Material Cost to Build a House Yourself
The material cost to build a house yourself is typically around $50 per square foot. For a 2,000-square-foot home, you could expect to pay about $100,000 for materials alone.
Stages to Building Your Own Home
Building your own home requires a series of steps you’ll need to follow. Some are better off subcontracted out as speciality services, such as installing electric, plumbing, and HVAC. We don’t recommend DIYing these projects.
Plan: You’ll want to plan out your entire build before you buy any materials. Even if you do the entire build yourself, it’s best to hire a local architect or engineer to produce detailed plans.
Get permits: You’ll need to submit your plans to get a permit.
Buy land: You’ll need a place to put your new home.
Excavate and pour the foundation: You’ll need to level the land and dig to put footings and a slab or foundation in.
Frame the home: Next comes the house frame, including the frame for the roof.
Sheath the walls: Install sheathing and a weather wrap on the wall.
Install the roof: Put the roof on after the wall or simultaneously if you subcontract the roof.
Then, in no particular order, install:
Doors and windows
Electrical
HVAC
Plumbing
Siding
Install insulation
Install the floors, walls, and ceilings You’ll want to sheath the floors earlier, but this is the time to lay finished flooring.
Do all the finishing work: This includes installing the bathroom, kitchen cabinets, trim, counters, and interior doors.
Finally, landscape the exterior
DIY Home Building Cost vs. Hire a Professional
It might seem like building a house on your own is more affordable than hiring professional home builders. If you have a background in general contracting work, or even some specialized experience and can go the owner-builder route, you’ll likely save money. In a perfect DIY world where nothing goes awry, you could save tens, if not hundreds of thousands, of dollars.
The thing is, problems typically come up in the house-building process, even for the most experienced teams. If you’re new to home building, mistakes will happen, and they will be costly, if not up front, then later on when amateur work requires professional repair. Not to mention, some states don’t allow people to build a home if they don’t have a general contractor license.
Your best bet is to take on what you feel comfortable with and work with professionals for what you don’t. You very well might still save money in the process. Talk to a construction manager near you to learn more about owner-builder projects and to get a quote.