Should I Build a House Right Now? (2024 Edition)

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The events of the last several years have been unprecedented. Between supply chain issues, skyrocketing lumber prices, and volatility in a hot housing market, it can be overwhelming.

“Should I build a house right now? Is it even worth pursuing?”

If you’ve had a dream to eventually buy a plot of land and build a custom home or homestead, you might be wondering if it’s still worth it.

Buying a bit of peaceful countryside, building a home, planting some gardens, and getting away from the rat race is a dream for many. In fact, it’s one that we pursued wholeheartedly from 2015-2017 as we bought raw land and built an off-grid cordwood house by hand.

But is it right for you right now? Let’s break it down.

Should You Build a Home Now or Wait?

Current Affairs:

Overall, right now is still a good time to build a home and invest in your future. Yes, it would have been ideal to have completed a project in 2019 before everything went haywire, but you can’t go back in time. So what should you be thinking of if you want to pursue building a home?

Interest rates are likely to hold or increase from around 7.5% through 2023 and potentially beyond . Rates are rising as a response to tamp down rapid inflation, which is also hitting the wallets of owner-builders, contractors, and suppliers. Fortunately, it does seem that the Federal Reserve is being a bit more cautious with its rate hikes and may be slowing the rate at which it raises interest rates generally.

Be prepared to pay more for some new materials, but not across the board. The lumber supply issues that belabored everyone in 2020 through 2022 have largely eased but remain elevated from their pre-pandemic levels. Costs and lead times of other materials are not dropping across all product types. Assuming you can get what you want relatively easily, it’s still probably a good 25-30% more expensive than it would have been in 2019.

Fortunately, there are many ways to save money as you build. This is especially true if you plan to build somewhat unconventionally or plan to do much of the work yourself. Get some ideas here:

• 9 Ways to Get Building Materials Cheap or Free
• 7 Tricks For Getting Discounted Building Supplies
• 5 Ways to Build a House on a Tight Budget
• 10 Methods for Saving Thousands as an Owner-Builder

Interest rates and overall building costs are not forecasted to decrease into 2024, and could even continue rising. The market is volatile and world events are unpredictable, so it is likely that building sooner could save you money in the long run.

For example, we had planned to build a cordwood shed for expanding our solar power system in 2020.

We had already been working on the plans towards the end of 2019 and into 2020. Once world events had spiraled out of control and we were effectively stuck at home, we had to think really hard about whether or not we should attempt a building project that large during the shutdown. Prices were surging. Goods and services had limited availability.

Ultimately, we decided to go ahead with the project knowing that it would likely cost a bit more and that we would have some hiccups along the way. Both turned out to be true, but I’m really glad we built it when we did for a lot of reasons. I know that, if we had decided to wait, we would have had less time to work on it (the shutdown was good for that at least!) and it would have cost a lot more.

You can check out the completed shed project here.

That being said, it’s important to carefully weigh your options and take the time to plan well. Here are some questions you should ask yourself.

1. How long do you plan to live there?

The general rule is that you need to live in your home for 3-5 years to make the financial transaction worth it. Buying a home is already costly on its own, but building it yourself can bring other unexpected costs.

Moreover, building a home is a very involved process, and if you build it yourself you’ll likely pour a lot of your SELF into it. I’m not talking just the sweat equity. I’m talking about the mental load of planning, organizing, coordinating, making material choices, and cooperation between yourself, your building partner(s), and any subcontractors you may work with. It can be both a physically and emotionally draining process.

It’s a huge task so you need to be thinking with your long-term goals in mind.

2. What is the purpose of your home?

Chances are good you’re looking to build a home as a primary residence. Perhaps you’re thinking also of a second/vacation property or even an investment/rental property.

But really dig into “purpose” for a moment in deeper terms.

• What is this house going to do for you? For your family?
• Is this home going to be an investment in your family culture and lifestyle goals?
• Is this home going to contribute to your overall goals of independence and self-sufficiency?
• Do you foresee this home being passed down through generations?

Every person will have different answers to those questions, and there is no right or wrong. But it is something to be carefully considered, especially if you’re planning to build a completely custom home.

3. Do you have land?

If you don’t already have land, you need to be prepared for that buying process. Buying raw land is a little bit different from buying a house in many respects. Typically, the down payment is higher since there isn’t much collateral for a lender to call on in the event of a default. There are also potential extra pitfalls, including soil and percolation testing, easements, mineral/water/timber rights, and more.

• 5 Critical Things to Do Before Buying Land
• 3 Hard Truths About Buying Land
• 17 Real-Life Tips from Real Land Buyers You Need Before YOU Buy Land

If you don’t have land already and are seriously considering going this route, check out our comprehensive book “The Homestead Land Buyer’s Guidebook”.

You can also get a free quick-start guide in our Resource Library by subscribing below:

4. How will you pay for everything?

It’s no secret that prices for everything have skyrocketed in the last three years. Inflation is still high, mortgage rates are projected to hold or increase, as are the costs of many building materials. Is this still a good time to build?

It might be, but it would be negligent to recommend it to everyone.

How might you know if this is a good time? Evaluate whether you have:

• Any outstanding debts
• A 3-6 month emergency fund
• A nest egg set aside to cover either a 20% downpayment (if financing) or,
• Enough money set aside to build for cash as you go

There are a lot of ways to go about it, but if you are eyeball deep in debt and have no emergency fund then, no, this is probably not a good time for you to try to buy land and build a house. But you have to do that homework for yourself.

Use the planning and budgeting printables in our free resource library to help you sort it out:

Home Building Pros and Cons

Pros to Building a House Right Now

• The national housing inventory is low, which makes it more expensive to buy an existing house. Building a new home could work out to be less expensive, depending on how you go about it.
• Older homes on the market are not only more expensive to buy than pre-2020, but will still likely require expensive repairs and updates. Building a new home can help you avoid those costs.
• You can build exactly what you want in your dream house with your ideal floor plan, instead of settling for something that doesn’t quite suit you in an unsettled seller’s market.
• You can have total control over the building process, outsourcing as little or as much as you want to subcontractors.
• Building new helps you avoid bidding wars caused by low housing inventory.
• If you plan to build in a rural area, the cost of building can be dramatically better than trying to buy an existing home.

Cons to Building a House Right Now

• Materials are sometimes unobtainable or have long lead times due to shortages and supply chain issues.
• Labor shortages often mean you’ll be waiting longer for certain building tasks to get done.
• The costs of goods and services have risen dramatically due to shortages, supply chain issues, and other current world circumstances.
• If you don’t already have land to build on, the available parcels are often fewer in number, lower in quality, and more expensive per acre.
• Mortgage rates will likely stay elevated for some time. This may be a pro or a con, depending on your perspective. If you choose to build now, you will have time on your side for building equity with the potential to refinance at a lower rate later. Then again, higher rates mean you will likely be able to afford less house than you would when rates were lower.

Stories and Advice From Real People Who Built During 2020-now

Sometimes it can be helpful to hear the real experiences of people who have done what you want to do. So I polled the Accidental Hippies community to get real tips and advice from people who have built or are actively building from 2020 to the present.

I gathered up the best pearls of wisdom and put them here for you. From supply chain to rising costs and more, here is their experience of the construction process and the surprising advice they have for you:

Victoria from A Modern Homestead

Building our house in 2021/2022 was one of the hardest and most rewarding things we have ever done. When we started building the materials costs were relatively low, but once we were really underway, prices started to skyrocket… in some cases prices were 150% of what they were when we started!

That might sound scary (and believe me it wasn’t fun), but there are some lessons learned that I want to share.

1. Be ready to go with the flow. You might have to make some changes in materials, but know that you can always go back and update later on. Things like tile, cabinets, lighting fixtures, and even the roof can be redone when prices come back down.

2. Be prepared to step in! With prices going up, we had to cut the scheduled contractors that we had planned to use for various parts of the build and just do it ourselves. While this ended up being much more frequent than we had originally thought, it ended up being such an amazing experience that left us with a house we built ourselves, and a ton of new skills!

3. Only take on what you can. On that note, we only took on tasks that we felt confident we could do well… even if we didn’t know how to do them yet. This meant that I was willing to learn how to hang windows and doors, but I still hired the electrician and the plumber to do their jobs!

All in all, I would 100% still build our house during this time, because as prices continue to build, our house grows in value and that’s a rare thing these days. Having something that grows in value, rather than loses value is so important!

Watch the video tour of her home here.

Learn about her floor plan and other amazing homestead house plans here.

Angela R. from our Facebook page:

We’re building right now, with a local contractor. We knew economically it was bad time, but we felt led to leave the city/suburbs and had to wait for one of our children to graduate high school. The timing sucks, but the land we fell in love with didn’t have a house. We’ve been living in our RV and I hate it, lol.

So to compensate for the high prices, we are building a smaller home than we might have otherwise, but we’re ok with it. It feels right, so we’re going with it.

We aren’t finding a problem with shortages of materials (yet), but we’ve been hampered by the weather and by long wait times for some subcontractors. The benefit of using a small, local builder is that they are able to focus almost solely on our project, which is helping our timeline a lot.

Amber Bradshaw from My Homestead Life

Construction costs have risen almost 300% on some items over the past two years. We did see them start to lower for a little bit but then slowly climb back up again. 

Unfortunately, I don’t think they will ever get back to where they were. We (the people) have shown the powers that be that we are still spending our money and they are making more than before so why would they reduce their profit? Fortunately, construction costs seem to be holding still for the past couple of months. Which shows me this is probably where they’ll stay as our new ‘normal’.  

Supply is in high demand and the construction world is facing the same issue as every other profession, lack of employees to help meet the demand. Contractors can pretty much name their own price and customers are willing to pay it to get the job done now. Many contractors aren’t even taking new bids, they are that booked. 

So where does that leave the average Joe? 

If someone is wanting to build, I strongly suggest being your own contractor or own general contractor. If someone isn’t capable of DIY or acting as their own contractor, the only other option is to be patient and wait. However, if they can be their own contractor, there are ways to cut corners and save money on construction supplies. 

We are currently building our own home and our son’s future home during this current inflation and supply chain issues. We’ve experienced unaffordable material costs as well as supply issues. Necessity is the mother of invention, especially in the construction world.

We have milled our own lumber to save on wood costs, used recycled barn tin for roofing, and sought out used material deals online. Our son helps take down old barns and gets to keep some wood for his build. We’ve  had to be very flexible with what we ‘wanted’ and learn to be satisfied with what we could do right now. 

Amber Bradshaw has been a contractor for twenty years and lives off grid in the mountains of East Tennessee with her family. She writes at myhomesteadlife.com.

Sarah D. from our email list

Selling the house I have been in for 11 years, bought LAND, and the nearest neighbor will be 3 miles. Went to a company for a “tiny house”-16×40. insulated floors, and Increased floor, and wall structure. 25-year warrantee. Montana Sheds out of Casper Wyoming. It’s just a shell and they do the setup. I will build out the rest. Won’t need much lumber- only making 3 walls the rest of the home will be open space. I have collected supplies (toilets, sinks etc) from things on sale, on Craigslist, and on Facebook Marketplace. So far so good.

Marlynn C. from our Facebook page

We just finished building. We signed our contract the week before lumber skyrocketed. Our experience/advice is this: as soon as we signed financial papers, I ordered windows, doors, appliances, tubs, sinks, etc. That was in Feb. Thank God I did because it was taking 4-6 months to get those items in!

It took 8 months for my stove, oven and dishwasher! However, it prevented the contractor from having to wait on me. I’m so thankful the Holy Spirit prompted us to do that. Our problems were overage on framing lumber, that was 9/10 of the overage on our house and it was a LOT!

Also, contractor had difficulty getting subs to show up. We had to be onsite everyday because they would do oddball stuff like put doors to swing into the commode, wrong size window openings etc.

After all is said and done, we LOVE our house, were frustrated with the experience (it took over a year), and wish we had gotten the framing lumber ordered before prices jumped 200%

Maggie from Vintage Homestead Life

Building a house right now is not for the faint of heart.

In the spring of 2019 we moved to raw land that did not have a house or utilities. We started building our house, and in 2020 we had to deal with longer lead times and an extreme rise in the cost of wood.

Since then we have found that the price of wood has been very volatile. We order our wood as we need it, and we never know how much we will spend until we place the order with our local lumber yard. Also, in the past year general building materials have become more expensive. The rise in costs has been a bitter pill to swallow.

Building in this environment requires perseverance and the ability to adjust expectations and plans. Expect it to be an uncomfortable process. Due to the high cost of materials we had to make adjustments to our house plans, and the whole process has been much slower than we ever anticipated.

It is also important to consider interpersonal relationships and mental health. Building a house is a stressful process, and it is important to be in a state of mind where you can process and handle the ups and downs of the building process, both personally and with your family.

Is it worth it to build a house right now? Maybe. Honestly, we would not choose to build a house right now if we did not have to do it out of necessity. But we have also gained so many valuable skills through this process, and that in and of itself brings great value to our lives.

Read more about her journey at: https://vintagehomesteadlife.com/building-our-new-old-house-the-backstory/

Conclusions: Should You Build a House Right Now?

The short answer is: MAYBE. It depends on your own financial readiness and how willing you are to take risks. The general consensus seems to be:

• Be ready to wait for items you need or want.
• Cushion your budget to prepare for price increases.
• Be willing to do some (or all!) of the work yourself to save money and/or time.
• Look into unconventional building practices as a way to save money.
• PLAN PLAN PLAN but be prepared to pivot.

Homebuilding Resources to Help You Get Started

• 19 Awesome Books for Owner-Builders
• The Homestead Builder’s Quick-Start Guide
• 9 Ways to Get Building Materials Cheap or Free
• 7 Tricks For Getting Discounted Building Supplies
• 5 Ways to Build a House on a Tight Budget
• 10 Methods for Saving Thousands as an Owner-Builder

And if you’re really ready to dive in deep, check out The Owner-Builder Home Planner:

Learn more about our original cordwood homestead project here. And be sure to join us on Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram for more homesteading goodies that don’t necessarily make it to the blog. Thanks for reading!