The Process of United States House Building
Jun Yong Hu
City
College of the City University of New York
Abstract
It takes more than two years to build a house by owner self. It includes purchasing the land, predesign, design, construction and post construction. Decide to Purchase the vacant land or old houses is the first step. Communication with architect to make a proposal is the second step. The third step of build a dream house is construction. The last step of process is post construction. Every step is important and requires owner to take it seriously.
Keywords: design, construction
Introduction
American dream is the best way to express the philosophy of United States. A house may be the most significant part of American dream. It takes more than two years to build a house by owner self, which is less efficient than buying a ready-made house. However, self- built houses means owner can customize most of the features of the house which makes the house become a dream house. Additionally, self-built houses means owners can live in a new house which located at the ideal location. Of course, the process of building a dream house is complicated. Owner have to invest plenty of man power, material resources and financial resources on it. Purchasing the land, predesign, design, preconstruction, construction or post construction, any mistake in above steps could turn a dream house become a nightmare house.
Process of House Building
The first step in the process of building a house is purchasing the land. This step is the prerequisite for the next steps. There are two options to this step:
- Buying a vacant land.
- Buying an old house and tear down to rebuild a new house.
Vacant land is the
land which has no building on it and is never have been used. Buying a vacant
land has a lot of advantages. The most important one is affordable. Comparing
to buying an old house, buying a vacant land is much easier and affordable.
There also disadvantage of buying a vacant land. For example, it’s hard to find
a satisfied location since it’s 2019 not 1719. Buying an old
house could cost lot more money than buying vacant land. The cost of tear down
the old house also should be under budget. In addition, owner have to hire professional
person to do survey before owner buy the land because different land has
different usage. Owner have to
find the right land according to the zoning map. Zoning number decide what kind of house owner can build. For example, land with zoning number R4 only was allowed build one- or two-family house, if owner want to build a four-family house, he should not buy this kind of land.
When owner prepared the land, the next step is design. This step ask owner to have a well communication with architect. Owner should well explain his idea to architect. Architect will plan for following process according the land situation, budget, and the requirements of owner. After architect explained the design proposal to owner, owner have to sign an agreement with architect. Architect and his design team will start design the house only if the agreement was signed. Owner do have the right to change his idea after architect finished his design or even in the middle of construction, but it will waste a lot time and money.
The third step of build a dream house is construction.
This step require owner to deal with construction team and supplier. There is multiply
way to paying for construction. First one called “lump sum” which means owner
pays a fixed fee to the construction team. This method is suited to projects which
have a well-defined scope before starts. The second method is called “Cost Plus
a Fee” which means owner pays general construction cost plus an added fee. This
step usually cost around 2 years for normal residential house. It’s the major process
of building a house. Sequential construction is the best and most common way to
process. Sequential construction means each major phase begin only after the
previous phase is complete. Phased construction can reduce risks if elements
built early come to conflict with later design decisions. Owner who don’t have
enough time or experience to manage this step is also recommended to hire a
professional construction manager to assist. A good construction manager can monitor
construction, control the project site, manage trades and suppliers, and
coordinate communications between construction team, design team, and owner.
The last step of process is called post construction. When the construction team finished their works the first step owner should do is checking if all the requests are fulfilled by design team and construction team. After verified the house the next should be a completely inspection of electrical system, water delivery and plumbing systems. The last step is post construction cleaning. All the building and surrounding area should be cleaned carefully in case there are some dangerous elements was reminded form construction. For example, glass, toxic chemicals, discarded nails or screws.
Conclusion
Building a house is one of the most important things of a person. Most people don’t have an experience before they start to build their first and only one dream house. Purchasing the land, predesign, design, preconstruction, construction or post construction all the steps are required owner treat it seriously. Hiring professional person to help is necessary.
