Making Profit While Paying a General Contractor?

[Johnny L.]

Hello Everyone!

I am currently planning on purchasing a piece of land and building a spec house on it to sell. I have already vetted the land with the city to make sure it was possible. I was originally going to manage the project myself and sub out all of the work. The reason being a General Contractor will of course charge anywhere from 15-20% of the building costs. 

I found out though that only a general contractor can pull permits in the city I plan on building in which is completely understandable! However, I feel like this 15-20% would eat into my profits too much but it would definitely make the whole process much smoother.

 I was wondering how many of you are using a general contractor to manage the project and still making a decent profit building spec houses? Or are you handling all of the contracting?

Thanks for your time!