How long did it take you to build a house?

  • Welcome to Skyrim Forums! Register now to participate using the 'Sign Up' button on the right. You may now register with your Facebook or Steam account!

Building own home worth it?

  • Hell yeah!

    Votes: 12 92.3%
  • Just stick to buying houses

    Votes: 1 7.7%

  • Total voters
    13

Mithro'I

Well-Known Member
Good morning :)

I am thinking about building my own house.
But I'm a lazy bum, especially concerning farming things.
So I would be interested to know how much time you all sacrificed to build your own homes, and if you think it was worth it!
 

LotusEater

I brake for blue butterflies
Whether it's worth it or not is subjective but I can save you time since you's lazy like me...


Collect about 30 ingots of iron and approx 15 ingots of corundum (for locks). Build the shell with all the additions you want. Appoint Lydia as your steward. Open dialogue box and tell her you want her to furnish the home. It'll cost you about 10,000 gold and it will take her about a game month or so for her to finish. So basically go quest and every time you come back, more will be done. Lydia seems to be the most efficient, or at least for me it seems that way.

Otherwise start collecting animal parts like crazy otherwise the trophies will likely drive you insane. Oh yea... and don't forget the straw... the glass... alchemy ingredients for mounted critters... bunch of steel... two truckloads of iron ingots... you'll also need to stock up on quarried stone and clay and wood. Did I mention all the random crap you'll need for the crafting tables?

Seriously... appoint a steward. :)
 
Last edited:

shadowkitty

Mistress of Shadows
One of my characters bought Breezehome, the other is currently residing in Honeyside. But my Redguard (Who is the Harbinger and so deserves a more grand place) just bought land in Falkareth. Level 20. With around $35000 gold. That's how long it took her to decide she needed a place to come home to.

I like to gather as much as I can in one go.. I never get the steward to furnish the house. I do it all on my own. I also like to make almost everything. I am content to leave some things out of rooms I feel aren't totally necessary. Before I go to my lot for the first time, I always seek out the lumberjack and buy a plops-load of lumber. I hate it when I run out of that.

If I were you, I would make my first home, just so you can experience it.. then if you feel it's too time consuming for you, hire a steward and get them to do all the work for you. You will have to wait a lengthy amount of time for it to be finished if you go that way though.

First character I had with the newly purchased DLC's...she owned every single house. :p Now I am a little more choosy, depends on my character and how I am RP'ing them.
 

LotusEater

I brake for blue butterflies
One of my characters bought Breezehome, the other is currently residing in Honeyside. But my Redguard (Who is the Harbinger and so deserves a more grand place) just bought land in Falkareth. Level 20. With around $35000 gold. That's how long it took her to decide she needed a place to come home to.

I like to gather as much as I can in one go.. I never get the steward to furnish the house. I do it all on my own. I also like to make almost everything. I am content to leave some things out of rooms I feel aren't totally necessary. Before I go to my lot for the first time, I always seek out the lumberjack and buy a pl***-load of lumber. I hate it when I run out of that.

If I were you, I would make my first home, just so you can experience it.. then if you feel it's too time consuming for you, hire a steward and get them to do all the work for you. You will have to wait a lengthy amount of time for it to be finished if you go that way though.

First character I had with the newly purchased DLC's...she owned every single house. :p Now I am a little more choosy, depends on my character and how I am RP'ing them.


Did you not see the part where he said he's lazy about farming? Building a complete house is a total grind, you know this...
 

shadowkitty

Mistress of Shadows
One of my characters bought Breezehome, the other is currently residing in Honeyside. But my Redguard (Who is the Harbinger and so deserves a more grand place) just bought land in Falkareth. Level 20. With around $35000 gold. That's how long it took her to decide she needed a place to come home to.

I like to gather as much as I can in one go.. I never get the steward to furnish the house. I do it all on my own. I also like to make almost everything. I am content to leave some things out of rooms I feel aren't totally necessary. Before I go to my lot for the first time, I always seek out the lumberjack and buy a pl***-load of lumber. I hate it when I run out of that.

If I were you, I would make my first home, just so you can experience it.. then if you feel it's too time consuming for you, hire a steward and get them to do all the work for you. You will have to wait a lengthy amount of time for it to be finished if you go that way though.

First character I had with the newly purchased DLC's...she owned every single house. :p Now I am a little more choosy, depends on my character and how I am RP'ing them.


Did you not see the part where he said he's lazy about farming? Building a complete house is a total grind, you know this...
Yes I did in fact read that.
Which is why I suggested doing the first house on his own, then hire someone to do the next one. I found, in my play-throughs, that it took less time for me to do it than the steward. But then, I am an impatient control freak and need things done immediately.
 

LotusEater

I brake for blue butterflies
One of my characters bought Breezehome, the other is currently residing in Honeyside. But my Redguard (Who is the Harbinger and so deserves a more grand place) just bought land in Falkareth. Level 20. With around $35000 gold. That's how long it took her to decide she needed a place to come home to.

I like to gather as much as I can in one go.. I never get the steward to furnish the house. I do it all on my own. I also like to make almost everything. I am content to leave some things out of rooms I feel aren't totally necessary. Before I go to my lot for the first time, I always seek out the lumberjack and buy a pl***-load of lumber. I hate it when I run out of that.

If I were you, I would make my first home, just so you can experience it.. then if you feel it's too time consuming for you, hire a steward and get them to do all the work for you. You will have to wait a lengthy amount of time for it to be finished if you go that way though.

First character I had with the newly purchased DLC's...she owned every single house. :p Now I am a little more choosy, depends on my character and how I am RP'ing them.


Did you not see the part where he said he's lazy about farming? Building a complete house is a total grind, you know this...
Yes I did in fact read that.
Which is why I suggested doing the first house on his own, then hire someone to do the next one. I found, in my play-throughs, that it took less time for me to do it than the steward. But then, I am an impatient control freak and need things done immediately.


I'm just sayin... think back to the very first time you built one and factor in the fact that he implied that he wasn't looking for a grind. It's easy for us to grab what we know we will need right off the bat and get at it, but the OP really has no idea what kind of stuff he is gonna need and really won't until he has access to the work benches and even then it can be extremely difficult to wrap you head around all the stuff you will need to decorate and furnish.

I don't know about you but the first time I built a complete house I was running out to grab more stuff constantly. Always a gold ingot here or a sabre cat tooth there. I'm just trying to spare him the frustration. I figure by the time he gets the shell built he'll have a decent idea of what's involved and the inside is a complete nightmare compared to the shell. Besides, he'll still have to decorate the basement. :)

I figure by the time he decorates the basement he'll have a good idea of what it will take to decorate a complete house.
 

Mithro'I

Well-Known Member
thanks for all the help guys :)
I decided to let my steward take care of things...
which makes sense anyways I guess! I am the dragonborn, and I am rich, so i can afford some contractors and interior designers ;)
 

LotusEater

I brake for blue butterflies
Also OP, occasionally a pack of skeevers will spawn in your basement. One won't be aggressive so just kill the ones that attack you and let the easy going one live. He will become your new pet rat and will remain there.

Or kill the filthy vermin anyway.
 
Last edited:

Snake Tortoise

Here's For Your Trouble
When I'm ready to build a house I'll go to the local mill and order about 120 logs, buy about 30-40 iron and about 10 corundum ingots, buy about 5 straw and 5 glass and ideally have a gold ingot and a few moonstone, malachite and quicksilver ingots too (can't remember what you need for the arcane enchanter and alchemy lab). I think you need a filled grand soul gems too.

Basically I want everything I need to build the house in one go and add all the smithing, alchemy and enchanting stuff, including the garden, greenhouse and fish farm (for the Morthal house).

The beauty of a good house is it's like adding another Whiterun/Windhelm/Markarth as far as crafting goes. Another reason I think the house near Solitude is the best; Solitude, Morthal and Dawnstar don't have everything you need for crafting (no smelter in Solitude) and the house is right between all three. It's so anoying finding yourself in Dawnstar and needing to improve some armour, in Solitude needing a smelter or Morthal and needing anything related to smithing (except a grindstone I suppose)

If you are into alchemy at all a Hearthfire house is a no brainer

Also OP, occasionally a pack of skeevers will spawn in your basement. One won't be aggressive so just kill the ones that attack you and let the easy going one live. He will become your new pet rat and will remain there.

Or kill the filthy vermin anyway.

Oh god! I'm building a basement ASAP :D
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sah

Mithro'I

Well-Known Member
gnarf. my family won't move from breezehome to my new house, and aela my steaward constantly walks back to jorvaskr -.-
tried solving the family not moving by installing a mod that supposedly fixes it, but no luck. also removing the workbench from the cellar didnt help. any ideas?
 

Dawn

Member
Prior to Hearthfire I simply used the homes which were available for purchase, though I also tried a few player made housing mods.

The first time with Hearthfire I did all the running around buying up or gathering the basic materials just to get the base home built, finding it tedious and boring.

Now I simply have a mod spawn a chest with basic building materials right next to the drafting table, and only travel to a saw mill for base lumber (I buy enough so I never run out), and then slowly decorate as I find or obtain items to place.

Some may say I'm lazy, to which I'll agree. But I didn't find the Hearthfire home building process engaging or fun in any way, so I simply skip as much of the parts I found lacking as I can.
 

T. Rakinson

A Brute among Beasts
How long did it take you to build your home?
I'll let you know.
Stewards FTW though. Cheaper to just pay them than to shop (and construct) for your house, and it gives them something to do.
 

JoeReese

Well-Known Member
Only took me about 20 minutes, real time, but I didn't build until I had already stocked up everything I'd need and extra gold for cut lumber. Get the house, visit the mill, buy 120 or so logs, back home and go hog wild. I...er...might have...left my character mining clay and rock, while I cooked dinner, vacuumed, and performed a laundry transfer. :cool:
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sah

Wildroses

Well-Known Member
I always do my house building incidentally. While on my adventures I basically keep all the materials I find to build a house, then use them all up building them. Once I'm out I dump all the things I can't yet use as I don't have all the materials, then I go off adventuring again. I often get a bit carried away and make trips to the nearest blacksmith for iron, but if you hate farming you don't have to do this. One disadvantage of this method is you have to build a house at early levels or you end up having your carry weight dominated by iron and pelts.
 

Sah

Well-Known Member
Tired every time you come home from a hard days quest?...the last thing you need when you get home is to cook & clean ...
is your place a mess?... dose it remind you of your last quest?...have no fear....all you have to do is


HIRE a WIFE
NO JOB TO SMALL

Cleaning
Cooking
Headaches
Shopping
House Keeping
Decorating
Nagging
Bar Maid
Bard
Gardening
Mowing lawns
Complaining
Laundry
Ironing armors
Nagging
Nanny
Knows everything
mopping
picking up weapons
you get the couch


CALL NOW Early Bird Specials
 

Mithro'I

Well-Known Member
gnarf. my family won't move from breezehome to my new house, and aela my steaward constantly walks back to jorvaskr -.-
tried solving the family not moving by installing a mod that supposedly fixes it, but no luck. also removing the workbench from the cellar didnt help. any ideas?
just in case anyone will read this who experiences the same problem, I finally fixed the family issue using this http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/47621/? mod.
 

ChudMacGud

Elite Bard
It is an ongoing process for me. If I set out to gather resources and money to build an initial house in one fell swoop I tend to go insane. I have come to purchase building materials as I play, dump them in a chest in my house and build along as I go. My level 59 character has all three plots, all wings complete, however I am still furnishing as I play. I just take my time lol my characters are not very good carpenters.
 

Latest posts

Top