
Ask HN: Have you built a house? - gonvaled
I am toying with the idea of building a house, as autonomously as possible. I am thinking about a massive, concrete house. with basement, ground floor and upper floor.<p>Has somebody here experience in this area? Any useful pointers?
======
koliber
I've built a house, in the sense that I was working as the general contractor
and hiring out crews and tradespeople to do the actual work. My involvement
differed anywhere between hire-a-crew and pay them when they are done down to
doing certain things myself 100%.

A few takeaways:

\- Things seem simple from the outside, before you do them for the first time.
They are in actuality quite complicated. Even something as straightforward as
painting a wall will be hard when you are doing it for the first time. You
will make mistakes if you do it yourself. Try to do it yourself only in areas
where you can tolerate such mistakes.

\- The more project management experience you have, the better off you will
be.

\- Keep things simple. If you are trying to do things non-traditionally, you
are not only attempting a non-trivial task for the first time, but will also
have limited or no resources to lean on when questions or problems arise. Walk
first, then run. If this is your first house AND you are trying to build it
autonomously, you are trying to do two things you have little experience with.
Consider building your first house using traditional methods. Try to automate
it when you build your 5th house.

\- Why a concrete house? How will you insulate it? Do you have enough funds to
do it this way?

\- Learn as much as you can before you even buy a plot of land. Read about
foundations, building materials, roofing, windows, exterior doors, interior
doors, wood flooring, tile flooring, concrete flooring, flooring in general,
wall tiles, plaster, drywall, painting, insulation, plumbing, electrical work,
stairs, waterproofing basements, ground settlement, building codes, gas
installation, pest-proofing, garden planning, driveways, carpentry,
weatherproofing, heating, cooling, ventilation, sewers, patios, exterior
finishing, fences, gates, garage doors, how heavy a truck full of cement is
and whether they can access your property on the type of road that is present,
liability insurance, permits, weather forecasts and what things can be done in
what type of weather, dumpsters & garbage disposal, portapotties, area maps to
see what is planning in your neighborhood, earthquake considerations, flooding
considerations, wind and snow loads, glass & mirror installations, safes,
interior and exterior lighting, and particularities of hiring crews.

~~~
libria
Did you spout that last paragraph off the top of your head? That is a
staggering bullet list that I suspect has several layers of unwritten sub-
bullets. I have a whole new respect for home builders.

~~~
semi-extrinsic
It's really crazy how much there is that you don't think about up front if
you've never built a house.

My first build (this summer) was a playhouse for the kids, 8 square meters
single story. I built it mostly like you would a real house, omitting a few
details (like insulation between inner and outer walls, since it's not heated
anyway). I ended up with a budget overrun of 40% and spent close to twice the
number of hours I estimated up front. It turned out really nice though.

If you're thinking about building a house, I would definitely recommend doing
a playhouse or a shed first.

~~~
dice
>budget overrun of 40% and spent close to twice the number of hours I
estimated up front

Sounds typical for construction.

~~~
wlesieutre
Needed more practice in construction estimating, which is yet another
discipline that you wouldn’t immediately think of when someone says “build a
house.”

~~~
dylan604
After spending his entire career in construction, one of the last jobs my dad
had before retiring was in preparing bids for proposals. The company wanted
people with lots of experience in the bidding process. Not just on-budget, on-
schedule, but people that had been through over-budget, behind-schedule so
that they knew what to be aware of as potential pit falls.

~~~
wlesieutre
When I was in college one of the big promises of BIM was "we'll have
information rich models that will make estimating easier and more accurate!"

I'm not directly involved in that process in-industry (ended up in light
fixture manufacturing), but my impression is that BIM models are usually good
enough to kick out a set of drawings, but you wouldn't want to count on any
information that you pull out of it electronically being accurate.

So you still have "contractor to verify quantity" notes on everything, and
presumably someone going through the drawing figuring out how many "Type F
2x4' troffers" and how many faucets and how many of every other little detail
that will take money or time.

It's a pretty intensive process, but given the amounts of money at stake if
you screw it up, hugely important to get right.

------
wallflower
No, I have not built a house. However, I highly recommend you take a look at
two books before you move earth.

The first is "House" by Tracy Kidder.

[https://www.amazon.com/House-Tracy-
Kidder/dp/0618001913](https://www.amazon.com/House-Tracy-Kidder/dp/0618001913)

The second is "Renovation" by Michael Litchfield.

[https://www.amazon.com/Renovation-4th-Completely-Revised-
Upd...](https://www.amazon.com/Renovation-4th-Completely-Revised-
Updated/dp/1600854923)

The first book is a detailed, engrossing narrative about building an actual
house (it exists). The second book is a renowned compendium of all things in
home renovation.

As a quick commentary on your idea, go check out RSMean's cost estimations. It
gives you a ballpark estimate of cost per square foot for, say, poured
concrete with rebar. You are going to need rebar because concrete is brittle
and it cannot carry tension. You are going to need steel framing because
concrete floors are damn heavy. With wood, you can use much, much cheaper
standard wood framing. Rebar is expensive because you need to be a metalworker
to do it properly. It is likely you will not be able to do it DIY because of
building codes. The rabbit hole goes on and on. Good luck with your research!

[https://www.rsmeans.com/](https://www.rsmeans.com/)

~~~
javiramos
House looks like a fantastic book!

Tracy Kidder is also the author of The Soul of a New Machine for which he won
a Pulitzer. One of my all-time favorites.

~~~
ghaff
I really enjoyed House because I bought a 200ish year-old fixer-upper about
the time the book came out. I had read Soul of a New Machine and, in fact,
joined Data General and knew many of the people in the book quite well.

Unfortunately, I looked at a couple of other Kidder books and, while I'm sure
they were good, the subject matter just didn't grab me.

------
Nelkins
I have no affiliation with this YouTube channel, but here's a guy who does an
entire in-depth series on how to build a house from scratch[0], from surveying
the land, to getting permits, to pouring the foundation, and so on. Good way
to spend a few hours on a weekend.

[0]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mn4L_aJ1rV4&list=PLRZePj70B4...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mn4L_aJ1rV4&list=PLRZePj70B4IwyNn1ABhJWmBPeX1hGhyLi)

~~~
legohead
Was going to link this same channel. Unfortunately they've barely started on
the project. But the amount of knowledge he shares should be enough to cause
anyone to think twice about jumping into something like this...

~~~
oasisbob
Somehow, I find him to be especially inspiring and encouraging of beginners -
especially some of the early no-nonsense framing basics.

He shows the clear experience of a lifetime of craft, yet there's something
about his persona that's so reflective of people starting out, and his early
days. Humility can't hurt either.

As an aside, the ratings on his videos are unbelievable. On YouTube, in 2018,
his videos frequently hit 99%-99.5% thumbs-up. I'm shocked that's even
possible.

------
twothamendment
I've worked most construction trades and built three houses that my wife and I
designed. The devil is in the details. Some machine layering out concrete like
a 3D printer is something I saw in Popular Science decades ago. I always
wanted to see it happen. Even with a giant 3D printer, you'd have to have
people there to lay conduits for plumbing, electrical, etc. The devil is in
the details and most of those details are hidden from view. Out of sight, out
of mind for most people. Once you do these jobs you realize there is so much
that goes into a house.

Once a house is built in a way that is "out of the norm", you'll raise a few
eyebrows from inspectors too. We had that issue and it was because it was a
timber framed house like someone might have made 100+ years ago - no bolts,
nails screws, metal brackets, etc. It was 100% put together with joints and
pegs. The inspector only walked around with his jaw on the floor. We finally
sat him down to show that we did our homework and followed engineering
guidelines - but they weren't guidelines that he was familiar with.

------
mothsonasloth
Hey,

Not a self build, but I have just completed the first phase of a renovation.
For me the main struggles were getting it wind and water tight especially in a
location with bad weather.

Renovation is a gamble, people have said it makes it easy and hard at the same
time. Easy in that you have a clearer vision of what you want to do (fix up,
restore etc), but harder in that you are constrained by whatever the existing
structure is there e.g. (concrete weaknesses, old cladding, planning
permissions).

I tried to tackle it pragmatically like a piece of software, I didn't want to
get too far ahead of myself in case I ran out of money or something
catastrophic happened.

It is interesting how building problems are similar to software problems. For
example connecting two types of waste pipe from a sink and washing machine to
an older specification of waste pipe, was just like solving an API integration
issue (minus the tape and coupling I had to hack together)

Now that the place is wind and watertight, I can now focus on planning the
internals over the winter period and then come back to the property next
summer with energy.

Since my place was in a remote location, I had to factor in costs of
transportation. Which looking back, ate about 10% of my total budget.

Tradesmen unreliability is another thing to factor in, which caused about 2
months total in delays.

In summary, my experience is no different to any other engineering project. I
have been tempted to write up about it, however I am more focused about
getting back to work as I am near enough broke now :)

Here's a photo of the end result - bearing in mind it didn't have a roof and
all the windows were broken / smashed

[https://pasteboard.co/HBisuqe.jpg](https://pasteboard.co/HBisuqe.jpg)

Feel free to ask any questions, I am from the UK so it might not be relevant
in some cases.

Also check for "free" money; as in grants for insulation, solar panels etc.

~~~
anadem
Lucky man, what a wonderful place to be. Nice job you're doing there! Many
years ago I bought a similar place on Skye to renovate, but had to pass it on
as I went broke (unrelated to the renovation project). It was one of life's
forks in the road, and we've somehow ended up in Santa Cruz California instead
so I can't complain too much, but do miss those Hebridean feels.

~~~
mothsonasloth
Small world, this property is on the outer hebrides!

------
nextos
I've lived in 7 different brand new houses within a relatively short time
period. Brand new meaning I was the first person living there. Even different
countries, contractors, etc.

The whole experience has made me quite strong-minded about a few things. And
I've also converted to hardcore minimalism.

First, I've seen so many crazy bad construction jobs that whenever I buy a new
house I'll try to buy something modular that has been premade in a factory.
Here quality is much better thanks to construction (actually manufacturing)
taking part in a controlled and standardized environment. Unless I have a lot
of time, money and energy to devote to a custom project, and construction
technology hasn't evolved much. Premade houses evoke park homes and cheap
quality. However, things are moving forward very quickly and there are some
concrete and steel designs around that seem the opposite of cheap quality to
me. E.g. [http://www.kodasema.com/](http://www.kodasema.com/)

Second, for me the most important feature is that the house should be a
healthy space. Few houses have continuous filtered air ventilation systems,
and it makes a huge difference to avoid mould, CO and VOCs. It doesn't have to
be something centralized and superfancy. You can have them per room. I'd also
try to avoid living too close to major traffic routes, and unhealthy materials
that will release tons of VOCs during the first months. Also room arrangement
is key. Bedrooms that face E or SE and homeoffices that face SW definitely
improve your mood, especially in you live in high latitudes. Having your
kitchen and toilets a bit isolated is also important to avoid smells and noise
if space is sufficient to do so.

Finally, I hate embedded junk. Like cheap veneer embedded kitchen furniture.
It's expensive, and it deteriorates quickly. Furthermore, I have had problems
with stuff hiding inside. Like insect pests and even trash left behind by
contractors. I very much prefer to avoid embedded furniture unless you can
afford very good quality. High-end kitchen stuff is actually fitted but not
necessarily embedded. E.g.
[http://www.kochkoekken.dk](http://www.kochkoekken.dk)

~~~
somberi
Koda is lovely, but expensive. Nothing wrong with that, but might be an
obstacle for the value-seeking segment.

[https://katus.eu/learn/news/koda-prefab-homes-2-years-
later](https://katus.eu/learn/news/koda-prefab-homes-2-years-later)

and a related read:

[https://katus.eu/learn/news/new-hype-airbnb-prefab-
modules](https://katus.eu/learn/news/new-hype-airbnb-prefab-modules)

~~~
nextos
You seem to be knowledgeable about the topic.

Any other, perhaps better value, options you may know about?

I know Arcelor EU has a really nice and relatively cheap prototype that is
about to enter the market.

------
quizme2000
Note my response is NOT based on someone trying to build a wood framed house,
rather it is based on someone who wants to build a massive concrete structure.

Permits and Permission. You need to understand very clearly where and what you
are allowed to build. You can go bankrupt trying to develop the wrong land
before a single bucket of dirt is ever moved. Neighbor lawsuits, land use
restrictions, easements, building review, public notice, taxes, etc...

Of course this depends on where you want to build and if you are starting with
a developed lot. An existing structure on a residential lot has crossed a lot
of red tape, permits, reviews, and has underground and above ground utilities
(if needed). Work with a real estate agent to find suitable lots, if you
already have a lot time to visit your local building department. Get a
property map, building code checklist, and a permit application paperwork. A
local architect will be your next stop. Before you can go much further, you
need a site plan and a survey to determine soil condition. You'll need a soil
engineer to verify your site can support a massive concrete building without
some exotic foundation so it won't sink (that much). Next you'll submit a
draft permit to get approval and they will give you a ton more paper work or
may reject it or require public review.

Finally you will need a hire a concrete building and engineering contractor.
Post tension concrete and concrete buildings are a specialty. Everything
needed to build a concrete structure requires experience and purpose built
hardware which is seldom available to the public because it will fail if not
installed correctly. Also a concrete contractor will give you your first real
estimate of building costs and can identify the cost centers of your project.
Never relay on an architects building estimate, they are not the ones doing
the work.

------
neverminder
I've worked 5 years in construction industry when I was younger, building
houses from scratch among other things. Before that I've spent a lot of time
in my father's workshop since I was like 5 years old, building things always
came naturally to me.

Even though it's not impossible, I would not advise you to build "a massive,
concrete house" all by yourself. In fact it wouldn't even be possible. Details
may vary from country to country, but you will need surveys, architect
drawings, all kinds of permissions, material estimates and million other
things and that's before you even start building anything.

The building phase. Unlike in software there are a lot fewer "undos" in
construction. If you end up screwing up the foundation the building might be
condemned before you even put the roof on. So many things that can go wrong,
I'd need a few days to make a list. You would need to think in advance about
so many things it would make your head spin. Plumbing, electricity,
insulation, etc. I could go on.

------
omar12
I have not built a house, but I have done enough renovations to know a few
basic pointers:

* Buy extra materials than what you actually will need. If it's your first time doing a specific task, mistakes will happen, some will be costly, some, minor.

* Ensure you are building up to code. Make sure you read what your local residential building code specs are. Having things "not up to code" can be costly and fail inspections.

* Buying equipment over renting equipment: This is a personal preference, but I have exceeded the rental time limit and ended up paying more than to actually buy the actual equipment. This does not apply to all equipment. Preferably, it would be better if you know someone that owns the equipment. You won't have issues reselling used equipment.

* Don't be cheap on electrical wiring or water piping. Water or fire damage is obviously costly.

* Personal Tip: Consider space for a backyard and landscaping. Landscaping can be the best cost-to-return investment you can do in a property.

* Get a "contractor membership" at your hardware store of choice. You can end up saving some money with its discounts.

_Take my pointers with a grain of salt, this has been from personal experience
and lessons learned the past 2 years._

~~~
arethuza
Also a good idea to keep extra materials around for future repairs and
modifications.

------
meheleventyone
We rebuilt our house in downtown Reykjavik a couple of years ago. It was first
built in 1897 and owned by the same family continuously into the 90’s. There
wasn’t much in the way of modern technique or planning back then so when we
stripped back the walls we found the frame and roof irreparable. That
eventually turned out to be a blessing as rather than an extensive renovation
we ended up replanning and building a much nicer version of the same basic
footprint. It’s incredibly stressful to basically demolish most of your house
before having to make that decision though!

We did a bunch of manual labour and finishing work. But used contractors for
everything else. We did that mostly to get things done quickly as we didn’t
have a stable place to stay, had a two year old and my wife was pregnant with
our second.

Your project sounds quite different but I think the biggest takeaway I can
offer is to have a large contingency in your budget. Particularly if you mean
autonomous as in building with robots or some new technique. The second is to
find good contractors we got very lucky with the people we hired. Reykjavik is
going through a construction boom and it’s often the less reputable people
that are free to work.

We’re pretty glad we did it now we can look back on the stressful memories.
It’s definitely Type 2 fun.

Our next big project is to build a shed-cum-office in our garden for us to
work from. Probably next summer. With less time pressure and an easier problem
I’ll probably build that myself with help from family.

~~~
grenoire
Autonomous in this context likely means "by myself," as not in automatic but
in autocratic.

------
beat
I did not build this, and it doesn't meet all your design criteria, but it's
very interesting...

A couple of months ago, I visited a friend and her fiance at their home in the
Colorado Rockies - way up in the mountains, not down on the front range. The
architecture was very interesting, straightforward, and inexpensive. They
simply cut a house-sized trench into the side of a mountain (about a 45 degree
slope there), put a prefab quonset hut in the trench, and covered it with
dirt/rocks. Then a poured concrete floor, and concrete-lined walls, and a
brick facade with big airy windows. The interior was given a half-second
story, and some rooms in the back.

Effectively, it's a cross between an A-frame cabin and a hobbit hole.

On the minus side, the back bedrooms have no windows/exits, and thus are not
up to code as bedrooms. On the plus side, it's basically fireproof anyway (I'm
sure it would survive even a forest fire). The other minus - or plus,
depending - is that it's technically off grid, getting power from a generator
and solar panels, and the only connectivity is satellite internet. This
wouldn't be an issue in a more residential area.

Personally, I love this house. It's cozy, practically disappears into the
gorgeous scenery, and was not difficult or expensive to build, even in the
quite rugged terrain (almost a mile up a steep, switchbacked dirt road).

~~~
alphabettsy
Sounds cool, but the fire concern is very real and not so much flames as it is
being unable to escape the smoke.

~~~
beat
True. But like I said, there's not a lot to burn... just furniture and the
kitchen cabinets. Everything else is concrete and metal.

Of course, if there's a forest fire, you don't want to be on the mountain
regardless.

~~~
saltcured
People die in places like what you have described, and that's why there are
codes against it. A bed or sofa on fire is enough to turn that place into a
combination gas chamber and oven. Rooms need more than one egress for
redundancy, since fire and smoke in another room may block your normal
transit.

------
gmiller123456
While I haven't built a house, I have built a few smaller structures (3
astronomical observatories, several sheds and gazebos, decks). My main advice
would be to give the permitting process a lot of attention before starting.
You might be required (or better off) to design the whole thing before
starting. To me, it seems easier to build and design in stages, like building
the whole outer structure with only a rough idea about where everything else
will go, then filling in the details when you get to that point. But each
stage might require a new permit, since it wasn't mentioned in the previous
one. And this can add a lot of time and delays into the project.

~~~
0xdeadbeefbabe
For someone interested in building a shed (or many sheds) would you recommend
something smaller than 25'x20'. Is post and beam construction a poor choice
too?

~~~
gmiller123456
20' is wider than any shed I've built. Two of the observatories were wider and
we used trusses on those. I am far from a structural engineer and mostly based
my plans off of others'.

------
patagonia
My family built our house. It was while I was in highschool. We did everything
except pour the foundation, the septic system, and stuff required by a
certified folks like some electrical work and building code stuff. Unless
you’re building in an un-zoned area with no permits required you’re not going
to be able to truly “build it yourself”. We had the benefit of having big
equipment available due to our family business. Also received a lot of help
from a few friends. Real bonding experience.

It is still one of the most rewarding experiences of my life, though it was
tough at the time.

There is a lot we didn’t get right the first time, and had to fix in
subsequent years. Nothing that affected livability.

To that point. Concrete is difficult to re-work. It’s not very sustainable
either, if that is a concern of yours.

Our house is made of straw bales. (It’s a thing). We visited a bunch before
building. But straw bale houses are a lot like concrete houses. Once built
difficult to re-work. Great for insulation. Horrible to re-work. I would not
suggest concrete, from that perspective.

Anything that can cause you legal trouble or that would be expensive to re-
work, pay a professional. Otherwise, have fun. Do it. You’ll be glad you did.

~~~
Jedd
> But straw bale houses are a lot like concrete houses. Once built difficult
> to re-work. Great for insulation. Horrible to re-work.

Environmentally-focused / permaculture types tend to like concrete floor +
strawbale. It solves a lot of heating / cooling problems, but naturally the
benefits there depend on the climate you're in and local costs of materials.

Anyway, to your point. Strawbale housing comes in two broad forms -- infill or
load-bearing. Infill was the most popular way of doing this a few years ago,
but seems to have lost favour (I don't know why). Load-bearing is definitely
more difficult to modify, and that may be the variety you've got experience
with. Infill is where you build a (say) structural metal pre-fab shed on a
slab, and then tie down bales to embedded threaded bar in the floors to make
the walls - filling gaps at the top with looser material. Non-trivial to
change your mind later, but at least can be done without affecting the roof /
infrastructure.

~~~
patagonia
Yeah, load-bearing. With gunite (concrete) exterior. I guess my point was more
to the OPs situation, that a concrete house would be difficult to re-work.
Which matched my experience with our house.

~~~
Jedd
Yup, I noted in a separate comment that re-work (or any kind of maintenance,
let alone mind-changing) with concrete is a significant con, at least beyond
the slab.

I'm likely to use in-fill, as load-bearing just seems too much effort, too
time-constrained in terms of dealing with random weather events, and too
difficult to effect subsequent design changes.

I'm assuming the gunite mixture allows some breathing? I thought concrete
mixes were typically avoided for this reason -- most people I've heard of that
do these (I'm in AU) use a natural mix, mostly clay-based, IIRC.

------
mywittyname
I've had a custom house built by a very well-respected GC in my region.
Despite not doing any of the actual labor, I'm doing an incredible amount of
work. Since it's a totally custom house, I spent all weekend for five or so
months going to supplier offices to pick out materials, designing tile work &
shelving, tweaking layouts, etc. Since the project has taken so long, I've had
to deal with suppliers running out of materials and having to redesign a
significant portion of the house. I even hired a professional designer to help
with ordering and negotiating.

I'm at the house after every trade leaves to ensure things are done correctly.
I've had to ask for dozens of things to be redone because it was just wrong.
Doors were the wrong size (and installed anyway, despite having written on the
door the correct size), the wrong color, outlets were missed, the stairs had
to be moved (!!!), the tub was backwards, etc.

Additionally, even though it's a custom house, I already regret some design
decisions, but it's impossible to fix them now.

~~~
vidanay
I think it's time to reassess that "well-respected GC in my region" statement.

~~~
mywittyname
Not sure what you mean. He delivered a wonderful house for exactly the price
he said it would be.

My point is, building a custom house is a lot of work, even when you're not
the one swinging the hammer.

------
jaclaz
I have built more than one, not personally/manually but I have been in the
construction industry many (maybe too many) years and I could possibly be
called a technologist in the field.

You won't be able to build a concrete house by yourself using "traditional"
methods, if you were, you wouldn't be here asking how to do it (Catch 22), but
there are more than a few techniques/building approaches that were actually
designed for self-builders.

Talking of concrete houses, the "working" ones are those that combine
insulation with formwork.

One example is the "Plastbau" building method, usig EPS as
insulation/formwork/structure and another on is the "Isotex" one combining
wood and EPS, a couple of videos on Youtube, JFYI:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ythSGowrNcw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ythSGowrNcw)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGuP2jp51g0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGuP2jp51g0)

There are of course many more similar methods, but the overall idea is the
same.

Using these kind of elements a house can actually be built by two/three people
without particular knowledge/experience in the field.

Another possibility - often used in self-construction - is to "build" the
whole house in EPS (in this case the EPS is in the middle of the walls and the
reinforcing bar is on the outside) and then call some specialists to spray
concrete (shotcrete).

An example here:

[https://www.mdue.it/en/emmedue-panels](https://www.mdue.it/en/emmedue-panels)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8juvDvSeYL8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8juvDvSeYL8)

Otherwise there is nothing particularly difficult in a concrete carpenter's
job, but you need to learn those abilities.

And you will need a "supporting" technician, i.e. besides designing the house,
do the calculations and whatever else needed to get a construction permit, the
project needs to be made by someone that believes in the self-construction
approach and that simplifies/adapt the design to the construction method
chosen.

------
abledon
Volunteer for habitat for humanity — you’ll learn a lot , meet new people ,
contribute to poor persons life

~~~
ska
That's a really good idea. You'll also likely meet local people with a lot of
relevant experience, some who might be or point you to very good resources for
this project. Only works if you are near-ish some HH builds I suppose.

------
gwbas1c
I just built a "normal" wood house.

I have no experience with building concrete houses. Are they normal for your
area, or are you trying to follow unusual construction techniques?

Something to keep in mind: If you're doing anything slightly unusual, you need
to be very careful about who you work with. There are people who will ignore
your request to do something a certain way and just do it the same way that
it's been done in the last 20 houses they worked in.

Assuming a concrete house is unusual, you will have a very hard time finding a
general contractor to build it. You will need to interview very carefully.

In my case, I couldn't hire the general contractor I wanted, because I ended
up buying land that came with a general contractor. I like where I live, but
he screwed up a few of my requests. (Hired the wrong sub to put in my heat
pumps, didn't put switches where I asked for them, didn't bury my gutters even
though the contract specified that they were supposed to be buried.)

Had I hired the guy I wanted, I'm sure he would have done everything I asked
for... I just wouldn't have liked where I could buy land!

~~~
beat
If a construction technique is unusual in a particular area, it's usually
unusual for a good reason - cost or impracticality or both. For example, in
Minneapolis where I live, every house has a basement; they're required by
code. The reason is deep frost cycles in the winter. But in Houston, nobody
has a basement. It'd just be flooded all the time, and there's no freeze cycle
to worry about.

Standard house construction in any given area is a product of what works well
and what is reasonably inexpensive. You can see this by era, too. Like my
neighborhood is almost all 100 year old bungalows on basically the same floor
plan. They were state of the art in 1913, dependent on the new technology of
manufactured nails for their cheap 2x4 balloon frames, and stucco for the
sturdy weatherproof exteriors. But they're also designed for hand tools and,
um, inaccurate measurements. No reason to build that way in an era of power
tools and prefab.

~~~
gwbas1c
> If a construction technique is unusual in a particular area, it's usually
> unusual for a good reason - cost or impracticality or both

Or it's new technology. Concrete has a lot of heat mass, which means that it
can be a way to build a lower-energy home.

In my case, heat pumps are new technology where I live. Also, some contractors
just don't get it when you ask them to put a switch somewhere or an outlet at
a particular location.

~~~
mmsimanga
Back home I noticed contractors continue to only one or two electric plug
sockets per room. This may have been fine 20 years ago but the number of
electrical devices people have has really gone up. A plug socket only adds a
couple of dollars to the cost but adds so much convenience in the long run.
Its the sort of thing you have to engage you contrator on.

~~~
gwbas1c
No... It's just what happens when the contractor refuses to write things down
and you need the house. I couldn't raise a stink about details that I normally
raise when I can slow something down until it's done correctly.

Or, to put it mildly, in this part of the world, people just refuse to pay
their contractor until little details are fixed.

------
CyberFonic
I have built a two level house, more conventional brick veneer. It is a
massive amount of work even when you hire various trades, etc.

Don't know about all concrete houses. Wet concrete is extremely heavy and you
need to know what you are doing when it comes to formwork, etc. You would also
need concrete pump to get the stuff to the upper floor.

You will most certainly need the services of an architect and structural
engineer. The level of detail you need to get building approvals, etc is
substantial. You might even need town planner, geotech and environmental
consultant reports as well.

~~~
gonvaled
Interesting. Did you plan the whole thing yourself, including plumbing,
electrical installation, etc?

~~~
CyberFonic
Yes I did all the plans and sketches but then hired an architectural
draftsperson to draw up plans to the local building control body's
requirements. The actual plumbing and electrical work was subcontracted out.
In Australia you can't DIY - you need to be licensed for those trades.

I had previously worked on a renovation project, helped a family member build
a house from scratch and worked for an electrical contractor. It also helped
that I had experience as a project manager on large infrastructure projects.

------
ljsocal
I’ve built 25 basic homes (no insulation, electricity or plumbing) in Tijuana,
Mexico. For each build, I organized 10-15 high school volunteers and 3-4 adult
supervisors. Each home was built in one day, ~8 hours actually. Handing the
home keys to an impoverished family at the end of the day was a great feeling
for all concerned. Let someone else build your home. Look into prefab, for a
lot of places it’s faster, cheaper and much better quality. Last, insulate
like hell if you live in hot/cold climate. Your home will be quieter, too.

------
TheMog
Not a contractor myself (I "escaped" into IT), but I come from a family that's
almost exclusively contractors and had quite a few summer jobs on construction
sites.

I think for more, err, concrete advice, some indication of the location you
want to build in would be helpful.

Either way, you will likely want to involve an architect if you're building
your first house, to help getting your ideas to paper within the confines of
local building codes. You'll also want a structural engineer verifying the
suitability of the design, especially with something as heavy as concrete.

If you're in the US (at least) or other places where wood framing is more
common than concrete or stone, the "uncommon" material will likely increase
cost noticeably.

Also keep in mind that unless you want to drywall the interior of the house
anyway, you'll have to make sure you have pipes and conduits for everything in
place before you pour the concrete. Even if you are planning to drywall the
interior, you're still looking at making sure all your mechanical systems
(heating/cooling, water, electricity) can actually be routed from one floor to
the next.

If you're looking for an inspirational rabbit hole to go down, check out this
thread on Garage Journal:
[https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=145073](https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=145073)

Just keep in mind that the guy building the house is actually a concrete
contractor and not exactly new to this game.

------
AngryData
If you are building with concrete I would pay close attention to a few things.
Insulation, concrete is shit by itself. Airflow, normal wood houses use the
tiny gaps and seams and shit to help draw air through the house all over, a
concrete home doesn't and you should make sure you have proper ventilation
throughout the house or it will be damp and musty and grow mold. Plumbing and
wiring, if you don't have tubes plumbed before you pour you have to build
essentially an entire wooden house on the inside to hide the wires and water
lines and drywall it all over, near doubling your costs. Foundation, a
concrete house needs a more substantial foundation, and if anything settles
out of plumb and square later, you can't do anything about it, unlike a wooden
home that can be jacked up.

Also, make sure you verify you can get utilities to your house. Just because
everyone around you has water and power and internet hookups, doesn't mean
they will hook you up, or not charge you a literal fortune to do it. And don't
fuck around with permits and shit, they will fuck you if they can.

------
m-i-l
My parents built a house. They got help digging the foundations (which
required heavy machinery given it was built on rock) but did everything else
themselves. A couple of tips:

\- They bought a pretty run down shell as their first project to learn about
bricklaying, roofing, electrics, plumbing etc. before buying the land for the
new build.

\- For the new build, they got an architect to review their designs pretty
thoroughly, given the country's strict building regulations.

Also, don't underestimate the enormity of the undertaking. It took them 9
years to complete the build, working most evenings and weekends after work.

------
oneshot908
In 2007, I had an architect design the outside both for aesthetics and to
smooth negotiating with the Santa Cruz mafia planning department, but his
floor plans were abysmal, and I would have hated life, stubbing my toes daily.

So I took over that task, drove my girlfriend at the time absolutely nuts
iterating over it, then one day showed her something she said was bleeping
perfect. We built that plan relying on a neighbor who was a general contractor
at the top of his game (early 40s). I still live in that house, but the
girlfriend and I broke up mid-project, oh well.

General observations:

1\. The town will extract maximum value from you for the tiniest changes so
get as much as you can in the 1st draft (e.g.: another $5000 to authorize
making windows openable at floor level vs not)

2\. Get a contractor you trust, things can go non-linear if you don't, and
even if you do, you'll get some flakes. Do not be nice to flakes. Flakes suck.

3\. Rent a nice place elsewhere during the process. If you don't have the $$$
to do this, you probably shouldn't be doing this at all. It will break you.
The movie "The Money Pit" is IMO mostly documentary and only part comedy.

4\. I have 10 Gb/s Cat 6 hard-wired Ethernet in my walls. Local contractors
didn't even know that was possible in 2007. Do your research. This serves me
well when I train DL models in my house.

The next project for me is a solar power system to power all my DL servers.
Since they each eat ~1.5 KW, I'm going to need 10 kW overall for all 4 servers
plus household requirements (but don't call it a datacenter or NVDA will audit
you, call it "A House of Ill Compute"). To that end, I have nicknamed my home
as the house of 200 TFLOPs (16 Pascal GPUs across 4 servers). It's about to
become the house of 2 PFLOPS (RTX 2080TI GPU upgrade pending).

~~~
wallflower
I really like "A House of Ill Compute" as a nickname.

Congrats for managing to create buildable plans!

I hope you used metal/plastic conduits to pass wires between the floors/walls
(so they could be theoretically upgraded with fiber or something better).

------
shove
Concrete structures are cool, but there are lots of issues. Insulation, water
vapor / condensation, potential chemical reaction with other materials,
difficulty of future modification ...

Get a copy of A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander

------
Jedd
I'd suggest you consider the environment around your house - permaculture
materials will help here as sustainable habitations are a strong focus.

You've suggested a 'massive concrete house' without stating size (massive is
_very_ subjective) or why you want concrete (a very expensive material, in
$-cost, environmental costs, and maintenance / repair). You haven't indicated
what climate you're in, or the landscape you're working with.

Passive solar heating works well with concrete floors on an equator-facing
house (assuming you're outside the tropics) with thoughtfully designed
awnings, but a 'whole concrete house' will likely backfire if you're intending
to reduce on-going HVAC costs.

------
Dowwie
There's a couple in Idaho who have adopted homesteading lifestyle and are
video blogging their experience building their own home. It's convinced me to
never try to build my own home.

"Pure Living for Life"
[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChhBsM9K_Bc9a_YTK7UUlnQ](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChhBsM9K_Bc9a_YTK7UUlnQ)

------
megamindbrian2
I built room on the side of the house, I worked with a journey man and
everything he taught me as he gave orders, wrote blueprints I could confirm
with sources online.

It's a wonderful idea to build something using modern techniques. There is a
joke in engineering about the architect that doesn't know how to use a hammer.

I would be happy to generate a plethora of links to resources if you like?
What is the climate for the structure? What is the ground like, rock or sand?
Concrete molds are available at any mainstream hardware store or supply store.
Are you sure you would use concrete above the basement and ground floor? That
is heavy and it takes a while to warm and cool it which can be a benefit or a
problem.

~~~
CyberFonic
Architects dream ... builder's nightmare !

------
funwie
Get some experience.

Find small construction sides where you can work as an amateur. Small sides so
that you can grasp most of the pieces and how they fit together.

Understand a house plan.

Learn to read building plans and how they translate to a physical structure.
The tools and materials used.

Get the tools for the job.

You can not build a solid house in first attempt so Practice. Practice.
Practice. Play with the tools, know what fits where, why, and how. Get a sense
of how all pieces fit together to form a house and build your confidence.

I recommend you get some bricks and and practice building small structures. No
cement. You can use mud so it’s essier to breakdown and start over.

Launch your project when you feel confident you have the skills to see it
through.

------
DoreenMichele
_as autonomously as possible_

I don't know what you mean by this phrase. Do you mean DIY? Or do you mean
off-grid? Or both?

A conventional house with a lot of sweat equity is a very different plan from
a futuristic, self-sufficient, self-contained home/mini-biome that is off-
grid. The advice you will need to achieve each of these different scenarios is
vastly different.

------
dpatru
If you want to build with concrete, look into ICF (insulated concrete forms).
These are foam panels that easily fasten together make the forms. After the
concrete is poured, the forms stay in place to form the insulation. If you are
handy, you could probably do the pour yourself with friends and family, saving
you a lot of money.

~~~
beenBoutIT
Apparently houses constructed with ICFs can withstand a fire (from the
outside) for up to 4 hours.

------
jac_no_k
I've had two bespoke homes built for me in the Tokyo area and bought two
cookie cutter homes in southern California.

For custom homes, the amount of details and things to consider for the
structure itself is enormous. Each area is a specialized skill, from the
paperwork and inspections, the waterworks, electrical, ventilation, lighting,
accessibility, and more.

We worked with the architect for over four months, making him earn his pay to
fit everything to our requirements. While we were quite demanding, the wife
was an architect in California and I run software projects, we were
sympathetic and tried to give clear change requests along with reasoning.

During the build, we visited the location regularly and was allowed to make
last minute decisions. Again very aware to make sure the changes were trivial
and straightforward.

While we settled on wood frame house (with ceramic sidewalls), we also looked
at steel and concrete. I think the most compelling concrete build is this
"Hebel House" with the use of aerated concrete. This type of concrete provides
insulation along with other concrete properties such as resistance to fire.

For homes with modern amenities, there's too many specialized knowledge for
one person to do a build in a reasonable time frame. There are firms with a
team that can help with the build. And it's important for the most important
stakeholder, you the owner, to be fully involved but also work with the
experts.

------
j45
Have helped manage a few houses my father (A GC and finishing carpenter) has
built to live in every 5-10 years.

Before I was allowed to get a computer or enroll in comp sci, my father made
sure that I learned to work with my hands a little too, so I had to be Junior
GC..

Strategic Lessons:

\- If you're interested in building a house, it might help to hire a GC who
builds a regular house for a percentage fee to manage the build, learn from
them, and then build your own. Most will be very happy to teach. You get 2
tries at a house on fit and finish.

\- When building new, getting a closed shell (foundation, framing, walls,
roof) is the most urgent thing to allow inside work to commence regardless of
weather. If this gets missed in a shoulder season and you plan on building
through the winter, it will present challenges.

\- You have to build relative to the neighbourhood value, not what you can
afford to build due to managing it yourself. Exception is if you're going to
live there for 20 years.

\- Lining up and managing trades is the name of the game. The more you look
out for trades to get in and out easily, and care about their work, their
quality of work goes through the roof.

\- I would start with remodeling / extending an existing house before going
through a new house. New builds are cleaner in some ways, but you will get a
taste if it's for you.

\- Alternative building methods (concrete walls, 3D printing) can be expected
to have unintended side effects to traditional house building you should.

\- Be strategic where you can save and do things yourself, vs have things
done. There's often enough margin in just helping with prep and cleanup along
the way plus doing a few easy things.

\- Build to sell - build in extra entrances that are separate for basement
suites, etc.

Reality:

\- You have to be around all the time. Always when you're not planning to.
Plan that in your commute and coming and going. Always better to build as
close as possible to where you live. If not, where work.

\- Clean as you go. All the time. Trades behave better on a site that's
meticulous.

\- Finishing is 60% of the value of a house. Keep that in mind. Everything can
become more affordable when building on your own because labour savings are
there.

\- Managing your project schedule and budget every few days as a first timer
will help a lot.

------
michaelbuckbee
Have you considered a Monolithic Dome? You'd have to excavate a basement, but
the construction process is massively simplified (if perhaps still not DIY
level).

[http://www.monolithic.org/homes](http://www.monolithic.org/homes)

------
delbel
I built my own house with no experience. It was very easy. Houses today are
built out of crappy material like OSB and 2x6. Important factors are R-value
for your area, Snow Load for the roof pitch, and frost level. I would start
off with a shed and learn these things, plus framing a wall, building a load
bearing wall, and roofing. Basically the hardest part is following the code,
getting permits and inspection. If I were to do it all again, I would buy a
steel house kit and then do everything else from that. I have since bought a
backhoe and various construction equipment but I also own a farm. My dream
home would be a "Californian Ranch Style" with Victorian inside crown trim,
vaulted ceilings, built out the steel frame and redwood that I harvested,
milled, and planed myself (which would required to get green tag) nickle,
gold, and bronze plated cast iron decals and Gothic marble style polished
epoxy cement flooring and fake ivory and 11 ft walls with vaulted ceiling and
a huge fireplace. It would take me 15 years to make and I would have to learn
how to use a wood lathe.

------
pssst
Currently building a small (real small by US standards) 95 sqm. passive house
in Romania. I dared to do this by myself as I'm a trained structural engineer
(now a SW developer).

I can not emphasize enough on the energy efficiency of the house as energy
costs are high. Take a look on how and why to build a passive house, it will
change your life.

I can take a look here and see if you have one in your area... if it's a
certified one you can visit it between 9-11 of Nov., this is a world wide
event. More here: [https://passivehouse-
international.org/index.php?page_id=262](https://passivehouse-
international.org/index.php?page_id=262)

Also here you can find more info regarding passive houses in USA:
[https://naphnconference.com/](https://naphnconference.com/)

------
stergios
I have built a house and a garage. For the garage, I was the GC, but for the
house, I hired a GC. The garage was 500 sq ft and easy enough to manage all
the subcontractors. The house was a much bigger project; an infill
development, 3500 sq ft, two floors with big expansive rooms, which required a
lot of steel since we are in an earthquake zone. I was on-site every day
reviewing progress and managing up and down the chain. Also, gain a working
level of Spanish if you are building in California; it's essential for
communicating with the tradespeople.

In both cases, I used an architect to professionalize the basic design and
help walk us through the city review, approval, and permit process (edit: this
added tremendous value for the house environment and style [1] ). We used an
independent, licensed structural engineer for the house, but the city still
found issues with the work (the city will often subcontract the review to
another, usually an out-of-state engineer) and needed to be convinced the
design was correct in some cases and reworked in other cases.

The review process, while often criticized, is for your benefit and safety. If
you treat the reviewers as a partner the project will be better for it.

The project itself is hard enough using industry standard conventional
building techniques. If you try to do something too original or unorthodox the
system has many obstacles in place to force you to prove your project is safe.

If you are serious about this I suggest the following: 0) learn SketchUp or a
similar 3d modeling system, 1) choose a location in a rural area to reduce the
complexities of building in a crowded area, 2) find a retired GC who is
interested in the idea and wants to learn more about it and hire them as a
consultant, 3) start small and build test cases (dollhouses, then a shed, then
a garage, and finally scale up to a house) to build skill and discover your
skill gaps.

Best of luck, it sounds like a fun and challenging project.

[1] [https://www.houzz.com/projects/439864/mountain-view-
prairie-...](https://www.houzz.com/projects/439864/mountain-view-prairie-
style)

~~~
barrow-rider
> Also, gain a working level of Spanish if you are building in California;
> it's essential for communicating with the tradespeople.

Not just California -- most places. My neighbors in VA were Hispanic
construction workers who did mostly concrete pouring. When I helped my folks
refurb their properties in rural NY and PA easily 60-80% were Hispanic, even
the GC/PM.

------
owenversteeg
I'm currently most of the way done with building my home, which is a steel
boat. Anyone else here on HN built their own liveaboard (or a substantial part
of it)?

When I got started I just bought the rusty hull, with almost nothing attached,
and built my way up from there.

Feel free to ask me anything about it.

------
Freestyler_3
Once you have gotten plans on paper, and permits. And you are getting the
foundation placed(or placing it yourself) make sure of all measurements, don't
shrug away half a degree off. Same with levelling the walls. This will save
you a lot of cursing.

Also if you are going with concrete then the electrics will be poured in, make
sure you put a lifeline in for some circuits. (this is a connection from the
entry point to a different point in the circuit than the connection you
already have) This could save a lot of work if something goes awry and you
lose a connection.

insulation is good, but you don't want water condensation in between
materials.

------
bsvalley
Built a house in the Bay here. Not sure you can build a fully concrete house
in the Bay because of earthquake requirements. There are specific materials
and engineering required, etc. I’m assuming you’re browsing lots at the
moment? Make sure to check that the lot is buildable 1st, then look at the
building envelop, is it big enough? How’s the soil? etc. I would hire a civil
engineer to check a lot prior to signing a deal. It costs somewhere around $5k
to run a survey on a lot.

Then when everything is fine and you bought the lot, start working with an
architect. That is the expensive part (at least $50k and the sky is the
limit). Ater your architect validates your floorplan with the city, you’re now
able to start the process of building your house. You need to interview a
bunch of contractors/builders, some have their own project managers (which I’d
recommend using), some require a lot more coordination and work from your
side. In California in general, especially around the Bay, the city will be
your biggest enemy. They are a pain in the butt when it comes to new
regulations, green stuff and all the non-sense. They will utimately bump up
your original estimation by forcing your builder to comply to their random
rules. I mean... we could talk for days on the subject. Good luck! Feel free
to ask if you have more specific questions.

------
cx42net
I've bought a house from 1950, removed everything inside except the main walls
and the roof, and redo everything, including heat, water, electricity, and
insulation.

It took me around two years, mostly working on the weeks and I learned a ton
of stuff, mostly that if you persevere, you can succeed (this applies to
projects too ;) ).

The main point I'll raise is that you always need to check the work made by
professional. We hired a few for some of the work, and almost everytime, it
was sloppy, badly made or wrongly installed. It's unbelievable how the word
"professional" doesn't rime with quality!

It will take a lot of your time - still does - and will drag you down
sometimes, but once you'll be living in, you'll be pretty happy. And friends
will be impressed by what you accomplished.

I don't have a background in brick and mortar, so a lot of stuff was new to
me, but I do have a close friend who is a mason, and have a very good
knowledge in the main fields of building a house. Is help was tremendous, and
I'm not sure I would have finished without him.

I'm now working on adding a patio by increasing the ground floor and having
the patio on the top. I'm doing it with my friend so it takes time, finding
when we both are available, but it's less costly that way, and make me sweat a
bit (swear too ;) ).

------
sonaltr
I do plan on building a house (buying some land, finding a contractor and
getting it built).

Houses in Ontario are getting crazy expensive (as an example - a friend of
mine was able to get land + house for ~800k when the going rate of a prebuilt
house in the neighborhood was around a mil).

Also, if I am spending so much and plan to put down some roots - I like to
have a house based on my designs rather than a cookie cutter bs that most
contractors have.

EDIT: I also plan on using concrete (and rebar).

------
smilesnd
I have done construction since I was 8.

First off laws, you be surprise what kind of laws there are in your
state/city. Where I live you must have a 3 foot drop on your roof. The only
allowed material for building houses is wood and bricks. You wouldn't be able
to build steel or cement house where I live.

Second location location location, you be surprise how many house get flooded
because they are built in a bad spot or because while they were building the
house they accidentally rerouted water paths. The other thing is you find some
exotic or endanger animal on the premise and have to stop all the
construction. Do your research, walk around the land and property, and go
during different weather what might be a warm spot in the sun might be a swamp
in a lite rainfall.

Third define massive because my definition of a massive house is everyone with
there own bedroom and one extra room besides the kitchen and living room.

Fourth hooking up to water, electricity, and internet. Just because someone
down the street has all these things doesn't mean they going to run them to
your house. I have family friends that has neighbors that they can wave to
each other through kitchen windows yet they can not get the same ISP hook up
they have and have to use satellite internet. They also cannot get city water
like them for some odd ball reason only thing they get is electricity.

Fifth you be surprise what unknowns cost in construction. There is a reason
why neighborhoods have the same cookie cut houses covering a neighborhood.
When you buy $100k worth of material it comes with a no return policy. If
something funky happens you have to absorb those cost no matter what. You hire
someone to build a house and $10k worth of material got stolen! You going to
have to toss in another $10k to cover that stolen material.Also you might be
surprise how difficult a bank loan is to get for new constructions.

In my experience unless you you have more money then you know what to do with
a custom house won't benefit you more then a prefab or buying used. Just like
new people to software they only see the surface think I can do this then
learn what kind of hell it is. You will either be the 99% that regret it or
the 1% that loves it. It is going to cost you more then you think, and take
longer then you think. You will have to jump over a lot of hurdles and learn
things you never knew existed.

------
alangibson
I'm currently helping a friend build a house in Austria, where houses are
generally brick and concrete. You don't want to build the walls out of
concrete. Use thick thermal bricks, he kind with lots of internal cavities.
Then, if you are in a really cold climate, apply a layer of thick rigid
insulation on the outside, followed by a rigid top coat. Floors and ceilings
only should be poured concrete.

------
joconnor7113
Hello! I have built my own house from scratch. I worked with a couple of
friends on the weekends for about 2 years building it. I put together a
YouTube series documenting the whole process. I am not an expirenced builder,
we just figured it all out as we went along. The house is about 1000 square
feet with 18 foot ceilings in the living room. As mentioned by others in this
thread keep the design simple such as a single roof line. Consider your HVAC
need well ahead of time as this nearly bit me later. Also keep plumbing out of
exterior walls. Here is a playlist of the build
-[http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8s_XcXa7A6z2Je2v56Xjp...](http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8s_XcXa7A6z2Je2v56Xjp484NJ3HO5rC)

------
jaredsk
Depending on the reason, I recommend no basement if you can get around it.
They leak, mold, dark, humid etc. more economical to get another story up. of
course if land is sparse or your in a major city you may need one and it may
be worth the hassle regardless.

hire out a reputable builder for the structure. and perhaps polish the floors.
get a proper rough in for electrical and plumbing. order cabinets and such for
kitchen and 1 full washroom.

things like flooring, paining and other small finishing work are learnable
skills. be prepared to take extra time or redo work as part of the learning
curve. Keep the design very simple, reduce or remove finishing as possible. if
you can get a livable structure built in short order you can spend the months
or years building it to your needs and tastes over time.

~~~
briHass
This is really going to depend on the region you're building in. In much of
the North Eastern/Mid-Atlantic USA, assuming a plot with good
drainage/grading, basements are awesome. They're a perfect place to put the
house mechanical equipment (HVAC/water heater) and run necessary
pipes/wires/ducts. Good luck running new wiring/plumbing around the first
floor with slab-on-grade.

Basements are also generally preferable to crawlspaces, because they're
(semi)conditioned and can be dehumidified/sealed as necessary to prevent
mold/water issues to the framing. Crawlspaces are not typically sealed, and
issues (mold/rot/leaks) can often go unnoticed, because nobody wants to crawl
around to inspect. If you use your basement for storage, you'll likely be down
there frequently enough to notice any growing issues.

On top of all that, many people finish their basements to add additional
living space. This is typically very easy to do (DIY), because tapping into a
few ducts and power is all right there.

------
Zaskoda
My family built our home starting in about 1990 when I was in high school. We
built the entire thing ourselves. The only parts we didn't fabricate were the
cabinets that my uncle built. We built a 3 bedroom 2 bath home with a study. I
really cannot remember how big it was.

We built a 'pier and beam' foundation that created a cawl space under the
house. We did our own plumbing, electrical, and hvac. We built in the country
where the required inspections were minimal.

Even after having gone through the experience, I'm not sure what pointers I
would give you here other than be prepared to do a lot of hard work and, if
you finish, you'll probably be really glad you did it!

------
jijji
Yes, i've built a few and many more dozens of permitted construction
projects... The big thing for me is the cost, and keeping it down. If you hire
builders to do the work, in my area the price is about $100/sqft. If you do
the permits yourself or sub out the general contractor yourself, you can get
the work done for about $10/sqft - $25/sqft. Also, when you spec out the
materials, try to avoid places like Home Depot and Lowes as much as possible,
try instead to look on places like Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, other
places where people sell things. You can easily save tens of thousands by
doing that in your project.

------
newnewpdro
If you want to do something like this as some kind of R&D mule, I highly
recommend you do it in the desert where land is very cheap, sand readily
available on your own property for mixing the concrete, and code enforcement
is less prevalent.

Additionally, you may want to check out super adobe structures. It would be
interesting to try automate construction of some of calearth's [0] designs. I
can imagine a machine filling and laying the earthbags fairly easily... and
IIRC some of their designs have already been certified and legally built in
San Bernardino county.

[0] [https://calearth.org](https://calearth.org)

------
matthoiland
Be sure to look into cob and strawbale construction. Quite a bit hippy, but
also a better process for the first time owner-builder.

There's a book called The Hand-Sculpted House. Also Google "cob house" and
"strawbale house".

~~~
gerdesj
"Cob" includes the straw. Its the name of a construction method basically
involving mud and straw. My aunt and uncle's previous house was built in the
1640s of cob, with a reed thatch roof, including a catslide. We called it the
mud hut, due to our lack of imagination.

------
pvaldes
Don't put your home near place names like "floodville", "lavafornia",
"poisonwell" or "mudbottom". Is surprising how many people still insist (and
are allowed) on building their home inside the floodable areas near rivers. If
there are very old trees or even better very old houses standing around, put a
green checkmark in your notebook.

Let the floor, columns and beams to be managed by a professional. Furniture is
heavy and your house will need to stand a lot of weight. You can live with a
door misplaced opening against the light switch, but not with a treacherous
floor.

------
petre
If you decide to do it from hempcrete instead of concrete, I can recommend
_Essential Hempcrete_ by Chris Magwood which is a good book on the subject.
Hempcrete is better suited for a DIY project than concrete, it also more
natural, has decent insulation and acts as a humudity buffer, has good time
shift properties and fire resistance. It also involves wood framing, but the
framing is usually burried into the cast hemplime material.

[http://limecrete.co.uk/hempcrete-
factsheet/](http://limecrete.co.uk/hempcrete-factsheet/)

------
matdrewin
I've done a major rehaul on my house.

\- Removal of mould in basement \- Redid basement (plumbing + electrical) \-
Full foundation waterproofing + french drain \- Full landscaping (asphalt,
stone, sod) \- Full reflooring (tile + wood) \- Redid downstairs bathroom \-
Redid garage

My suggestions?

\- Keep things as simple as possible. I can't count the times I ended up
creating problems by trying to be clever. \- Keep water out of the house. I
would forego the basement completely and start from a concrete slab. \- Build
on solid ground (i.e. rock) if possible \- Build on elevated ground with a
good grade to keep the water away

------
briffle
I have never seen an autonomously built concrete house, but building with ICF
forms is basically like stacking giant Styrofoam legos, and the pouring
concrete in the middle. And insulation values of R40 are common! There was an
interesting blog series to follow from Ana White about building an ICF home in
Alaska for their moms.

[http://www.ana-white.com/2013/03/momplex/building-momplex-
ic...](http://www.ana-white.com/2013/03/momplex/building-momplex-icf-
presentation)

------
garyrichardson
Two things:

1) I am currently building a house. Pretty much every comment here is dead on.
It's hard. Especially the first time. And especially anything that isn't
"standard" will cost about 2x more than what you expect.

2) I stayed in an airbnb in Iceland this past spring. The house was built in
the 70's and was mostly concrete. Interior walls were poured concrete. It was
cool until I tried to check my email in outside of the room that had the wifi
router.

There's rebar in all that concrete and I'm pretty sure it was a big faraday
cage.

------
novaRom
I can speak for myself. I live in Germany and building something new is very
expensive here. I have some friends who tried this path and most of them have
absolutely bad experience. If you don't have enough time and expertise, it is
very very expensive. You will overpay for every single service. In fact,
Germany has enourmosely inflated prices, you may spend x10 less if you decide
to build in any other near country (like Hungary). Don't know if it's similar
in regard to US.

------
fasteddie31003
I'm actually planning on building a cabin near Truckee, CA. I've bought a 1/4
acre and I'm working on the designs now. I want to do most of it myself. I've
got the sketchup plans on github
[https://github.com/CacheFactory/Cabin](https://github.com/CacheFactory/Cabin)
I'm just wondering if it should be 2 or 3 floors. I don't want to bit off too
much that I can't finish it.

------
toomanybeersies
I've basically done everything short of laying concrete foundations and
putting up the frame. Not all on one house, but bits various houses.

There are a lot of things you can do yourself (depending on jurisdiction) that
can save a lot of money. My old man owns several houses, and home
renovation/building houses is sort of his hobby (it also makes him a lot of
money, but it's not his day job). I've been helping him with
renovation/construction since I was about 5 years old.

My father and I have built our own fences, painted interior and exterior,
plastered (not actually so easy), tiled floors (also not that easy), laid
wooden floor, laid decks, built swimming pools (we did hire a contractor to
dig the pit), retaining walls (took a weekend, saved about $10,000), internal
electrical wiring and fittings (you may need to get a certificate to do this),
ethernet/phone wiring, installed roof insulation, built kitchens, laid
driveways etc. etc.

The only things I haven't done are laying concrete foundations and erecting
frames (all the houses I've worked on were timber framed).

The main problems you're likely to run into is whether you're legally allowed
to do it yourself or not. You'll most likely need qualifications to do any
electrical work (which my father has, although he's not an electrician) or
plumbing/gasfitting work.

My suggestion though would be to start small. I've been doing this sort of
thing since as long as I can remember, so I'm fairly confident in what I'm
doing. If I were you I wouldn't start with trying to build a house from
scratch, start with building some smaller things, like rebuilding your fence
(if you have one) or building a shed/sleepout.

I really don't know how feasible it would be to make a concrete house by
yourself. I wouldn't lay a concrete foundation myself, it's not a one man job
to start with, and if you screw it up it's a very expensive mistake.

If this is your first experience with building a new house, which I assume it
is, I'd really caution against trying to do it all yourself and biting off
more than you can chew. Get an architect, get a project plan (I have no
experience at all at this end), and then break down what you can do yourself,
and what you need to pay somebody else to do.

------
NumberCruncher
My father and our relatives built the house I grew up. My father worked in the
construction industry as a construction supervisor and made blue prints for
family homes as a side gig. My uncle was a professional roofer. I can't
remember them saying anything like "that was a nice thing, let us do it
again". Finishing it took almost 10 years and some parts had to be rebuilt
because of lack of proper isolation.

------
leoedin
You might find construction with Durisol blocks interesting - the end result
is an insulated concrete house but the construction process is manageable by
one or two people. There's an interesting article covering the building of
such a house here: [https://edinkist.wordpress.com/diary-of-the-
build/](https://edinkist.wordpress.com/diary-of-the-build/)

------
dirktheman
If you're in a warm climate this might not be for you, but I live in a
moderate climate and I've always been interested in a Rocket Mass Heater as
the centerpiece of my house:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_mass_heater](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_mass_heater)

Unfortunately I live in a cookie-cutter suburb so it's not feasable right now,
but someday...

~~~
tonyedgecombe
They seem very popular in the permaculture community, I wonder how effective
they really are.

~~~
jaggederest
About as effective as any reasonably efficiently designed wood stove. Usually
60%-80% transfer efficiency at best, depending on the exact design and way
it's operated. They're a fad because they look cool, not because they're order
of magnitude more efficient. You can run them more efficient, but then you
have to deal with corrosive condensate, which makes the operational
characteristics questionable.

------
r0m4n0
I know people here discussed some of the complexities with building with
concrete. My great grandfather mixed/poured his own mortar bricks and then
proceeded to build his house with soley bricks. Another option to consider
(although this was constructed about 75 years ago)

[https://goo.gl/maps/F3zrHVWk1sm](https://goo.gl/maps/F3zrHVWk1sm)

------
koverda
A friend of my old roommate built his own house:
[https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/brianandhannahbuildah...](https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/brianandhannahbuildahouse/?hl=en)

Might be worth it to reach out to him. He's a woodworker, so it's not exactly
a massive concrete house.

------
gavanwoolery
I recently wanted to pour some slabs for a sidewalk on part of my house. A 16
sqft slab (4' x 4'), to my surprise, ended up taking 750 pounds of
concrete/cement and hours of effort to mix by hand. Building concrete walls is
much harder and requires a complex form unless you are just laying bricks.
Choose your battles wisely!

------
rboyd
There’s a couple on YouTube that are building a concrete (ICF) house together.
The channel is called Pure Living For Life.
[https://m.youtube.com/channel/UChhBsM9K_Bc9a_YTK7UUlnQ](https://m.youtube.com/channel/UChhBsM9K_Bc9a_YTK7UUlnQ)

Construction work is amazingly easy to underestimate.

------
geggam
The following URL discusses using aircrete to build with and there are many
advantages.

Permits are interesting to navigate. I recommend engaging a local contractor
for advice as it would help you significantly

[https://www.domegaia.com/how-to-make-
aircrete.html](https://www.domegaia.com/how-to-make-aircrete.html)

------
dawnerd
Watch all of a house build of This Old House. You'll get a good idea of the
hidden things that come into play.

------
jmilloy
I'm thinking about the same thing, and this summer I took a two week Home
Design/Build course at Yestermorrow (yestermorrow.org). I really recommend it
as a way to work through your designs, both on the broad scale and in the
specifics (building to code, budgeting, utilities, etc).

------
dm7
Consider ICF for the walls, steel joists which would allow you to have large
open modern looking spaces - i.e.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRGMcLPrrZU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRGMcLPrrZU)

------
drelihan
Finishing my first build now. It was a tear down of an old house and replaced
with a slightly larger ( ~ 4200sqft ), custom house on the same footprint. A
different design ( curved roof and lots of glass ), but less site work ( e.g.
driveway, well, retaining walls, etc already in place ).

Rough timeline ( just under two years from start to finish ): \- starting
looking seriously in Nov 2016 \- Found property in Jan 2017 and closed on
April 2017 \- interviewed half a dozen GCs / architects, had one lined up by
May 2018 \- basic design / layout of house done by July 2018 \- started permit
process in July 2018 \- Demo'd existing house Nov 2018 \- All permits finally
approved Dec 2018 \- Construction Dec 2018 - present ( projected finish Oct
2018 )

What I learned:

\+ If this is your first house and you don't have experience, hire the best
general contractor you can find for your project. Hire a general contractor
prior to selecting a site if possible, as they would be very helpful in
helping you with the pros and cons of each build site. Your choice of
contractor is one of the biggest choicest you can make in terms of how
enjoyable the process will be. The best way you can automate the process is
your selection of GC.

\+ We worked with a design/build firm that did both the architectural work +
the contracting.

\+ The general contractor is CEO. You are the Chairperson of the Board. Your
role isn't making day to day decisions, but rather finding a CEO that can
perform the job, providing what he or she needs to do the job you asked (
mainly timely money and decisions ), and confirming the job has been done.

\+ Minimize change orders, but don't be afraid to make changes during the
construction. Decisions get exponentially more expensive to change as you go
along. We only had one change order --- ripped out a sliding door and replaced
it with a window. That change, which would have only cost $75 at drafting
time, cost us ~$5k. However, if we had waited until the project was finished
the cost would have been $8-10k+. Also know, that if you ask for an estimated
cost on a change order or add-on during construction, expect it to actually
cost 25-50%.

\+ Even seasoned pros make mistakes. Accept upfront that mistakes / delays
will happen. If you stress about every mistake and try to optimize everything,
you'll drive yourself crazy. Focus on avoiding the mistakes that would be
prohibitively expensive to fix properly.

\+ Permitting time is a lot longer than you think. We hired the site engineer
in July and didn't get approved permits until Dec ( there was never any push
back on the permits, but they all had long processing times and could not be
run in parallel.

~~~
Infernal
I'm trying to understand your dates.... should I %s/2018/2017/g ?

------
breerly
Came here expecting to find nifty "tiny house" anecdotes.

I see the virus is not spreading :(

------
matt_the_bass
If you are set on concrete, check out this blog about building a modern
concrete house in a rural area:
[http://moderninmn.blogspot.com](http://moderninmn.blogspot.com)

------
adamredwoods
This American Life: [https://www.thisamericanlife.org/69/dream-house/act-
one](https://www.thisamericanlife.org/69/dream-house/act-one)

------
abraham_lincoln
Make sure you have a french drain around your basement perimeter.

------
glassmax
Autonomously as in 3D printed ? If so, cool! I’ve build houses and (a#1) hire
a great architect.

Where would you build it ? I’d love to help with any sort of 3D printed
building project

------
resters
I too have this goal/fantasy. Thanks for posting this on HN. I would love to
join some sort of group or mailing list to further explore the subject.

------
evo_9
My buddy is currently building an adobe in NM:

[https://visioncreationadobe.com](https://visioncreationadobe.com)

------
alpinemeadow
Hi, I build two homes in WA state in a rural area (more on this later) while I
was working as a webmaster and all around sysadmin for a small wood
distributor co.

First house: 2600sq ft, Full size basement with 2 stories on top of a
traditional timber frame structure, wrapped in S.I.Ps (structural insulated
panels). We had plans drawn by architects and we went BIG. I ended up acting
as the general contractor as the guy we hired ended up screwing up and bailing
on us. I did a lot labor along the subs and learned a good deal of many of the
trades and what were m,y limitations, what could I do. I also interacted with
the building department as a owner-builder, it seems to me that unless you are
in a rural area (they helped me and coached me thru a lot), you will have to
have some help navigating this aspect too. Learnings from the first house: \-
a project management approach would have saved me time and money.Ask this for
your GC, or make sure you look at time-cost-quality on every touchpoint. \-
make sure you have contracts with everyone that will be subbing for you. We
had a contract with the GC and even then we had to go to court (long side
story, headaches) \- Basement concrete walls & foundation were slow to build,
expensive and you need to know what you are doing, not something I would
recommend for an owner-builder. \- try to design the smallest space you think
you need, then cut again on space. If you design with the possibility to
expand later on and still be statically pleasing, you will end up ahead on
many fronts. We got carried away and built twice as much what we needed with
very expensive materials and techniques (timber frame). Cue in 2006-2008
financial crisis. Imagine the rest.

Second house: 1100 sq ft Rastra blocks crawl space Foundation. (Insulated
Concrete forms) and S.I.P.s panel walls and roof. I acted as the GC. I subbed
the excavation (minimal as I did a crawl space that was barely deep to let me
in), and the rough plumbing, as the guy did it in 8 hrs. I did all the finish
plumbing. I learned to do the electrical work and wired the whole house, had
an electrician friend come connect the main panel to the street tri-phasic
high-voltage. SIP panels for the walls of this one story house we raised by
hand with my ex-wife. Roof panels we flew in on a single day with 4 friends,
had to rend a crane for 6 hrs. With SIP panels you have a closed structure,
with all openings framed and ready to be covered in 8 days. Took me 9 months
to finish, working evenings and weekends and 1 month summer vacation.

Learnings from second house: \- build small, smallest you need. \- your local
hardware store is your training, mentor and partner in this. Most folks are
happy to teach you what to use, how to use it. You will end up paying a little
more than $BigBox, but you also can ask to get a GC account and discount
(around 10-15%). Win-win. \- Labor savings with modular construction
techniques such as SIPs and CIFs are huge if you are a DIY builder. Heck here
in Sweden even big projects are built modular!

This is a bit stream of consciousness post, apologies as it is late here and
also there are so many emotions linked to those two projects... Message me if
you need a sounding board to discuss more.

Happy building!

~~~
lh7777
I'd be very interested to hear more about your 2nd house experience as I'm
currently considering building a similar-sized house using SIPs in rural
Washington state. Ideally, I'd use a GC (if I can find a good one!) to get the
building dried-in and then do the bulk of the finishing work myself. Do you
have a recommendation for a SIP vendor?

~~~
alpinemeadow
Hi, this was back in 2009 and we used Insulspan, would imagine they are still
around but you should check.

The good thing was that we used their structural calculations on the wall and
the three beams that held the roof panels to have an Engineer stamp the plans
at a reduced price (he simply checked that their calculations were OK). The
RASTRA blocks to do the perimeter foundation was a great solution as we did
the floor with OSB I beams, very fast and cheap!

------
roflchoppa
actually I'm framing a house right now with my uncle. Having difficulty
breaking into programming / dev jobs after graduating this past spring.

End up working 10-13 hours on the house, and try to work on projects when I'm
finished there for the day. Still been applying!

------
fizixer
Good luck with building codes and dealing with your local government.

\- [https://redd.it/8qo0lh](https://redd.it/8qo0lh)

\- [https://redd.it/8pn8et](https://redd.it/8pn8et)

\- [https://redd.it/1c1ofk](https://redd.it/1c1ofk)

------
allard
pointer — [https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/chicago-house-by-tadao-
ando...](https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/chicago-house-by-tadao-ando-143333)

------
telaport
If you are in the States then unless you're licensed in like 30 areas, you
will not be able to build your house "autonomously".

You will need permits for everything - properly doing concrete for walls and
ceilings is a huge undertaking.

You will need to hire electricians and then get your local city to inspect
everything. Again, if you plan on laying anything within your concrete
structure, you will have a ton of back and forth in terms of approvals and
inspections.

Before I forget, you will also need to make sure you run your plans by a
professional since you may not realize something you need to run within your
flooring or foundation. For example, I have worked on a basement-less home
where the ground floor is concrete slab. Well, all sewer, electrical, water,
etc was run through this in 1977. We wanted to make certain extensions but
were limited by where certain water, gas and power outlets were already run.
For one section we had no choice so we trenched the foundation to run new
water and sewer lines. It was not easy. It was not cheap. It was a lot of
work. So, if you do this, you can't just assume you have planned everything
correctly in your head. You have to hire someone to at the very least look
over everything and assure you that you're not forgetting anything. Otherwise
it will be twice as expensive to go back and fix things later.

The biggest thing you need to do focus on right now is your budget. If you
told me how many square feet you wanted your house to be, we could estimate
something for the base concrete costs - including permits and labor. But your
house will need windows, flooring, carpet, wood, doors, HVAC, tiles, tiling,
fixtures, lighting, electrical, moulding, etc etc etc... you can easily blow
your budget on just your foundation, or in just one bathroom where you pick
the wrong tiles or go overboard with too many fancy design and aesthetic
choices. A custom shower with a modern shower system and a concrete floor that
allows for custom tiles in the shower for example will be costly in terms of
time and effort, but something you can do yourself. You will again need to
make sure any plumbing in this bathroom is properly done otherwise your local
inspector will literally make you tear it all up and do it again properly.

tldr - there are a million ways this can wreck you. Unless you live on a farm
in the middle of nowhere and are a millionaire with access to contractors who
can deliver all these things to your land for you to experiment and play
with... I would not consider building a massive concrete house "autonomously".

------
itronitron
sounds like you should look at concrete dome homes which basically involve
spraying concrete on the inside or outside of a giant anchored bag of air.

------
esaym
I did not build a house, but I did buy a mobile home recently and to save
money I did all of the "site prep" work my self. This was basically running a
water line (400 ft from the meter), getting electric installed (180ft from the
pole), getting a concrete foundation to put the house one (because putting a
mobile home on a gravel pad is ghetto and leads to a lifetime of house
leveling issues), septic installed, HVAC install (I declined the cheap unit
the house came with).

Let me tell you, just those few things were a lot of work. I'd say don't even
think about it (building a house) unless you know someone in the business
locally that can point you to decent contractors. Let me itemize everything
below and explain:

First, I needed to run a water line about 300 ft. I wanted to use all Pex as
copper is too expensive and PVC just breaks around here. But after
researching, I realized that I'd need a pipe with an inside diameter bigger
than 1" to go that 300 ft without a big pressure drop. Once you go above 1" in
Pex, you start getting really expensive. I ended up running a "trunk" line out
of straight 1 1/4" PVC, 20 ft sections with a 2" bell end. These should be
pretty strong and since it is in a straight line, shouldn't break. Every 20
ft, I offset the pipe about 4" to "weave" it into the trench to help with
expansion. On each end I used a pvc to pex transition fitting from Sioux
Chief. Not really what I wanted, but the pvc was $200 while to do it in pex
with a 1.5" line would have been well over $1000. Asking around for tips in
plumbing forums does help, but you'll quickly find out that plumbers are very
opinionated about what to use (even among themselves) and they don't really
like "outsiders" asking for advice. It was a big job, trenching the line took
a full day, and then I spent about 3 days cleaning out the trench with a
shovel...

Pouring a concrete slab was the next big thing. How hard can that be? Well...
I quickly found out that (honest) concrete contractors did not really want to
pour me a slab to put a mobile home on since I had no blue prints to go by.
This is where having someone in the industry really helps. My family has a
auto shop locally and they knew of a concrete contractor that a "rich"
customer uses quite often to do industrial buildings. I managed to meet with
him, and using some of the ideas and plans laid out from some of the other
contractors that turned me down, we were able to design a slab that would be
correct to handle the weight and soil movement properly. But through research,
I also discovered that concrete needs to be "cured" properly or you loose up
to 50% of the strength. This curing is normally not done by contractors. So
through more research, I ended up locating and buying some membrane based
spray on curing compound that I put on the slab right after it was poured. I
think it turned out well.

Septic was fun. This is rural land, so there is no septic service. 30 years
ago, this would have been a simple and cheap thing. But thanks to today's
regulations, it is now expensive and covered in red tape. Early in my
planning, I had a person quote me an install price of $5k for a tank and leach
field. I based all of my budget on that. But I never could get the guy to show
up, and he would never answer the phone. He was from far out of town too.
Using the knowledge of my family auto shop's customer base, I located some
people locally, but they all wanted $13k! We went back and forth on prices, I
eventually gave up and went back to trying to find shady craigslist people
again, but I still couldn't find anyone that would show up. Plus the local
guys were all telling me there is quite an epidemic of unlicensed installers
that will do cheap work under the table but once the county finds out about
your bootlegged septic install, they'll make you remove it and have it re-
done. Basically a bootlegged system carries the same punishments as dumping
raw sewage into a river, so it is not something to screw around with as you
are dealing with the state's health department. In the end, I paid one of the
local guys to do it right for $13k...

HVAC systems I am somewhat familiar with, so I was fine with just looking
around locally to find someone that is an approved dealer for the HVAC brand I
want.

The electric connection from the pole to the house was not so straight forward
though. Most connections from the meter to the house are under 40 feet. I was
at 180 ft, which meant I had to up size the wire. Which also meant I had to up
size the conduit it was in to 2.5", but the conduit into the house would still
be 2". So basically I ended up installing a feed through sub panel in the back
yard. Run the bigger wire to that, then for the last 20 ft or so, run some
smaller wire. But all this had to be researched quite a bit on my own. Talking
to electricians didn't help too much surprisingly. Thankfully we did have one
in my family though.

So as you can see, even simple tasks that you might think you can do by
yourself, end up not being as such and/or taking 4x longer to complete (and
maybe even 4x more price-wise)

As far as concrete constructed houses, ironically, one of my family members
lives in one. It was built in the 1970's. It arrived piece by piece on a
several trailers and was assembled with cranes. The walls are solid with no
insulation. Even in our hot climate where most people's electric bills are
$200+ in the summer, he normally stays below $100 surprisingly, though he does
live under a thick cover of trees. He's had some rather large tree branches
fall on the house too, but it didn't hurt anything other than break some of
the stone/spanish tiles on the roof. Interestingly, his insurance is not
cheap. He has to pay a premium for "unconventional" construction for both
flood and fire insurance even though water or fire would not bother the house
much...

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agumonkey
no but I've been reading about concrete and bricks recently

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maviyakuku
comments is awesome

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perilunar
> I am thinking about a massive, concrete house.

Great.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_concre...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_concrete)

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sonaltr
yes, and cutting trees down and transporting wood around is so great for the
environment...

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jakamau
I'll entertain this line of thought.

1\. Most of the trees that are cut down are coming from farms. The trees were
planted with the express purpose of being harvested.

2\. The transportation network for traditional building materials is built for
scale. Outside of the last mile, that transportation network is far more
energy-efficient than transporting materials and equipment for non-traditional
buildings.

Counter-points can definitely be raised:

\- Tree farms use a good deal of water and fertilizer

    
    
        - The same argument can be raised against most industrial farming
    

\- Natural environments have been destroyed to create and expand tree farms

We can't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

Traditional building materials end up being better for the environment than
concrete and many non-traditional materials.

~~~
abraae
> Tree farms use a good deal of water and fertilizer

Really? In my country trees are planted and then nature does most of the rest
(apart from thinning). After 25 years, trees are chopped down, and the process
repeated.

