At Home In The Woods

[scoutcub]

Yes, she's moving all around now.

Looks like a very happy baby (and Dad!).

 

[tommu56]

The brick crew finally came back today to finish the brick above the soldier strip at the top of the back porch.

My wife had left the brick mason multiple phone messages; he would never answer or return her calls. He no-showed 2 times when he had said he would be here and never called to let us know. My wife had told him she wanted to be here when they came and wanted a heads-up so she could plan her schedule accordingly. Today the brick crew just showed up without calling or giving any notice.

My wife asked one of the workers if they have been busy. He said they haven't been busy. The brick mason was out of town the past week and the crew hasn't worked. They could have been here a week ago if the brick mason had just sent them out here. I wish I could say we don't have to deal with this brick mason any more because I don't deal well with such discourteous and unprofessional behavior. Unfortunately we will have to get him back out here, or find someone else, to brick the front porch steps after the porch concrete is poured.

End of rant.
Obed

It might be a optical illusion but the posts on your porch look bowed?

If you are moving them you might want to go with a laminated post (check with a pole barn supplier it will stay straight

Another thing that might look good if you could get a white vinyl post sleeve (think fence post) to finish it off no paint or maintenance.


tom

 

[scoutcub]

Frank,
It's too early to give a complete answer. This past year hasn't been easy considering I have a demanding full-time job plus the work required for the house project. If I were retired and building the house I'm sure it would be a lot more fun. I do work from home 2 days a week; that's something I was able to negotiate when I accepted the job offer 3 years ago. I normally work about 50 hours/week at my regular job but have lowered it to 45+ hours for the past 6 months due to the house project. My wife has been mostly a full-time mom since our daughter was born 7 months ago so her schedule has been very flexible. She has done a little part-time work but not much that last 3 months. She has really been the GC on the house.

Do I wish we had hired a GC? Probably not due to the high prices they bid the job. I couldn't justify paying 50% more to build the house than the price for which I could sell when finished. That just doesn't make sense. I got a lot of criticism in this thread for not hiring a GC. I know good GCs earn their pay. However, we have caught important things that a GC never would have caught (or fixed if he did catch them). Also, it has been nice not having a GC between us and the subs. We have really had to watch the subs closely to get things done correctly and even under our watchful eye, some things still got missed. I doubt a GC would have watched the subs as closely. I'm sure the subs would rather do work for a GC who doesn't pay close attention than to work for us.

There are some things I might have done differently if we had it to do over. After seeing how big the house is, I would try to make it smaller and simpler. If starting over, I might not put in a basement and might not build an upstairs. No basement would have greatly simplified the house project and lowered the risk. Basements are risky; they can leak and plumbing under basement slabs is tough to repair if there are problems. Thankfully, our basement is not leaking. I won't know how good the plumbing drains are under the slab until we move into the house.

We've had some lookers at the 61 acres but no bites. This isn't a great economy for selling that kind of property.

This thread could continue for a while if there is interest. After we move into the house there will still be lots to do and stuff to talk about. I suspect the thread will end when people get bored with it and stop making posts. I've enjoyed posting and have appreciated all the help I've gotten from TBNers. I'm sure we have a better house because of you guys. Thanks!

Obed

Obed -

Thanks for the detailed response. I'm facing a similar scenario - we want to build our retirement house in the next 3-5 years. We just moved to the area, so the property sits 12 miles away. I currently work 6 weeks overseas, 6 weeks home...so that would make it very difficult to monitor progress while I'm away.
You're very fortunate to have a wife that is so capable and competent in the construction processes. Nothing against my wife, (sorry dear) but she has very little construction knowledge and is kept quite busy with the 2 young children.
I'm a big advocate of being my own GC, not only to save $$$ but as you pointed out to get is done to your spec, and catch things that a GC might easily miss. I had never really thought about this aspect, definitely something to keep in mind.
My biggest question is - how did you acquire the knowledge for information on the trades? I remember you bought a code book, but what about the technical info on each trade? Is that included in the code book, or did you read some books on each trade?
I'm hoping to retire in 5 years, and perhaps put off the building phase until I'm able to be there full time. This would be an ideal situation, just don't know if I'll be financially set with this economy...!

And, please forgive my comments regarding the thread coming to a close....what I meant by ending is you are very ready to move in,
but as we all know the process never really ends!

 

[rtdiggr]

I wouldn't give the mason anymore work,he obviously doesn't want or need any more of your money.
You could always ask one of the guys that did the previous brick work if they want to work on the side.

Shane

 

[mikefromnh]

I wouldn't give the mason anymore work,he obviously doesn't want or need any more of your money.
You could always ask one of the guys that did the previous brick work if they want to work on the side.

Shane

Yeah that sounds great. Hire an uninsured unlicensed laborer to undercut his boss. What could possibly go wrong?

If someone on my crew stole a client they wouldn't have a job to come back to.

 

[brin]

Yeah that sounds great. Hire an uninsured unlicensed laborer to undercut his boss. What could possibly go wrong?

If someone on my crew stole a client they wouldn't have a job to come back to.

+1 :thumbsup:

 

[dcyrilc]

I have to agree with brin and mikefromnh.

To add a little humor though, my old boss, when things were busy, would ask clients with small jobs if they were interested in hiring one of us direct under the table since the company was swamped. Also, when we were slow, she would farm the better ones of us out to the compitition to work for them so that she could keep the others employed. She had strange ideas for business, but was a great boss.:thumbsup: She's the one who gave me the digger/derrick boom truck as a going away present when I went to work for the city after 20+ years of working for her.

 

[rtdiggr]

Yeah that sounds great. Hire an uninsured unlicensed laborer to undercut his boss. What could possibly go wrong?

If someone on my crew stole a client they wouldn't have a job to come back to.

If you have a boss that won't return calls, doesn't show up on time, keeps his guys NOT working when there is work to be done. i would absolutly ask his subs. As Obey pointed out the brick mason was out of town last week so his crew had no work. The economy must have no effect this guy. Must be nice.


Give me a break about uninsured and unlicensed workers our countries were built on people doing work on the side.


Sorry my morale compass isn't set to the same level as yours but when i get screwed around by someone that is suppose to do the job right the first time i go to plan B.

Shane

 

[mikefromnh]

If you have a boss that won't return calls, doesn't show up on time, keeps his guys NOT working when there is work to be done. i would absolutly ask his subs. As Obey pointed out the brick mason was out of town last week so his crew had no work. The economy must have no effect this guy. Must be nice.


Give me a break about uninsured and unlicensed workers our countries were built on people doing work on the side.


Sorry my morale compass isn't set to the same level as yours but when i get screwed around by someone that is suppose to do the job right the first time i go to plan B.

Shane

I don't steal from my boss and wouldn't respect (or hire) anyone that does.

 

[rtdiggr]

I don't steal from my boss and wouldn't respect (or hire) anyone that does.

What are you talking about??????? stealing from your boss????? I never said that or recommend it. I am sure anybody with skill enough to lay brick and certainly by the mat. to finish the project.

If a person is sitting at home pick there nose while there boss is off doing whatever, and not putting these guys to work when work is available.

How is it people complain about the economy but don't go out and work. Obey is standing there with money in hand and the BOSS is basically saying i don't need your money. BUT the guys sitting at home with nothing to do probably does need money.