Basic Home Construction Software

Hi, Carl.

Can you direct me to basic software that integrates a house building cost spreadsheet with a project timeline/progress tracking record ?

I emphasize "basic," as I am not looking for sophisticated contractor software.

Your suggestions will be much appreciate.

John J.

Hi John,

Read my Blog of Oct 18, 2009, Home Building Software.

I believe this is what you are looking for.

Carl

A Little Thanks

Carl, I wanted to congratulate and thank you for such an informative website.

I am looking to build my first home. I had the opportunity to help my father do so in Lake Tahoe, California. It was such an interesting and money saving process that I wanted to partake in it also.

I have relocated from the land "starving" Los Angeles California to Austin Texas just to find that "perfect lot".

Now I'm trying to gather more and more information. I did learn that having key information upfront helps tremendously.

Again thanks for the tips, etc.

Keep up the great work-Rory

Thanks Rory,

Your kind comments mean a lot to me.

Carl
www.byoh.com

Stock House Plans

Hi -we are thinking about purchasing a set of house plan ##-### from a home plan website. My first question is are these plans usually accurate and complete?

My second question is, with the changes we made, we were quoted $2,570 for the construction set plus one free blueprint.

Is this a reasonable price for complete plans?

What should we be aware of (this is our first time building)?

THX for any help you can give!!

Jackie

Jackie,

The completeness and quality of stock plans vary with the quality of the firm who drew them. Before buying your plans, you should research the designer.
• How long have they been in business?
• How many plans have they produced?
• Is the design you like typical of their work?
• Were the plans drawn recently?
• How many plans for this design have been sold?
• Do they (the plans) conform to building codes in your area?
Most plan designers provide this information on their websites.

I would always recommend buying plans directly from a designer's website instead of a large plan aggregator who may not identify a plan's designer. This prevents you from buying the plans directly, but it also prevents you from researching the designer.

Regarding the price you were quoted, it's hard to say if this is a fair price without knowing what changes were included. Stock plans are generally priced at a fraction of the cost originally expended to draw them because the designer hopes to resell them many times. Custom changes are priced at cost plus profit, so even minor changes will significantly increase the cost of a set of stock plans.

Hope this helps,
David Moore, AIA
Original Home Plans

"Dear Readers,
Do you have a question for David?
Click here to "Ask the Architect".
Carl"

Can You Hire Laborers by the Hour?

I am building my own home. I am using subcontractors for many things.

However, I want to know if I can hire laborers by the hour to help me with things I am doing myself?

Thank you,
Joe

Hi Joe, your question comes up frequently.

Whether you pay labor by the hour or by the job is irrelevant to a greater issue.

The issue is, what is your liability if one of them gets injured.

I can only say to you and everyone else who is thinking of doing the same thing the following:

Whether you are building a new home, remodeling a home, building an addition, or just hiring someone to do some kind of general labor on your property on the weekend be absolutely sure that they are all insured. Anyone you hire to do anything needs to be insured BEFORE they set foot on your property.

They must provide you with a copy of their “Certificate of Insurance”. This Certificate provides proof that the person or company named on the Certificate has “General Liability” coverage, and carries “Workman’s comp” for his or their employees.

Hire absolutely no one who does not carry insurance. These commercial policies are paid in advance for a whole year, and can’t be canceled. So, check the dates on the certificate.

If a worker is injured on the job, on your property, and they are not insured, they can come “after you” for money. Yikes!

Read "Home Building - Subcontractor Insurance" for more detail.

Good luck and thanks for writing,

Carl

eBook

What is the difference between your ebook (that I am reading with great interest) and your "Building Your Own House" printed book avaialable on Amazon?

Rick

Hi Rick,

The book on Amazon I believe you are refering to is "Be Your Own House Contractor".
The main differences are that the bound book has:
167 pages vs. 85.
A glossary
An English/Spanish glossary
An Index
A Sample house plan and how to read it.
A house schematic drawing
Metric conversion chart
Sample contracts and forms
House Specifications form (Description of materials) & instructions
And more

But a big difference is that an eBook is not really a book. EBooks are difficult to read on line (for many people), difficult to carry around even with ebook readers*, expensive to print out (in color), hard to "thumb through" and well, they just aren’t a real professionally bound book that you can put on a book shelf which is important to many people (including me).
Thanks for your interest and for writing.
Carl
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