I bought my first new home in Pinellas Park in 1975 from a model and watched it go up from start to finish. Did the same thing in Pensacola in 1977, so by 1980 I bought a lot in Pensacola and decided to contract it out myself.
In Florida if you don't resell the home within one year, you can act as your own contractor. After buying the lot I did a lot of legwork in advance looking for top notch subs and choosing all the building materials. The home was a 4 BR, 3 BA ,2 Car, 2700 SF rancher that I designed, you also don't need an architect in Florida, a residential designer can do it much cheaper if it's not commericial.
From breaking ground to moving into the finished home was 11 weeks, 77 days. I stayed on top of everything by being onsite everyday, all day and had the subs working everyday. Never had two in the same area at one time, if one was inside, the other were outside.
The lot was $15K, the home construction loan was $52K and then an additional $8K was added for an 18x36 vinyl pool. Total price was $75,000 and I sold it two years later for $135,000, and that was in 1980. A lot of profit can be made in home construction which explains why so many in Florida get into the business.
I mentioned this, so you know I have some experience. The person in Minnesota was probably a framer. I doubt they were electricians, plumbers, probably not even carpet or roofers. To a framer, when you dry-in the home, it's considered 'built'. That means once the slab is poured, you frame all the walls, set the trusses, nail the plywood and felt paper and nail in the windows. That's called being dried-in, and weather permitting shouldn't take more than 3 weeks, which is about 20 days.
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