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Show Notes:
You will learn how owner-builders in California navigate construction loan financing, credit union draw underwriting, and trade contractor bidding without paying conventional builder overhead margins. We analyze how property owners secure financing through regional lenders, bridge loans, and private equity, illustrating why underwriters favor fully coordinated architectural, structural, and Title 24 plan packages that eliminate mid-construction change orders. Discover the financial reality of acting as your own project manager, where eliminating 20% to 30% general contractor markups generates hundreds of thousands of dollars in immediate appraisal equity. We examine the legalities of trade self-performance, outlining how skilled owners can perform their own roofing, electrical, and plumbing installations while holding licensed specialty trade subcontractors accountable under master permits. Explore how to browse 2,000+ kit home plans to match your parcel’s topography, and see how choosing a complete pre-engineered panelized home package provides the precise blueprint documentation required to secure competitive trade bids and expedited California building department approvals.Key Q&A Highlights from Episode 103
Q: What types of financial institutions approve construction loans for owner-builders in California?
A: While major national banks often restrict lending to licensed general contractors, California owner-builders frequently secure financing through regional credit unions, local commercial banks, bridge loans, and portfolio lenders. These underwriters evaluate the owner-builder’s comprehensive plan set, budget breakdown, and technical partner support to ensure the project has verifiable cost controls before approving construction draw schedules.
Q: How much money does acting as an owner-builder save compared to hiring a custom home builder?
A: Acting as your own general contractor typically saves 20% to 30% of total construction costs by eliminating commercial builder markups and management fees. On a custom home build, these savings keep project budgets aligned and often translate directly into hundreds of thousands of dollars in immediate sweat equity upon final appraisal.
Q: Can owner-builders perform their own plumbing, electrical, and roofing installations in California?
A: Yes, under California owner-builder laws, property owners are legally permitted to perform their own electrical, plumbing, framing, and roofing work on their primary residence. However, all self-performed installations must strictly comply with local building codes and pass standard municipal trade inspections prior to concealment and final sign-off.
Q: How do complete architectural blueprints prevent contractor price gouging on subcontractor bids?
A: When trade subcontractors receive incomplete or vague stock plans, they add substantial contingency cushions to their quotes to absorb unforeseen framing, mechanical, or structural clashes. Providing fully detailed blueprints with explicit window schedules, structural hold-downs, and engineered load paths allows trades to quote exact labor and materials without adding speculative markups.
Q: When do specialty trade subcontractors need to pull their own municipal permits on an owner-builder project?
A: While the primary structural shell and foundation fall under the master building permit pulled by the owner-builder, certain jurisdictions require licensed trade contractors to pull separate mechanical, electrical, or plumbing permits. In these jurisdictions, the licensed subcontractor’s company insurance and credential file with the city cover their specific scope of work and inspection calls.
Transcript:
Steve Tuma: So if you’re organized, know what you’re doing, follow through on your side, good contractors will want to work with you.
Host: Hello, everyone, and welcome to episode 103 of the Panelized Prefab Kit Home Building Show. With me today, as he usually is, is the president and founder of Landmark Home and Land Company, a company which has been helping people build their new homes where they want, exactly as they want, nationwide and around the globe since 1993, Mr. Steve Tuma. Steve, how’s it going, pal?
Steve Tuma: Like I always say, it’s a great day! There’s a lot of cool things happening with projects, you know, getting through all the hurdles the building departments try to throw at us, but we get through all of them. We make it happen. We’ve got the experience, and knowledge, and fun attitude to just do it.
Host: Right. So we had originally planned on doing two episodes of the podcast on building in California as part of our state-by-state talk on what one can expect when building a panelized home in all 50 states. But California is somewhat unique as a place to build a home. It’s so unique that we’ve decided to dedicate yet a third podcast revolving around the ins and outs of a California home build. So let’s get right into it with a question about finance, if you’re good to go, let’s do it.
Steve Tuma: Yeah, let’s do it!
Host: So the first question here is about lenders: Will a lender finance an owner-builder project in California?
Steve Tuma: Yeah, a lot of our customers have loans from banks in California, national banks that happen to lend in California, or regional banks. So what we’ve found is they seem to work with credit unions or smaller local regional banks. There are some big banks that also finance, and customers have used them as well. Sometimes there’s also some private money lending, sometimes people use bridge loans off their existing home, or they take loans against any savings accounts that they may have.
So there are a variety of lending choices available for owner-builders in California. And the banks that do that understand what it is, so they want customers to be sure that they understand the building process and understand what they’re going to do. And what they’ve found that working with a company like us, where we have the set of plans, we have the details, we have the support, we have over three decades’ experience, it just really helps them with financing because they understand that they’re in a good process, because we want to work with good customers as well, so the bank likes that.
So we’re able to—I think the way we support our customers, and the product we supply, and the plans we supply—the banks understand that it’s a positive situation to make the project more successful.
Host: We talk about savings a lot, and being an owner-builder, can you actually save by being an owner-builder? Right off the bat it seems, well, if I do it myself, I’m probably going to end up spending more money than if I just outsourced everything, but how much can you actually save by being an owner-builder?
Steve Tuma: Yes, owner-builders do save money, and the main reason is that there aren’t general contractor fees. So from what I understand, the industry will have 20, 30% margins, possibly more depending on if there’s different invoicing done for actual materials that are purchased. But that’s the key thing.
Now, someone will say, “Hey, what if the owner-builder can’t get as good of a deal as the contractor?” Well, what we have found is if you have a good set of plans, you know what you’re doing, you’re methodical in your process, you have a schedule, you work with the contractors right, they’re in a competitive situation as well, so they want to work with good customers.
So if you’re organized, know what you’re doing, follow through on your side, good contractors will want to work with you, and they’ll provide a good price. And that’s one of the advantages of what we do, is we supply a very clear and accurate set of plans that building departments like and the contractors like, because everything’s there. They can look at it, get a good solid quote.
Because what a lot of people do is they’ll go out, they’ll just be like, “Oh, I had someone draw plans up,” and then they give it to a contractor and the details aren’t there, so it’s kind of garbage in, garbage out on the quote. But with Landmark’s plans, we have a clear and accurate set of plans, so the contractor knows exactly what needs to be quoted.
Then they’re able to provide the best quote possible, and that’s where the savings come in, is by us helping the customer be organized, methodical, and understand the project. They’re able to come across better to the subcontractors to get the best price to coordinate the project.
And a lot of times in the appraisals of what customers have told me, the equity that people build is huge, in the hundreds of thousands of dollars many, many times, sometimes even higher than that. So it’s there and it makes sense.
But there’s also something else: It’s not just the financial side, it’s what are you getting? You can design the house you want, you don’t have to stay within the restrictions of what a builder wants. You can put the materials in that you want. So if a certain flooring is very important to you, you could put it in there. If a certain kitchen is very important, you could put it in there. And that’s one of the key elements of the complete process, it’s not just the money you’re spending, it’s what you’re getting for it.
And that’s an element which is very, very important that owner-builders understand. So it’s not always just the money savings, it’s the schedule, the pride of building their own home, the great experience, but also knowing that the home is built the way they want it. That’s the key element.
Host: We talk about working with building departments and pulling permits, will I need to pull all the permits myself, or let’s say I’ve got a subcontractor, will that guy be able to pull permits for me, or what’s the best way to go about that?
Steve Tuma: Generally, the owner-builder will pull permits, but here’s a nice thing: We’re able to help you by getting a clear and accurate and precise set of plans, so we’ll work to find out what the building department needs. Develop the architectural design to the specifications the customer wants, the structural design, energy calculations, green codes, site plans, plumbing, electric, heat, and whatever other details are necessary for their specific building department.
So we’ll work with the customer to make sure that they understand the process, and then we’ll send them the files, PDF files, paper files, whatever they need for the permit application, and then they can just submit to the building department and go from there.
Now, in some cases, like we discussed in prior podcasts, there might be situations where the heat person has to pull their own permit, or the plumbing or electric person has to pull their own permit, but that’s just typical. So the nice thing is we will get the customer the plan details so that they can apply for the building permit and go through the process.
Sometimes it seems a little daunting because people hear about the building department. Well, that’s if you don’t have the right information it is harder, but we’re able to help people get the right set of plans and with the details they need. And I personally look at every single project and what the building department needs, and then make sure that our plans match to them so that they get a successful permit application and a quicker plan review and quicker permitting. That’s the cool thing about it. We work together to support our customers to make sure they have the information for the right permit application.
Host: You were mentioning that certain departments there will be permits they’ll have to pull, but what if you’ve got some skills? Let’s say you’re a roofer, or an electrician, or a plumber, anything like that by trade and you’re building your own house. Can you do all that yourself, can you do electrical and plumbing on your own?
Steve Tuma: Yeah, you can. Now, I only suggest you do it if you know what you’re doing, and as an owner-builder, you can work on your own home.
Host: It’s not like a lawyer hiring himself as his own lawyer, right?
Steve Tuma: Well, in this case, if you know how to do electric, go do it. But you still have to make sure it’s done right per code. They don’t give you a pass because you’re an owner-builder, they still want to make sure it’s safe and works properly. So that’s a key element of the whole thing.
We’ve actually had customers that they and their family literally do the whole house. They excavate, they install the foundation, they frame the panel package, they put the roof on. So it’s a very flexible process, and it gives people big advantages in the savings, and then knowing how their house is built and that it’s built right.
So that’s a very important thing, because there’s a lot of little decisions here and there, and we can help a customer through it to make sure that they get the support that they need to reach their goals of getting a quality home at the best price possible with the features that they want on the land that they choose to build on.
Host: Well, that’s good to know. If you’ve got some skills, you don’t have to watch some other guy doing the work that you can do. What’s the average building department in California, or anywhere for that matter, what do they expect from an owner-builder? How flexible are they?
Steve Tuma: You know, we’ve never really had a problem or what I’ll call kickback from a building department saying, “Hey, there’s an issue with it.” Our customer base are made of people that understand what they want to do. They have a plan, they’ve thought about it, they’ve talked to us about it, they understand the challenges of building and they understand the processes.
So the building departments, they just want to do their job. They just want to get plans in, do the permits, review the plans, issue the permits, and then do inspections as they go along. So they just expect people to do a good job.
Customers also have to realize that they’re also there checking on professional contractors, too, and there’s a reason that the building department is there, just to double-check and make sure things are done right. So I don’t think that they should necessarily expect that because they’re an owner-builder that they’re under additional scrutiny. The building department just wants it, and in a lot of places encourage owner-builders, and they have processes and different ways of helping owner-builders because they understand it’s an important part of the market, and it’s also a way of people affording homes.
And it’s true whether you’re doing a few-hundred-thousand-dollar home or a few-million-dollar home. There’s owner-builders doing homes in a whole different array of price ranges and locations in California and around the country.
Host: Well, since we’re speaking of California, let’s get down to brass tacks here: Does a panelized home or a kit home make sense for any owner-builder in California?
Steve Tuma: Yes, it does, and it’s not just the panelized home package, it’s the permitting. And it’s the understanding of the processes and the details that are required to accurately develop a set of plans.
And this is one thing where we help owner-builders: We’ll get calls from people saying, “Hey, my guy down the road, he drew a set of plans,” or “I found some plans online, and they told me I could just turn them into the building department.” I’m like, well, okay, they might have told you that, I don’t know how it actually happens, because usually those plans have so many disclaimers on them that it says in different words, it says get someone that knows what they’re doing to make sure they apply to your building permit.
So sometimes owner-builders have to understand that the theory of what they might see on a TV show or some YouTube channel is kind of good for those people promoting themselves, but the reality is you need a good set of plans. And that’s where we’re able to help.
So you ask, does a panelized home package work? Yes, the advantage of Landmark Home and Land Company is the planning, the green codes, the energy codes, the structural engineering, where we have a unified set of plans to make sure everything matches. All the details the building department requests for your exact building site, your exact design, are put into the plan set so that you can go through and make the permitting attainment process much easier for you.
So that’s the element that customers don’t always understand. They think, “Oh, let me buy a panelized home.” It’s like, no, with Landmark Home and Land Company, we have the added benefit of all the plans, customer support, and details to help you through the process, to make the panelized home package assembly process much smoother and better for the owner-builder.
It’s the plans that Landmark Home and Land Company supplies that really make it easier for people to build, especially in California or other states or municipalities that are very stringent.
And we supply the same type of support and customer service if someone’s working in a different state that’s also challenging, or if they’re working in a state where there isn’t a building department. We still want to do it right so that the customer can build their home right, keep to schedule, and keep to the budget. It’s the support we supply that I think people find to be very, very valuable.
Host: Well, I would think so! I mean, just to have somebody that you can call and say, “Even I’m just confused right now.” Man, that’s so nice to have that personal touch when dealing with a company.
Steve Tuma: That’s what you just brought up there is the most important thing that customers never think of when they’re initially calling. It’s as they’re in the project, and we bring things up to them saying, “Hey, what about this? What about this? What about that?” They’re like, “I never thought of it.”
And then we’re able to help guide them through the process and understanding to a successful decision, instead of someone just guessing and going out there.
What’s interesting is you could look at a lot of these forums online, and rarely, but occasionally do I look at them, and the amount of misinformation that’s out there is huge. Which is why we say we are going to talk to the customer about their project on their land for their design with their building department, to give an exact answer instead of going to some forum and some Yahoo just giving some answer because he feels he needs to give an answer. We need to get people an answer for their specific project.
And that’s what we’re able to do, and we’re also able to justify and discuss it with the customer so that the customer understands why you’re doing something. You don’t want to hear an answer, “Well, that’s just the way it’s done.” That’s not an answer. You want to know, hey, this is why we suggest doing this for your project and the site conditions that you have. It’s that knowledge that people find invaluable as they work with us.
Host: Yeah, and that’s basically one of the things that I think Landmark does: You guys add value just in your experience and you’ve been around a long time, there’s not much you haven’t seen.
Steve Tuma: Right, and I’ve worked with every single customer in over three decades, 33 years, and we enjoy it. It’s part of the process, it’s part of working with us, it’s not an additional fee to get support, or get help when you need it to understand your project, plan it right, and then build it right.
Host: All right, well, that’s going to wrap things up for this edition of the Panelized Prefab Kit Home Building Show. But before we let you go, Steve, as we always do here on the podcast, please let the listeners know how to find out more about Landmark Home and Land Company and everything you guys do over there.
Steve Tuma: Best thing to do is check out our website. You can search us, Landmark Home and Land Company, but our direct website is LHLC.com, again that’s LHLC.com, kind of the initials Landmark Home Land Company, LHLC.com.
And on our website, there’s these podcasts, there’s videos, there’s thousands of plans, there’s discussions on what we supply, some details on individual states. And from there, you can email us, you can find a specific floor plan and send an inquiry, or you can give us a direct call at 800-830-9788, again that’s 800-830-9788, and Mike will answer the phone. Rarely, but you might occasionally get his voicemail and he’ll give a call back, but we are here to help you through the process.
And if someone would like, they can give me a direct call on my direct cell phone at 708-205-2043, and I’ll talk to people and let them know, you know, let’s throw some ideas around on your project.
And then we’re also on the major social medias: Instagram, Facebook, and other places. So we’re out there trying to tell people how we can help them. It’s pretty cool.
Host: Do you sometimes get so involved that it seems almost personal for you when you’re working with a customer?
Steve Tuma: Oh, it is, it is! People call me nights, weekends, days, and it’s like, “Hey, Dave, what’s going on?” You talk about stuff, and I get invited to so many housewarming parties, open houses, and things, I wish I could get to them all. But I have customers call me years later saying, “Steve, I was just thinking about you, I was thinking about building the home.” It was just really cool.
And it’s just an amazing feeling to see that you truly helped a family get a new home and start a new chapter in their life in an extremely positive way. It is absolutely amazing, and we love doing that. We’re very lucky, we have great customers.
Host: That’s great. Well, there it is, episode 103 of the podcast, and we want to thank you all for listening to the Panelized Prefab Kit Home Building Show and for all your inquiries and questions sent in by you, which helps us put together the content and put together the questions for Steve to actually have to answer rather than wasting his time and just me coming up with questions.
So for Landmark Home and Land Company President Steve Tuma and myself, have a great week, and we will see you next time. And thank you, Steve, Landmark Home and Land Company president, for being so informative as you always are in every episode. Thanks a lot.
Steve Tuma: Well, we want to help people. We want people to understand the process and what the owner-builder experience is about. It’s a great life experience, but we’ve got to make sure that everyone’s aligned and understanding of what it takes. It just makes for a better process and a cooler home. That’s what it’s about, helping nice people get a cool home. So thank you.
Host: There you go. Thanks again, Steve, and thank you all, and we will see you next time.
Steve Tuma: Have a great day. Thank you.
