ᐅ Which types of self-performed work are worthwhile in house construction?
Created on: 27 Jun 2017 16:04
C
Crossy
Hello everyone,
we have started planning our single-family house. Construction is scheduled to begin next spring.
Basically, we are now considering to what extent we should contribute self-performed work during the build.
We probably have one of the most important prerequisites for self-performance, namely time.
My husband can take 6 months off next year for the construction (with hardly any loss of income).
At first, we thought of typical tasks like wallpapering, painting, and so on.
Now the idea has come up (to make the most efficient use of the 6 months) to do the shell construction ourselves, or at least the basement and garage. More specifically, we could do the shell construction together with a self-employed mason/tiler friend. That means our friend would do the masonry with one of his employees, and my husband (+ occasionally my father) would assist with general labor tasks.
We could also do screeding and laying tiles or other floor coverings with this friend.
In addition, we can get windows and doors through our brother-in-law. He works for a window manufacturing company, so we would probably get favorable conditions, and our brother-in-law would help install the windows and doors with us (Is this even feasible with 2–3 people?).
There is also the option to do the electrical work together with a friend who is an electrician (although I am not sure how much assistance you can actually provide here).
On the one hand, we want to make the best use of the time we have, but we also don’t want to get overwhelmed by too much self-performance. By the way, we are both office workers professionally, and our practical experience so far is limited to painting, wallpapering, occasional helping tasks on friends’ house builds, and assembling IKEA furniture.
I am excluded as a helper because I will be busy with our children, managing the site (food and drinks), and organizing.
What is your assessment?
Would you have dared to take on this amount of self-performed work under these circumstances?
We would not carry out any trade without a professional, but we would always participate actively.
Is it possible to save a significant amount this way?
Or, from your experience, where is it worthwhile to get involved?
I am looking forward to your opinions!
we have started planning our single-family house. Construction is scheduled to begin next spring.
Basically, we are now considering to what extent we should contribute self-performed work during the build.
We probably have one of the most important prerequisites for self-performance, namely time.
My husband can take 6 months off next year for the construction (with hardly any loss of income).
At first, we thought of typical tasks like wallpapering, painting, and so on.
Now the idea has come up (to make the most efficient use of the 6 months) to do the shell construction ourselves, or at least the basement and garage. More specifically, we could do the shell construction together with a self-employed mason/tiler friend. That means our friend would do the masonry with one of his employees, and my husband (+ occasionally my father) would assist with general labor tasks.
We could also do screeding and laying tiles or other floor coverings with this friend.
In addition, we can get windows and doors through our brother-in-law. He works for a window manufacturing company, so we would probably get favorable conditions, and our brother-in-law would help install the windows and doors with us (Is this even feasible with 2–3 people?).
There is also the option to do the electrical work together with a friend who is an electrician (although I am not sure how much assistance you can actually provide here).
On the one hand, we want to make the best use of the time we have, but we also don’t want to get overwhelmed by too much self-performance. By the way, we are both office workers professionally, and our practical experience so far is limited to painting, wallpapering, occasional helping tasks on friends’ house builds, and assembling IKEA furniture.
I am excluded as a helper because I will be busy with our children, managing the site (food and drinks), and organizing.
What is your assessment?
Would you have dared to take on this amount of self-performed work under these circumstances?
We would not carry out any trade without a professional, but we would always participate actively.
Is it possible to save a significant amount this way?
Or, from your experience, where is it worthwhile to get involved?
I am looking forward to your opinions!
For our new build, we carried out the following tasks ourselves.
Electrical work: channelling walls, drilling and installing electrical boxes, pulling cables.
About 300 hours for around 150 boxes. According to our electrician, savings were approximately €5000.
Gutters: 57 hours. We have a hip roof and also a hip roof on the garage. Savings here were less than €1000.
But it was enjoyable.
Roofing: the underlay membrane and counter battens were installed by the main contractor, so we only had to do the roofing.
Effort: 200 hours. Exact savings: €7350.
The following DIY tasks are still pending:
Laying screed insulation, installing underfloor heating.
Savings: €3300.
Painting, wallpapering, landscaping.
Savings: unknown.
It should be noted that we were three people: father, father-in-law, and myself. Almost every day from 4:00 pm to 7:30 pm and every Saturday from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm.
Electrical work: channelling walls, drilling and installing electrical boxes, pulling cables.
About 300 hours for around 150 boxes. According to our electrician, savings were approximately €5000.
Gutters: 57 hours. We have a hip roof and also a hip roof on the garage. Savings here were less than €1000.
But it was enjoyable.
Roofing: the underlay membrane and counter battens were installed by the main contractor, so we only had to do the roofing.
Effort: 200 hours. Exact savings: €7350.
The following DIY tasks are still pending:
Laying screed insulation, installing underfloor heating.
Savings: €3300.
Painting, wallpapering, landscaping.
Savings: unknown.
It should be noted that we were three people: father, father-in-law, and myself. Almost every day from 4:00 pm to 7:30 pm and every Saturday from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm.
Of course, we would officially hire the bricklayer friend’s company. He is not supposed to do the work off the books but to invoice us normally. The idea was just to save on labor by having one of his employees work for us. (The same applies to the electrician.) By the way, this was the bricklayer friend’s idea.
We also don’t expect the house to be completed within 6 months.
Therefore, I find it interesting to get a cost estimate for the individual trades.
The question is whether we should assist mainly at the beginning (really with the shell construction alongside the friend) or during the interior work. In other words, how my husband should best allocate his 6 months off during the construction phase.
We also don’t expect the house to be completed within 6 months.
Therefore, I find it interesting to get a cost estimate for the individual trades.
The question is whether we should assist mainly at the beginning (really with the shell construction alongside the friend) or during the interior work. In other words, how my husband should best allocate his 6 months off during the construction phase.
I had the impression that the structural shell work involved less labor cost than the interior work, but after adding it up, it’s actually about even so far—640 hours for the exterior versus 700 hours for the interior. The structural work was somehow faster, but they usually worked in teams of four there, while inside it was mostly just two people. Karsten
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