question about building a home

amiamish

DH and I are thinking about building a house, but it would be on "raw" land. We would need to get electric ran, dig/make sewer, have water ran (I think its well water). Anyone ever done this? Ideas on how much it cost? I'm trying to google it, but can't come up with the right words to search to get the right results.

 Also, is well water safe? I have some bad thoughts about it...

KoriBrett

It's stress inducing to no end, will cost 2-3 times what you think it will, and will take twice as long. ?It will mean hounding contractors & builders constantly. ?If you can survive all that, it's worth doing.

Well water is fine depending on the water where you are. ?You'd have to check, maybe the DNR?? ?to see water safety reports. ?Most of the time it's fine.

Cost depends entirely on where you live & how far out in BFE your land is.

amiamish

It's not too far out, MIL would sell us 5 acres of her 25 (we'd be separated by lots of woods). So I imagine they'd just pull from her stuff, but that's a guess. Also, we'd put a modular home on it. So just getting the utilities to the house and a foundation poured.

Still think it's a big headache? (I'm not dead set on doing this...)

Rebekah1021

We are thinking of this too. My MIL works for a building supply company.

Their experts say you need to budget an additional $30k for lot improvements. Meaning, electrical and water and other crap that goes to making it worthy of being built on.

KoriBrett

When I did lighting we did new construction plus remodels. ?We saw a LOT of couples stressed out LOL ? A few even divorced over it. ?It was ugly. ?Most were stressed but having fun & doing ok. ?

Pouring a slab foundation and doing a modular shouldn't be too bad really. ?They'd run the power. ?If they have to dig a well they'd most likely do septic, not city sewer. ?Lari recently had her septic redone, you could ask her what was involved. ? Beyond that I really have no clue.

And I'm jealous. ?There are some things I love about living downtown close to everything. ?But my neighbors are 10 feet away. ?I hate that.

amiamish

wow! 30k huh? Hmm... that's more then I was thinking.

Rebekah1021

amiamish:

wow! 30k huh? Hmm... that's more then I was thinking.

Yeah, I almost shat my pants. 

amiamish

Kori, we live in the city now, 10min from everything. It's nice! BUT, our neighbors are right on top of us too. We are wanting to move before Fall 2012, we don't like our school district and they are no longer allowing transfers.

r9stedt

If you are  in the country, you  need to think septic or lagoon.

You need to think if it will be required for new construction to be on rural water (if it is available)

extension offices sometimes will tests wells for free. 

amiamish

yeah, lagoon- the big hole in the ground that the poop shoots outta the pipe into. that's what I was meaning. Sorry.. I'm new at this.

Rebekah1021

I would call different builders and contractors and tell them what you are thinking of doing. They might give you some direction and maybe who to avoid.

amiamish

Rebekah1021:

I would call different builders and contractors and tell them what you are thinking of doing. They might give you some direction and maybe who to avoid.

good idea- thank you

MrsStubbs

I would start calling contractors and tell them about it, they will come out and look at it and give you a price.

grja

We did a modular growing up. It was awesome. I was young, but I remember going to this big factory and picking out carpet colors, wood floors, kitchen cabinets, counters, etc. You pick out every last detail and then its delivered. It came in a bunch of pieces on trucks and its up in one day. Coolest thing ever!

I asked my mom about it a few months ago and she said once everything was picked out, there was no stres at all. And it was done within a week of the original estimate. The only delay was becase of the well drilling.