% of the people want and are happy with and probably won't have much patience with you, understandably so. That's why I'd try to find someone willing to act as the GC and then let you do the work.

Good luck,

Alan

[rick91351]

We tried to do just what Allen suggested and we found no one willing to do that.  Not saying you can not find some one.  We tried guys that were retiring even and they still did not want to stick their neck or their licence out there.  We tried personal friends, even a couple pretty shady guys thinking they might bite.  None wanted to take on the liability of us not getting anything done in a timely manor. 

What we ended up doing and most likely would not work for you - we had a substantial amount saved.  We had the land (about 640 acres free and clear. )  The well, septic, and power were in over the past few years.  So we had a pretty good track record.  Finely our banker gave us a name of a person in Boise that said give him a call.  They arranged a loan through a Ag lending service. We have complete control of the funds and have no bank or lending institution inspecting us.  In effect we took out a loan we could have done anything with.  True the interest rates are not the most attractive compared to a today's mortgage but in line with your average construction loan.  When we are completed in a few months we will search out a better interest rate. 

So as I say I doubt that would work for you.  However it certainly gives credence that there might be other types of vehicles that might be useful in finding funding rather than a straight conventional construction loan. 

Looking over your wish list a few things might sink you.  But pencil everything out..... in true figures not what some writer says you can.               

[mwhutch]

We had trouble at first finding a bank to lend to us, and we too had a tight budget. After thoroughly planning what we would build, materials, plans, and a cost break down we were referred by a friend to a bank that took the loan. If you do the all the research and find a bank that has people issue loans rather than computers you should be able to find a lender. I believe we talked to a dozen local banks before finding one that would lend to an owner builder. With our bank they send out an appraiser when we ask for draws just to show that we have done what we are asking funding for, and all other inspections are just county building inspections. Also on another note, we have done most of the work on our house, and though very tiring have found it less stressful than when we hire someone else to do it.Do your research if you do use subcontractors to make sure they will do what they say when they say. If you do most of the work I think you should be able to get most of what you want on that budget(unless supply costs are significantly higher in Vermont).  Best of luck on your build, I look forward to seeing your progress!

[Don_P]

Zoning is rarely the issue, and do build to code.
The downstairs bedroom won't work with a bulkhead for good reason, the sleeping occupants need fast egress in an emergency, a window and a quick door. Look to daylighting the basement if it is habitable. Radiant then workas on that floor, insulate that slab entirely. It works less well for upper floors. Lose the larsen trusses and sprayfoam the walls or use foam over the studs, Mt Don has done a good job describing that approach. Put a good hat on it, heat rises. Good quality windows and doors will mean more. Solar tempering works best within 10 degrees of south, reflectance kicks in the more you get away from that. If that is truly a method of heat gain you need to insulate the windows at night or the heat just emits back out to the black sky at night. Passive solar requires active people. No contractor you want will sell his ticket. But I've worked with many owner builders letting them take on parts of the project for sweat equity. Bear in mind you must be timely, hold up the job and he'll do it himself and bill you or hire it done, think about your schedule realistically. Sometimes it is better to earn money and pay others, the equation is always individual. I've had better luck sending owner builders to local banks that I've worked with.

[rick91351]

Another thing we found was the national 'chain' banks.  The Wells Fargos, Chases, Bank of America types you can ask but they are a complete waste of time.  You will not fit there one size fits all banking scheme of doing business.  Talk to the little guys more than them.  It was a small bank that some one took time to go to bat for us and started asking around. 

Another thing you want to look at is insurance - wow it is all over the place what they will insure and what they will not.  We were cautioned a long time ago by our insurance agent.  As well as our attorney  to get liability on our one time bare ground.  Or raw ground as some times referred to on this forum.  So I said okay set us up......  Well it was impossible through him - a Farmers Agent.  I talked to a independent agent and months went by and got a phone call from him.  He put together wonderful package for us.  Autos - pick up - fire and liability on our then home plus the ranch.  Plus a million dollar umbrella over it all.  Funny the bare ground was insured through Farmers the company that said they could not do it.  It is a tiny part of Farmers called Farmers Alliance and most of their people do not even know it its there.   

When building such as you are wanting to...  People are often tempted to go it without insurance until the project is complete.   When you can not underwrite your own loss you need insurance.  We last summer on the forum had one member lost all to a fire.  (Lighting)  One member in Utah and I think that was the year that Mt Don also had a fire very close but two summers ago were almost was burned out with a forest fire.  We last year were caught between two huge fire complexes burning opposite directions and both were in sight of us.  True in most cases the lending institution will require it.  But in our case we ended up with a loan we could have just went on one big party.....  Nothing is required other than in failure to pay they what copies of where the money went and why.....  That is before they take everything from you.  In our case a ranch that part of it has been in the family 129 years.  Even with insurance you need to practice due diligence keeping the job site clean and picked up.             

[Erin]

window overhangs:  http://www.susdesign.com/tools.php 
Rustic:  Don't live in your house til it's DONE or it'll never BE done. 
Earth bermed/basement house:  More energy efficient, but probably more expensive for floor area... (unless you're putting in a full basement anyway)


Loan:  We started our project with very little in the bank and have just saved and built as we went.  We're currently saving for windows but should have them in by this summer and have the house ready by next winter.  We skipped a builder's loan because I had seriously doubts that we would be able to finish it within the required time frame.   Besides, that would just add more money (interest) to the cost and that's part of what we were trying to avoid.
Consequently, we have a half-finished house and owe nothing on it so far.  And it would probably be easier to finance at this point than it was at the very beginning...
We've had builder's insurance on it since day one through State Farm.  It just rolls right over into our homeowner's policy. 

[Huge29]

We had trouble at first finding a bank to lend to us, and we too had a tight budget. After thoroughly planning what we would build, materials, plans, and a cost break down we were referred by a friend to a bank that took the loan. If you do the all the research and find a bank that has people issue loans rather than computers you should be able to find a lender. I believe we talked to a dozen local banks before finding one that would lend to an owner builder. With our bank they send out an appraiser when we ask for draws just to show that we have done what we are asking funding for, and all other inspections are just county building inspections.

Bingo!  Being a loan officer myself, it is all about getting a real community bank, not one of these national banks that have loan officers that do nothing more than a monkey could do typing info to see if the computer says it is approved. 
I read a book that would likely help you.  It was about being your own GC and what it all entails, including getting approved for a bank loan, what the bank really wants to see.  It is great info on how to find subs, how to get them to show up, etc.  Here is the one I read, I found it to be a great resource "The Owner-Builder Book: How You Can Save More Than $100,000 in the Construction of Your Custom Home, 4th Edition Paperback by Mark A. Smith "  I got it at the library, also available from Amazon.