Armchair Builder

CAT | Owner-Builder

At this point in the home building process, you’re ready to create your Scope of Work and Specification.  This is an extremely critical step to make sure your new home is built with the best quality and with your specific choices.  Not only will these be used in the bidding process to tell potential subcontractors […]

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Do you have attic snow?  In other words…have you experienced snow accumulating in your attic?  If you see new water spots on your ceiling after a windy snowfall you might have this problem.  Attic snow can accumulate when the wind conditions are just right and you have ridge vents.  Obviously snow is no good in […]

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In step eight of our How to Build a Home blog series, we want to finalize our plans and specifications.  Leading up to this point, we’ve determined out overall budget, located and purchased a lot, selected a house plan, determined a rough cost to build, and setup a construction loan.  Now we are ready to […]

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The construction loan is the seventh step in our blog series, How to Build a Home.  At this point you’ve determined your overall budget, selected a lot and house plan, analyzed your estimated rough costs to build, and now you’re ready to put together the construction loan to build your dream home. Your Credit Score […]

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At the end of last year we compiled a list of some of the best Armchair Builder resources from the year.  Well, here we go again.  We’ve put together some of the best articles, videos, and building resources…just in case you missed something this year.  We’ve covered a lot of ground but if you have […]

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  The actual lot purchase is the 6th step in our, How to Build a Home, series of blog posts.  At this point you have done all the necessary due diligence to make sure there are no hidden surprises in this property and it fits your budget.  You’ve gone through our Lot Purchase Guide completely to […]

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The next step in our blog series, How to Build a Home, is to analyze your overall costs.  By adding your estimated rough cost to build to the lot cost, you will have an idea of the overall project cost.  Comparing this estimated total cost for the completed home to your overall budget from step […]

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Building safety should be a major concern for owner builders.  On December 15th, 2012, OSHA will be enforcing a new fall protection rule on new home building sites.  The leading cause of death on construction sites in the U.S. each year are from falls.  As an owner builder, you need to make sure you and […]

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Updated May 2020 Determining the rough cost to build is the forth step in our blog series, How to Build a Home.  Step one was to determine your overall budget.  Step two…find a potential building lot.  Step three was to locate a potential house plan.  Now, you need to get a rough estimate for the cost […]

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Creating your house plans is the third step in our blog series…How to Build a Home.  At this point in your new home building project you have determined your overall budget, selected a lot to build on and are now ready to create the  plans for your dream home.  Here we will discuss all of […]

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