I will probably get all kinds of answers, if you guys could help out I would greatly appreciate that.
I would like to know the following as I am looking at purchasing land and building my own home on A.C.
How long does it normally take to build a solid
brick home around 2000sq feet three bedroom/two bath with all fixture installed ready to move in. I was at one time thinking of buying but from what I have seen, construction on some sites seems to be extremely slow going. Is that normal?
If you could give me some names of construction outfits and their average completion time, thanks!

It's all about whether you have YOUR money in place on schedule and whether you have a builder that is organized enough to pre-plan his material deliveries. The house should take you between 8 months (really pushing it!) to about a year. With the usual holidays, materials glitches etc you should try and bank on a year.

In most cases ensure you have a builder that isn't taking your construction payments to clear his bills from previous jobs (robbing peter to pay paul)and be on top of expenses.

If you can be here, great - if not hire somebody competent to be your eyes and ears. Yes it will cost you more to build this way but worth it for the peace of mind.

Oh, and get a construction contract - and stick to it. If you do change orders request the change, get a price, and pay for it then and there - this will prevent squabbles at the end of the job. Make sure your contract states that all bills will be presented with 30 days after the job is finished - or you will be receiving bills 6 months down the road.

Amanda is right, about how to go about it. Our house took two years, and we were told we were lucky it went so fast.
I came down every month to check up, and every month something had to be redone, or renegotiated. There was a hurricane that held up mahogany lumber for a while for the roof. We found there is a great art of making excuses here. After saying we don't want excuses lets just move forward many times the builder and workers finally understood.
Also be prepared to ship stuff via Hyde from Fla, and pay customs. Builders often say they can't get what you want. I have shipped appliances, lighting fixtures, stainless bathroom fixtures, and high tech varnish. Building down here is grueling, but worth it if you want something they don't already build here.

I would just call Amanda and see how many nice homes she has listed. And I would imagine there are some nice deals to be had these days. But that's just me, too lazy to go through two years of construction headaches.

GwenA, what time is happy hour at your new pad????

Communication - communication - TALK!

For instance: at my condo I selected two matching light fixtures for the front bathroom. One had two bulbs the other four. On the plans I marked “one over the sink and one over the toilet.” Guess where the holes in the cement were – yep – one over the sink the other over the toilet – IN THE CEILING – not the wall!

The house up north I had wood framed so that all the plumbing and electric wires could run inside the walls. The day I found a workman breaking out a channel in the plaster and asked him what he was doing he said getting ready to run the electric lines. When I talked to the contractor he said “Oh – they forgot to put them inside!” So, I have external plumbing lines everywhere.

It is VERY important to be on site every day!

My neighbor across the road had his entire house built and ready to move in while only the lower portion of mine was done – and his come in at CONTRACT price where mine cost me about three times the estimate.

Buyer Beware!

I had something similar happen when I was renovating a house in England. it's not just here!

Twice as much and three times as long, or was it vice versa?

San Pedro, one of the places you can build a $300,000 house for $575,000!

Take every estimate and double the time and the money and you will be about right.

We agree with Reaper and went the easy way...bought something already built. A bird in the hand so to speak.