Home Improvement Exterior Remodel

Building a House: A Step-by-Step Guide

Building a house has an undeniable allure. A new house can be designed exactly to your specifications and it comes with few, if any, existing problems. So, it's no surprise that most people would choose to build their own house if all other factors were the same. Get an overview of building a house with this explainer step-by-step guide.

Find a Contractor

When you decide to build your own home, it is generally best to do so through a licensed general contractor. Few people are qualified to act as their own general contractor (GC).

Building a house requires you to pull together many strings and make sure that they coordinate in a myriad of ways. The person who does that is a general contractor. General contractors charge between 10- to 20-percent of the overall cost of the home build.

Tip

Some late-stage, post-contract projects can be done by the homeowner:


Building Contractors
Contractors: Are They Licensed? CC-Licensed; Flickr user U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Preliminary Activities

Order a dumpster to handle refuse during the building project. Order portable toilets for the workers.

Order temporary utilities from the power company. Hire an electrician to hook up a temporary electrical panel, which is usually mounted on an existing utility pole.

Portable toilet on the edge of forest

Getty Images / Dan Brownsword

Prepare the Home Site

Preparing the house site is a collection of activities that must be done before the first shovel or backhoe blade hits the ground:

Clear the building site of brush and other debris, down to ground level and at least 25 feet around the planned house perimeter.

Stake out and survey the lot, based on original drawings that indicate the property boundaries. Grade the site's topography to alter the water flow across the site: This often requires a contractor with earth-moving equipment.

Construction workers planning a design
Alistair Berg/Getty Images

Pour Concrete Footings and Foundation

The building site takes shape with the excavation and installation of foundations and slabs. This work is done by excavation contractors and foundation specialists—an entirely different group of contractors than the carpentry crews that will soon be on-site.

Footings and foundation comprise a large part of your entire house building cost. This means that large payment draws happen soon after the project begins.

Important to Know

Payments to the general contractor happen according to a draw schedule, which the client and contractor agree on in advance. The number and amount of payments vary by the size of the project. While payments do not always correspond to a subcontractors' work, they often correspond when a major step is involved, such as the foundation, framing, or roofing.

Pouring house foundation via a wheelbarrow
Simon Battensby/Getty Images
  1. The contractor digs trenches that are deep enough for frost footings. Foundations need to rest below your area's expected frost line to prevent frost-heave, which can damage your home.
  2. Inspectors arrive to check the dimensions of footing trenches.
  3. The contractor pours concrete for footings.
  4. Footing drains are constructed, and these are designed to drain water away from the footers and to protect them.
  5. The contractor builds vertical foundation walls resting on the footings, using either poured concrete or concrete cinder blocks. Other types of foundations are sometimes used, though they are rare.
  6. The foundation is waterproofed all the way up to the finished grade level. Holes are created in the foundation wall to allow for the routing of water supply and drain lines.

Install Plumbing and Electrical

If you are laying a slab-type foundation, you will bring in plumbers and electricians to rough-in ​some of the services before pouring that concrete slab. Pipes are laid by plumbers. The pipes will later be covered up with concrete.

If electrical lines will run through the concrete slab via metal conduits, now is the time for these conduits to be run.

Worker installing plumbing in concrete slab
elenaleonova/Getty Images

Pour the Concrete Slab

For a house slab, the contractor will first install slab foam board insulation. A 4-inch minimum gravel base goes over the foam board, forming the base for the concrete. A plastic vapor barrier comes next.

Wire mesh reinforcement is next laid down and positioned, so it is raised slightly above grade. This will allow the reinforcement to sit in the middle of the concrete layer, where it will offer the most strength reinforcement.

The contractor now pours the concrete slab, likely from ready-mix trucks that deliver a large quantity of concrete.

Machines pouring concrete slab
westend61/Getty Images

Frame the House

The framing carpenters will arrive to put up the lumber framework for the floors, walls, and ceilings, and then move to the sheathing, siding, and roofing installation.

Framing is the basic shell of the house, minus siding and roof surface. The rough openings for windows, doors, and skylights will be framed at this time. The basic sheathing of the wall and roof surfaces concludes this stage.

construction workers lifting up wooden frame of house

Zigy Kaluzny/Getty Images

Install the Roofing

The roofers come in to complete the application of roof flashings and the shingles or other finished roof surfaces: The basic shell of the house is now completed.

Roofers shingling a house
Bart Coenders/Getty Images

Install Electrical and Plumbing

Electricians and plumbers do the rough-in work for electrical circuits, plumbing pipes, and HVAC system ductwork. This work is easier without the wall, flooring, and ceiling surfaces in place. After completion, these contractors will return after the walls and ceilings are in place, to complete the final connections of various fixtures.

Plumber insulating a copper water pipe
nsj-images / Getty Images

Install the Chimney

Masons build the chimney if your home is designed to have one. This generally involves the application of brick or stone veneer over a base of concrete block that was laid by the foundation contractor.

Chimney on a roof of a house

Marina Sidorova / Getty Images

Rough In Inspection

Inspections are made of rough-ins. Arranging for permits and inspections are handled by the contractor. If you are tackling this work yourself, the responsibility for inspections falls on you.

Home inspector explaining damage and repairs to homeowner
Getty Images/Steve Debenport

Install the Insulation

Install the insulation in the walls and attic. This project is usually done by a specialty insulation contractor.

Spraying foam insulation into the wall
Banks photos/Getty Images

Install Drywall

Drywall is hung throughout the house: All of the wall and ceiling surfaces are usually hung before any further work continues. The drywall seams are taped, mudded with joint compound, and finish sanded.

Drywall installers securing drywall
GeorgePeters/Getty Images

Install the Trim

All trim moldings are installed, including baseboards, door and window casings, and crown moldings.

Mark first trim on baseboard

The Spruce / Margot Cavin

Paint the Walls

After the messy work of installing the drywall and priming the walls is done, it is time to bring in the painter. Walls are painted and ceilings are either painted or finished with texture. These are jobs that homeowners can tackle themselves to save money. But for homeowners accustomed only to painting a room or two, keep in mind that painting an entire house is an enormous task.

Paint spraying the crown mMolding
BanksPhotos/Getty Images

Install the Cabinets

The kitchen and bathroom cabinets are installed. Specialty companies supply and install kitchen and bath cabinets.

Kitchen Cabinets

LanaStock / Getty Images

Install the Countertops

The kitchen and bathroom countertops are installed. This job is done by countertop specialists who both fabricate and install the countertops.

Worker Using a Level to Install Solid Surface Countertop
BanksPhotos / Getty Images

Perform Plumbing and Electrical Finish Work

Installation and hook-up of finished electrical and plumbing fixtures are done: Because there are code issues involved here, skip the sweat equity work for later on. It's usually best to have plumbers and electricians come in one last time for this work.

Repairmen, electricians repairing home breaker box.
fstop123 / Getty Images

Install the Flooring

Lay down the finish flooring (or floor covering) surfaces throughout the house. Floor covering options include carpeting, hardwood, laminate flooring, ceramic tile, luxury vinyl plank, and engineered wood flooring.

Installing wood flooring
Sollina Images/Getty Images

Clean the Work Site

Clean up the worksite by putting all acceptable debris into the dumpster. The contractor will hire a company that specializes in cleaning up after construction work. Call the disposal company to pick up the dumpster and specify that you do not need a replacement.

Dumpter

Diana Sand / Getty Images

Final Inspections and Walk-Through

Arrange for final inspections by the permitting agencies. Schedule a final walk-through if you are using a general contractor. Arrange a final inspection by your lender, if you financed the building of your house with a construction loan.

home inspection
Pamela Moore / Getty Images

Complete Landscaping

Complete exterior landscaping. To save money, this can be a do-it-yourself project. Or you can hire a landscaping company to design and install the landscape for you.

Landscaping around a large tree, ferns and flowers, with rock border and lawn

shippee / Getty Images

FAQ
  • What are the advantages of building a new house?

    The main advantage of building a house is that you can design the house to your specifications, including layout, colors, materials, and more.

  • What are the disadvantages of building a new house?

    One disadvantage of building a house is that the project could potentially take longer to build than projected. There might be some unexpected additional costs that crop up, too.

  • How can you save money when building your home?

    If you're handy around the house, you can save money by taking on some of the smaller projects yourself. Once the house is built, step in and do the landscaping, build the patios and walkways, paint the interior, lay flooring, and other projects that you're comfortable doing.