Hey Y'all,

I'm fairly new to BP and have a question specific to Austin, TX. My husband and I recently purchased a house in Travis Heights that is a teardown. We are considering not hiring a builder and GCing it ourselves. The trouble is that we do not have a construction background and the building market here is pretty hot, so we have been told that we may have trouble getting sub-contractors to do the work. And even if they will do the work, they will charge us a premium, because they are busy and we are a one-off. 

Any thoughts from anyone who has experience with this? Thank you in advance!

@Tress Pearce

Welcome to Bigger Pockets. Make sure to check out all the informative podcasts.

I have not done any new construction yet but on my rehabs I have been able to get reasonable bids. Just make sure you get a few bids to be sure you are getting close to the real number. The issue as a lesser customer is going to be trying to get timeline priority. Your schedule may get bumped if they have a more important job. You may also have better luck in the winter because we tend to get a lot of trades from the north here looking for work. 

@Tress Pearce

IMHO you should hire a GC for your first house.  Things to consider: permits, surveying, subcontractor coordination, among other things.

If you don't want to hire a GC, at least consider hiring a project manager to help coordinate the process.

Welcome to BP!

Why do you want to act as your own GC?

Thanks for replies! Lynn, I want to be my own GC because hopefully, it would end up saving us money. I do have a support system, in the way of our architect and someone else who is a real estate consultant.

guys is it possible to be your own GC for multiple projects in California. thanks.