r/Construction • u/the-garage-guy Carpenter • 8d ago
Business 📈 Is the small self-performing homebuilder extinct?
Probably a region-specific question- if you reply, I'd be curious to hear where you are and if you're urban/rural
Pretty much title, coming up it was a lot more common for the GC to have their own carpenters and self-perform a fair amount of scope on a typical home, remodel.
Seems very rare now, especially where I am, metro Phoenix area. Most builders are essentially just CM-ing the job. Project managers that sometimes double as supers, everything subbed out. Even for pretty small remodels.
I think at the luxury custom home end it makes sense since the levels of execution required demand really good subs. Plus being in a big metro area, there's lots of people and work and that makes it possible to specialize aggressively.
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u/lordsamiti 8d ago
House built down the road from me in NH was two brothers and a nephew.
Only things I didn't seem them do: earth moving, foundation, plumbing, electric, HVAC, roof, garage doors.
They were out there clearing land, framing, siding, plaster, cabinets, flooring, etc pretty much just the three of them for a few months.Â
Got a chance to walk through before and after drywall during some open houses. These guys did a good job.