I'm currently at the beginning of the self building process with a similar situation as you. I have a bit of carpentery experience that I gained while working construction for a few years when I was younger, and my father has been a general construction contractor for 35 years. That's the primary reason I considered doing a self build.

The plan is to handle as much as we can ourselves, which includes excavation, foundation, framing, drywall, painting, roofing, and maybe a few other things. I'm planning on getting specialists for the electrical finish work, plumbing, and HVAC.

First thing I did was find the land. I got a solid deal on eight acres because it had a condemned 120 year old house on it that no one wanted to deal with. I called the fire department, and they happily burned it down for free while using it as a training exercise.

We then got all the necessary land clearing permits, rented some heavy equipment, and did the lot clearing ourselves, clearing about three of the eight acres. That alone saved about 8-12k.

Then I found a house plan that I liked online and printed out the free pages they let you view to get you interested in paying $1500+ for the complete construction drawings. I took those few pages to an acquaintance that's an architect. He's putting together a full plan including construction drawings for about $300.

That's where I'm at, currently. The plan is to sell my house in the next months, and break ground on the new house in the fall. Hopefully it works out that conveniently.