As a long time builder, the worst outcome I have witnessed over all my years is when I see the bad judgement calls of a novice home owner or builder that results in an atrocity.

As I go deep into my analysis of what alterations need to be made to set of custom plans, I share those insights with the owner, then they, for cost saving reasons, decide to build the home themselves, often going against my recommendations.

Utilizing a contractor doesn’t cost any more money than doing it yourself because of the contractor’s ability to buy at TRUE wholesale prices, which justifies his fee.

A novice home owner/builder will often make bad judgement calls on the coordination of construction details resulting in poor construction quality and utterly horrible architectural execution. Not always, but often enough that I have to alter my travel routes to avoid looking at the resulting atrocity.

If you are considering doing it yourself, ask yourself how much money you would save if you worked with an expert at saving money on building materials and subcontractors. Ask yourself if this is about saving money or about participating actively in the process as a hand-on home builder. You can do much of the work on building the home yourself while working with a custom home builder as a partner.