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I was wondering, since I can't buy a new wooden house which costs around $70,000 (for 100m^2 | m^2 costs $700 ) ... I thought i would just build my own house!
I would so love to do that, that would be epic, to design and build your own house!

so what do you think guys, is it feasible?

by the way am a programmer, far from architecture and stuff... but i can download free ebooks and do some reading... Have been going to the gym so i can lift some weights :D

any macho guy here built his cave (house) and has some experience in doing so!?

Any tips and idea are very much appreciated !
Building your house is far worst than buying a wooden one. though both require a permit.
Actually you can get wooden houses for something like 500$/m2. But you are not going to come close to that if you actually build your house. i dont think you can build with less than a 1000$/m2. If you are planning to build your own wooden house, you won't find the wood needed for it available for separate purchase.
Doing the whole architecture and then the permit from ebooks? good luck :P
building your own house is not a joke, you need an architect, workers, resources for cheap, forget all those, imagine someone having his own wooden house in lebanon, they steal the house before it even completes construction, haha.
shant wrotebuilding your own house is not a joke, you need an architect, workers, resources for cheap, forget all those, imagine someone having his own wooden house in lebanon, they steal the house before it even completes construction, haha.
Not to mention it's hard to find trustworthy people

My family is filled with architects and engineers but we don't really build anything since its hard to rely on resources and stuff

Eg. you make a deal with the cement people to be here on this date, so you can time it with the cement layers, etc etc

One or the other never shows up, it's just such a hassle in this country

Buy it finished.

Also don't recommend wood only, go for a brick house, with wooden floor boards and walls that are insulated .. best way to go IMO
ok guys thanks for the advises..

@Padre
"Actually you can get wooden houses for something like 500$/m2"
can you link me to one?
Building your own house is way more expensive than a pre-built wooden house. Making major touches in my new home cost around 80,000$ over its initial price ( from tiles to bathrooms to kitchen to paint to ventilation).

There is a wooden house i know built in Ajaltoun where winter is harsh there ( what i remember was it was 220-240,000$ for a 200m house with treated insulated wood). There is also another one when you go near Charcutier Aoun in Rabieh and it is absolutely beautiful.
I will post pictures when i take some if you want.
thegodfatherdany wroteBuilding your own house is way more expensive than a pre-built wooden house. Making major touches in my new home cost around 80,000$ over its initial price ( from tiles to bathrooms to kitchen to paint to ventilation).

There is a wooden house i know built in Ajaltoun where winter is harsh there ( what i remember was it was 220-240,000$ for a 200m house with treated insulated wood). There is also another one when you go near Charcutier Aoun in Rabieh and it is absolutely beautiful.
I will post pictures when i take some if you want.
$240,000 is way to expensive...

yeah i know about that house in rabieh, i have seen it... its location is terrible tho
also i just remembered, you need premium quality wood to build a wooden house to make it withstand against the high humidity we have here, and insects, not sure if we have termites here, and i don't think there is that kind of wood found here
shant wrotealso i just remembered, you need premium quality wood to build a wooden house to make it withstand against the high humidity we have here, and insects, not sure if we have termites here, and i don't think there is that kind of wood found here
@ shant, the prices mentioned above are not local production. It is a Finnish/Swedish company specialized in these kind of woods.
Padre, has the right idea. even if you get the wood for free (unlikely) you still need a permit, and then you need other permits and experts for Plumbing (water and sewer), Electricity ( around the house and from electric company), Windows (Glass, aluminum,...), Doors (Door Knob, locks, etc...), Painter ( Indoors for decoration, and outdoors to protect from the elements).

So the best way for you to choose is to do a feasibility study, (if you are serious), you hire an architect that does the feasibility (for a fee), he/she should give you a detailed cost of your dream home.

Then you can cross reference it with purchasing a ready made one, or take a loan from the bank or the central bank

P.s. you also look at Lebanon opportunities magazine, they have a price list of all the resources for building a house
You can get prefabricated homes for cheap, even if you add the cost of all the plumbing and such it will not amount to much. The problem is finding land.
My grandfather "built his own house" 50 years ago, and we still live in it. Some parts of it crumble but it's nothing serious. It's cement and brick though, reinforced with steel, and I don't know to what extent he is responsible for it.
Beware that wooden house doesn't crash on your head.
rolf wroteBeware that wooden house doesn't crash on your head.
What does that mean?
rolf wroteBeware that wooden house doesn't crash on your head.
wooden houses do not crash on your head, they simply get carried away in the wind
If Amish do it without electricity and engineering degree, why couldnt anyone do it?
amish have a different way of life, i mean completly different, and all the community give a hand in the process, plus if i'm not mistaken they actually cut their own wood.
There's a company here in Saida that builds cheap houses. It's called Ijazi Investment Co.. They use steel instead of concrete and the walls are some good and cheap material that I can't remember its name. I remember they told me a 200 m^2 two-floor building (100 m^2 each floor) would cost ~$70,000 (excluding the price of the land and the footings). The price includes everything (doors, windows, tiles, etc.) Hope I helped.
Mahmoud Brk wroteThere's a company here in Saida that builds cheap houses. It's called Ijazi Investment Co.. They use steel instead of concrete and the walls are some good and cheap material that I can't remember its name. I remember they told me a 200 m^2 two-floor building (100 m^2 each floor) would cost ~$70,000 (excluding the price of the land and the footings). The price includes everything (doors, windows, tiles, etc.) Hope I helped.
niceeee!

thanks a lot
a month later
Well now am thinking of building myself a small room in the garden, most of it is for fun and education on how to build houses.

I think its around 10m^2. So it shouldn't be a very expensive experiment.

I downloaded some ebook and should start reading them soon on how to build a house with wood.

So am wondering if anybody knows a place where they sell woods for building houses?
it is easy, lots of wood mills in lebanon, i live between tripoly and koura , and i know many of them, the thing is you wont go and tell them i want wood for building house, youll have to know what type of wood it is, and the dimensions, and place the order... i dont where you live, but if it is in the north, El Mina and Rasmaska have woodmills in them.