DIY Network

California Horse-Country Home: Introduction From "Be Your Own Contractor: Vacation Homes" episode DBCV-106

	Homeowner Francesca de la Flor. (And friend.)
	Francesca's vacation home in southern California's horse country.

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In each episode of DIY's Be Your Own Contractor: Vacation Homes viewers are introduced to ambitious do-it-yourselfers who oversaw the building of their own vacation home and hear firsthand about the challenges that they faced.

In this episode we meet Francesca de la Flor who acted as her own contractor on a modest horse ranch in Temecula, California. Her vacation home is located in the heart of Southern California's wine and thoroughbred country.

Francesca talks about why she wanted to build in Temecula, California and about the challenges she faced building in an out-of-the way location. She shares how she decided to take on the job herself after contractors she spoke with balked at her limited budget. She also offers advice to women on dealing with subcontractors and provides pointers on building codes and the building-inspection process. She describes the considerable lengths she went to in order to get her Mexican tile roof and details some of her landscaping challenges. Finally she provides words of wisdom for those who are considering taking on a project like this one.

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	Francesca de la Flor's vacation home near Temecula, California.

OK Then, I'll Build It Myself

After reading about affordable land in Southern California's horse country, Francesca de la Flor couldn't pass up the opportunity. She purchased a 20-acre tract and, a few years later, was set to build a dream vacation-home. Initially, she didn't set out to be her own contractor, but several factors changed her mind.

"In a lot of ways, it was a budgetary consideration," she says. "I wanted to build the house I wanted at the price I wanted. I didn't want to have a mortgage. I had a certain amount of money, and that's what I wanted to spend, and no one would build it for me. People laughed at me when I told them what my budget was."

That budget was $40,000 to include both the house and furnishings. Since she had been involved in building houses previously, she was confident that she could take on the job of being her own general contractor, and could build the house within her budget. "I knew how to build a house," she says, "and I knew it wasn't really all that complicated. It really is a fairly straightforward thing to do. It's not beyond most people's reach if they just make up their minds and do it."

In fact, building her 1400-square-foot house was not terribly complicated, in part because of the simplicity of the design. It's basically a rectangular structure with a small outcropping for the kitchen. "You can put the interior walls anywhere you want in this floor plan," says Francesca, "because only the perimeter walls are bearing the weight of the roof. This is a straightforward, simple house to build."

Francesca, formerly a lawyer, is now an antiques dealer. She knew what she wanted in a house and drew up the original sketches. She then went to an architectural school and coaxed a student into drafting her sketches. She took those drawings to a structural engineer to help her complete the planning process. She regards that final step as the most critical in the planning process since it ensures structural integrity for the home.

The Politics of Subcontracting and Inspection

During construction, Francesca was living at her primary residence in Pasadena, about 100 miles from the site. She advises that the ideal situation is to be on site as much as possible during the construction process, but acknowledges that this is a luxury that few have. She was able to visit the location at least two days per week, but was in almost constant contact with her subcontractors by phone. She called them in the morning to ask about each days plans, in the middle of the day to check in and at the end of the day to ask about what had been accomplished that day. Frequent communication not only eased Francesca's mind, but reinforced with her subcontractors that she was monitoring the progress carefully.

She made absolutely certain to be onsite whenever the local building inspectors were visiting in order to provide any details and answer any questions they might have. Lack of information provided to inspectors, she believes, might possibly lead to future problems. "I think you really need to have a positive and non-combative attitude with inspectors," she says, "and besides, you're going to end up doing it their way, or you're going to be stopped, so you might as well just get on the program for day one."

"For me," she continues, "the important thing in dealing with the inspectors is getting off to a good start. I like to keep the job site really tidy so that it doesn't look like chaos when the inspector comes in and is trying to do his job. It's easier if he's not tripping over lumber or bags of cement."

As a general rule, it's critical to know all of the inspection processes and local building codes, which establish the minimum acceptable building standards necessary for protecting people and property in your area."

Francesca de la Flor

In the segment that follows, Francesca discusses the location where she chose to build her vacation home and the process of building the foundation.

RESOURCES :

Investing in a Vacation Home for Pleasure and Profit
Author: James H. Boykin
Order this book from Amazon.com
Publisher: South-Western Educational Pub (2005)
ISBN: 0324314116

How a Second Home Can Be Your Best Investment: New, Tax-Free Methods for Using a Vacation Home for Recreation, Retirement and Investment
Authors: Tom Kelly, John Tuccillo
Order this book from Amazon.com
Publisher: McGraw-Hill (2004)
ISBN: 0071429700