To build-your-own-house is definitely a long, hard, process but it has so many rewards. Think back at a time in your life when you accomplished something awesome, or perhaps you were in really good physical condition and you felt good. Maybe you were a winner in sports or you climbed the company ladder at a job.

What I'm getting at is this: do you remember the feeling of accomplishment you had? Do you remember how it feels to be in a positive state of mind?

That's how it feels every day when you build your own house and the further along the project gets, the more empowered you feel. And once your house is finished, that feeling is strong and you feel like saying, "yes, I just built a house, now I know I can do almost anything!"

Now, the emotional benefits are only part of the many advantages here, but to me they are worth more than all the others. That's why I'm talking about them first. Your nice home that you built yourself will be a daily reminder of what a positive mindset can accomplish.

Another benefit to help you decide to build your own house is low monthly payments. It's so much easier making payments on a home that you only had to borrow enough money for building materials. As I've said before, homes are expensive because of hired labor. It makes a huge difference every month.

Another big advantage if you build your own house is your own "sweat equity". That's what the bank calls it when you do your own labor. My sweat equity was almost $80,000 once my home was finished. In other words, I owned $80,000 worth of equity in a $140,000 home. Not bad when you consider that I started out with nothing.

Most of us have nothing when we start out. We usually even have to borrow money for the land, but our time and efforts do have a dollar value and it is a lot! That's what makes this whole thing possible. Sweat equity is a good word to remember.

Before I decided to make my own house, I never had many options to work with. Our income was too low to get financing for a new home. We were tired of throwing away rent money. We didn't want a big mansion, we just wanted a place to call our own.

My wife and I sat down and made some simple house plans. We came up with an economical style that would suit us. We weren't building to please anyone but ourselves. We quickly learned that building materials are inexpensive and that the high costs of homes comes mostly from hired labor. My wife and I did all the work ourselves even though we had very little experience in house building.

I knew it would be hard to make my own house, but we stuck with the plan and in the end we had a nice place that had a lot of equity in it because of our own labor and it had low monthly payments. Since then, it has become my passion to help others understand the unlimited rewards for doing their own work.

I always tell them my story about how I decided to make my own house. I have seen many people benefit from doing their own work. They had no idea how many advantages there would be. The common thing I see is that when you build your own house it sparks some kind of awakening that makes you realize how strong you can be when you need to be. You are never the same after that. It's such an awesome change!

That is what motivates me. I always go on about the emotional benefits and first-time builders don't have a clue what I'm talking about, but they soon figure it out and are forever grateful.

Any house plan works because the idea is to minimize hired labor to save money. Some plans are better than others, but all will have a big savings if the owners and not contractors do them.

The thing that makes all this possible is the equity you create by doing your own labor. You can use that equity to make your life better by using a low interest loan to start a business, get an education, or just sit back and enjoy low payments.

Larry Angell