How Did We Get Here?

House building is not something we ever thought we'd find ourselves doing. I've always admired people who build their own houses because it takes commitment and fortitude and determination. It's a long project that takes hard work for a long time. It's a daunting process. So how did we get to a place in our lives where we are committing to this daunting process?

Well,  3 years ago we inherited an acre of land with an old doublewide mobile home and a two car garage on it. The house was built in 1975 and had some improvements made to it over the years like a new roof, vinyl siding, and a mudroom and porch were added. But recently it has really started to show its age. The cinder blocks it sits on are shifting and the wood shims are compressing so the house is starting to separate down the middle. The sliding glass door won't open anymore. The windows are drafty making it difficult to keep warm in the winter.

So we knew that eventually the house would need to be replaced. We thought we would just replace it with another manufactured home.

Manufactured homes today are well built, well insulated, sturdy, and in our price range, cheaply finished. You can pay more for one with sheetrock, bullnosed corners, upgraded cabinetry, fixtures, flooring, etc., but the price really starts to climb.

So we looked into used ones. We didn't find anything that was better than we already have. Most were worse. And they would have to be moved which is expensive.

We looked into kit homes. Log, steel, and wood. And modular homes. We found introductory prices that were appealing but by the time all the upgrades we needed for snow load and wind loads,  floor plans, etc. were added, were right back up in price.

I was talking to my mom on the phone about all of this and telling her the prices and issues we were finding and she said, "Gee, you can build your own house for half of that price." What? Really? My parents built their own house in the mid 1980s so she has knowledge in this area.

So I sat down and started doing some figuring and pricing (and praying). For roughly the same price as the kit we were looking at, we can build our entire house completely finished (a kit only gets the outside shell of the house done) .

And it would be paid for when we are done. That's huge! No mortgage, AND getting the house we want, the way we want it.  Score!

So my husband and I prayed about it and made the decision to jump in with both feet and build our own house with our own two hands. Well, 4 hands....8 hands if you include help from our 2 teenaged sons.

There are a few more details than this, but basically that's how we came to decide to build our own house.

Sometimes it feels a bit overwhelming because there are so many details and so many decisions to make but we just remind ourselves that the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. Then the next step. And the next. When we think of it like that, just a series of steps, it seems much more doable.