I'm a contractor in Oregon so I will share my thoughts/ideas/interpretations of your situation. First off, in response to Mariah, I agree that its preferable to get a mortgage-free and bank-free paid off place, it sounds like their situation is more of an, this-is-the-place-we-want-how-do-we-make-it-happen, rather then a, we-want-the-best-place-for-our-available-funds. If they could pay off the land or have an owner carry them for some time that might work, but it sounds like they need to build a house in order to have some equity that will make a bank want to refinance them favorably.
So here is our situation: there is a perfect piece of land, that needs a perfect little home on it, built as naturally and green as possible, yet still make it a.) not over budget and b.) attractive/code enough for the building division. First lets
answer questions.
~As long as it is built well and to code, I can't imagine it would matter that much to a bank in the end. Having a contractor is going to cost you, and while it certainly would make everything easier, its not necessary. I personally would rather more homes be homeowner built, even if it meant less work for me.
~You can totally draw and submit your own plans. They will look at them and if something is missing or wrong, they will tell you, you fix it, submit them again. The only caveat is that if your design is unique or unusual, they may require you have an engineer look at it. I'm in the middle of a large addition on my home using a type of ICF called Faswall, so i had an engineer take my preliminary plans and streamline them and print them using autoCAD, including his engineered changes. He charged by the hour and total is was less then $2000.
~I've found inspectors to
be nice/lienient more often then not. They are rarely sneaky or trying to bust you for no reason, since they get paid the same no matter what. If you are nice with them, treat them like people, show them anything they ask pertaining to the building, they will focus on true safety violations and not be nit picky. However, if you are edgy, shady, have a messy/dangerous work site, and if they see a pattern in the work that is questionable, then they will comb through everything you do and point out violations. Even if they find violations, its not the end of the world, and of
course you are allowed to fix them. They probably won't charge you extra if they have to come out an extra time, unless its reccuring. Here's a golden key: ASK QUESTIONS! Inspectors LOVE to be engaged in the project. You can totally pique their brain, ask about what the code means about such and such and why, ask about whats next or which inspection is next, ask about a way to do such and such. Most are retired builders themselves, and we builders love to give ideas or views about people projects. They have no problems with people doing their own work when they know that person is aware of what they are doing and interested in doing it right. Some people get all worked up about code compliance, but really there aren't that many codes that are ridiculous. Most actually make sense.
~I'm fairly sure that outhouses are legal and code compliant in most counties in the US. Again, ask lots of questions! Especially at the building division office, even before you have plans, you can totally go in and just talk to them, ask them questions, tell them what you want to do and ask how it can be done. They are there to help you, and you're interest in doing it transparently speaks volumes to them. They don't get their money unless you are able to build, so its in their interest to help.
Whew! Building is quite a process, but it can be fun! Lets talk about options: Not knowing what your personal needs/wants/boundaries are, I will just ramble.
I would imagine you will want to start small, able to easily expand, but big enough to be able to get financing.
I imagine you are full of inspiration, as am I, from this site. However, I would caution you to start simple. Having a simple secured base of operations will allow the creative juice to flow freely as you design further and aquire materials.
Personally, I would probably build using light clay-straw insulation with a timber frame skeleton or larsen truss stud wall, which is what my shop will be once I finish the house. It uses many aspects of standard construction so its easier for the building division to comprehend it. It allows for fairly unlimited design possibilities, while giving a dense, well insulated, hygroscopic, green wall that doesn't use harmful materials and is easy to do the labor yourself.
Strawbale is another popular option. Great insulation, still generally requires a rigid structure such as timber framing. Pretty easy to do, lots of room for artistic interpretation.
Cob is of course popular as well. I personally haven't worked with it but I hear its labor intensive (heavy) and can take a long time to fully dry out.
Rammed earth is another one I really like, but again haven't done. You have to set very strong forms, which might get costly, but once its done its one of the most stout building material, comparable with
concrete.
Of course WOFATI or similar style underground/earth bermed structures are popular on here. I haven't seen as many examples as I've heard discussed, so I'm not sure how many people are actually doing this, aside from the Earthship concept, and I would imagine it would be the toughest to permit, as there aren't many codes that pertain to
underground houses that aren't made of concrete. I'm not very well informed on this subject, so if anyone has
experience dealing with codes or inspectors regarding this style I'd be interested in hearing. =)
Treehouse!
Shipping containers!
Dome!
I'm out of ideas now..
