Building new construction

So I've had a one family home on a big plot of land in prime Long Island City for decades now. With the whole Amazon thing, I guess in a couple years having a small frame one family home on a M1-2/R6 zoning lot doesn't make a lot of sense. But I don't just want to sell it to a developer either, since I really want to hold on to it. I was wondering if normal folk ever built out their own lots or if... [more]

So I've had a one family home on a big plot of land in prime Long Island City for decades now. With the whole Amazon thing, I guess in a couple years having a small frame one family home on a M1-2/R6 zoning lot doesn't make a lot of sense. But I don't just want to sell it to a developer either, since I really want to hold on to it. I was wondering if normal folk ever built out their own lots or if that's just a pipe dream. I don't want to get rid of my house but I'm not sure it makes sense for me to do this project since i have no experience in building stuff. So just a question.... is building stuff doable for normal folk? How much would, for example, a 5000 sq ft building cost with mid-range finishes (looking at a commercial space on the first floor and a couple of residential units on top). Coming up with a million or two won't be too difficult, but anything more than that probably not..... [less]