Owner Builder for new home build in San Jose

[Sanjay Sinha]

Planning to build a spec home in the San Jose area. We have already put in the earnest money on a lot with a very old house. The question I have is how easy it is to be the owner builder on this construction project and hire the sub-contractors directly instead of hiring a GC. We're planning to build a 3,500 sq ft house. With a construction price of $300 per sq ft. So construction price can be in excess of a million. If we're able to cut out the GC and save 150K to 200K, that is substantial savings.

However me and my wife don't have direct construction experience. I did study Mechanical Engineering many years ago and have some sense of how things come together and my wife has done quite a few interior design projects but no direct interactions with subs, only GCs. But she is willing to put in the time to manage the subs. Are we foolish to take this on? Ideally we would like some one with experience to do some project management as well as direct us. Where can we get such people? Where can we find such kind of construction project managers? Would some retired GCs be willing to do this?