Building your own house...

We are planing to build. They just had somthing in the Daily about building codes. They just changed over to strickter international code. We are considering a dome at this time.

A dome? Like these from my home town?

http://www.pacificdomes.com/

Ive seen one above redhook. Have been meaning to go talk to the folks sometime.

Mostly what im trying to find out is if I can build my own house. Or do I need to be a certified contractor?

Ian

No I was more thinking this kind of dome http://www.zdomes.com/
http://www.monolithic.com/
From what I understand as long as you have the right permits and pass inspections you can build your own. They might require a plan from an architect. I believe that is pretty standart. But please do not take my word for it. Get it in writing from the officials on the island. One of the home owners near our propperty did just this. But that was years ago.

Hi Ian,
In May we'll be moving to a brand new house being built in St. Croix. It is being built by an architect who has established practices in NJ and in St. Croix. He does mostly commercial projects but this house we're moving into is his own and we'll be caretakers for it.
He's been building it for 2 years. He's run into massive delays at every turn. Even though he is the architect and he's working with a builder with whom he's had a good working relationship for the last 10 years, he still has had many problems and the house is way late and way over budget. He tells us that it's very difficult to find good contractors there. Everybody's on island time and there simply isn't a sense of urgency. In fact, he tells us that a good building contractor could go there and make a killing because there are so few of them. The other problem is the bureaucracy with permits, and the delays in getting parts shipped in on time, etc.

In short, it is doable, but you need to be prepared for delays.

Oh man, Those domes are cool.

Very different from all the architecture here but thats neat. Ive been wondering to myself why more of the buildings here arnt made in some sort of curved to avoid hurricane winds way...

Jamila

Thanks for the information. Do you have the contact information for this contractor?

I understand fully how island time works now after only a month and a half here. Hehe.

Good tip about getting the requirments in writing.

Every time I go into a bank. Even the same bank. I get a different answer about what I need to bring in order to get an id. (2 IDs / 1 ID ssn card / 2 IDs and an appointment / 2 IDs and a bill at your mailing address)

But it great fun.

Ian

Could you tell me who the architect in NJ is? We are living here in NJ. He might be a good person to contact.
Thanks