It seems like such a simple notion.
Instead of paying a builder to deliver a house finished in every way-but one you can’t afford even in its basic state-why not strike a bargain and do some of the work yourself?
What could be involved, really? A little painting, a bit of carpet work, a dollar here, a dollar there. Before you know it, the house you couldn’t buy suddenly has floated into the affordable range-minus the cost of painting the interior, laying the carpet or putting in light fixtures, which you can do at your pocketbook’s pace.
The builder isn’t out any money, since he/she didn’t do the work but left it for the homeowner to finish and adjusted the price. Who could object?
As it turns out, a lot of people.
Sweat equity, also called “owner-involved housing,” may be popular with the do-it-yourself crowd, but in the Chicagoland area it’s not a favored option with many builders. The largest builders won’t consider it for a variety of reasons, including insurance concerns and union contracts.
And while smaller builders will negotiate such an arrangement, they want assurances that if you’re doing the work that you’re qualified and can get it done within a specified time frame.
Even so, they may try to talk you out of it.
“I feel it’s a no-win situation when the homeowner gets involved,” said Pete Stefani president of King’s Court Builders Inc. in Aurora. He said he has talked 20 to 30 people out of painting the house interiors themselves over the last eight years.
“By the time I get done with my little speech I haven’t had one take me up on it,” said Stefani, whose company will build 50 homes this year.
Although he realizes that in theory the arrangement may save the homeowner money, in practice Stefani said he has found “it doesn’t work real well. . . . We don’t think the person will be satisfied.”
Recently he agreed to let one customer-who is a home decorator-go elsewhere for the carpeting. Through her industry contacts, the customer knew someone who could provide the carpet for less money; she signed a letter acknowledging any damage done while installing the carpet was the responsibility of the subcontractor.
Though she did get a better price on the carpeting, the subcontractor damaged the baseboards during installation, Stefani said.
“We had to replace all the baseboards,” he said, and the homeowner had to pay for the work. She, in turn, will have to charge the subcontractor.
Instead, if a prospective buyer finds a floor plan he or she really wants, but is having difficulty meeting the price, Stefani said he’s willing to make adjustments that will help. For example, air conditioning is a standard feature in all the homes he builds, but he won’t include it if a buyer is looking to trim the cost. Similarly, he’s willing to omit some light fixtures, chandeliers, etc., and let the buyer put in less expensive models.
“All the wiring is in place,” Stefani said, but the option may save the buyers the money they need to make the purchase.
Typically, homeowners will add between $2,000 and $10,000 in upgrades to the base cost of a home, said Haley Hacker, communication director for Lexington Homes, based in Arlington Heights. Though the company won’t allow home buyers to negotiate a do-it-yourself deal, simply by skipping the upgrades the buyer may shave enough money off the ticket price to move in.
One change the company makes is with regard to appliances. Some of the 1,100 homes Lexington builds each year come with stoves, refrigerators and other kitchen appliances. If the buyer wants to save on this cost and move his or her appliances into the new home, Lexington will agree-provided the installation takes place after the closing and the buyer signs a letter acknowledging that any damage that occurs to the home during the installation is his/her responsibility.
People who are looking to do some of the work themselves are clearly looking to save money, but Neal Hunter believes that with few exceptions they’ll save relatively little for their efforts.
“As a money amount it’s relatively small because. . .the biggest part of the work is material” with the exception of painting or electrical work, said Hunter, president of Lancer Corp. in Schaumburg.
“If someone. . .was going to do all the painting for the cost of the paint,” that would constitute a “tremendous” savings, Hunter said.
“If (doing the work themselves) can truly save them money, then we’re willing to work with them,” he said. But “everybody could go out and get a lower price,” and the person with the lower price won’t necessarily be able to do the work well or on time.
Hunter’s company will allow homeowners to do some of the work under certain conditions: Whoever does the work must meet the Lancer Corp.’s approval, show a certificate of insurance, show they’re able to meet the community’s building code and show a waiver of lien.
While Lancer doesn’t get that many requests from homeowners to do the work themselves, it happens often enough that the company has had to set guidelines.
At one point Lancer agreed to allow someone else to do the tile work for a home. It didn’t work out. The person worked odd hours and took longer to finish the work than expected, thus delaying other workers who couldn’t get into the house.
Now Lancer requires all outside subcontractors to finish the work by a certain date, or the homeowner pays a late fee for each day other work is delayed.
Some of the largest home builders in Chicagoland won’t enter into such agreements.
From a safety standpoint and for reason of insurance, Lexington doesn’t want the homeowner working on the site, said Mary Corbett, regional sales manager. The second reason is that the work on Lexington’s houses is done by union members, and the price the builder is quoted for their work is based on volume.
Finally, “every municipality has its own codes,” Corbett said. “Even if someone said, `But my father is a union electrician, bonded and insured’ he might be bonded and insured in Lake County and we’re building in DuPage County,” she said. The company doesn’t want to leave anything to chance.
“A lot of people don’t know what they’re doing,” said Michael Schall, vice president of sales and marketing for Sundance Homes based in Rolling Meadows, which builds 1,000 homes annually.
“Occasionally we have people sneak into the house to do some work,” he said.
One man slipped into his home to look at the duct work, decided it was too small and proceeded to put in a larger piece. “The system wouldn’t have balanced the way he did it,” Schall said. Sundance ripped out the homeowner’s “improvement” and restored the original work.
If and when homeowners are going to do some of the work themselves, whether it is new construction or remodeling, it’s in their best interests to visit the local building inspector.
“They have to come in with a complete set of plans drawn to scale, in the vein of a second-floor bedroom,” in the case of remodeling, said John Nelson, building administrator for Palatine.
Those plans “may or may not have to be approved by an architect and are subject to approval by our staff,” he said.
The homeowner doesn’t have to be bonded or licensed to do the work, but they must show they’re able to do the work, which the inspector will confirm, Nelson said.
But while a homeowner may get approval for the installation of a couple of outlets in a room addition, Nelson is not keen on having the homeowner do all the electrical work or all the plumbing work in a new home.
“I’m real shy about doing that,” he said. “A homeowner isn’t really as good as a plumber or electrician.”
