Remodeling a house versus building a house?

I think the biggest problem with remodeling an old house is the updated codes. Cosmetic fixes are one thing but as soon as you are forced to pull a permit the "can of worms" can be opened.
I had a friend who bought an older home that he planned to update and flip for a profit. He got a really good deal on the purchase price of the house and thought he would have no problem making a profit with a little sweat equity. Turned out there was asbestos in the siding, galvanized pipe for plumbing, the boiler for the hot water heat was shot, aluminum wiring through out the house, the electrical service was too small for finishing the basement, the ceiling heights were too low, the stairs too narrow and too steep, no escape windows in the basement, the house was under insulated, the roof had three layers of roofing on it, the driveway was slopped towards the house foundation. the main sewer line was cracked to the street and the windows were single pane..........other than that.......no problems! MAKE SURE YOU GET A GOOD HOME INSPECTOR for an older home purchase. Well and septic in a rural setting are another issue. I'd stay away from anything older than 1980's

Asbestos is only an issue if you are using a contractor for the job or a permit must be pulled. Colorado is big on asbestos. Other states do nothing about it. If you are tearing out a floor on your own, you aren't required to do anything that I know of. Please correct me if I'm wrong, as I don't want to steer you wrong. The above post is spot on though!

as someone building right now, i strongly advise building rather than remodeling. yes, if you know what you are doing and things go the right way you can remodel for considerably less. but sometimes you don't know what you are getting into, sometimes there are unforeseen issues, sometimes you have to weigh time versus money. find a reputable builder with good warranties and fixed contracts and just do it right. you can design a house exactly how you want, whereas with remodeling you sometimes are simply limited by the structure itself. i am fairly cheap so i kept trying to find a better deal and after months and months i just couldn't do it. yes, the build cost a bit more, though not as much as you would think, but having complete control over the design and costs allowed me to make compromises when needed. for example, i wanted a third story, 360 degree view tower. where are you going to find a home with that? how much would that cost to add to an existing house, if you even could? i simply cut out unnecessary useless square footage in favor of my tower. theres just stuff you simply can't do without building. also, i wanted a bomb shelter/storage room/safe room/whatever and got to design it into the plans and they simply lower the blast doors in after pouring the concrete. much cheaper, much easier.

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Originally Posted by Irving

Asbestos is only an issue if you are using a contractor for the job or a permit must be pulled. Colorado is big on asbestos. Other states do nothing about it. If you are tearing out a floor on your own, you aren't required to do anything that I know of. Please correct me if I'm wrong, as I don't want to steer you wrong. The above post is spot on though!

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If you remove it yourself (from your own house) the only thing you are required to do is dispose of it properly. Of course there are a lot of precautions you should take. Asbestos is federally regulated so all states at least conform to the EPA regulation. Colorado is right about in the middle, it is way more regulated in CA, NY, and some other states.

If I was in the position to do so I would have a place built. When we started looking at places up here there seemed to be two types, old beat down homes with great land/views or fully remodeled homes way outside what I wanted to spend.

In the end we got lucky and found a place that was just finished being remodeled. Home was vacant for almost two years undergoing a rehab. The owner took care of big stuff, baths, plumbing, electrical and septic. I'll still have some projects to do over the years but it was "move in" ready enough. Personally I didn't want a fixer upper. I have so little free time from work I didn't want to spend it trying to rehab a bathroom.

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Originally Posted by Irving

Asbestos is only an issue if you are using a contractor for the job or a permit must be pulled. Colorado is big on asbestos. Other states do nothing about it. If you are tearing out a floor on your own, you aren't required to do anything that I know of. Please correct me if I'm wrong, as I don't want to steer you wrong. The above post is spot on though!

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Correct on flooring yourself, no permit required. But I don't have the time, or patients to do so myself, not to mention the wife's two-cents every 30 minutes - "you're not doing it right! That's not how they do it on TV!" GAWD ALL MIGHTY!

If you hire a contractor then he is going to go to regional building and file the permit because if he hits a gas line, electrical cable, or water line he wants to be able to tell his insurance that he checked the blueprints and it wasn't suppose to be there. That's why you pay more to have it done right, and professionally. I am not saying it couldn't be professional by a DIY person, but that's not me.

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Originally Posted by Ranger353

If you hire a contractor then he is going to go to regional building and file the permit because if he hits a gas line, electrical cable, or water line he wants to be able to tell his insurance that he checked the blueprints and it wasn't suppose to be there. That's why you pay more to have it done right, and professionally. I am not saying it couldn't be professional by a DIY person, but that's not me.

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Well.. He's going to get a permit to keep himself from losing his license and getting fined by the City/County/State as well as getting sued by the homeowner. Working in construction I have yet to see a blueprint that actually shows you where gas, electrical and water lines are actually located and run in a home. :)

The permit is going to show you that at least the work has been done to local minimum standards and checked off by a government employee that may or may not know what they are even talking about.. Even with this things can still be done shoddily/incorrectly.

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I like the idea of a warranty

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Good luck with some of that. There is a member here that I remember when his house was being built. I mentioned the # of nails in the steps and told him he should run some screws before it goes any further........

Later the stairs are making noise and as for the warranty? Well yes they can fix the stairs but they will have to rip out all the carpet and THAT was not covered. [Flower]

We bought a 1970s home and remodeled. Literally every surface of the home was changed, bathrooms and kitchens gutted, walls moved new WH/Furnace/AC etc. I did not mind it, but it took me 10 years to do it and we moved out at 9.8 years. :)

Current house was built and I made 16 structural changes to a floor plan we really like, small neighborhood, good location, no HOA, used 2006 IRC for code, which I think is the best set all things considered. Builder re-did king studs, re-framed windows and walls when I complained. The city inspector and I had a decent relationship too. The builder let me install my own heated driveway, ran the plumbing to my specs, eliminated all roof appliance penetrations, let me install my own AC condensers. There are a few things with the deck I do not like, but i know how to fix them. My home was weekly inspected by friends who were structural, a GC, an electrician and I kept track of the mechanical. We added screws and strike plates in places they were not required, got the garages insulated and for a few six packs and plates of cookies, got extra insulation, hurricane clips, better drains in the window wells and a bunch of other little touches.

The new house has the same utility bills as the old house, and it is almost twice the size, due to more insulation and more efficient appliances. The backyard is a cost that I have not yet undertaken and the wife and kids don't like that, but we have a house that fits us very well. A lot of that is due to finding a builder of semi-custom homes that built them well and was willing to let me make the changes I wanted. NO WAY I would buy a ready-built production home though. The things we had at the old house that are the same at the new house are no HOA and neighbors we know and several that are home during the day.

For the right property and the right price, I still think either option is fine if you know what goes into both. Building a house took about 15 hours a week on top of everything else for 5 months. Re-model is more hours, but spread out. Oh, and closing week, just take it off. Also, do not let them rush you on the punch list walk-through. The poor girl that did our walk through had to go back to the office to get more forms. If it is not perfect, do not sign. The punch list was the most stressful part for us since the Builder was leaving Colorado and had short timers syndrome.

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