Do-It-Yourself Home Building

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Home Building

Building your own home is an often exciting, sometimes exhausting experience. It’s also a perfect chance to have a home that’s designed the way you want it to look. But whether you’re hiring a general contractor or doing most of the work yourself, it takes a lot of forethought and planning. The sites highlighted in this Web guide can help you find inspiration to create the home of your dreams and get much-needed help to ensure you don’t miss one of the many details that accompany this endeavor.

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Steps to Building a Home

Home building may seem like a complicated process—and it is—but we’ve found some ... read more »

The Cost of Building a Home

The cost of building a home depends on a multitude of factors, including what type of home you ... read more »

Choosing a Construction Site and House Style

One of the earliest steps in building a new home is deciding what type of home you want and where ... read more »

Building Codes, Building Permits and Variances

Part of building your new home is making sure you’ve got your bases covered in terms of ... read more »

Architects and Blueprints

If you’ve got ideas about designing your own home and need help translating them into ... read more »

Finding and Hiring a Contractor

Many people may help you build your home, but you’ll likely have one general contractor ... read more »

Do-It-Yourself Home Building

For someone with the necessary knowledge and technical skills, building your own home can be a rewarding and financially advantageous move. With a little research, you’ll become more confident in your abilities to build a home yourself, learn how to handle unfamiliar aspects of home building, and know when to seek the help of qualified professionals.

Dulcinea's Insight

“How to Plan, Contract and Build Your Own Home” walks the committed do-it-yourselfer through the basic aspects of home building. Find information about selecting the right home site, how to design your home for the best traffic patterns, and important considerations about the types of products you use in your home. Another must-read is “Tips & Traps When Building Your Home,” which helps prospective home builders determine whether they have enough know-how to act as their own general contractor and much more.

Remember that, even when building your home yourself, you’ll still be bound by building code requirements that apply to the area in which you live. ReedFirstSource.com has a handy search function for finding pertinent building codes where you live and contact information in case you have questions.

If you want to buy home building supplies online, some home improvement Web sites such as Lowe’s and The Home Depot have this option. Generally you’ll find product descriptions and warranty information as well.

Dulcinea's Picks

For project calculators …

ImproveNet, Inc. has material calculators for drywall, concrete, roofing, lumber and more.

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Lowe’s has project calculators to estimate the amount of materials you’ll need for your home, such as insulation, flooring or concrete.

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For DIY tips …

Hometime is the Web site for the television show of the same name. The “do-it-yourself project help page” provides instructions on how to complete an array of projects, including framing your home, doing electrical work, installing plumbing and hanging drywall.

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Ask the Builder is written by a man with a few decades of construction experience. Find helpful advice and short video clips about do-it-yourself projects and finding the right product or tool for your job, as well as dealing with contractors or builders. Many of the article summaries provide helpful insight and even realistic advice about what jobs might be too difficult for you to tackle on your own.

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HandymanWire has helpful drawings to go with many of its do-it-yourself articles. The site is quite busy but if you don’t mind the design, you’ll find lots of useful information.

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Code Check offers illustrated guides to building, plumbing, mechanical and electrical codes. Also find books and other resources on home construction and renovation to help keep your construction project up to code.

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