Buying 4 acres to build a home on. Any Advice/Suggestions/Warnings/Do's & Don'ts?

CobraJohn01

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Yesterday we went under contract on a wooded lot that is just a tad under 4 acres. We've been wanting to do this and build our own home for years and it looks like it is finally going to be a reality. We won't be ready to start the building process for probably 6-12 months, but we want to start planning and preparing the land for when it's time to start building.

For those who have done this, is there any advice you can give when it comes to clearing, getting perk tests done and wells drilled, etc? This is all new to us and we haven't started contacting builders yet because we have some other things that need to be handled before we're ready for starting the building process. We're thinking of only clearing about an acre or so in order to preserve a lot of the woods and keep buffers on all sides from neighbors and potential building. Not sure yet where on the lot we'll want the home site to be. The lot is mostly flat so by my untrained eye, I don't think a lot of grading will be required.

It's a rather triangular-shaped lot that is entirely wooded, I believe mostly pines but might be some cedars too. Not sure yet. Generally speaking, would logging companies have an interest in clearing out trees so that they can sell the wood or do they need many acres before they're interested?

There are no known utilities other than one electrical box by the road right in the middle of the frontage.I don't believe there is natural gas so we'll either be reliant on everything being electric or possibly have propane (girlfriend really prefers cooking with gas vs electric). Any pros/cons when it comes to propane we should factor in?

When it comes to a driveway, we'd prefer to do concrete but that might be too expensive. I hate the idea of gravel so was wondering if asphalt is a good compromise between the two?
 

7998

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Asphalt is expensive. We have gravel and it really isn't too bad. You have to maintain it once a year but that gave me an excuse to buy a Kubota.
When you clear your building pad knock down enough trees so your roof isn't always in the shade. A roof that stays shaded and never dries out will cut your roof life in half.
Clear enough land for future things you'll want to do, like a garden or shop.
Propane is the way to go. It also allows you to have a Generac or other whole house generator. Trust me if you're in the woods you'll want this.
 

BigPoppa

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Asphalt should be just fine where you are. Make sure they install the propane tank the minimum safe distance from the house. Hire a forester to sell the trees before clearing. It will reduce your costs and he'll take a percentage of the sell price. Have an engineer determine placement of well and septic tank, as well as perform soil testing to determine how the ground needs to be prepared before pouring the slab.
 

RedVenom48

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Lived in a house with a propane tank and septic. Septic means you will absolutely need to monitor what gets flushed. Septic safe TP, occasionally monitor the bacterial level etc. Literally the worst experience with septic was moving in and it was obvious prior tennant's neglected the tank. The first backup was.... utterly disgusting. Lol

Propane tank wasn't bad. Make sure you get top off service regularly. The bill gets real expensive the longer you go without refilling. Your GF is right, cooking and water heating is vastly superior with gas than electric.
 

DriftwoodSVT

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We built a total custom home on 5.5 acres back in 2016. I made a thread here to document the building process.

Things I recommend.

1. Spray foam - we did all exterior walls, above the ceiling and under the roof. Cost about $8k more than standard insulation, but man it's worth every penny. I rarely have to run the heat or AC, it's so efficient.
2. Metal roof - if it's in your budget, do a metal roof. It cut our home owners insurance in half versus having a non-metal roof. Pays for itself over time.
3. 8 ft garage doors - so glad we did the taller doors, especially now that I have the Tremor.
4. Tankless water heater - We did electric since it's rarely ever running and they are so efficient, not to mention it's one less propane line to have in the attic. It's much easier to run the lines for it while building versus trying to retro-fit it later on. Saves money since it only runs on demand.

The only things we have that use propane are the Cooktop and Fireplace. Everything else is electric. In 4 years we've only had to fill the propane tank once, and it was only down to 50%.
 
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Mojo88

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About 5 years ago, I built a garage/living addition onto my house. I estimated it would cost ~$150k.... ended up costing me ~$250k... ouch, so be prepared for cost over-runs in virtually everything.

I wish I had simply built a new house, as my 'dream' house would be fireproof and hurricane proof, so I wouldn't have to carry homeowner insurance, but alas, my house is made of wood, and $3k every year goes to insurance, what a drag.

A pet peeve of mine is windows that are too low to the ground. On my addition, I made damn sure that the bottom of every window was at least six feet off the lawn. This way, I never have to worry about waking up in the middle of the night to see some creep's face staring at me, in which case he would meet my two good buddies, Smith & Wesson.

I like the idea above about metal roof. If I had built my 'dream' house, I would have used that, along with every other fireproof material possible.

And clear out ANY trees that could topple over and cause significant damage. A neighbor had a big tree blown down by high wind, it crashed into his house and did massive damage. Lucky no one was killed.

Good luck with your project. It can be fun, but at times, it will test your resolve, LOL.
 

lOOKnGO

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Priorities usually varied before purchasing are as follows.

Make sure through zoning department land can be developed.

Check with highway department or road authorities that a driveway can access road.

Make sure land is perked and how many bedrooms perk test yields

I find it best to have well drilled before purchasing property

Make sure power company can supply power at a reasonable cost, and if it will be overhead or buried.

I have built many custom homes and have many stories of heavy loss from not following this rule of thumb

Good luck
 

buffalosoldier

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I would recommend that you contract for the finished price of the house and agree that at the prescribed price the house will be complete. Then you pay the subs yourself when their part is finished. If you reach the agreed on amount and the project isn't finished the rest is on the builder. Most builders will not agree to build you a second house if you hold them to the contract. A lot of contractors agree to an agreeable price and then make a lot of money on the change orders, they carry a pad of them at all times. Every time you sign one the price goes up.
Also paying subs youself keeps them from filing liens on you if the builder doesn't pay them.

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ford fanatic

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We custom built on 30 wooded acres back in 06, the land already had a well and was perked.

Definitely talk to multiple builders, the wrong builder will turn this dream into a nightmare.

We just paved our 1/8 mile long driveway with a huge parking area after having gravel for the last 12 years. Way cheaper than concrete.
 

MattN03

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I'd recommend making your purchase contingent upon these factors being acceptable if it's not to late...
  • Confirm property set backs, easements, and restrictions with your local building inspector meet your expectations.
If all that checks out and you purchase the land, do the following.
  • Before clearing land and/or putting any structure on the property, pay to have a survey done or property pins located and marked.
  • Get several recommended contractors from your area. Try to visit some of their jobsites. Make sure you and your contractors personalities can work together.
  • Plan on going over budget on some items, but be willing to do some work your self to offset that if possible.
  • Get multiple quotes on the project. You don't necessarily want to go with the cheapest or the most expensive. However, when I created our budget for our construction loan, I put the highest bids in to give myself padding on the overall project. This has proven helpful as we've went over/under budget on items.
We had a 32'x64' metal post frame building put up last year and that contractor, while not even 30 years old, did a phenomenal job. If all the contractors were like this guy, the quality of work would be better and I'd be a lot less frustrated with the various trades...My wife & I dug the 250' electrical run from the house to the shop with our Kubota tractor/backhoe. We pulled in the electric service and wired the entire shop ourselves. We also ran PEX through conduit from the house to the shop ourselves. That could have been a $5000+ job if we'd payed someone. We're now in the middle of an addition to our home while gutting nearly the entire first floor (while living in it-NEVER AGAIN DO THIS! lol). We hired out getting the addition "in the dry" and again we've put a lot of sweat equity into it. I've done 100% of the wiring and had it inspected by our local electrical inspector. We worked with a local plumber to do all the vents and drains, but we ran all new PEX for the entire house. We've done 100% of the demo as well. This has helped offset the cost of being over budget on spray foam insulation and nicer hickory hardwood flooring that we'll be installing ourselves. Talk to friends that may have been through this or have experience that could help you. YouTube is another good source of info, just be sure to watch several videos as there are always tips/tricks to pick up from different people.

Be patient. Building/remodeling, as we're figuring out, can be a long, drawn out, frustrating process but in the end is worth it...or at least that is what we've been told as we continue with our building journey!
 

BlckBox04

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we converted our house from propane to electric when we started renovating. electric isn't the greatest but it's not the worst either. the guy we bought the house from told us the propane was a little bit of a job to keep up with.
buy a grill to replace what you're losing with the electric.
 

MattN03

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3. 8 ft garage doors - so glad we did the taller doors, especially now that I have the Tremor..

Definitely 8' doors! I'd go 8' tall x 10' wide if you can. That gives you plenty of room pulling in/out. Also, make sure the garage is deep enough. Our basement garage is just over 17' deep and we can barely fit our Fusion & Accord in it. My Superduty can't even be pulled inside because of the 7' doors! Fortunately, I put 11' tall x 12' wide shop doors so it gets parked there instead :)

I had a 8' x 16' door at our previous house, and that made it difficult to park two vehicles side x side and open the doors without hitting the other vehicle. A friend built a 28' x 28' garage and it was an awesome size, but I think anything at least in the 24' x 24' range would be nice and practical.
 

coposrv

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I would recommend that you contract for the finished price of the house and agree that at the prescribed price the house will be complete. Then you pay the subs yourself when their part is finished. If you reach the agreed on amount and the project isn't finished the rest is on the builder. Most builders will not agree to build you a second house if you hold them to the contract. A lot of contractors agree to an agreeable price and then make a lot of money on the change orders, they carry a pad of them at all times. Every time you sign one the price goes up.
Also paying subs youself keeps them from filing liens on you if the builder doesn't pay them.

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I’m an electrical contractor. This would be an absolute non-starter for me. I have great relationships with my GCs. If I got a call from a home owner wanting to gc their own custom build I won’t be able to hang up the phone fast enough. And change orders absolutely need to be compensated for.


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buffalosoldier

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I am not saying you should not pay for a change order, if you change something you need to pay for it. What I am saying is that a lot of builders don't seem to be unable to stay on budget for a variaty of reasons. But paying each sub contractor yourself insures that they get paid. I know one contractor that put a prominate family owned lumber yard out of buisness,
My friend had a house built in florida last year and the builder comes up and asked for an extra $28,000 because he had over spent. Just because a builder knows how to construct a beautyfull house doesn't automaticly mean he is good at managing people and the finiancial side of his buisness.
I am sure that when you bid a job you allow for some screw ups and you have a formula that determines your profit.

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tistan

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I don't know any builder that would let you pay the subs directly. I have signed agreements with my subs on how we do business with each other. I wouldn't consider letting a client get in the middle of that.
 

JetmechF16

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We have a propane tank that feeds our stove top, fireplace, and best of all our 20kw Generac. Absolutely amazing when the community loses line power and a few seconds later our generator automatically kicks on. Also nice to know we'll always have fuel during hurricane season. Generator powers a private water well too in case the community source is interrupted.
 

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