The Columbian Article

Owner Builder School offers Lessons in Building Your Own Dream Home

By KRISTINE KISKY for The Columbian

“Do try this at home” might be the motto at The Owner Builder School of Oregon, where students are encouraged to take charge in the construction of their home by acting as their own general contractor.

The Owner Builder School was founded by Garry and Jeanne Cook over 20 years ago. A West Point graduate, “Garry started out in the Corps of Engineers in the Army,” informs his wife Jeanne. “He’s done everything from home remodeling to commercial construction. You name it, he’s done it.”

Garry discovered his affinity for educating while in the Army. “Early on in the military, I was sent to Thailand with a team to teach heavy equipment maintenance,” along with a group of other engineers, he recounts. “(The students) were all young Thais, about to go into the military. They spoke no English and we spoke no Thai, but it worked anyway.” After his Army career was over, Garry worked other building-related jobs, including a stint with the housing authority in Portland and as a project manager in Salem.

In 1984, Garry and Jeanne figured founding The Owner Builder School of Oregon would be a great marriage of their construction experience and love of teaching.

Today, the Cooks offer comprehensive classes covering the many nuances of custom home construction and have helped hundreds of locals have a hand in building their own home.

“We’ve had everybody in the world come through-(including) building inspectors and everyone you can imagine,” says Jeanne. “The majority of them are going to do their own home construction, whether it’s new construction or a major remodel. They want to be their own general contractor, or do some of the work themselves.”

Why should people consider becoming an owner-builder? “For one thing, they’ll get a house that’s built to their standard,” says Garry. “If you just turn the plans over to a builder and say, ‘Hey, build me this house,’ ” there’s the possibility that he’s going to build it to the minimum standards, he warns. Even though the home conforms to building codes, “With a lot of stuff in the building code, you don’t want that. You want something better.” For example, while code may only call for 7/16-inch sheathing nailed to floor joists. “If you walk on those types of floors, they squeak horribly. So we make the joists stiffer (than code) and use 1 1/8(-inch), glued and screwed,” says Garry.

Command of the project is another “pro” in the owner-builder column. “Being the general contractor enables the owner to have control of all aspects of the project so they will get what they want,” says Jeanne. “No one gets to substitute low grade materials or shoddy workmanship.”

Another reason to act as your own general contractor: “Money, that’s a big one,” Jeanne says matter-of-factly. By acting as their own general contractor, a person can save 15 to 20 percent on new construction and 35 percent on a remodel, she estimates. “This is without doing any of the physical work themselves, just managing the project. If they want to do some of the work, then a good rule of thumb is that a house is about 55 percent materials and 45 percent labor. Of course, it depends on what part of the house you are talking about, this is just an overall number for the whole house,” she clarifies.

Hands on

How physically involved Owner Builder School students eventually are in their home construction “all depends on how much time they have,” says Garry. “If they don’t have the time, they end up trying to do something and it takes so long, they’re paying extra money to the bank (for exceeding the life of the construction loan).” The bottom line: “You gotta have the time,” proclaims Garry.

At a minimum, “You’ve got to go to the project at least three times a week, and you can’t just stop by after work,” says Garry. “You’ve got to do it while troops are in the field,” in order to give directions and answer questions from subcontractors.

Some owner-builders invest a fair amount of sweat equity in their new homes. “A custom home or remodel is a very personal thing,” observes Jeanne. By being an owner-builder, “The owner gets to have input in everything as well as being able to do some of the work themselves, if they want. This gives them a real feeling of ownership. This project is theirs and has been done their way.”

“We’ve had people who have driven every nail, but that’s the exception rather than the rule,” says Jeanne, noting it’s darn near impossible to work fulltime and build a home in the nine- to 12-month timeframe most construction loans cover. “One of the things we do (in class),” says Jeanne, “is talk to the students about which parts are owner builder friendly, things we've seen owners do successfully in which they've saved a good amount of money.”

“We’ve had a number of people do their own electrical, and have actually had one or two do their plumbing. Years ago we had one gentleman who built a house foundation to roof, all by himself,” shares Garry. The owner-builder lived on site during the process and worked full time, to boot. Though the house did get done, the overworked guy battled a couple bouts of pneumonia along the way, Garry recalls.

Class in session

The Cooks realize that the several-weeks-long sessions they offer at their Oregon City school require a big commitment from students, but it pays off in more ways than one, they contend. 

“There are so many decisions that go into building a house,” observes Jeanne. “There are millions of little things, decisions about how things should be done. The more homework you do, the better off you are.”  For many, “(A home) is the biggest investment you’ll make in your life, but a lot more people spend more time researching and learning about a car they’re going to buy,” marvels Jeanne.

The curriculum covers how each portion of a home is constructed, including design, foundation, framing, roofing, siding, windows and doors, plumbing, electrical and HVAC.  Bonding and lien laws are discussed, and project management, including estimating, is examined. How to get permits and bids and efficiently schedule subcontractors is covered, as is writing and reading construction contracts.

Garry concentrates on “hard construction-how things go together,” while Jeanne says she focuses on matters involving scheduling and estimating. “We go through all the different parts of the house and all the different options available and the cost (associated with each), and what’s appropriate for their style of house. … When they come out of the school’s estimating part, they should be able to really get a decent rough estimate, and tell if what they’re looking at building is something they can afford.” Estimating is an important skill to have as “architects and designers can draw anything,” but it doesn’t do someone any good to have a plan for a fabulous house they can’t afford. “You want to give (the designer) a budget to work with,” Jeanne says.

Students often have their eyes opened wide during class. For instance, “People thinking about alternative types of building, like ICF or an underground home, are unpleasantly surprised to find out it’s much more expensive”. Those types of projects “have their own advantages but one of those advantages is not that it’s cheaper,” she quips. And when Jeanne is covering the expenses associated with creating kitchens and bathrooms, “Sometimes there is shock and awe about how much things cost,” she reports. “After 42 hours (of classroom instruction), they come out on the other end with so much more knowledge than they would have otherwise,” says Jeanne.

Owner-builders aren’t just men at work. “We’ve had a lot of jobs run by women. Actually, they’re a little bit better than men at running a job,” Garry says with a chuckle. He surmises it might be because the women tend to ask more questions which leads to improved communication.

Often, classmates forge bonds. Case in point: “At class last night, I finally had to throw ‘em out,” Garry jested in late December. “They didn’t want to stop talking. I have a very tight-knit class this time. They bring their plans, show them to everybody.”

“Some of them will not build for years,” Jeanne says of their students. But those who delay still have the workbook and the textbook to reference when their time comes. “A good timeframe is if you’re planning to build next year, take the classes a good year before you build,” suggests Jeanne. The Cooks estimate about a third of Owner Builder School students come from Southwest Washington. And after the Clark County Home & Garden Show in early 2006, “We filled an entire class” with Clark County dwellers, Jeanne reports. The school’s curriculum covers code differences between Oregon and Washington.

The Cooks get great satisfaction out of their work. Jeanne likens it to parenting. “It’s like watching your child grow up. You send them through school and out into the world and they do great.”

In fact, some owner-builders get the contracting bug after completing their project. Recently, “When Garry was teaching, he found out that one of the students is going to buy a lot and have the builder that owns it build him a home. The builder is a former student,” marvels Jeanne.

Been there, done that

When the Ed and Chris Gibson of Washougal decided to build their own home, they were extremely methodical and involved in every step of the process.

“We researched this thing for a long time,” says Ed Gibson. “We had the property for long time-about seven years-before we built.” Chris Gibson designed a home to fit their lifestyle, and the couple was interested in being their own general contractor. Both attended The Owner Builder School. Ed had zero experience in home construction before heading up their Washougal project. “That’s the reason I went to the school,” he explains. “My wife and I both went, so I was able to talk to her about stuff-trusses and framing” and other construction components.

When it came time to build, “I got a trailer and lived here (on the property). I was here every day,” says Gibson. “I was here to answer sub(contractor)s’ questions and here when materials were delivered.”

Gibson believes the constant oversight was imperative to the project’s success. “I see some of the houses (under construction) I go by,” many with hundreds of square feet of composite sheathing, “and know my house is not built like that,” says Gibson, who favors plywood. Also, his home’s thicker-than-standard exterior walls are covered in cementious siding. “We’re in the gorge. The wind’s hard up here, but when the wind’s blowing up here, you can’t even hear it in the house. My wife has to open the door to see how windy it is,” he says with a chuckle.

During construction, “I had one lady come up here asking about the house,” says Gibson. “She was going to do same thing,” act as an owner-builder. “I was telling her about working with the subs and so forth, and she said, ‘You want to come be my contractor?’ ” he recalls with a laugh. Gibson politely declined.

“It’s not for everybody,” Gibson says of being an owner-builder. “It can save you some money,” but an owner-builder has to have the time to invest. “Believe me, there’s a lot of mistakes that get made (during construction). If you’re not there to see them, the get covered up, or it’s too late to fix them.” And when there’s a decision to be made, “They gotta have an answer right now,” he adds.

The Gibsons look back at their owner-builder experience with pride and satisfaction. “It’s a big home and we have an apartment above the garage,” says Ed Gibson. Some changes were made to original plans along the way, but overall, “It went very smoothly. … It was a good experience and we got a nice home out of it.”