Javi’s New Home

Frequently Asked Questions


In 2018, at 52, I realized that I wasn’t getting any younger and, as we sometimes do, I gained some new and old hobbies, like woodworking. Rather than spending the next 10 or 20 years working myself to death only to enjoy retirement when I could no longer lift a piece of wood, I decided to throttle my businesses back a bit and spend more time with my family and my hobbies.

I later found out that I had TOO MUCH STUFF (tools mostly) and not enough space. After a conversation with my wife, we decided it was in our best interest to sell our home in Miami and move. Not finding just the right house, be bought a 5-acre property in Central Florida and, armed with years of experience and a somewhat still youthful vigor, I commenced to single-handedly build our new home. The whole journey is being documented here: Javi Unboxed

FAQ’s: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7


1. Are you seriously building a house by yourself with no help?

Yes. It’s been a dream of mine to build my own house for a long time and I decided there’s no better time than the present. (Well, the past would have been better but I didn’t have that option available!) There are a few instances where I had help. All are listed below on #2.

2. What assistance have you had?

To date here are the times where I needed help of a friend or family member volunteered to help. (I will never turn away free help and I always will have burgers and beverages of their choices ready for them as payment!):

My cousins Israel and Alex both came by with there tractors to bushhog the property at the start.
My friend Andrew came by on a few occasions to assist in land clearing and bamboo hauling.
Hired a well company to dig a well.
Andrew and friend Jason came by one morning to help me put up some purloins in the steel building.
My brother has come by and helped me screw in 8 roof panels on the steel building.
My Cousin Alex come by and helped me screw in 10 roof panels on the steel building.
My wife has come by on numerous occasions to do some light and medium work, pickup up debris around the property and has been indispensible in preventing me from living like a messy bachelor and going insane on my own.
I hired a crew to pour the concrete slabs of both buildings after I excavated, compacted and formed them.
My neighbor and buddy Doug has come bt on a number of occasions as a second set of eyes as well as helping me with a few of the initial trusses.
Andrew, My brother and Jason helped me with the main truss erection.
My brother and Alex helped me with the truss blocking for a couple days.
I hired a couple workers to assist with the roof shingles for a day.

3. What have you done to date (In order)?

Property":

  1. 1. Cleared the property of vines and overgrown vegetation. - October 2018 to

  2. Removed a number of rotten trees (393 trees remain).

  3. Planted 50 Western Cypress trees on the North side of the property.

  4. Had a well dug professionally after 4 failed attempts. I just didn’t have the equipment.

  5. Installed the Electric Meter tied in the the well for power ion the property.

  6. Built a 2,200 lf fence around the property.

  7. Built a wellhouse

  8. Installed a Water Softener and Filtration for the water supply

  9. Maintained the 5 acres each month.

Warehouse/Shop

  1. Designed the shop in conjunction with Great Western Buildings in Colorado.

  2. Cleared the land and added 30 trucks of fill for the foundation

  3. Excavated/Compacted and formed the concrete slab for said building.

  4. Cut/Bent/Installed and tied all the rebar in the slab formwork.

  5. Assisted in the concrete Pour for the building (3,200sf - 85cy)

  6. Erected the Columns, Girt, Purlins and roof and wall skin for the entire 40’ by 80’ building (Basically, I built a giant erector set.)

The House

  1. Designed the entire building and sent it to an architect for review and stamping (My friend Eric Shea did the MEP drawings as well as load calculations.)

  2. Pulled all necessary permits

  3. Surveyed and Cleared the area (set up batter boards)

  4. Excavation the top soil

  5. Added 20 trucks of fill for the foundation base.

  6. Compacted the fill and laid out the underground Plumbing for the house.

  7. Dug the footers and installed/tied the footer/footing rebars/dowels

  8. Assisted in the concrete Pour for the building (3,600sf - 65cy)

  9. Laid out and later laid the block walls (2,812 Blocks)

  10. Raised/set the lintels and installed all the vertical and horizontal rebars

  11. Set up all the hurricane straps for the trusses

  12. Poured the Concrete columns/lintels

  13. Installed the back patio columns/hangers and beams to support the back porch trusses.

  14. Built all the interior Load-Bearing Walls

  15. Installed all 132 trusses

  16. Put up the roof Deck (180 Plywood Sheets)

  17. Installed the underlayment (metal valley flashing, Peel and stick, and synthetic layers)

  18. Installed the sub fascia, fascia, and drip edge

  19. Installed the roof (131 bundles HDX Roof Shingles, 275 Ridge caps and 320lf of starter shingles)

  20. Installed the roof vents (4), Goosenecks for bath vents (3) and Plumbing vent boots through roof (2)

  21. Built the breezeway including posts, hangers and roof

    And that’s it so far - Last updated 4/22/2023

4. Is this taking so long?

It’s actually not.
For the first couple years, we were waiting until our kids graduated high school. No point in creating an expense you’re not going to use.
After I pulled the permit, The trusses took 11 months to arrive due to high construction demand in the area post-Covid.
Other than that, the financing was difficult so we waiting until the rates were ideal.

In addition, keep in mind that a normal 2,000sf house take a crew of 4 a total of 2,000-3,000 man hours. This house and garage/shop totals in excess of 6,800sf and I’m doing this by myself for the most part.

5. How long until you finish?

There’s actually a pool on my facebook page. My best guess is some time in October, but anything can affect my estimate. Delays in material problems cropping up. For example, I was set to install the windows this week when they came in 1/2” to tall (24 windows) so I have to spend a week with a grinder or wait 2 months for them to fix it. I opt for the former.

6. Are you nuts? Why are you doing this yourself with no help?

No, not nuts, just driven with a bit of OCD.
There are a number of reasons including:

  1. Price - It’s all about ROI and when I perform most of the labor I can build a house I otherwise would find difficult to afford.

  2. Desire - It’s on my bucket list and while I’ve built houses before with large crews, This one is personal.

  3. Legacy - It’s nice to look back and appreciate something you did yourself and pass on to your progeny along with a documented histry of the build.

7. How much? What are the benefits?

The house:

When applying for initial financing, based on the plans, an appraiser valued the finished house conservatively at $750,000 without the shop.
To date, I have spent approximately $85,000 on materials and the job is slightly past the halfway mark.

Clearly my time is worth something, and there are 2 ways of figuring that out. One is by setting a value on a Designer/Contractor/Laborer/Roofer/Plumber/Electrician/HVAC/Drywaller/Fencer/Landscaper/Steel Worker/Mason/Painter/Tiler/Woodsmith/Insulation guy/Carpenter/ and anything else that comes up… or…

Just calculate my total time and the value of the building. Based on a year at an average work day of 4-6 hours (I’m older and overweight. While I may push myself on a few 12 hour days, I take lots of breaks.) and a value of $750,000 - 2,000 average hours spent solely on the house gives me a rate of $375 per hour. I would say that’s well worth my time!

Now clearly, there are safety and other issues like roof and block work where it would be advisable to get help.
Blocks: Since there was a truss delay, I decided to forego paying masons the (then) labor fee of $12,000 and do it myself 30 blocks a day. I had over 8 months to work on the block walls before the trusses were due so it was worth my time.

On the roofing side, The companies wanted over $50,000 to lay the roof deck, underlayment and roof. Compare that to $4,800 for the deck, $1,000 for the underlayment and nails/cement and $5,371 for the shingles. $50K vs $11.2K. Save wherever you can my friends!

Expected cost of the house built to Miami Dade codes (better actually) is $46 per square foot.

The Shop:
After pricing numerous options including, but not limited to pole barns and post barns, I decided that I-Beam steel building were the most econimcal and sturdiest. The building cost me $38K, The concrete $13.6K, Labor $4K, and steel rebar and misc was about $2K - So for under $58K, I have a 3,200 sf Steel building built to Miami Dade 180MPH wind codes. (That’s a sf price of $18 per square foot)

If you were to combine the project (which is not the right way to do it) the price comes to $25 per square foot which is clearly unheard of and doesn’t take into account my time. As a comparison, an average home build runs about $150 psf for an average build to $200 psf for a custom home (or over 1.5 million for this one. Then add the 5 acres of property on a lake in a peaceful rural community with every major store and restaurant chain you can imagine within a 5 mile radius? We did our homework. Diamond in the rough my friends. I’m just polishing it… a lot!