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Comment by titzer | Hacker News Reader

> If you are some what handy, it's not that difficult to owner build your own house.

I'm not sure what you have in mind here, but my brother did an "owner build" in the true sense of the word and sunk every nail into every piece of wood, every pipe, every wire, every window, floor, staircase, insulation, lighting, built all the cabinets, everything. That was 8 years of his life. Two of those years he literally quit his job and worked on it full time.

Caution, it is easy to seriously underestimate how much work it is to build a house. It could stretch on for years. Not to mention the pain in the ass that is bad weather, the logistics of sourcing and moving all the materials, plans, permits, etc.

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I thought you were saying he sunk a nail into every pipe, and damn wouldn't that just suck.

It relieves pressure so your pipes never burst!

>> Caution, it is easy to seriously underestimate how much work it is to build a house.

I used to work at a bike shop and thought it would be easy to build a bike from the ground up. Easy. Get a frame, fork set, and some other parts. Easy, right? I had no idea the amount of small parts one needs, including all the other minor stuff you have to buy like brake lines, headset, etc. Instead of a few week process, it became a few month process because I had to keep buying all these things I had forgotten about and didn't know I needed.

Now scale that up a house. I can't imagine the amount of things one could easily forget about on a project that scale and not realize until it was too late.

My 63 year old father just built his own 3rd home about 7 years ago. He had a single helper, and of course, we all (direct family) helped. Everything was done by him/us, foundation through roof with exception of the gas line hookup hehe. He started as a commercial plumber, welder, steel worker and machinist. Of course, outside of all of us helping to build his 1st, 2nd, and 3rd home, we all (whole extended family and friends) built each other's houses back in Poland in the 80s and early 90s. It's a great feeling watching your whole family working together while you lay bricks as an 8 year old. :-D So, yes, it's not that difficult to build your own house. You'll know the quirks and the issues that will come based on what happens during the build, and you'll be ready for them. However, it is work, so you should be ready to pay all of your friends and family with plenty of vodka and sausage.

How do you know if the building is structurally safe? I’m all for DIY in general, but with respect to a house, my biggest concern would be having the second story of the house collapsing into the cellar :)

And yes, my grandparents in Europe also build their house like you say. Not being involved in the process (nor other family that I know of), I’m afraid that such knowledge isn’t being passed down.

I think the parent comment was suggesting to hire subcontractors to do most or all of the work.

But I agree: It’s easy to greatly underestimate the amount of work that goes into a house. Contractors will have entire crews, all of the equipment they need, and most importantly they have years of experience to know how to do something quickly and in a way that will pass inspection.

A DIYer must first learn each step before doing it, which can take as much or more time than the task itself in many cases.

I watched a carpet guy come in and install carpet in our basement in a day and a half. It was a significant sq ft install >1000. Guy was a machine. He had help on a few things, but did it all fast and very expertly. Impressive to watch someone that really knows a physical craft. It would have taken us 3-5x as long if we did it ourselves.

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