Some days ago, someone, maybe @Diane Lane , or another nice lady, requested that I post images of the house which I built myself. DANGED if I can find the thread, even the requesting poster, but feeling others might benefit from seeing what can be done given enough drive (and lack of money!). So, here are a few of the images I have of building our custom home in Laveen, AZ. Construction was started in 1985, we moved in, home incomplete, in 1988. Lived in it 12 years, then sold it and moved to a 300 acre spread in the Missouri Ozarks. I mixed and poured all the concrete and mortar in a Sears Craftsman electric cement mixer, 300 lbs. at a time. Had sand, gravel delivered out front by the truckload, brought back Portland Cement and Lime from town in my '59 Ranchero, the rear visible below. The foundation had been completed, and I was pouring the concrete floor slab, in pieces as seen, usually 4' X 8' in size. 32 sq. ft. took 10 wheelbarrow loads of wet concrete, which I hand-finished as fast as possible. Below, I am returning to the truck after having greased the drive gears of the mixer. Geez, I had no gray hair! The building was frame construction over which a veneer of 4" red clay brick was laid. Below I am working on the east end around the bathroom window. The house was 1800 sq. ft., had no hallways, floor pland designed by my wife. Below, the house is completed as far as construction went; inside, ceramic tile was being laid in furious fashion. There was no carpeting. The detached garage, 40 feet from the house, was to the right of it beyond this pic. Connecting the two buildings was a 6-foot high brick wall, the work on which is visible below. Note the Palo Verde and Mesquite trees planted adjacent to the front door; subsequent pic shows their amazing size increase over just a few years. This was taken around the time we sold out. How we worked at nurturing those normally scrubby desert trees! We hated to go, but had begun also to hate the big burgeoning city. West end of the house with partial view of garage. That danged brick wall was taking forever.....that concrete parking pad was the last "crete" I worked there. The whole deal took, as I calculated, 95,000 lbs. of concrete and mortar, 12,500 red bricks. Construction continued for about 4 years, my own efforts mainly the only ones, except when my wife's Dad helped me build the roof trusses. I did the wiring, plumbing, drywall (250 sheets of it), bricklaying, cussing and moaning, but, by God, this was the most rewarding project of my entire life. I called in a guy from the neighborhood who ran a backhoe service to install the septic tank and leech bed, the only work which was farmed out. The back yard, with my wife's beloved kitchen "bump-out", the roof of which was built of copper sheet. The steep roof, almost 45 degrees, posed a unique challenge to me. Sheathing it was not hard, but roofing it was. I learned professional roofers nailed "jacks" to the roof, placed planks on them, to move about. Yessir, roofing that baby convinced me, no more steep roofs! Here's the old fool laying brick on the front of the garage. As you can see, equipment is meager. Simple plank scaffold, mortar hauled up in a tote pan, brick supply piled up below. Note that the roof had been completed prior, overhead doors which I installed were operable. The brickwork was the "final touch". Here's the most significant thing we learned from the endeavor. We bought the 1-acre lot for $27,000. Materials cost to build everything you see here came to $18,900. My labor cost ?????. So, for $46,000 dollars, we had the most unique home in the area (there were absolutely no masonry houses, stucco was standard), and we came to realize that contractor labor must account for a major portion of home cost. I am exceedingly fortunate to have picked up the ability to do all the skilled trade work myself. Not patting myself on the back, understand now, that all came with a price, no doubt, but I acquired it out of NEED rather than desire. I NEEDED to know how to weld tailpipes to build those hot rods, NEEDED to understand how to pipe together fuel systems. Every obstacle presented before me I HAD to understand how, why, what to do. Now, if only I had had a son to reiterate this all to, it would have been worthwhile. For folks reading it, it's just "ho-hum". Anyhoo, there's how ya build yer own house. Frank
Indeed a labor of love that beautiful house in AZ is. I like homes with cement, kitchens with gravel or marble and cool air conditioning , well living in Hawaii the summer can be quite hot. Custom homes are one of a kind built with comfort. Very beautiful indeed your house at AZ is.
Thank you both! When I began the work, I was 43, in very good shape physically, as loading sand, gravel, and cement into the mixer, 5 gallon bucket at a time, required lifting it quickly up onto the rotating drum, likely about 60 lbs. dumped in each time. Each mixer load took 3 buckets of gravel, 2 of sand, 1 of Portland cement, plus sufficient water. Such physical labor today would likely kill me! If I had had good sense, I would have built another, and sold it, and then another. Obstacle was the County required owner-built (meaning unlicensed) homes could not be sold for at least one year after completion, another bureaucratic crock. I did submit my building plans to the Building Safety people, who issued a building permit which cost $429. Each phase of work required an inspection, foundation first, then framing, and so on. My County Inspector turned out to be a friendly man transplanted to AZ from New Jersey, named Panzera, Italian. At first he was reluctant to believe I could do all the work myself, but warmed up considerably as work progressed. He revealed he was a Plumber by trade, but had to inspect all facets of the work, including the Electrical. Electricity being "my game" some of my methods were foreign to him, but he was convinced I followed NEC (National Electrical Code), and was satisfied. About the time I was ready for the final write-off inspection, I read in the paper that a young man about 18 named Panzera had been killed in a car accident. The final was answered by the appearance of a different inspector, very outspoken and verbose, I asked him if the kid killed was Panzera's son. He was. I felt incredibly sad, as I had developed a good rapport with Panzera over those 3 years it took to reach final status. Funny: When the final guy showed up, I said to him, "Why, you're not Panzera!" He replied, "What? Do I look like some New Jersey Italian??"
@Frank Sanoica Frank - I'm exhausted just reading your post, can identify to a certain extent when we got our first house, the maintenance work took its toll on me and like you say, would be impossible today Nice to look back though - when we were fit and able to do it all
wow, Frank you did a beautiful job, I cannot imagine what you had to go through, those aching muscles. I love the red brick, you don't have pictures from the inside,I would love to see how the kitchen came out. Kitchens are the favorite part of the house.
Gee, what a nice home you have there and it's even nicer with the thought that you made it yourself. You are really a jack-of-all-work, @Frank Sanoica, after fixing the brakes of your vehicle, now you have made a house. Pardon me but what really attracted me was the 300 acres of land. It's already a country, huh. I wonder how it feels to live in a place where there are no crowds and no neighbors. Just reading your post and looking at the pics gave me a good time. What's the purpose of your land now? Did you convert it to a ranch or something? I'm sure it's not just a grassy field.
@Rachel Rodarte Rachel, I am sorry to say I have no pictures of the interior. I can tell about the kitchen, a bit, though. While building, my wife worked in sales for an appliance wholesaler, and was able to buy us brand new top of the line appliances nearly at cost. Thus, we got a premium Gibson Refrigerator, Stove, and Washer and Dryer. The dining room, adjacent to the kitchen, had a partial wall with a large "window" look-through. The two wings jutting outward from the front of the building were the master bedroom (22' X 20') on the left, and another bedroom, smaller, on the right. The third bedroom was at the extreme right end of the house as viewed from the front, and thus there was no hallway anywhere. Sorry to take so long answering! Frank
@Corie Henson Corie, I am afraid I have confused the issue with my ramblings! We had 300 acres in Missouri, with a hundred-year old farmhouse, 1999-2012. The red brick house was outside of Phoenix, Arizona, was built 1985-'88, we lived in it from '88 till '99. It was situated on only 1 acre. Sorry if I confused things! Frank