**** This post was written to gage how much interest there would be in a blog documenting everything we did to build our own house. I had so much support that I set to work creating the website. That website has launched!
Feel free to keep reading this post, but visit the new site for the good stuff!
Ever since the day we got married, Farmer and I have dreamed of building our own custom home. Since your here reading this, I am assuming you have had similar feelings … or maybe you just saw the dollar signs and came running. That’s fine too!
What I am about to tell you will sound absolutely crazy and your gonna think I am a nut job, but I am okay with that.
I am a 25 year old, stay at home mom, with exactly one semester of college education. The only reason I attended one semester was so that I could play basketball at the college level. I have zero building experience beyond helping my dad nail some shingles to the roof of a shed and being the “wrench holder” occasionally. My husband is a farmer and therefore has almost no free time and very little extra income.
Are you ready for the crazy part? Here goes ….. inhale …. We are going to build our own custom, dream, farmhouse for $200,000 LESS then the estimated cost. And I know we can do it.
Are you thinking I sound like an over confident idiot right now? Give me a chance to change your mind.
We are in the middle of building permits right now which is the very beginning of the building process. We haven’t broke ground yet, and we haven’t purchased any materials yet. The majority of what has been done so far, has been done on the phone or on the computer. To date, I have already saved us $3,950.00! The average person only save %10 of what they make each year so how long does it take you to save $4,000? I just saved that much money by spending a few hours on the phone.
*UPDATE: The new house blog will be lauching on August 12th. I have written a new posts with FAR more information about how we have already saved thousands of dollars. CLICK HERE to read that post, and at the bottom there is a link so you can sign up for the new blog. All subscribers get access to my free check lists, sub contractor deals, and special articles. If you have ever considered building a home, you are not going to want to miss out on this!
I may not have any higher education, but I am an excellent researcher with a hunger for doing things myself. Anyone who has been reading my blog knows by now that I do my homework. I am not going to try and sell you on anything that I haven’t researched extensively and then tried myself. I have the time, as a stay at home mom, to hunt down the best product, the best deal, and the best man for the job. And I am literally not going to stop until I find exactly what I am looking for at a price that makes me jump up and down with glee.
I only have one shot at this. Farmer and I are building the home we are going to live in for the rest of our lives. I won’t settle for lesser quality. I am not going to let someone do anything to my house that won’t last. The other important part of this is that we have a strict budget. I HAVE to make it work for $300,000 because that’s all we have! If we get to $300,000 and it’s not finished, then we have to stop and wait until the next few paychecks come in. So trust me when I say the motivation is there!
You know when you do something for the first time and it takes three times as long as it should? You mess up and have to do things over, and you have to look up every little thing on the computer just to have the foggiest idea of how to do it? Why not let me be the guinea pig? Let me do all the research, and make all the mistakes. Then I can tell you exactly what I did, so that you don’t have to figure it out on your own.
This project is going to be an enormous undertaking. I understand exactly what I am getting into (like I said, I like to research, and I have been properly warned). The amount of work I have already been putting into it, is huge. But writing it all down in a way that is helpful for someone else would double the work load. Which is why I need to ask you what you want. I need you to tell me RIGHT NOW what your interest level would be in a blog that held your hand through every step of building your own custom home. Maybe you don’t care one bit, tell me. Maybe you are planning to build soon and you care a whole lot, I need to know! Maybe you just wanna stick around to see if I fail or not, that’s fine too but you have to tell me. And maybe, this is exactly what you have been searching for, please please please tell me if that is the case! I have to know what your thoughts are NOW, so that I know whether or not I should be starting this project.
I want to do this for you guys! I want to tell you how to be your own general contractor and how to save hundreds of thousands of dollars building a home! I want to let you in on every tiny little detail from where to buy your lumber, to what kind of sink you should be buying, clear down to what color of shoes you should wear. I would share the exact numbers, the time spent, and the feelings I have. And I am certain I will be able to share 100,972,640 things to NOT do when building a house.
So please, take two minutes of your precious time right now to tell me if you would read a blog that detailed every single thing you could ever want to know about how to build your dream home for a fraction of the price.
Pick one, or do all three if you want!
- scroll down and leave me a comment on this post
- shoot me an email at farmerswife@therealfarmhouse.com
- Pin the image at the top and leave a comment there (This would be extremely helpful to spread the word around so I could get more input)
If you are interested in this new blog, please subscribe to The Real Farmhouse so your on my email list. The only way for me to let you know if and when this new venture is going to start, is through my email list. As soon as I get some feedback, I will email my subscribers to let you know when the new blog would be launching.
I appreciate your feedback no matter what it is! Thanks again for keeping it real with me.
~Farmer’s Wife
*Again, the new blog is launching August 12th. CLICK HERE to real more about it, and to subscribe early for your first freebie!
Absolutely!
Thanks Kathy! Spread the word so I can get enough interest, I really want to do it!
Absolutely! I would love to see how this project goes. My husband and I were talking about doing something similar. I would be so grateful to follow your journey on this adventure.
Excellent! Thanks for your support Kylie
My hubby and I will be building our homestead in the next few year and like you will be on a supper tonight budget. So I think it’s needless to say that I’m super interested.
Yay! someone else as crazy as I am! Thanks for the comment Jill!
No, you are not nuts!
Yes, we would be very interested!!!
Thanks!
Thanks for your honesty!
Absolutely!!!! Would love to hear about all of your experiences through your venture. Best of luck and I hope everything goes well. Happy home building!
I think it’s a great idea, I just had a friend save a bundle on a kitchen remodel just by getting another bid.
Absolutely.
Yes! Yes! Yes!
You bet .I would like to have more info when available.
thank you
This is something that has been rumbling around my head for a few months. My husband and I just finished updating a 150 year old home and everyone says starting from scratch is easier……I would like to see if it is possible first!
Yes!!! Would be very interested.
Yes please! It would be great to hear about your journey – and maybe pick up some tips on the way 😀
I think it would be a great idea. And it can be everything you guys want or dreamed of having. Best of luck,
It has been over 50 years since I was twenty five years old, had a 4 year old daughter and another one waiting to be born 4 years later. What a life it has been. My daughters are now 57 and 49, with families and grandchildren of their own. I was always interested in good family life, and doing as many things as we could ourselves. It made life rich in a way that had nothing to do with money. So, I say “go for it girl” IF it will really make your family happier. There seems to be some thought recently that bigger houses can take a toll on family closeness, something that is critical for growing children. Happiness doesn’t always have to do with bigger and better. It’s a shame to learn that only later in life. Just a thought. I know you will always do the best you can, I can tell that from your posts.
Thank you for that sweet comment Vivian! That is very encouraging. I agree with you wholeheartedly on keeping the family close. We want a big family, and a home where we can all be together. I think 3 in a bedroom and one big gathering area instead of separated rooms is what we are going to do. Family is definitely the most important thing to us and I hope that seems obvious to everyone following this adventure. Keep living the dream! And thanks for the kind words.
I would love to know your process and read what you find! I am tossing the coin in my mind right now if we should fix up the house we are in which is has been in the family since my grandpa…. or building one in the woods which would be amazing. Staying tuned!
oo that’s a tough decision! But building in the woods sounds awesome to me. I will let you know when I get the new website up.
Hey, you will have a great time but be sure your husband is up for it too. We did this 20 years ago and to me it was really fun. We started in Montana on last week of Oct. to actually build and moved in June the next year. We did a daylight basement and the top floor was done but basement not yet. So we have been working on it whenever for the last 20 years. You will have fun and what you want and the internet will be a great help that we did not have. Lots of friends and helpers with suggestions that saved us. Just be sure and watch the money going out as sometimes it is overwhelming. Good Luck
Thanks so much for the advice. My husband is on board for sure. he is actually the one that told me I should be the general contractor. The problem is his work schedule which is why I will be the one doing the organizing and research. But yes we are super lucky to have the internet where we can find almost anything we could ever need to know. Thanks for the luck, I am sure we will need it!
I’d like to follow your house building adventure. And I’m enjoying your gardening tips! I just found your site and I’m pretty sure it’s going to be a favorite!
Thanks Chantel!
Well l I’ve just started following your blog(my first ever) and I really think God led me to your site. I’m living the other side of the world(in Africa) and we have some land and just little to no finances to hire contractors/builders to build our home. I am very excited to see how you progress and to learn from your experiences. The internet can be a wonderful resource but sometimes a bit overwhelming, so having a real life person giving advice and sharing experiences is fantastic. Here’s praying your venture will be successful and that it will be everything you and your husband dream of.
P.S. I’m an avid vege gardener too, your blog is awesome! 🙂
Thank you for that sweet comment Roleen. It’s so great that we can connect with people on the other side of the world through things like this. I hope my blog can be an inspiration and a help to you, and you have no idea how grateful I am for the prayers you are sending this way!
I would ABSOLUTELY follow along with you on your journey. My husband and I are 24 & 27 and are really saving as much as we can in hopes to build our dream home. Before we met I bought property and built a custom garage with living quarters above in hopes to adding my dream home later. 2018 is the goal to start and we want to do it ourselves as well! We are ready for the blood sweat and tears…and savings! I watched my parents do it growing up so I know it can be done. I have faith you!! I just stumbled upon your blog from Pinterest. (A gardening post about when to pick your produce…thank you!) I am rooting for you to post every detail from Permit process (I know how that can go) to lumber prices, to how long it takes for certain things to get done. I know sometimes outside can go fast..but the inside work is what can take forever! Sorry for the long speal haha..All in all VERY INTERESTED! (:
So nice to meet you Emily! And thanks for the LONG comment. We have a lot in common! I am 25 and my husband is 30, and we have been saving for our whole married life too. We are ready for the work, and we know it will probably take longer then the average home to build but that’s okay. I have decided to do the house blog, and yes I will be sharing every single detail that you could ever want to know, and probably plenty of stuff you don’t want to know too haha. So glad you found me!
I think it would be very interesting to follow your venture. We built our home 26 years ago thinking it would be our forever home. At age 40 stairs were not a consideration, now we are wishing we would have built a rambler/ranch house. So my input would be build a rambler. Builders will say you get more square foot per dollar by building 2 or even 3 story, that being said d design your home not only for the present but for the future as well. Happy building!
Thanks for that advice Mark! It is very hard to imagine everything that we will want in a home when we are older. Any other suggestions would be appreciated!
We are planning on building our dream home when my husband retires from the Army and I’ve been designing it on my computer for years. I’d love to follow along as you build your home.
Thank you Elly!
Yes Please! I was the general contractor on my last home and learned a lot. I intend to build my “last home” in the next coupleof years and would LOVE to follow your progress, ideas and joy! 🙂