All Forum Posts by: Keith Bloemendaal

@Adrian Becoat I believe I had to buy them all, was around $1200, if anything is in question, call them. They have great customer service. 

J Johnson. Take his course, do exactly as he says, you will pass. I passed on my first try after his class. 

http://www.contractorsseminars.com/

I actually took the class a year before I took the exam, I wouldn't recommend that. Also, I took the NASCLA seminar and exam, was told it was easier than the NC test. The NASCLA give you the right to license in 11 states plus the Virgin Islands, and it is a commercial license so you can do both residential and commercial building. 

Good luck! 

Totally depends on each municipality, talk to the planning/zoning department and you should get an answer. 

I won't touch anything for less than $125/sf in my area. 

A survey will also show wetlands, flood plains/ways, possible easements you are not aware of, etc. Has there never been a survey on the property? Definitely check public records, talk to planning depts, etc. Get all the info you can. 

I started as electrician, then a plumber, and started my plumbing business in 2006, needless to say it wasn't long before we were all out of business, but I bounced back and am now a GC. Best of luck! The trade experience has definitely helped me in my latest venture building new homes, many GC's come from framing experience and not mechanical trades. 

All of mine are listed before they start, about to list one now because I don't have anything listed and we are 3-4 weeks away. I usually put a rendering and then pics from recent builds for finishes disclosing that in MLS the images are from a "similar" home.

Every state has different laws for this, in North Carolina if the project is over $30k you must be licensed GC to do the project. I recently got myself into a little hot water with the state licensing board because I hired a GC to pull permits for 6 homes I built in last 18mo but I basically ran the jobs and paid the bills. While he was involved (his crew framed homes and he was at most every building inspection), I controlled everything. In this state, the GC has to actually run the job, contract with subs, and even run the money (pay the invoices). Luckily I had already passed my GC license when they came to investigate, but it delayed my license a few months and stopped me from starting anything new. 

I believe in Florida (I left there 12yrs ago, so could be different) you can build your own home, but you might be limited to how often you can do this? 

You can always partner with a GC and fund projects, or even better, get that license....

I would definitely consult a good Realtor in the area. My homes cost me $100-110 per foot to build before land costs and soft costs. They are also selling between $190-210 per foot. Before I started I had a Realtor helping me with market analysis, comps, days on market, other new spec homes, was there any holes in the market we could take advantage of, etc... took me 6 mos to decide what/where to build my specs. 

Interesting conversation, I have a developer who is courting me to build town homes for him, approx $120k build price per door, and I was thinking of asking $10k-$15k per door, 2 at a time.