Have you looked at the book "The Owner-Builder" by Mark Smith? It's paperback, about $20 new (we got it used)? It has a whole page listing the different tasks/subs, and a lot of other useful information as well.

We are owner builders, except we are in a slightly different situation than you because we are building a log house, and some of our materials came in the log house package or are completely unnecessary (siding).

i interviewed/hired our subs - fun experience, btw. Some of them are our new neighbors, some of them are becoming terrific friends...and as GC, both dh and I are learning a lot about construction and about our (future) home. I followed the general rule of getting 3 estimates, except I also followed my gut instinct - a few subs seemed so excellent that I only got one or two estimates. A few estimates seemed "off", so I got 4 estimates...I used Angie's list and also recommendations from other people.

I think being owner builder is a fascinating, rewarding job, although I warn you - it's time consuming and can be frustrating. But I still think it's fun.

Oh - one stray thought: I don't know how far you are into the planning process exactly, but..I got a set of our county approved plans laminated. The ordinary plan paper isn't at all durable; lamination made them durable and waterproof. Our crew has had the pages scattered all over our worksite; I doubt ordinary paper would be holding up this well. It cost about $80, but I think it's been worth it..

Thanks for the info Gladys! I actually do have that book, and it has helped me in so many ways. It's been on my shelf for a couple months while we've been working on plans with the architect, so I'm going to get it out tonight and see if it answers my questions. Good point on Angie's List - I forgot about that. We're getting a lot of our sub names as recommendations from friends, but I don't want to solely rely on that.

Excellent idea on laminating the plans! I think that's the first thing I'll do once we get them. Thanks for the awesome tip.

You're right - all this is so fascinating. I know it will be stressful and will be anything but a cake walk, but I'm really enjoying it so far.

Much of the work you are asking about is done by carpenters who usually work directly for the General Contractor rather than for a sub-contractor. A homeowner acting as the General Contractor is automatically understaffed. I don't know how that is remedied but that is what you should be asking about. Hiring carpenters directly may get you tied up with state required insurance and workmans comp.

Laminating construction documents for $80 seems excessive and it makes it impossible to make notes. The approved set should be stored on site and only shown to the inspector. It is a bad idea to tear a record set apart. Usually multiple sets are printed and issued to the subs so they can reference the work of other trades and avoid coordination problems.

I provided a set of dry erase pens in multiple colors to the subs, so they can write on the plans as much as they want.There is an approved, official set that the inspector can view. The laminated set is a copy of the official set. $80 is a bargain compared to how much it would have cost to have multiple copies made, even in the county office.

The subs that we have had so far seem to like having the pages scattered all over the job site. They collect them at the end of the work day so that nothing is lost. If they want a copy of their very own, I send them a pdf of the official copy. If the pages get dirty, and they do since this is a construction site, we just hose them off.

So far this has worked very well; our inspector has been very happy with our work site, and the subs/crews have been very happy.

As the OB/GC, I've enjoyed the process but dang it is a lot of work while trying to maintain a regular job ... wife is pretty much single during this process.

Anyway, at first I started with google to get me going but found that many of the ones I contacted weren't ones I ended up going with for a variety of reasons. The most important ones were the foundation and framing. I worked backwards though. I interview about 5 framers and then got a recommendation for a foundation guy since the good framers know good AND bad foundation guys since they have to 'clean up' the mess is foundation is out of whack. I used estimates from other foundation companies to get good price from the company the framer recommended (our foundation guy turned out to be one of the best in the area and many builders use him). Then, I got a recommendation for a dirt guy from the foundation guy for same reason. I ended up paying more for the dirt guy but I had a tricky dig and wanted to make sure I had no issues.

As far as other contractors, you've got the big ones but trying to get accurate estimates many months from when they would come in will be tough. Price increases (we just had insulation, roofing, doors go up last month), ...

As far as prints, except for two people, I emailed everyone a PDF vs giving out copies. Having a set laminated is great idea because trying to work with a damp/dirty set is tough.

Happy to help if you need more

Here is a link that might be useful: Our Building Blog

Buzzyng your blog is awesome! I'm going to follow it to keep up with your posts. Thanks!!