How long does it take to build a house? The housing market is crazy right now. There seems to be a shortage of houses for sale compared to the number of people trying to buy a house. If you have been following our story, you know about a year ago we sold our house. Then, moved in with my parents for about six months. We are currently renting an apartment on the fourth story with two boys, a dog, and a cat.
Our house-building journey has been a difficult one. We are still remaining hopeful that we will have a house built by the end of the year. So let me just jump right in and give you the answers you came for.

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Related: Out with the Old, In with the New
How long does it take to build a house
I would like to start with the first house we built. It was in 2018 and we were looking to get out of our previous development. We were introduced to a builder who was building homes in an up-and-coming development in Shippensburg. This specific builder was building the same structure of house over and over again. He would make small changes like the siding color or the type of windows, so the houses did not look all the same.
We loved this idea and it was in our current price range. We decided and planned to build a house with him in that development. Because he already knew how much materials and the subcontractors would cost, this build was faster than normal. It took him about three to four months to build our house.
We lived in that house for about three years. Then we took a long look at what our future would look like and decided to sell. As much as I loved that house, it was right beside the interstate. So, there was constant noise and we could never enjoy our time in the backyard.

Second House
Like I said above, this house build has been a journey. We sold the house above a year ago and have not so patiently been waiting for our forever home. We have had some bumps in the road. After selling, we talked with the other builder in our previous development and held a future lot with him. He builds more custom homes compared to them all looking alike like our previous house. This lot was a backup plan and at the time, I thought our only plan.
You see there was another lot of land for sale that I loved. I wanted to get away from the development living and this second lot was located on a dead-end road. It also had a field in the backyard, so no house would be behind our home. The only problem was it was out of our price range for land.
So, a few months pass. We try to get ahold of the builder in the development to see what kind of timeline we were looking at. He ends up telling us that he had given the lot we held with him away to someone else. Our backup plan was now gone. I was devasted.
We ended up taking a leap of faith and put an offer in on the lot of land that I loved. We were able to negotiate a price that worked for us. Now, we own that lot of land and I could not be happier.
Build a House
Now onto the building of the house. With the pandemic, prices of materials have skyrocketed. But that does not seem to slow down people building homes. We had talked to a handful of builders because we weren’t going to build with the development guy. Most builders were a year or more out before they would even be able to start our build.
We were able to find someone who was not booked out for an entire year. We have sat down with him multiple times. He had our blueprints drawn up. Now, we are waiting for the most important part which is the cost of everything.
How long
This is a custom-built house. So, of course, it is going to take longer than the 3-4 months like the house above. Our builder said it should take about 6-7 months to build our future home. This of course is a rough estimate. Builds depend on a lot of moving parts. There can be a list of things that may hold up a build. Like how the lot looks, do you need to cut trees down. How booked up is the builder. The pricing of materials. Possibly the bank. Even though our builder said 6 months, I am thinking it might be more 9-12 months from start to finish.
Make sure to keep an open mind with this process. Things can change in an instant as you read above. Make sure you know what you want and you keep things in your budget.
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Outdoor Lights
We have been slowly purchasing items along the way to save money on our overall cost. So, recently we bought our outdoor lights for our home. Linked below are some lights that I fell in love with and thought you might also.

Ball | Lantern | Farmhouse | Metal Cage | Rustic | Lamp | Wall Sconce | Triangle Lantern |
I hope you found something helpful in this post. I also hope you decide to follow along on our building process. Make sure to subscribe so you get an email reminder!
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