Many log home owners are their own general contractors.
This means that they do the planning, organizing,
budgeting, hiring and firing sub-contractors,
analyzing bids, scheduling, supervising, problem
solving, and cleanup.
Qualifications
A good general contractor must have the time,
patience, attention to detail, people skills,
financial skills, organizational skills, and problem-solving
skills necessary to do the job right. Having previous
building or carpentry experience would be a plus.
If you are weak in any of these areas, you may
want to reconsider your decision, get help, or
get training to develop those skills.
Things to Consider
Remember, a professional general contractor that
you might hire may have some advantages that you
don't have.
First, he's done this before and knows how to
get the job done most efficiently. He already
knows and works with sub-contractors. He's already
weeded out the bad ones and knows who the good
ones are.
He knows how to evaluate bids from sub-contractors.
He already knows where to get the best prices
on materials. He knows building codes in his area,
and may even know individual municipal building
inspectors.
He has probably already worked with local banks
and mortgage companies who can quickly approve
him. He should already have log home building
experience and understands the special skills
and construction techniques involved. He may have
already worked with the log home company that
you have selected.
Benefits
The benefits of being your own general contractor
are that you save money (about 15%-25%), you are
in total control of everything that goes into
the project, and you gain the personal satisfaction
that comes with doing it yourself. You might consider
it to be a personal challenge, much like climbing
a mountain.
Potential Problems
One of the problems you might encounter is that
banks and mortgage companies often don't like
owner/builders who act as their own general contractor.
They consider the risks to be too high. They don't
want to be stuck with a pile of logs after an
owner has decided that the project was more than
he could handle. A professional contractor with
a good track record is a much safer bet for them.
Even if the bank approves you, it may require
a lot of meetings and paperwork — detailed
plans, cost estimates, and schedules — to
convince them that you can do the job.
Being your own contractor requires that you be
able to devote time, and lots of it, to your project.
It can easily eat up many weekends and evenings
that you might have planned for family and other
activities. Managing sub-contractors may require
late night phone calls and early morning meetings.
On-site problems can occur at the least convenient
times. Subs may decide not to show on a cold day.
Material shortages happen when you have subs on
site waiting for them. One sub blames another
for schedule delays. Equipment breaks down when
there's no replacement within a hundred miles.
These are common types of problems that happen
on any home building project. It's up to the general
contractor to get them resolved.
Results
Generally, if you plan to be your own contractor,
you should not expect to achieve the same results
as an experienced professional contractor. Depending
on the situation, you may not get the same quality
workmanship, your cost savings may not be as significant
as you expected, and your schedule may suffer.
This is not to suggest that you shouldn't take
on the task of being your own contractor, but
just that you should go into it with your eyes
wide open.
