Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq. wrote:
Boater wrote:
Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq. wrote:
Boater wrote:
Gene wrote:
On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 12:03:49 -0500, "Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq."
wrote:

We are thinking about using this downturn in the housing market to
build a new home, and acting as our own General Contractor. Has
anyone in the group done this and do they have any words of advice?

Yes, with three houses and two workshops. Not only was I General
Contractor, I was also 50% of the labor.

Your only real savings, in this market, will be sweat equity. You can
buy cheaper than you can build.... you just have to find an equally
desperate mortgagee and mortgagor.... or you could do it the seat
equity route, if you have the cash, tools, and a desire to make it
happen.

No bank is going to let *you* (as their mortgagor) serve as General
Contractor unless you hold a contractor's license.

Advice? You're crazy to even attempt it...... uh, but wasn't I
thinking about adding on to the workshop.....

.... Oh, never mind......


It's an incredible burner of time. I had to do it because the
general I hired to build a custom home in Northern Virginia turned
out to be way overextended financially from previous projects, and
could not line up the subs I wanted, and was teetering.

Took the builder to court, had a civil jury trial, and won a
settlement of more than $100,000. Never collected anything but the
builder's license bond from the state.

With the help of the lumberyard (who issued the construction bond)
and my bank, I took over when the foundation had been laid and the
slabs poured, hired a project manager to oversee the subs on salary
and bonus, and completed the house just a hair over budget. I had to
be on the site for about an hour at 6:30 AM just about every morning.

It was a huge house, ultra modern, with four full brick fireplaces,
nearly 4000 square feet on the main level, and another 3,000 square
feet finished in the basement. I looked it up on Zillow early last
year and it was valued at more than $1.5 million. The "crash" of the
real estate market apparently hit Northern Virginia hard, because
when I looked it up on Zillow earlier this evening, it was valued at
about $1.1 million.

Just checked the second house I owned in Northern Virgina...it was
the one we sold to build the custom house. I paid $87k for it - nice
builder's subdivision house - and sold it about five years later for
$160,000, I think. Zillow has it at $600,000 and change. Not bad,
and the blue spruce trees I planted there in the mid-1970s are at
least 40 feet tall and full triple wides.

Nice story, and pictures?


There are aerial pictures of both places on Zillow. Soon as you
provide your full legal name here and I verify it, I'll be glad to
supply the addresses of the houses.


Ok, how do you plan on verifying my full legal name?

Quietly; not the way you would do it.