Tips to DIY Your Own Home Build: Construction Management, Hiring Contractors, Why Builders are Wary

Deciding to build your own home, or even just act as General Contractor (GC) is not a decision to take lightly. But many of our clients DO go that route because:
A. They seem to know more about building science than any local builder or contractor
B. They get pushback from the local pros on their goals, their materials, or methods
C. They don't trust the process to be as transparent and thoughtfully-paced with a team who builds fast
D. They believe (rightly ot wrongly) it will save money and heartache on the build
Thankfully, today's education quality via KZbin, material and product designs, and the extreme costs and availability of some area's building professionals make DIY'ing part or all of the build much more enticing. Matt Risinger, as you know, is KZbin's biggest high performance builder, and he weighed in with us about the pros and cons of this adventure. We're rooting for you, no matter who or where you are.
This vid is again dedicated to our AWESOME TRIBE of Patreon members, who are the biggest and best year-round conference on applied building science in the world (and you can join too): / homediagnosistv
Consult, Coach, or Train with us to master home performance: buildingperformanceworkshop.com/

[@TheBgrugbymatt]

I just finished up with a self build. Swung hammer on ninety percent of the 3400sqft house. While working a full time job, got it done in two years. I learned so much from both of you as well as a couple other channels on youtube. As well as reading code books as a pastime. Saved 600k! I now have a wonderfully efficient house with pride in every stud and nail.

[@HomePerformance]

GOOD JOB MATT

[@seanpalmer8472]

40 years ago, my dad convinced our former neighbor that it would be a good idea to put basically all wiring in conduit (plus some empty conduit to various points around the house) in his custom house that he was building for the purpose of futureproofing. The contractor was very reluctant to do so, and consequently, our neighbor ultimately didn't get as much conduit as he wanted...but he did get some. When the house was built, coax was fairly standard, so that was what was installed in some of the conduit. The neighbor's son has since bought the house and was able to run CAT5 in the conduit himself. He also was able to install an EV charger in the garage. He was able to do this without disturbing the drywall.

[@HomePerformance]

Badass, Sean.

[@patrickharrington2230]

Enjoyed this video very much. I have been following Matt for years and many of my clients come to me saying "We want this because we saw it on a Risinger Build video". I run an "Owner Builder" company in Houston and love helping people act as their own GC. I was a custom builder for 27 years and now i am on "the other side of the fence" and consult. It is an ever-evolving business and some of my clients bring ideas to the table that amaze me and we implement them. I learn as much from some of my clients as i do from my membership in the local HBA. I completely agree that homebuilders are lumped in with used car salesmen and it has been that was for many years. I subscribed to your channel and look forward to learning more from you. Let's all raise the bar in the home building industry!! (that is, if it continues to function...these are very weird times in the US)

[@ryancouture2508]

I did a self build 5-6 years ago. Most builders at least at that time were stuck in 20 years ago or so… if the auto industry was anything like the home builders we’d still be driving model Ts. I ended up just figuring shit out and doing so much myself. Worked out great in the end.

[@samuelfeguer]

That's one thing that terrifies me about building a home in my area is builders refusing to use new building science ideas and products for my house.

[@twestgard2]

That’s a double edged sword though, because using a material you have experience with is valuable. A few new products turn out to be losers, but it’s really common for new products to work best in specific situations and knowing those differences takes time and experience.

[@DrWarBear]

I’m going through this with my builder now. I was really up front with the more cutting edge things I wanted from my house and picked a builder based on who was comfortable and experienced with those things. The builder I picked hadn’t seen EVERY thing I wanted, but enough so that we could talk through and focus on just a few items instead of every single one. When you do it, you have to understand that some of the things you see here and on the build show and elsewhere on KZbin are great in their specific climate, but may have issues in others (or not be necessary, or as efficient). So part of my discussions with the builder is talking about what I wanted, and WHY so that they could suggest alternate ways of doing things if there was a product they’re more familiar with that does the same thing, or a way to get the same result using the subs they have and the experience they have in their area. But also some of it is us bringing in additional experts that normally wouldn’t be on the job, and making sure the builder is comfortable working with and scheduling those guys. For example, for me we brought in a guy who does commercial HVAC, because the details I wanted were rare on residential HVAC but common in the commercial space

[@krusejonathan01]

High performance materials are great If you are paying for the build out of pocket that’s no problem. If you are financing your home like 95% of Americans said materials (that cannot be seen) zip system sheathing for example over traditional osb at approximately twice the cost will not increase the appraisal value of your home. This will cause you to be short at closing and if you’re not able to make up the difference you can’t get a mortgage. We all want better but the bank only wants to finance worse.

[@travelfeet]

@@krusejonathan01 Excellent point, though I hope people are pushing back. It's not just lenders, but the majority of buyers and appraisers who are all stuck in a feedback loop and don't value building performance, not to mention the building longevity that often comes with it. While more regulation is a blunt instrument, I wonder if there's some way to use it to break that lowest common denominator cycle. I'd like to see a building performance label attached to every new building, like the nutritional label on food. Give people a handful of metrics to compare even if they don't know exactly what they are. Perhaps it would at least start the conversation.

[@martinp1544]

Yup!

[@bradydollarhide2701]

I like Matt's contract vetting approach. I am an interior designer. I once had a client push back against my initial contract draft with "I'm not really into such a tight contract. In fact, I don't really like working under the confines of signed contracts." My reply was "OK, you can just pay me the entire amount up front." He looked at me like I was crazy. That was the end of that conversation and that relationship. Haha. Some of the best jobs are the ones you have the wisdom to avoid.

[@johnwhite2576]

Context is everything- as a default, why not just use the standard AIA contract? It is fair balanced thoughtful and covers everything…for example, do you it’s reasonable to demand more in a down payment that the owner is holding at final payment? Or that the owner is precluded from also working in the site? Even being on the site, even banned from site off work hours? Ie opening yours;ev to a lien when gc doenst pay his subs? Because this NEVEr happens, lol)Becaue thsoe are the type of unreasonable I. Essen in my experience. Two years to build a house from ground breaking?

[@Onward1969]

Never lost money on a job I never got. I’m an HVAC estimator.

[@johnhaller5851]

My uncle literally built his own home in the 1960s. But, it took years to finish, and since things were never really finished. It was a raised ranch on a hill, with the garage as part of the lower level. This needed a retaining wall and steps from the driveway to the front door. He didn't understand the need to tie both sides of the form together, it started blowing out when the concrete pushed against the forms, and ran out of material before getting to the height he wanted. That was probably just as well, as i didn't think he put any rebar in the wall. The stairs to the front door didn't get built until about 20 years later. His living room was just raw subfloor for about 10 years. The only thing I think he hired someone was for the basement and driveway excavation and the basement walls and floor. His wife was a saint for putting up with this.

[@HomePerformance]

Yes, another pitfall would be follow thru

[@ericfitzsimmons1202]

All with no mortgage?

[@johnhaller5851]

@@ericfitzsimmons1202 I'm sure money had something to do with the lack of carpet and concrete stairs. He rented out his old house, but it wasn't in the best of neighborhoods. With 4 kids, money was always an issue.

[@dmo224]

All of these are great points. I was my own GC and ended up actually doing a lot of the building myself. Matt's point about subcontractor loyalty (and interest) was true in my case. I was building amidst a housing boom in my area and it was hard to find reputable framers, plumbers and HVAC contractors that were interested in a one-off project like mine. They were generally committed to larger companies/builders that line up repeat business for them. Your videos were a huge help in allowing me to tackle the HVAC, ductwork, air sealing, insulation, ventilation, etc. I was lucky to find a great energy design consultant like you to design the systems, ducts and insulation plan and ended up doing the install myself. My systems work great and the blower door test turned out quite well. Anyone considering building on their own should do themself the favor of watching and learning as much as they can from you.

[@GrayHouseStudio]

Congrats on the collaboration! Been watching since you started your house build. It is exciting to have questions answered for people that want to build their own house.

[@HomePerformance]

👍🏽👍🏽

[@accountability2000]

Fantastic questions Corbett! And don't sell yourself short. Though Matt might be the most popular KZbin builders and has help shift building science to the forefront, I have found your videos more educational and consistent to your mission.

[@HomePerformance]

Thanks so much for being a fan!

[@MichaelJ674]

Great collaboration! Really informative and helpful. I’m fully retired from working 30 years as an owner’s rep on small to medium sized commercial/institutional design and construction projects and I’m in the early stages of designing and building my own home. Looking to find that sweet spot of how much to handle myself and how much to handle myself. The single most important lesson I learned from 30 years of project management experience is to get the right people on the team and then empower them to do what they do best and make sure all the pieces are connected and any gaps filled. Keep a close eye on every aspect of the job, but be fair, be collaborative, and show appreciation for good work. I totally agree with Matt that those relationships with subcontractors and suppliers built over time are more important to the success of a project than lowest cost. Look for BEST VALUE rather than LOWEST COST. And I totally agree with Corbett’s emphasis on Scott True’s advice to be flexible and creative. There are multiple ways to achieve your end goals and the best projects are collaborations that are fun and fulfilling for everyone involved.

[@InlogixEnterprises]

So timely. Our plans are 90% done and I retired last year.

[@johnwhite2576]

Matt is surprisingly open and thoughtful here. That said, I was left hanging when he said his contrcat was one sided builder friendly? In what ways? Time to completion? Owner work prohibited? 20 per cent down payment?

[@mauriceevans6546]

This is why I build my own. Not alot of subs to ask me Questions. I do. My own work

[@JP-yl6on]

What an incredible collaboration. 👏🏽👏🏽❤️

[@r.j.bedore9884]

Thanks for this video, as I recently started considering building my own house, and I have been watching a lot of yours and Matt's videos. The house I grew up in was designed by my Mom and built primarily by my Dad and Grandfather, with some help from their friends. They had a contractor dig the foundation, pour the basement slab, and put in the well and septic, but my parents and Grandfather (who was retired by that time) built the basement walls with cinder blocks, and built all of the floor trusses and wall framing themselves. My Grandpa had built a lake front cottage by himself when my dad was still a kid, so he had experience with doing this already, and did all of the electrical and plumbing for my parents' house. My parents also did all of the insulation and ductwork for the wood burning furnace themselves, but had an HVAC installer put in a high efficiency propane furnace a few years later (they had an infant and a toddler at that point and it was apparently hard to find the time between work and watching them to chop wood and add it to the furnace, especially at night). One of my Dad's friends was a professional drywall installer, and helped my Dad with that. They knew an Amish woodworker who built the kitchen cabinets at a discount in exchange for the maple and ash trees that had been cut down to make room for the house. My Mom painted the inside of the house, and my Dad painted the outside with the help of a neighbor who turned out to be a professional house painter and offered to lone my Dad some scaffolding and taller ladders than the one he had (I don't think he charged them anything and was just happy to help a neighbor in his spare time and share his expertise). The only other thing they hired a professional for was installing the roof. Now that I'm looking to buy my first house, everything in my area has doubled and tripled in price over the last few years while I was paying off student loans and saving for a downpayment. Now, most of the houses available in my price range are manufactured homes that were built in the 80's and 90's and are in need of significant repairs. This has led me to consider building a house instead of buying, but there is a shortage of builders in my area, so most are already booked out on jobs for several years. This leaves me with either hiring a company that will put a new manufactured home on property I purchase (including digging a well and septic and building the foundation), or trying to do like my parents did and build it myself. I have helped my Dad with repairs on their house since I was little and I'm sure I could do most of the electrical work, the flooring, the drywall, the insulation, and the plumbing fixtures (I would want a professional to do the rough in for all the pipes because I don't have experience with that and wouldn't want to risk leaks or not putting enough drop in waste lines). Since I don't have any experience with framing, I have also looked at buying a framing kit for an A-frame house where I would just have to bolt everything together using the included hardware and attach it to the foundation. My biggest fear in trying to tackle a project this big by myself (besides it taking significantly longer than I expect) is that I don't know what I don't know, and there's a good chance that I would miss something that could lead to expensive repairs down the road. I also don't know what current building codes are, but they are certainly more stringent than when my parents built their house in the 70's and my Grandpa built that cottage in the 50's, so trying to comply with code and passing inspection is another problem that is difficult to solve without experience. I really WANT to be able to build my own house and experience the pride and satisfaction that comes with that, but the practical side of me says the smartest thing to do is to go the new build manufactured home route and hope these newer models are built better than the existing ones I've gone to look at and won't have the same problems with warped floors and lack of ventilation.

[@chadd587]

Breaking News, quality goes down when production goes up. Manufactured homes, spec built homes and modular homes are built to a price point, and it is much much lower than the selling price. For instance, the % the GC is rediculous. Two things to sonsider when looking at how much a home actually costs. Take the price of the home and go ahead and multiply it by .94 to get the realtor fees out of the way. Next, subtract the lot cost by finding a local comp. Now I'm assuming this GC in the video drives a premium and I'm going to say he cuts himself a check for 20%, to 30% of the construction costs. Take a 450,000 dollar home. Remove realtor fees to get 423k. I'll just say a 1/3 acre in a decent neighborhood would be 30k. So now we are 393k for the home. Remove the GC fee and you have a home listed for 450k that cost between 275k and 314k to build, labor and materials. That's between 117k and 162k in fees between the GC and the realtors. Imagine putting that back into higher luxury items in the home, maybe buy a 2 acre lot instead of a 1/3 acre, or just have that much equity in your home day one. The mortgage price on 275k, plus contingencies, would be much better than 450k. This video is to scare you back into the warm pockets of general contractors. It's a serious threat to that line of work. I think they should be paid, but why they get paid so much is beyond me. Regular folks build their homes everyday and don't have experience in it. There's also companies that support owner builders out there.

[@gdelete8098]

Appreciate you making this video. I'm not a builder, but became very involved with my own large renovation because the GC was rarely (if ever) on site for more than 20 min. In my experience, the GC, boss, owner whatever they call themselves tend to hire subs and then "check-in" rather than oversee the job on a daily basis. This led to extreme frustration for me as the owner/payer who had to discover mistakes that could have been avoided if the GC simply was on-site. I've never seen a GC have a desk on site where the trades could easily come and discuss the plan...but that would be amazing if actually practiced.

[@makethingshappen8427]

Yes most of these GCs manage multiple jobs/gigs. At the end of the day it’s your home and you’re the only one that cares and has any skin in the game!

[@tinoslaponi8514]

If D.H. Horton can build 83K homes a year, I'm pretty sure an informed and motivated owner-builder can build their own home.

[@EK--ry3lr]

I took this to the extreme because of your awesome videos. I have personally built almost every bit of my house aside from the concrete, roof, and spray foam insulation. Your videos have given me so many things to think about and implement on my personal home. Thanks very much for all of your hard work.

[@HomePerformance]

That is AWESOME to hear my friend, great work

[@EK--ry3lr]

@@HomePerformance Thanks!

[@ronm6585]

Thanks gentlemen.

[@Grossinspec]

Thank you Corbett. Big fan of your Matt. Appreciate both of you sharing the knowledge.

[@daviddimovski9595]

My computer just exploded from the nerd overload. Great vid, Matt is the goat

[@acchaladka]

A couple of comments: * thanks for the builder's perspective as always and the open and honest discussion. I hope there are more. * I'd be very happy to hire a GC if really any would promise me any ACH number or energy performance number in writing, with bonuses or penalties. No one in our area will do that except the two passive house firms for new construction. Maybe a new column for your list of contractors? * a GC does not cost only the fee for his service, he or she also comes with an additional ten or 15% charge, called sales tax, depending on your jurisdiction. That's $45,000 for me on a $300k homebuild, or twice that for the higher quality Passive House. Yikes. * There is so much duplicity in the industry and so much barely legal on top of the simple poor decisions (like that wood framed balcony wall Matt walked us through), of course the consumer has trust issues or even PTSD. The homebuilders and especially the renovations industry, probably need trust mechanisms and quality guarantees which are industry wide.

[@HomePerformance]

Good points

[@DeuceDeuceBravo]

Good points, especially about Passive House builders. In many areas customers have a choice of extremes... either a code-built house from a traditional builder or a Passive House build at $500+/sf.

[@Ginger-Wasabi-28]

Great video! I was already following my favorite build scientist Matt and found you. I’m planning on being my own GC and appreciate your educational videos. I’m looking forward to building this community.

[@AaronHope_Sow]

I'm SO excited to see this come across my timeline!

[@TheoneandonlyRAH]

What a great partnership!

[@MarkRose1337]

This was great!

[@ritste1654]

@10:27 getting three bids from people not all using your specs can cost you. I know of a company that saw a flaw in the gas lines for a glass manufacturing plant. Very high gas needs for the equipment. The best company saw the mistake, and bid the right price for the 4 inch gas lines. The company that got the bid saw the error but bid the 2" that was spec'd. He knew the supplier would take the pipe back for no restocking fee. He hung the pipe, did not connect it, and then pointed out wrong size pipe. The change order was priced to get the new pipe, the 2" was already paid for and the cost to remove the pipe that was already hung and hang the new larger pipe. So the final cost of this contract was more than 3 times the original bid. SO by providing a design from and engineer to the sub, you will get exactly what you expect.

[@mxcollin95]

Awesome video! Thanks for posting! 👍

[@HomePerformance]

👍🏽👍🏽

[@joshbrennecke]

This was awesome guys!! Great discussion and some really great tips. Being an owner-builder and self-gc'ing my own house, a lot of these resonated with me. It has been an amazing journey for me personally, but isn't for the faint of heart. It takes, time, determination, commitment, and patience to succeed. However, few things seem as satisfying as building your own home--especially when you led the project and possibly even self-performed some of the work. Keep these videos coming!!

[@HomePerformance]

Good work buddy, it’s a pretty small club

[@bradallen1443]

I GC’d my own house, but I have been on building sites since I was a kid, working for my grandfather’s construction company. That said, I watched a ton of build show videos.

[@nlbowen1]

If you ware lucky enough to live in an area with a BS and Beer chapter, that is a great way for a home owner/DIYer to interact with builders and subcontractors that are into building science.

[@lukehampton3437]

Liking the video just from the intro alone!!

[@MrStevenKPuckett]

Pretty sure I rewound that intro ten times. That was great!!

[@HomePerformance]

Glad you liked it!

[@DeuceDeuceBravo]

Great info!! I've learned so much from you and Matt over the last couple years. You guys are awesome. Keep up the great work! I'm (hopefully) starting a new build this summer and I considered being my own GC. But for all the reasons you mentioned, I decided against it. Even though I know the right people to get it done, there was no way I could devote enough time to the project AND work a full-time job. I was lucky enough to find a great design/build firm in my town who is adamant about getting the science correct and is open to trying new ideas.

[@HomePerformance]

Sounds like a win

[@BolonaJoe]

Great collab.

[@mfman2]

I so badly want to do a full new build or extensive renovation one day but I don’t think I could ever find crews I trust enough to do it the way I want it and have every single step of the process completed with pride and care. Sad but true.

[@HT-qt1qn]

GC your own home = your full time job. That is the fact. You have to be there with subcontractors. When I build my own house in the next 3 years, I have to be “stay-at-home dad” for at least 12 months. Luckily I have a strong construction knowledge from my full-time job for the past 6 years, so I will be just fine. But the people who don’t have any construction / engineering knowledge from their full-time job, then the chance of screwing up “your own house” is extremely high.

[@hunjan315]

I am building my 8500 sqft dream home, I have learned a lot from Matt risinger videos and implementing in my ICF build regarding air and water management. I have ask home performance question like regarding form a drain and he replied the answer. thanks for that.

[@willbass2869]

8500 SF? WTH....?

[@SoCalVipers]

I think a lot depends on your location and the economy. I'm in the process of a major remodel, and I had a really hard time getting bids, and even getting general contractors to call me back. Getting subs to call back was even harder. In Los Angeles, there are so many stupid and unethical fees that there is no money left to even consider building a high performance home. Construction costs are also significantly higher than the rest of the country. We are encouraged to use electric cars and electric appliances, but then we are heavily punished for using too much electricity. I'll need 79 Solar panels and 4 Powerwalls and that might not be enough. I'll still be paying Edison a fortune. Bottom line, I'd be dead in the water without a GC. I'm really glad I didn't try to save 10 or 20 thousand dollars by doing it myself. Even with a GC, I am still heavily involved in every aspect. The end result will be over budget, take a little longer than I had hoped, but will be what I want.

[@billcunninghame8554]

Very helpful. More please

[@HomePerformance]

Thx Bill! Another coming to Matt’s channel soon.

[@chadd587]

Builders fired the client? That speaks volumes on where you place yourself in the relationship. If you wont do what the client wants, who does carry the risk, then its you who got fired. Reminds me of high school where someone breaks up with someone else first because the writing was in the wall lol.

[@TheTJLH]

As they say, "you have to kiss alot of frogs before you find your prince". I miss my Texas tradespeople. I relocated and have to start over again, building those relationships and finding good people. It's a costly process. Luckily I have more experience tracking them down and vetting them at this point in my building career.

[@HomePerformance]

Wow I bet it was

[@DmitriyKhazansky]

Risinger says he’s trying to change the contractor perception and in same sentence says his contract is very one sided towards himself 😂

[@MattPetrowsky]

Nice Collab. It's good that Matt will do these types of videos with you. Because of his growth, he's gone a little too "commercial" for me on some stuff, but seeing him here on the (typically) more technical content reminds me to check in on his videos. KZbin's Algo suggests more engineering type stuff to me and I don't get as many suggestions of his videos. As always, the DIY insight you bring Corbett is valuable stuff. Great to hear from the other side of DIY. Thanks Matt, do more stuff with Corbett if you're not to busy!

[@HomePerformance]

Thanks Matt

[@mylifeintexas]

I’d like to know about all that steel in that house. Hard to tell the spans but any particular reason for it?

[@Grossinspec]

@Matt How do you feel about clients hiring home inspectors for phase inspections?

[@steven7650]

What you're describing is engineering. That's what positive energy provides. As an engineer builder for my parents house then mine. I did exactly that. Here's the load calcs for the ducts. Here's the electricial. Then matt's absolutely right. I lived on site. You have to because you have a vision in your head. Even if they do great work. It's still just a job to them, it's not their house. I've also had two different trades tell me they don't trust lasers for getting things level and plumb. Like uhh what?!

[@tlangdon12]

I would say that having a vision in your head is a mistake; you need to get the vision down on paper in a format that your contractors (and you) can easily understand. It might take time and effort to do this, but if you carry it all around in your head, you will forget things and if anything happens to you during the build, much of the work done will be worthless because no-one understand how it was all supposed to fit together.

[@steven7650]

@tlangdon12 I don't disagree, but the reality is a whole new challenge. The problem is modern building plans only call out rough surfaces. Take my utility room I half sketched out my plumbing for flow. But to get height on 3 surfaces out of plane in free air would have taken it to be a 120 job just to cad that up. now add in power, hvac, erv, mini split lines. if you've ever worked on a submarine that's what you want and it adds millions in engineering hours to a house. There is that company that's working on cad software for building in Keene NH. working towards capturing all the mechanicals. But it's a multi year effort.

[@Iceman240Z]

I see over and over, new builds with significant problems. Things that don't even make sense to a non-contractor, i.e. multiple thermostats installed into a commercial building where each thermostat controls the temp for a different room than the on it is in. It is always too hot or too cold, and one person has to call out to another in another room to change the setting for them (for certain reasons they cannot leave the room they are in). I want to GC my own home because there seems to be three ways to go; pay a low to average rate ($300-450/sq ft) and find dumb mistakes all over the home, pay $500-700/ sq ft (way out of my range) and the problems will be caught and fixed by the GC you hire before the home is complete (or they stand behind their work and will fix it later), or GC it yourself. What else am I supposed to do?! Plus, I want some newer tech that most builders find too scary.

[@daktusdurggery5505]

I wish that I had seen this video a few weeks ago, my builder decided to destroy my entire kitchen, wall too shallow to fit kitchen cabinets and kitchen sink window is 8inches off from where it was supposed to be

[@jimallen8238]

The biggest issue in my area is the absolute lack of craftsmanship, experience, and open-minded people. Almost all the labor here is unskilled or semi-skilled and none of them care one bit about building science or innovation. They just want to get paid - all while using the cheapest supplies and doing a haphazard job unless you stand over their shoulders and correct every action. It is exasperating.

[@chadd587]

So because wild subcontractors are the bad guys, GCs can pull 15-30% of the cost of the home?

[@whymindsetmatters]

I'll be contacting you Corbett. What are your thoughts on VRV's?

[@HomePerformance]

Sounds good. If you mean Variable Rate Ventilation, sounds good also. Any ventilation is better than none (most of the time).

[@whymindsetmatters]

@@HomePerformance Yes, thank you.

[@raymondpeters9186]

Pumicecrete is the easiest way to build a DIY house

[@Mrstealurgrill]

Love Matt and His channel, but "I need you to trust me on the contract" is a huge red flag, especially when he just admitted to a builder's friendly contract.

[@martinp1544]

Sorry, most builders are “used car salesman.”

[@tlangdon12]

I think that undersells the skills needed to build anything. Ever builder that delivers a home that is structurally sound and where all the services work is pretty awesome.

[@seanm3226]

And most homeowners just want a “used car”.

[@brandonv8721]

One sided contracts are BS full stop. So you are a bad person if you try and protect yourself....give me a break. It can be take it or leave it since its his company, but calling people out, lul.

[@johnwhite2576]

Context is evythjng-if Matt Reisinger say wants 20 per cent and prohibiting me from doing my own work, or no form completion date? that’s not unreasonable- but we do I find such caliber in my area? You don’t…a good client? One with more money than brains/knowledge…but of course your job is to pay and pay on time; Matt is so right, integrity and honesty critical…shit happens, you need to collaborate…being a gc is tough job, and if they do their job this earn their profit margin__ but so few do. And recognize NO builder who doesn’t have their u tube channel cleans up , or details every hole, etc…that can only really be done by you.

[@claireh.7605]

Tip to diy your own build: don’t use most of Matt’s methods.

[@markbarta2369]

Matt has generally moved into the market where if you have to ask the price, you can't afford it. That's a different circle than many consumers can afford.