Building a stick frame house in the woods in 90 days

[FairfaxStu]

Peter:

How is the kitchen coming along? As a side note, I don't really recall seeing any roughins for the gas and vent for the cooktop. Hopefully they are in but you have not just posted pics yet.
-Stu

 

[J F]

I just want to know that the fart fans are working properly. :laughing:

 

[FairfaxStu]

I just want to know that the fart fans are working properly. :laughing:

Funny you mention that. When I purchased my current home, I soon realized that the previous owner was some sort of commercial maintenance technician. He had some horrible work going on here including cutting out a structural wall and replacing it with a metal stud wall in a different location. Can you say unsupported ceiling joists? Anyway, the funniest thing I found was that the fan he installed in the main bath was directly below a very large duct in the attic so he had no way to get a vent connected to it. On top of that, the fan actually has wiring running to it and down the wall next to an outlet. However, he never cut out an opening for the cut-in box so it is just a wire dangling in the wall. I don't even want to get into the botched hydronic HVAC system that he installed nor the oil furnace that was installed by some hack in the attic as an attempt to be able to sell the house.
-Stu

 

[J F]

Good grief, Stu. Earlier in this thread, I was thinking about how the "builder" was getting "short-thrifted", but as of late I'm feeling that it is Pete who has been treated that way.

Like I said, I'm totally perplexed about the whole build now. Just doesn't make sense to me.

 

[pclausen]

Sorry guys, I have been under the weather these last few days, but am finally starting to feel better again. Needless to say, I did not get any trees cut down yesterday. I'm taking Thursday and Friday off from work, and have some other guys coming in to help cut the pines and put up the deer fence in an attempt to have it ready by Monday.

As far as picking this construction company in the first place, I admit some more due diligence should have been done. They were great to meet with initially, and answered all the questions we had initially correctly. They were the builder that the realtor had worked with originally to propose a turn-key house on that piece of land. We did consider another builder, but they would not have been able to start until much later, which was a big factor. In hindsight, there is probably a good reason for that.

I agree with what others have suggested, one of the primary reason for all these screw ups with the finish work is the lack of supervision. The latest example of that is that the exterior doors got 2 coats of clear coat put on them, when they should have been stained to bring out the wood grain. So now they will have to attempt to remove the poly with paint thinner, and start over using stain. It has been days, so I'm not sure how successful they will be at removing the poly...

The oven and dishwasher are in, as is the cook top, although they have yet to cut out for the vent for that. Dishwasher has large gaps on both sides of it, so it looks like they made the opening quite a bit wider than 24" (unit is 23 7/8" wide), when they did the final "adjustment" during the earlier "fixing" stage. Still waiting on the replacement upper cabinets. It is also clear that the washer and dryer won't fit the space allocated to them with the current granite counter top. Suits me fine since they need to redo it anyway to fit the larger utility sink...

 

[pacerron]

Peter,
You might want to get the washer and dryer in place and hooked up while the countertop and base cabinet are out of the way, as well as making sure there is enough work room to get them out after the cabinet and countertop are redone, if you are planning to make the countertop deeper for the sink That room is only about 6 feet deep.
Those flimsy plastic wrapped flexible wire dryer vent tubes are really not good from a clog up standpoint. You must already have a 90 deg. El in the basement to route to the outside and will have another at the top that will hopefully direct connect to the pipe coming out the back of the dryer. If not, you will have to leave more clearance behind the dryer and the wall to route the connection.
The washer will be lined up with the front of the dryer, defining the space required. It would also be good to have a leak pan under the washer with a hose routed through the floor and over and down to the drain your water heater pop off valve goes to. The drip pans are usually a little larger than the washer base so that dimension is important in the layout.
You might want to replace the cheap water hoses that came with the washer with the ones that have a metal fabric on the outside.
Little things that save a lot of frustration later on.

The movers may need to use one or more of the sliding doors with both panels removed to get some of the larger items inside, so hope for good weather and hard ground. I need good weather too, as it is time to start baling hay.
Ron

 

[EddieWalker]

They were the builder that the realtor had worked with originally to propose a turn-key house on that piece of land. We did consider another builder, but they would not have been able to start until much later, which was a big factor. In hindsight, there is probably a good reason for that.

Did you look at any of their other houses or talk to anybody else who had a house built by them?

While blaming the subs for a terrible job, in all cases, it's who the contractor hired to do the work. It really seems to me that the contractor is pulling people off the street and sending them out there without any experience in what they are supposed to be doing. Some of the mistakes are so simple and basic that this is the only thing that makes sense to me.

Does this contractor really have other jobs going on? Has he every built a house before as a General Contractor? if so, how do you know this?

The client should not be paying for a General Contractor to build a turn key house and doing his job for him by checking on his employees work and then having to fight to have them do it right.

Eddie

 

[EddieWalker]

They were the builder that the realtor had worked with originally to propose a turn-key house on that piece of land. We did consider another builder, but they would not have been able to start until much later, which was a big factor. In hindsight, there is probably a good reason for that.

Did you look at any of their other houses or talk to anybody else who had a house built by them?

While blaming the subs for a terrible job, in all cases, it's who the contractor hired to do the work. It really seems to me that the contractor is pulling people off the street and sending them out there without any experience in what they are supposed to be doing. Some of the mistakes are so simple and basic that this is the only thing that makes sense to me.

Does this contractor really have other jobs going on? Has he every built a house before as a General Contractor? if so, how do you know this?

The client should not be paying for a General Contractor to build a turn key house and doing his job for him by checking on his employees work and then having to fight to have them do it right.

Eddie

 

[kevin37b]

What kind of (warranty ) is on a new house ? What if the roof starts leaking 3 months from now? Can this outfit be trusted to honor any warranty work ? I really feel for you as you are obviously a very motivated person and somewhat of a perfectionist , which is good . Theending to this story is a real disappointment .

 

[J F]

It ain't over yet, Kevin. Although the fat lady can be heard clearing her throat.