I'm so happy to have stumbled on this blog. I have a quick question and a sneaking suspicion it'll be shot down quickly.
All of my uncles were in construction and my grandad owned a contractor company that serviced businesses in the PNW. I spent a lot of time working with them as a kid. Now I live near the Hollywood Hills and I'm debating buying a property, but I'd like to build it myself.
With all of the constraints and ballooned cost of construction, do you all think building a foundation (and then a home) with myself and family is possible? I'm mostly concerned with the site work because that seems to be the largest cost, and though I have the money to pay a professional firm... I'd rather build my house myself from the ground up. If I'm not completely bonkers, what should I look out for?
I recall working on a few houses in the hills (the back, valley-side) in the '90s, once property values rose to the point where it finally penciled to build up there. In a couple of uphill/cut cases, where grade was so steep it resulted in 20+ foot high retaining walls, the engineering, grading, and concrete work rose to well over half of construction costs --just to finally get to a buildable pad. Depending on your site location and slope, you could end up bonkers-adjacent.
my thoughts fir this area are are that if the land is available and affordable, then it is likely unaffordable to build on it. There is likely some site issue that is holding back development.
You may be able to do some, if not most, of the labour but the site work, code, fire, structural work required for a basic shack might be overwhelming to a lay person.
Aspiring DIY'er With A Question About Hollywood Build
Good Afternoon,
I'm so happy to have stumbled on this blog. I have a quick question and a sneaking suspicion it'll be shot down quickly.
All of my uncles were in construction and my grandad owned a contractor company that serviced businesses in the PNW. I spent a lot of time working with them as a kid. Now I live near the Hollywood Hills and I'm debating buying a property, but I'd like to build it myself.
With all of the constraints and ballooned cost of construction, do you all think building a foundation (and then a home) with myself and family is possible? I'm mostly concerned with the site work because that seems to be the largest cost, and though I have the money to pay a professional firm... I'd rather build my house myself from the ground up. If I'm not completely bonkers, what should I look out for?
I recall working on a few houses in the hills (the back, valley-side) in the '90s, once property values rose to the point where it finally penciled to build up there. In a couple of uphill/cut cases, where grade was so steep it resulted in 20+ foot high retaining walls, the engineering, grading, and concrete work rose to well over half of construction costs --just to finally get to a buildable pad. Depending on your site location and slope, you could end up bonkers-adjacent.
my thoughts fir this area are are that if the land is available and affordable, then it is likely unaffordable to build on it. There is likely some site issue that is holding back development.
You may be able to do some, if not most, of the labour but the site work, code, fire, structural work required for a basic shack might be overwhelming to a lay person.
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