If you have the knowledge and time, being your own contractor can save you thousands of dollars while constructing a home.

It was very exciting when the framers started standing up the walls. They built the walls laying on the floor and then stood them up and braced them. We are going to have 9' ceilings on the first floor, so these walls are one foot taller than the standard eight feet.

If you are building in a colder climate location you might opt to use 2"x6" boards instead of 2"x4" boards for the exterior walls. The extra thickness will allow for more insulation. Here in north Alabama we experience all four seasons, however we rarely have snow and when we do it doesn't last for long because we don't have many consecutive days below the freezing mark.