Many Hawaii residents at some point take on the task of building a home or having a home built for them by a contractor. There are many reasons you might decide to do this:
There are still some land bargains in South Hawaii. This makes building a home quite attractive to many people. If you have experience in home construction you can obtain an Owner-Builder type of permit and do much of the work yourself. You will still need a licensed electrician and plumber to handle the wiring and plumbing of the home. A licensed architect must stamp your building plans. If you go owner-builder, you will not be able to sell or rent the house for a year after the construction has been "finaled" by the county building inspectors.
Have your building site prepared by an experienced excavator. Chances are that your site will not be level. Every place is a mountainside here. There are sometimes lava tubes (caves) to contend with. You will probably be digging through rock to have a septic system installed. Big equipment is usually required. Please consider leaving as much natural forest as possible. The upland forest grows very slowly, especially in the dry southern regions. It should not be destroyed on a whim. Where possible, excavate only what you must! If you want bare lava to build on consider buying a bare lava parcel. There are plenty to choose from.
Of course, you will want to investigate the availability of utilities before you do anything. Check out my pages on this topic.
The observant person will notice that many island homes have the same basic designs. This is at least partially due to the fact that many people build from home "kits" purchased from one of the island's lumber supply stores. There are some advantages to going the kit route. You save a lot of time and effort shopping for individual boards. Often the kit sellers can deliver the house in stages so that the construction site is not overloaded with materials and there is less chance of major theft. Ask if staggered delivery is available. There may also be some price advantage to purchasing a kit. Understand though, that the basic home kit is often missing many things you might consider essential, like flooring! Ask the kit seller about modifications to their basic plans and if they will supply plans stamped by their in-house architects. House kits often come with slab or post and pier foundation options. You will want to consider your building site when deciding which is most appropriate.
Whether or not you go the kit route, you may elect to use a licensed building contractor rather than go with the owner-builder option. Be careful! Do a thorough check of references and licenses of the contractor(s) you hire. Go look at some of the work they have done. Talk to some of their customers if possible. Hawaii is not different from the rest of the country in this respect. This is a big investment for you and it deserves great care.
County Building Permit Main Page
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