Building a stick frame house in the woods in 90 days

[pclausen]

The painters were back all day today (still there) and they redid all the nail holes. Nothing done with the triangular chip yet, but at least it looks like my message got through, to some extent.

They framers showed up at 8am and did the walkway to the basement concrete pad. Turned out pretty good. Ron, I head you on the lack of drainage. Will have to keep an eye on that to see if it will become a problem or not. Gravel in the bottom of each flower bed before topsoil sounds like a good precaution, even if the rest is not properly drained.

Electrician was there all day as well. Finally got the basement light working.

I spent all day cutting and chipping small trees along the deer fence line. Tomorrow I plan to start dropping 90' Yellow Pines in the path of the deer fence. Deer fence itself should show up mid week. It will be tight getting 1100' of it installed by Monday when mom moves in with the German Shepard's. Especially since I estimate 50 Pines need to get hauled out first and the limbs/tops chipped before we can string for the fence line.

 

[FairfaxStu]

Peter:

So let me see if I have this right. You are cutting down and hauling off several 90' trees as well as installing 1100' of deer fence in a week, plus working your main job? Jeez, I am tired just thinking about it.
-Stu

 

[jinman]

I agree with you Stu. If Peter doesn't slow down some, he'll be the "limp dishrag in the corner" by the time his mom gets moved in. But then again, maybe all this physical work is a way of bustin' stress for him. If that's the case, it's worth it.

 

[FairfaxStu]

Nope, not a chance. Peter, like his dad, will never slow down. He is in high gear all the time - I wish I had that much energy. When this project is over, Peter will just move on to another one - probably his BMW SUV that has some issues.
-Stu

 

[J F]

I have to guess that part of the problems with the build is that the builder saw right off the bat that Pete was going to be the "de facto" gc, checking on everything, compiling the "fix" list at every stage, etc.

Hey, why not let Pete do the work...we'll just fix stuff after he gives us the list. Which has seemed to happen again and again.

Who knows? I'm just really surprised at what has happened. I would LOVE to see/hear the builders response to this thread, especially after reading the whole thing.

Yeah, I'm pretty much disgusted. :laughing:

 

[J F]

I'm serious, most of the build, after framing, is making no sense to me at this point, when it comes to the lack of quality control. wth? :confused3:

 

[mkane09]

I'm beginning to believe that if I were to have another house built, my number 1 criteria for picking a builder might be: "How many houses will you have under construction while mine is being built?" Gotta agree with you Jay, the framing looked so promising, but most of the finish work...whew. This is why I wouldn't build a house even if my situation were different. I don't know how Peter has put up with all this. God bless you, man.....

mkane09

 

[J F]

Please don't agree with me too quickly. :laughing: I'm serious, when I say that the total ineptitude just seems surreal to me.

How does this happen? Especially, when you take into account Pete's supervision?

I'm perplexed.

 

[PAGUY]

Poor supervision. I would like to know what the average time the employees stay with the company that hired them. It doesn't appear as though each crew has much experience working with the other crews either. Peter has turned into the site supervisor but reports to the builder who then promises to get the flaws corrected by the crew who screwed up. Very poor way of communication during a build. I would think that if Peter didn't point out mistakes that punch list would be a mile long by now.

What would have happened if Peter never visited the site until it was finished completely?

 

[EddieWalker]

Please don't agree with me too quickly. :laughing: I'm serious, when I say that the total ineptitude just seems surreal to me.

How does this happen? Especially, when you take into account Pete's supervision?

I'm perplexed.

I was very impressed with the way the house was being built in the beginning as well. From what he said, the contractor looked very experienced and diligent. There where things in the framing that I felt where "extra" and done to make it better, even when it didn't have to be done to that level.

It's almost like somebody else took over that never built a house before. I know that it's been said over and over again that the contractor has 15 houses being built at the same time, but I really wondering if this is true. If so, who is in charge of this build and have they ever built a house before? I deal with homeowners that have never built a house that do these same things, and say over and over again, it's good enough or it's pretty good considering they never did it before.

When you hire a pro, pay money to have it done, it should be done better then you can do it.

The trim and finish is unacceptable.

Eddie