Built a house in the Bay here. Not sure you can build a fully concrete house in the Bay because of earthquake requirements. There are specific materials and eng

Built a house in the Bay here. Not sure you can build a fully concrete house in the Bay because of earthquake requirements. There are specific materials and engineering required, etc. I’m assuming you’re browsing lots at the moment? Make sure to check that the lot is buildable 1st, then look at the building envelop, is it big enough? How’s the soil? etc. I would hire a civil engineer to check a lot prior to signing a deal. It costs somewhere around $5k to run a survey on a lot. Then when everything is fine and you bought the lot, start working with an architect. That is the expensive part (at least $50k and the sky is the limit). Ater your architect validates your floorplan with the city, you’re now able to start the process of building your house. You need to interview a bunch of contractors/builders, some have their own project managers (which I’d recommend using), some require a lot more coordination and work from your side. In California in general, especially around the Bay, the city will be your biggest enemy. They are a pain in the butt when it comes to new regulations, green stuff and all the non-sense. They will utimately bump up your original estimation by forcing your builder to comply to their random rules. I mean... we could talk for days on the subject. Good luck! Feel free to ask if you have more specific questions.