Back in 1995, I built my first home without the help of any contractors. I didn’t do it to prove anything at all, I just wanted my family to have a nice place to live without the high mortgage payments. I paid cash for all of the materials that I could. Most of the time, I used credit cards.

I dug the foundation out with a pick and shovel. Then I constructed the cement forms and poured the cement. When the foundation was finished, I started the first floor by putting on the floor joists then covering them with plywood and wafer board. I then built the walls that included the door and window openings.

I also did most of the electrical and plumbing systems while the walls were open and exposed. I built the stairs and started the second floor. Soon I built the roof and enclosed the whole house to keep rain and snow out. I put metal on the roof and installed all the doors and windows.

Next, I put up all the interior walls and finished the electrical wiring and the rough-in plumbing so I could have those systems inspected before the sheetrock walls were hung. After the first inspections passed, I enclosed the walls with drywall.

I also covered the outside of my home with vinyl siding and trim. It looked really good. I had kitchen cabinets built and started all of the inside finish work and trim. I installed all of the electrical systems and appliances.

I passed my second inspections with the building inspector, electrical inspector, and the plumbing inspector.

I had all the flooring and carpeting put in. Once my house was finished, I had one final inspection to obtain an occupancy permit. After that we moved in to our home. We consolidated all of our credit card debt into one home mortgage with low interest. We had a lot of equity in our home from my hard-earned labor.

My cost of materials was around $60,000. The final appraised price of my home was $140,000 when we moved in.

After all of my building experience, I realized how much the cost of hired labor is and why contractor built houses are so expensive to build. The price of contracted construction labor has gone up so much over the last two decades that people earning average incomes cant afford average-sized homes.

Banks and lending institutions have had to take many chances and risks in financing so people could have homes. Wages haven’t increased enough to keep pace with the inflation of homes and that’s the main reason why we are in this housing and financial crisis.