You better know what you're getting into...

[Matt Federoff <federoffm@vail.k12.az.us>]

>Time is money.  Labor time should at least be acknowledged, so newbies have
>an inkling of what they may be getting themselves into. We are not talking
>about a few weekends of chores, to get your strawbale house done

that is the truth of it. We built our house in for around $65/ft (including
land, well, and septic),  and it took me 15 months to build it.

15 months of hard, continuous labor, working my day job and then going out
and working myself into the ground after hours, and then going home and
kissing the babies good night, wolfing down a cold supper and collapsing
into bed.

And then getting up the next day and doing it again. As well as all day
Saturday and Sunday afternoon.

When I hired a sub (stucco, concrete, etc.) I would have to take a day off
and work with them. Thank goodness I had an understanding employer.

The hardest part was being away from my wife and children. It would be hard
to overstate how much that wears on a man's psyche. I was on the frayed
edges of sanity those last few months.

In many ways, my wife had the harder task, being basically a single parent
for over a year, with 4 kids underfoot and a new baby as well. I never
realized how well I married until we built this house.

In fact, when folks now ask me how they would go about building their own
house, my first question is not "how much money do you have?", it's "how
strong is your marraige?"

My friend Bill Campbell could weigh on this topic as well.

So, yes, build your own house. We did, and we love it and appreciate it and
value it more that anything we could have bought.

But you best know what you are getting into.

Serious endevours require sober contemplation.

Peace,
Matt