Some things I’ve learned, or at least have had reinforced, over the past roughly 10 weeks of building.
Take care of yourself
Getting hurt isn’t admirable nor productive. Small, stupid injuries can and have ruined days of work.
Rome, nor a house, were built in a day, so pace yourself
Wear your PPE - you want to come out on the other side with eyeballs, hearing, and lungs intact. I recommend getting some decent over the ear protection and a decent respirator.
Wear sunscreen!
Things are done the way they are for a reason
It’s your job to figure out why, and where to do it differently. Doing things the same way they have always been done without understanding why is at best a missed opportunity for improvement and at worst is a misapplication of a “standard” method.
Good examples:
Keeping studs 16” or 24” on center keeps your sheet goods and rafters lining up every time - makes things go a lot quicker and reduces odd cuts and fitments that chew up time. I regret not putting more effort into keeping things 16” on-center from the beginning
The screw vs. nail story is a long one, but nails will always be cheaper and faster. You lose opportunity to fix previous work, ability to pull pieces together, and pull out capability, all of which I came to highly value and I was glad I framed with screws. Sheathing and siding though - nails.
Exterior trim comes in pre-milled and sometimes pre-primed profiles - this speeds up install and paint process considerably. I made all my trim profiles from redwood 2x4s (jointed, planed, cut after purchasing) and primed and pre-painted all of the window frames - this took an obscene amount of time but the end product turned out great.
I pre-painted all my trim and siding so I have no painting that needs to be done on the house - this took a while but I think the final result is better - tight lines and no drips on windows or other parts of the house.
Fixtures and shop improvements pay themselves back in high multiples
If you can think of more than one use for a shop fixture, it’s probably worth building. My toolbox, large assembly table, miter saw station, and table saw infeed/outfeed are good examples. That 2 hours 5 months ago probably saved 10+ hours over those same months
The same goes for tools - if a good tool gives you significant speed or quality improvements, it’s probably worth it (my 18ga brad nailer)
Pull your own materials where quality matters
Lumber deliveries are risky because they are pulled by folks who don’t care about your project the way you do. Pull your own wood and take the time to find nice pieces. Tiny projects require increased levels of detail in all aspects.
Create your own deadlines
Ask people to help you or rent a tool in advance to hold yourself accountable to timing
Going along the lines of 1), schedule days off and/or trips - it gives you deadlines/hard stops to work towards
Make mock-ups
The first time something comes together it generally never looks or works quite right
Spend a small amount of time and money on a scaled down version or sample to confirm the way you are doing it is the easiest, fastest, or highest quality, and adjust for V2 (the real deal). My mockups of the exterior trim, soffit, and siding colors paid dividends later on.
Overorder and overbuild
The extra cost lost to extra material is likely less than the time lost to being held up from not having material on hand.
Talk to people in person
I spent a lot of time on the computer specing out parts/designs only to learn they weren’t easily attainable or were below minimum order quantities. Local stores/shops will have a known list of regularly stocked parts, and at minimum can tell you what they can or cannot get.
Talking to someone in a store or local shop can get you answers to questions it might take hours to Google (but do your research first!)
Pitch your roof steeper
Low pitch is a headache - my interior headroom turned out fine and I could have gone to at least 1:12 on my low pitch sections. I think 1:12 is the lowest I’d go in the future.
Last but not least - have snacks and a source of caffiene on-site