How old is "too old"?

[Midpack]

We had a house built in 1990 when I was 36, and we’ll never do it again - it was a PITA. However it all comes down to the builder, it can be a good experience if you choose very carefully.

As for too old, it depends on you. Some people are too old at 50, others could handle it decades older. We moved in 2019 when I was 65, and we hope we don’t have to do it again. I can’t imagine the added disruption of building and moving anymore.

 

[skyking1]

I can't imagine what you're going through. A few months ago, I started looking into building a new house on 5 acres in rural northern Illinois. One of the new requirements is plan sign off by the fire department. And they require a driveway with a 75' diameter turnaround at the house.

That's as far into the research phase as I got. I suspect that requirements get a lot worse than that.

I have had moments of second thoughts, to be honest. I know what my sunk cost would be, without factoring in the sale price of the property itself. I could walk away from this dream for less than 10K at this point.
I have contacted a civil engineer for help with the most difficult of the questions that have been posed.
Luckily there is no fire truck turnaround requirement, nor any fire sprinklers in the code.
OP, be prepared to get hit with these kinds of problems. Even if the builder takes them on they will bring some added costs and pressure to bear on you.
We were looking in the county for the property and this city parcel came up and spoke to us with a nice view and convenient access to shopping and services.

 

[Music Lover]

As for PEX. Relax. It will be OK if the DYI guy did it right. That's the real concern.

Do not confuse PEX with Push-On-Fittings.

Sharkbites can be used for any kind of pipe, even copper. Well done PEX uses either contraction bands, or pipe expansion. Both are proven. PEX is not the same as poly butyl pipe.

I replaced all the copper at our cabin (it was old and failing) with PEX, proper fittings, no Sharkbites. I do keep a couple Sharkbites on hand in case of an emergency leak which is something that I think everyone should do.

As to how old is too old, obviously it depends on the individual. I'm 61, fit and healthy, but although I have very extensive DIY skills I'm no longer interested in building a house or taking on large projects. My plan is to finish a few renos at the cabin we bought 3 years ago and that's it, just general maintenance going forward.

 

[pb4uski]

...Anyway,
For those of you that have "been there, done that", would you do it again? And what age were you when you did so?
How long have you been in your home now?

Thanks for any thoughts.

My advice would be to think things through.

We and another couple who are friends both demolished and rebuilt our Vermont lakefront homes just prior to retirement thinking these would be our "forever" homes. Life throws you curveballs and things change.

We are both snowbirds now and have condos in Florida that are our principal residences and the lake houses are now summer homes.

They are now looking to downsize their Vermont home. It is a wonderful property but much more than what they need for 5-6 months a year.

Ditto for us. While I love our Vermont lakefront home, it is a lot more than we need for 5-6 months a year and pretty costly if I take the annual cost divided by the 5-6 months that we use it.

When we rebuilt our kids lived within 3 hours and my mom was a 3-minute walk down the road, but now they all live 1700 miles away. As does 17-month old DGS, who has his claws into DW (and me).

So just be aware that life changes.

P.S. We have pex in our rebuilt house and love it and have never had a problem.

 

[Dash man]

A few years ago we were looking for some land to build a single story home to avoid any problems with stairs in our future. We weren’t able to find anything suitable in our area and eventually gave up. Recently, a 2.5 acre lot opened up in a nice location that would suit us nicely, though it’s a bit pricey. When we discussed it, we realized we were beyond wanting to deal with the hassles of building. We don’t want any more stress in our lives than aging already brings. Instead we decided to give our Jersey Shore home a facelift with a new roof, siding and paint where needed, along with a few other things. We are feeling content now.

 

[PatrickA5]

We've thought about moving on from our current house as it's too big and quite a bit of upkeep on the landscaping.

We started looking at new builds thinking we might want to build something exactly how we'd like it and have it be our last house. Well, after viewing all of the imperfections in the new open houses, I told DW that I'd have to go on some serious anti-anxiety medication before I'd go through the build from scratch process. I'm pretty much a perfectionist about some things and just couldn't believe the crap I was looking at. I asked one realtor if the builder planned on fixing all of the gaps, cracks, etc and she said "oh sure". Why not fix the issues BEFORE having an open house.

I just don't think I could handle it at my age (65).

 

[skyking1]

I'm 62, and have had my ups and downs with injuries but I work in the construction industry and I am not afraid to bend a nail or 2000.
One huge upside that I have is there will be nothing that is not handled as it happens. There will be no fixing shoddy work. If I have somebody hired and they do it wrong I am going to be there. If it is me or my friends or brothers, it just won't be happening. My brother in particular is a perfectionist that I have to urge along so he does not fixate on tiny things.
We've all built or helped build homes and shops and garages in the past, it is far from our first rodeo.

 

[Eucerin]

We've done it twice. Once in 1984 at age 29. Once in 1994 at age 39. Still live in the home we built in 1994.

I did most of the work on the first house, a little less on the second house. I'd do it again, but I'd do little or no work on the next house. Getting too old to do the work, but not too old to handle a move.

Well done!

 

[WhenIsItTime]

I know there are several threads on the forum about this, but thought I'd ask again as the threads are a couple of years old.

DH and I have, literally for YEARS, discussed buying property and building a house for retirement.

Now we're there.

Have the funds, are zeroing in on property, and have ideas about house size/design, but am beginning to wonder if we're getting into the boat of "too old for this stuff" to deal with the stress of having a home built.

We're looking at something somewhat rural (Piedmont, AL - about 1.5 hours to Birmingham, AL to the west and 1.5 hours to Atlanta, GA to the east. Gadsden AL is about 30 minutes west). We currently live in a northern suburb of Atlanta and I'm really over having people on my elbows. UGH.

There are plenty of builders that are close enough to where we're looking and have, from what I can tell, been in the business long enough (15-20 years) for us to not be uncomfortable with hiring someone.

We've been looking a really long time and do want something somewhat rural but have found (unfortunately) that houses with acreage where we want to be are either: -very over-priced, -very old and need a ton of work, -cobbled together by the not-so-skilled self-styled handyman and will need A LOT of work to un-do/re-do. We'd rather not have a house as a project at this point.
As an example we recently viewed a house that was completely plumbed with PEX by the current owner. It's just not something we're comfortable with. I know - some people swear by PEX, but for us push-on fittings with high-pressure plumbing using plastic piping in an entire house just seems to spell trouble over time. The plumber we hired to do our bathrooms in our current house was lamenting the pitfalls of PEX as well.
The house also was expanded twice - TWO garages had been converted into living space. Lets just say it wasn't my cup of tea. We really liked the property and location but the house was going to be a major undertaking. Down to the studs in a few rooms, unfortunately.

Anyway,
For those of you that have "been there, done that", would you do it again? And what age were you when you did so?
How long have you been in your home now?

Thanks for any thoughts.

Few comments from the cheap seats...

If there are plenty of builders, why aren't there more quality houses available?

Would you keep current house while you build or find temporary space?

Building a custom house is likely a 2 year nearly full-time commitment. Are you looking for a project or truly looking to avoid one?

I recently did a mix of subcontractor / DIY remodel on our 2nd home (siding, windows, exterior doors, fireplace, flooring, deck, new well, new HVAC). The DIY was fine, but not sure how much more of that I want to do. The babysitting and arguing with subcontractors was exhausting and something I don't enjoy. Wife and I agreed for any future moves, we will look hard for new/newer before taking on any projects.

 

[Fermion]

Building a custom house is likely a 2 year nearly full-time commitment. Are you looking for a project or truly looking to avoid one?

lol. We are over 3 years. I am just hoping there is not a 1 in front of that 2 you posted.

 

[ls99]

I, in a moment of madness considered a new build. Then sanity kicked in.
Next considered moving, after looking around at the volume of my stuff, decided the idea of moving nearly matched the idea of new build.
After am gone, the instructions are, take what you want, then call an auctioneer....

 

[martyp]

I’m 67 and we built a house last year. It is a three bedroom house of my own design. It is a pretty simple design. We live in Thailand and I hired a western building contractor with a Thai building crew. It took 6 months to build and there were no problems throughout the project. The hardest part for me was choosing the esthetic components such as paint colors and tiles. I was mostly involved with the build the final 3 months as I bought paint, tiles, lighting and other fixtures. I also hired door and window contractors. I was pretty exhausted at the end. We’ve been in the house almost a year now and I love it. However this will be my first and last home build.

 

[Chuckanut]

+1 on life changing things.

Both my kids live out of state, thus the grands live out of state. I thought about moving to be near them but have two issues:

1.) I don't like where they live as much as I like where I currently live. I know I could get past that to be near family. It's not insurmountable.

2. ) Kids can up and move on you. They did it once and they can do it again. I know several people who have relocated to be near the children/grands only to find that after a few years they move again for a better job, or they find a nicer place in another state, or whatever. For me this is the biggest issue. As long as I can fly to visit them, that's what I will do. If I get to the point that flying is just not for me, I will reconsider.

 

[pjigar]

Anyway,
For those of you that have "been there, done that", would you do it again? And what age were you when you did so?
How long have you been in your home now?

We have been there, done that. We bought a rural property with a very old house. Due to lack of knowledge and money, we started down the path of gutting and renovating the existing house. We had second thought after quarter of the way but we already poured money in it so we carried through. Don't get me wrong, the house is very well built in the end and very functional but it is still old. Our biggest gripe is the old foundation. Long story short, if I were to this all over again, I will bulldoze the house and build a brand new one from foundation up. So I would recommend that you buy a rural property with a very very run down house that no-one wants, bulldoze the house and start with a clean slate. As much as we love our renovated house, eventually (10-20 years down the road), we are going to bulldoze and rebuilt once again .

Side note, PEX pipes are better than copper pipes if you use crimp-on fittings IMHO. Both have pros and cons but PEX is the overall winner. We ran PEX pipe plumbing through the attic space so fixes can be made easily if and when needed.

PS: A few words on the location: Early during our search, we were focusing on cheap land an hour away from our metroplex (again due to lack of money). Eventually, we decided that it would be better to bite the bullet and find a rural land closer to the metroplex. Our reasons: Access to emergency services and healthcare which we will eventually need, closer to people we know, shopping, restaurant, entertainment, etc. Our closest Super Walmart is 15 minutes away, yet we are 5 miles from a nearest city limit. Our location (peninsula on a large lake) kind of ensures that we will be out of the city limits for a long time which was our main requirement for the land so that we will have freedom to use the land. I shoot, keep bees and other crazy hobbies that a city would not let me do.

PPS: I don't know how old you are but we bought the property when we were in our late 30s and we renovated our house when we were in late 40s. I grew up on a farm so I always had an innate love for the land and hence the early start. We have somewhat more time (I hope) to live on the land so we can do take 2. YMMV. We have been living on our acreage for about 3 years now.

Farm/rural life is a package deal. Rural life has two side: good and bad. You really have to have love of the land because rural property comes with its own set of chores. You will have the best views, best air, relaxed feeling, privacy, freedom, fun, etc. but at the same time, there will be more work (and side health benefits) that goes with the good parts. So know what you are signing up for before hand.

 

[euro]

Almost everyone is using PexA or PexB now.

Touch tone phones too!

It's a tangent but that was my first thought too. PEX doesn't have to mean push fittings at all and the track record for PEX is many decades now. You may have a hard time finding anyone still willing and able to install cooper lines in new construction and when you do, it will be at a very substantial premium. For what its worth, I have had far more issues with pinholes and freezing/bursting with cooper pipes than with Pex

 

[Fermion]

It's a tangent but that was my first thought too. PEX doesn't have to mean push fittings at all and the track record for PEX is many decades now. You may have a hard time finding anyone still willing and able to install cooper lines in new construction and when you do, it will be at a very substantial premium. For what its worth, I have had far more issues with pinholes and freezing/bursting with cooper pipes than with Pex

We even went with the slightly newer expansion pex style. It does require a bit of trust but the Milwaukee expansion tool is so cool. It auto rotates, expands the pipe and collar, then you just slide in the fitting, wait about 15 seconds for it to shrink back and then you are done. I tested one to 200 psi, then I put the fitting in a vise and hung 300 pounds of weight on it...it didn't budge.

(this isn't shark bite oring stuff this is Pex-A expansion fitting and pipe.)

 

[pb4uski]

Our 2011 rebuild was pex with crimp fittings. Same with the garage a couple years later. A year or to after that I decided to add a hose spigot to the other side of the garage and use sharkbite fittings for that. Never a problem with any of it.

 

[NgineER]

We even went with the slightly newer expansion pex style. It does require a bit of trust but the Milwaukee expansion tool is so cool. It auto rotates, expands the pipe and collar, then you just slide in the fitting, wait about 15 seconds for it to shrink back and then you are done. I tested one to 200 psi, then I put the fitting in a vise and hung 300 pounds of weight on it...it didn't budge.

(this isn't shark bite oring stuff this is Pex-A expansion fitting and pipe.)

+1
ProPEX or Pex-A (expansion fittings) is the way to go. Too bad plumbers still charge as much as they did for sweating copper when the job takes half as long to complete.

 

[old medic]

+1
ProPEX or Pex-A (expansion fittings) is the way to go. Too bad plumbers still charge as much as they did for sweating copper when the job takes half as long to complete.

It takes way more than that, By the time you just cut the copper pipe, I could be completely done with Pex fitting. You still need to clean, flux and sweat the joint.

 

[Music Lover]

It takes way more than that, By the time you just cut the copper pipe, I could be completely done with Pex fitting. You still need to clean, flux and sweat the joint.

I replaced all of the aging copper with pex at our cabin. Fast, inexpensive, and easy...especially in a couple tight spots where it would have been impossible to sweat a fitting.

 

[pjigar]

We had to take the whole house down to the studs, including the exterior siding, some of the subflooring and roofing. Complete new wiring and plumbing (yup its PEX). We started a couple years ago before I retired @ 58, and still not in it. Doing everything ourselves with the help of friends and family. Got the sheetrock hung last weekend.
Do it again? I still have moments that I regret NOT burning it down to begin with. But there is family history behind saving it.
https://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f27/building-our-house-on-credit-cards-105022.html

We have somewhat similar story: My brother and I mostly rebuilt it. We outsourced sheetrock, cabinets and roof. We did demolition, framing modifications, removing a wall, plumbing, electrical, insulation, doors, windows, siding, bathrooms, flooring, finish carpentry, etc. Took us over a year working almost 6 hours daily.

And yes, I have the moments of regret once in a while too.

 

[pjigar]

I am in the thick of plan review on a new home build that I designed and will build. It is pretty stressful right now for us. The city came back with several requirements and questions that I am working on.
If I had a canned plan and a builder, the stress level would be significantly lower.

The trick is NOT to built in the city!

 

[Ronstar]

The trick is NOT to built in the city!

Some rural counties are just as strict. At least mine is.

 

[Sunset]

When building sometimes you run into an "old boys network".

Friend of mine built his house, I helped a bit.
He dug the trench to the road for the electric, laid down the gravel installed the cable, all he needed was connection to the pole.
It couldn't be done as the inspector would not inspect and give approval.
Repeated visits to the town office resulted in simple denial.
Finally he hired the local electrician who came out a day or two later, looked at my friends work, did nothing, but signed off on the approval.
The electric company hooked him up within days.

All it took was the fee to the electrician for his "work" -> which was an expensive ripoff considering he did nothing.

 

[skyking1]

The trick is NOT to built in the city!

We started out looking in the county nearby. It has its own set of issues with Wells and septic and the like.
This property has a view and is 1 mi from the grocery store and a mile and a quarter from Costco, home depot, the YMCA, the medical facilities.
That's what suckered me in. DW loves all of that above.