DIY House Build.. Fantasy?

Stevyamda

Where to start.. My wife and I want to live in this cute little walkable town where the houses are too expensive for us (cheapest houses are around $500k and ugly). It is the only town near where I work and near family that feels like a place we could enjoy settling into for a long time (it is walkable, limited in size by geography yet large enough to have counter-culture).

There is a small, narrow residential lot with a teardown house (more like a single-wide manufactured home) that I am aware of and I have a fantasy of saying FU to the local market and building my own skinny two-story house using as much of my own labor as possible.
The plan would be to build something narrow (15' or less) and efficient. I could design it myself in CAD, but I'm aware I still will need an architect to make legit plans (so maybe I should just find an existing drawing that works?). The home would basically be like a container home without the limitations of a container.

My completely imaginary budget includes getting the lot for around $250k, hiring help to remove the trailer that's on the land, hiring a contractor to lay a foundation, and building as much of the rest of it as I can with the help of friends, for no more than $400k total ($150k total for the demo and build). A close friend of mine is a house builder and GC whom I can pay to lend a hand and give advice. I have not built a house before.
Is my budget a total joke? I know that I am probably a bit off, but how do I actually figure out how off I am? I'm just trying to find a creative way to break into this market that I can't afford, and I also want to learn how to build a house. DW and I plan on having child/children in 2-3 years and I don't foresee having the energy to take on something so ambitious after that. I haven't researched financing a whole lot for this but the plan would be to get a mortgage for the lot and pay for the build out of pocket. Could I use a FHA loan?

JasmineHart

Getting hands-on with a DIY house build is an amazing experience, but one thing I learned is that skipping professional oversight can cause major headaches later. When I was helping a friend with their build, a second set of expert eyes caught some serious issues we had overlooked. That's why I always recommend Building inspection Perth to make sure everything is up to code and there are no hidden surprises.