I know a guy who started building his own house twenty years ago. He had
the land, and $100,000 to start with. He figured the hardest part was
the foundation, so he figured he'd contract that out and do most of the
rest himself. The quote on the foundation came to $100,000. So he jumped
in with both feet and learned how to do a foundation. He's pretty much
done with the place now, but the finishing touches do seem to go on
forever.

The quote to have our basement "finished" while they were building our house
in 2003/04 was $ 40-45K.

I said forget it..I'll do it.

Here we are 3 years later and I have done the full bath (finished) and 2
bedrooms framed/plumbing/electrical/ drywalled.
Just putting the last 2 doors on now then SWMBO will paint and get carpet
done.

I've spent plenty of time (I m retired) but only $ 2K for what we have so
far. This leaves living room/game room and media room areas but since they
re "open concept" it wont be too hard or take a lot of $$. Easiest part is
electrical..I have 3 full 15A circuits to use for the 3 rooms and the
toughest part (for me) is sheetrock.. I may actually rent a lift this time
for the ceilings.

BTW, a local supplier had about 6 lifts of 9' X 48" X 5/8" firerock get
wet on one corner. It got stained and some had surface mold on the corner
of the paper.
They are selling it for $ 1.00 a sheet (Yes- One Buck) so I picked up 20
sheets and have cut the ends (1 Ft) off giving me 8 ft sheets of clean stuff
for a dollar. I'm using that vertically for the 8' walls. I may go back for
more.