All Forum Posts by: Emilio Ramirez

assuming full basement and 1800 sf above ground on each side... it takes a pro framing crew of 4 guys, 3-4 weeks to frame the house... which translates into one pro framing the house in 12-16 weeks... not sure what 60% you're planning on doing yourself, but building a house/duplex = 1000s of man hours. 

Inventory is very low and Specs are big business in Denver right now. They sell like hot cakes. 6/7 of my recent projects are specs. Last couple sold this year were very profitable and much higher than the value of the land cost. On an approximate 20% investment,  Investors have doubled and tripled their dollars. Neighborhood is critical. 

Why don't you just do your own takeoff? That's one of the first things I do when planning a new build. I use bluebeam for takeoffs. its pretty cheap and super easy to use. Then plug everything into an excel spreadsheet. 

what size plywood will you be selling? 

Banks will require cash, credit and experience. So even though you have a back ground in construction not having a background in residential new construction may require you to hire a GC assuming you have the cash and credit. I'm still seeing a few 20% loans for those with all three of the above. 

As far as demoing a single family home and converting to duplex, that will. 100% depend on the zoning. If the zoning doesn't allow for duplex (or ADU) you're sol... unless of course you want to do the illegal mother in law suite.

Without looking at E-TU-C, you would typically need an 11,000 sf lot to build a duplex based on what you're sharing above. So this lot is to small even though its zoned properly... Need to check the specific zoning though...

Hi and welcome to bp. 

Why not just go through a local bank? In Denver we're seeing 25-30% downpayment requirements for new builds. Sounds like you have that.  Your rate will be at least half of a private lender.  Net zero should have no bearing on the loan unless you're doing something that will astronomically increase the costs but not the appraised value. If it's Owner Occupied, banks had been requiring 20-25% down. But that was pre-covid so check with your local bank. Otherwise bp has a list of private money lenders on the site somewhere. You can search for it and see some of other people's experiences. 

what's the square footage on the driveway?

Typically if you drive a neighborhood and find new houses going up, the GC will have contact info posted on the site. Could start there. Take a tour with them. Ask them all your questions. 

Greg is spot on. The only thing I would add is to look and see if there are any developments in the area listed for sale. what are they selling at? And do they match your numbers when you work backwards from their sales prices?