That's hilarious. I'd rather hire a team of people that have specialized teams and have built 1000s of houses, not a guy that built one and thinks he's really good at it, sorry.
I understand the point of specialisation/efficiency etc. The concern I have is that of conflicting motives.
A person who builds their own house will care about what they built.
A specialised team will care to get paid and know all the corners to cut to get the job done to the minimum standard.
What kind of house do you want? One built robustly with care? Or one built to minimum standard? Not everyone wants minimum standard.
It just sounds like you don't know how people work.
As some of the other "I build my own house" commenters here have mentioned, nothing stops them from hiring people when they want and specifying higher than code minimums. Building your own house doesn't mean you have to do absolutely everything even when it doesn't make sense because someone else has the tools to do it better. But it does mean they have the choice.
I work for a national construction company. You saying "construction not done diy = bad quality" makes you an absolute clown dude, just stop. There are guys working here that have been tradesman before you were born. The arrogance to say you can do it better is astonishing.
Whoa up there. I am not attacking the people you work with. I also don't have to "stop" because you wish to put words in my mouth and broadcast assumptions unchallenged.
I never said "construction not done diy = bad quality".
I tried to say: "tradesperson work has incentive to meet code and move on, as opposed to diy which has incentive to build something that person wants to live with". My attempt to say that clearly didn't work well. Good thing my trade is not wordsmithing.
If you want to bring up "bad quality" ... like all humans there are dodgy elements in any group. I'm sure a whole forum of war stories of dumb shit tradespeople have done can come to light - there's probably a subreddit. Maybe all the people you work with are legends in their craft. However my point is not the skill level - it is the structure of motivations.
A person building their own house thinks differently about the house than tradespeople coming and going.
Asides:
1. where do you think DIY builders come from? Everyone I know doing/did it either is or was a tradesperson. They decided to stop going job to job for someone else and put more time into generalising so they can make something for themselves.
2. how old do you think I am? I would hope the "tradesman before I was born" could be retired before they got to their 70's. I guess some people like to keep moving and work is as good as anything.
The “team of people that build 1000s of houses” have the motto that if they didn’t make any mistakes, they’re not working fast enough. Give me one guy who actually cares any day.
When I think of building things with my hands I think of building a table, refinishing a dresser, building a shed, soldering some electronics. 99% of people should consider doing these things. 99% should not consider building a house. That's engineering, not a hobby. How many people have done this, 1/100000? It's beyond the spectrum of things you should DIY. You have to be a little crazy to even consider it. Most people have 40+ hr a week jobs and can't build a fuckin home in their spare time. If you have the time, talent, and money to do this, great. You are part of a tiny elite group of people.
> How many people have done this, 1/100000? It's beyond the spectrum of things you should DIY.
Where I live, Western Australia, maybe 2% of adults that I know have been actively involved in building and or major rennovations of a house.
There are a lot of people here with serious trades backgrounds, many with rural backgrounds that'll tackle anything.
People here even build their own aircraft and quirky ground effect flying machines.
I've built three houses; two significant renno's (jacking up and replacing major structural elements), and one from foundations upwards.
My father's played a major role in three full builds (he's not a "builder by trade", just a former farm hand, shearer, five year navy, mining foreman, etc. type).
If it is a standard type of wooden stud home the engineering skill is basically nonexist just by following general framing patterns which haven't changed much at all in around 150 years except for not balloon framing studs across multiple floors and instead stacking floors on top of walls. Framing and layout design is probably the easiest part of building a wood stud home. Once you know how basic floors, walls, and openings like doors and windows are built they will all fit together in any combination you like and be more than structurally sound because the basic design is seriously overbuilt.
I think most people would run into the most trouble trying to follow code with electrical, plumbing, and HVAC. You can frame 95% of a house the same way as a 120 year old house, but if you go beyond 15 years then all those utilities have had constantly evolving regulations and design constraints and just because you saw it in a dozen other houses doesn't mean it will pass this years code.
If you follow IRC ( code book )building a home can be entirely prescriptive with 0 engineering. This is what I did since I'm not a structural engineer and I didn't have money for engineered plans nor an architect.
You've established that you don't know much about house construction.
OK, definitely do not build a house until you do a little bit of research on the topic.
But if the topic interests you, it's worth looking into. It's not nearly as complicated or arcane as you imagine.
In the meantime though, you seem to have very strong opinions without the knowledge to support them. If you do find a receptive audience for that kind of thing somewhere, it will be to the detriment of all involved.
A person who builds their own house will care about what they built. A specialised team will care to get paid and know all the corners to cut to get the job done to the minimum standard.
What kind of house do you want? One built robustly with care? Or one built to minimum standard? Not everyone wants minimum standard.