Offbeat Homes

10 Reasons Why Building Your Own House Rocks

by Jennifer Chait on December 9th, 2007

In a previous post you may remember that I discussed; 10 Reasons Why Building Your Own House Sucks. I never did get around to posting the positives; mainly because I don’t like to think about all the trouble the darn house caused. Still, in a recent post’s comments Jessie requested the positives and I hate to disappoint. Also, as much as I hate to admit it; there are some real bonuses of building your own house. Not sure if I’ll hit 10 bonuses but we’ll see. I included some newer pictures I found but some are tiny.

1. You feel extremely strong: Home building pushes you to the limits of what you can accomplish in a purely physical sense. I had no idea that I could shimmy around a roof three stories up while carrying wood or that I could walk around a lot with a bag of heavy tools hefted over my arm. No clue. Honestly, I’m not the strong type in a physical sense. I was a thin kid; never played sports, and although I like hiking and skating I’ve never pushed myself much physically. House building pushed me. If you’re not strong you can fall off a roof, drop items of importance and fail to hold up your end of the scaffolding. I held up against my partner who was a soccer player and very physically strong and that made me feel amazon-like. Go me!

2. You will learn from doing: I was always into design and building but you can read about building techniques all year long; it’s only when you actually have to put the techniques into action that you get a real feel for what can and should be accomplished in building practices. You also learn quickly which book-learned skills pan out and which were bogus to begin with.

3. You get to create something from scratch: This applies even more if you design and build. I did not design this house but my partner did so I had a lot of say in what went on and got to watch the blueprint portion of home building in action. Anyone can buy a house. A house you build will hopefully be uniquely you. A home you create from the ground up will reflect your decisions both good and bad and there will never be another one quite like it on the entire planet.

4. What you learn from mistakes is invaluable: Number 3 (above) brings up the decisions you make. Some of these decisions may be crazy stupid but the good part is you will never, ever make the same mistakes twice. I joke about hating house building but really I wouldn’t mind eventually building again. If and when I do build again you can bet that this house will rock because I’d never make the same mistakes that we did on the first house. These include things like making sure you work with someone who can plan well, actually hiring help as opposed to doing all the work yourself, and applying better green building techniques.

Our original plan was to use more eco-friendly building techniques but some of them got pushed aside because of time, money, and permits. If I build again I will line all this up before hand. I’ll know which time of year to rent machinery and how to get the best deal on roofing supplies. I’ll know how I want the layout to sit. This is stuff you can learn from research true; but you will learn it better by going through the actual process.

Below is the dining area with lots of windows looking out towards the trees and the master patio from the inside. I don’t like the white doors but I didn’t pick them so… 

5. You gain handy lifelong skills: I could barely hammer a nail when we started the house. Now you would not believe the things I can fix, the tools I can use, and the things I know about home building. Hands on will gain you skills you won’t forget and can use for other things. You can use your skills to volunteer, speak at schools, and help out with community projects. Of course I blog for a living but my partner was able to turn his gained skills from the house building experience into job offers — so home building could even land you work.

6. You can impress people: I’ve had people tell me that they loved aspects of the house which is cool but the best person I impressed was my son Cedar. For some reason he’s really confused about my work. Cedar usually tells people I fix computers, do homework for a living, or that I’m a scientist. I have a science degree and lots of science books — which may be where that last theory comes from. In any case Cedar is mildly excited with my science knowledge but could care less about my real job (writing / blogging). He’s very impressed that his dad builds houses and when I got involved with the house building he got a little impressed with me too; which is cool. House building also makes excellent dinner party conversation if you happen to hang with builder types.

7. House building is great for kids: Obviously if you don’t have kids you won’t care. If you do have kids they will love the whole process. Cedar spent long days at the house site. We let him nail boards, carry items, paint, and clear land. He always wanted to help. House building involves all kinds of topics; eco-topics, math, science, writing, art, colors, accounting and more. Cedar learned bits of all of these topics and he applies what he learned. He’ll discuss aspects of real building when using blocks and when drawing; which is so adorable but also really clever of him. It’s also a great experience because you get to spend lots of time with your kids if they go on site with you.

8. You can save and make money: This really depends. On the positive side we got our land super cheap, did most of the work ourselves or bartered for help, built in a choice area, and were able to choose cost effective materials. The negatives were that we went WAY over our original time line and failed to plan which ran costs up again. One issue that’s important to consider is typical size when you build. We built small because we don’t believe in taking a lot of space from the land. However, in order to sell we should have built a little bigger. We like small and can live with that –not all buyers are willing to give up space. Overall though building can be a cheaper option than buying assuming you do a lot of the work yourself.

9. You can make an eco-difference: You can renovate green or build green. I’m not sure which I think is the better eco-choice. Part of me thinks renovation because there’s often fewer materials used but building can be good too especially if you snag a good plot of land and build on very little of it. I like the idea of preserving space. The land we bought was being targeted for a few home plots which would have destroyed almost all the vegetation on it. Since we bought all the plots and built small we were able to transfer trees and conserve most of the area. Your choices of materials and energy solutions can make a difference in the long run as well.

The view. 

10. It’s fun: It took me a bit to think of a number 10. Sometimes it is fun. you can take a group of friends out and chat while you paint or go have a sleep over in the unfinished rooms. Depending on where you build you can see and enjoy wildlife like deer, birds, and snakes. (NOT spiders). We built high on a mountain and got to watch the fireworks on the fourth of July from the site. You get to have fun choosing paint and tiles. Sometimes I’d just lay on the unfinished patio; look at the view and relax. It can be a good time.

Now, have you built your own house? What were some of the positives and negatives. What would you do differently?

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POSTED IN: Green Building, Offbeat Blogger's Homes, Offbeat Kids