So is this even a thing in order to break up the payments over time? Say over a period of 5 years you buy the land, pour the slab, frame, and so on. Or instead of a traditional framed home buy a Mueller metal home. Yay or nay?

It's been done. Even with traditional framing it's not unheard of to have the shell dried in and then take time finishing or doing it yourself. But you'd probably be paying cash that way. Doubt you'd be able to get a loan like that. Also how much you can do yourself depends on the jurisdiction. You will probably be on a small 120V temporary power until finished. The electric utility frequently has rules and checks before they will put in the 240V meter and cable. Same with water. Unless you're doing a well and septic. But septic guys have rules with the county too. Need to check that.

Also, if contracting out yourself, you are probably paying wholesale plus 50-100% for being a one-off they're not certain will even pay no matter how honest you tell them you are, unless you really, really know those contractors well; like best friends. Also many customers are assses and require redo instead of fixes for every stupid little thing that most never complain about. It doesn't matter how much you tell them you are not picky. They can't risk trusting you without prior experience. They've all been burned too much by *******s out there to trust you enough to give you a lowball offer on the first and only job you will ever give them.

Buying the land and clearing the space for the building is something you should be able to do whenever you like and it will sit indefinitely.

Once you actually start building, I would have some concerns about stopping for any extended period of time. Once the slab is poured, the concrete should be fine, but many things that would come up through the slab aren't necessarily meant to be exposed long term, so you'd have to protect them from UV.

Once you start framing, I wouldn't stop until the exterior finishes were installed. Sheathing and tyvek/house wrap aren't meant to be exposed for more than a couple months so you'd want to get your siding and brick on, which would require installing windows and doors. Once you have it dried in, you would probably be ok for a while, but I would have concerns about mold growth over the summer with a sealed but not climate controlled space.

You can get it minimally habitable and then finish the interior over time... but that's about all I would do.

you see this sort of thing a lot in other countries, where they use concrete construction (and don't have easy access to cheap cash).

As others have mentioned, I wouldn't be excited about that prospect with brick and stick construction.

I've been thinking about ways to do something similar. But instead of building in phases like you describe, build and completely finish out a smaller structure that can be expanded on.

The situation we're in now is that we have property, but my wife is taking a break from her career as we have our second child. We want to raise our kids on our land, but need to keep expenses low for a few years until she goes back to work.

Thanks fellas. Sounds almost like a pipe dream other than what Jeff has planned.

I wish I could find contractors that don't have crews cutting corners. I've never asked anyone to redo something from scratch, but the **** that I find on every job drives me nuts when I'm paying someone else for their trade and excellence at it.

95% of it is all fine, but the details matter: stair riser not 90 degrees vertical, a miter cut crown molding joint with big gaps, an electrical box not secured, etc.

I've debated this same thing. My thought that might work would be. A. Buy the land and clear. B. Buy all materials and finishes and store them. C. Pour slab and build.

Storage costs would be the biggest issue here. I randomly have a TON of extra storage at my business right now which would help me.

What would be the big benefit there?

Based on the OP question. I could pay cash as I go. Maybe I misunderstood what he was asking.

My way would eliminate some of the issues above. Pay for everything you can. Save up for the slab and labor and build all at once.

Mine would be a small barndo or ranch house.

Gotcha. You would buy the materials over time I guess.

Just seems like you're still exposing yourself to pricing risk without any huge upside.

This used to be a thing in East Texas

Growing up, I had a friend whose parents bought a lot in Livingston and had a shell house built. It was dried in and compete on the exterior. Interior had rough plumbing and electrical. Floors were plywood subfloor, walls were open except for insulation on the exterior.

Used to be common among extremely wealthy people in the late 1800s before borrowing money was as easy. Businessmen might build a large 3 story mansion, but only the first floor would be finished out. When kids start coming along, 2nd story gets built into bedrooms and bathrooms. When grandpa and grandma move back in, third floor gets finshed out so the kids can move there and grandma moves in to 2nd floor. Feds won't allow interest to stay high enough for long enough for that to make a comeback.

We did a project for a government entity using phased build approach for disaster recovery housing. The idea is that you install a core unit with FEMA money, then come back later and add on depending on HO qualifications and family composition.

This was modular housing but in theory you could do it stick built and even slab on grade. You tax dollars paid for us to demonstrate what you would expect and what we told them when the project began. Its makes no reasonable sense to do this and it costs substantially more than building the entire structure at once. We demonstrated this 21 times until the funds were expended.

But back to the OP. We worked with a modular home company on the core units and the expandation units and designed the layout so that the bolt ons matched with existing layout and mechanicals. We used ductless / mini splits for the HVAC which would also make sense if you truly intended to do this.

I would at minimum prepare the site / foundation plan for the envisioned complete structure and if slab on grade pouring it all at once.

Best of luck. If you do a phase build, post some pics!

agnerd said:

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Used to be common among extremely wealthy people in the late 1800s before borrowing money was as easy. Businessmen might build a large 3 story mansion, but only the first floor would be finished out. When kids start coming along, 2nd story gets built into bedrooms and bathrooms. When grandpa and grandma move back in, third floor gets finshed out so the kids can move there and grandma moves in to 2nd floor. Feds won't allow interest to stay high enough for long enough for that to make a comeback.

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Pretty sure Joe Biden did this but neglected to start with repairing the roof then sold off his driveway to raise funds.

This is not a political derail. But I do believe there is a story on this though maybe I have a detail or off. Regardless, it is another solution to build a shell then finish out in phases as others have suggested.

The Absolutely Stunning Custom Homes thread should give you ideas on other folks who have taken this approach.