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How Long Does It Take to Frame a House?

young boy sitting on the stair frame

Home construction has a lot of steps, and framing is one of them. First, you have your foundation laid after dealing with endless red tape. Then you have the framing stage, which can seem endless too. Carpenters take wood and their expertise to craft the bones of your new home, but how long can you expect framing to take?

Framing a 2-bedroom residential home can be as fast as 10 days or 2 weeks, or there are projects that can take as long as 5 weeks. For larger homes, 5 to 8 weeks is a more realistic estimate that takes weather and other inclement factors into consideration. You can’t really help it if the sky decides to pour for a week or two, after all.

Other types of buildings may vary based on size and whether the roof has an A-frame or not. After framing is when the roofers, plumbers, electricians, and other contractors will take over, but let’s talk about that in more detail below.

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How Long Does It Take to Build a House After Framing?

There are several distinct stages after framing, each with its unique challenges. Those are roofing, siding, plumbing, electrical, HVAC, and interior finishing work. Ideally, they’d be done at the same time, but that may not happen because each business has its own workload and schedule. Let’s cover each in its own section down below.

The 5 Stages of Finishing a Home Once It’s Framed

1. Roofing

housebuilding construction site
Image By: Ralphs_Fotos, Pixabay

A-frame-style houses don’t have a regular roof, so those types of houses are a bit quicker to build because they largely skip this step. Roofers will come in and determine the best way to protect your roof from wind and water.

Shingles are the most common choice, but other choices like metal are available too. Siding may be included with this step depending on the type of house. Roofing takes 3 to 4 weeks under ideal conditions.


2. Plumbing

Plumbers will lay the pipes connecting your home to the city or well water, snaking them between the framework. Plumbing takes about a month or two to complete but runs concurrently with electrical and HVAC work. That means all of it will be done in roughly the same timeframe.


3. Electrical

man checking electrical panel
Image Credit: jarmoluk, Pixabay

Electrical work is complex and dangerous, so you can’t really rush it. An experienced electrician will install the breaker boxes, wiring for light fixtures, appliances, and connect you to the power grid.

If you have solar panels, the electrician can also wire those to the power grid and backup batteries, if you have any. This step takes a month or two, running concurrently with plumbing and HVAC.


4. HVAC

Technicians will install your air conditioning system along with any vents you may need for the system. As you might expect, HVAC technicians work closely with electricians for some parts of the job. HVAC work could easily be done in a week or two, but it all depends on the business and how busy the technicians are.


5. Interior Finishing

Finished Sheetrock In New Home Construction
Image Credit: Darryl Brooks, Shutterstock

Most of the house is complete at this point, and it may even look like a house at this stage. Drywall is completed during this step, along with doors, light fixtures, counters, stairs, and more. It’s mainly a lot of detail work. Expect the interior finishing stage to take about 6 weeks to 10 weeks, depending on the size of your house.

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Conclusion

Houses take a lot of work, from the foundation slab to the wooden frame and drywall skeleton. Framing the house alone takes about 5 to 8 weeks, assuming it’s an average-sized home. Larger or smaller houses could take 2 weeks or 3 months. It also depends on how cooperative the weather is and how experienced the carpenters are at their job.

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