Caught by the inflation demon

[Torvy]

Glad we are building where we are...virtually no permitting needed. 6 month wait for you and the builder is unconscionable. They should be refunding your fees even if work does continue.

Good luck. Keep us posted on the progress

 

[Dftodd]

I looked at a log home when house hunting 20 years ago. The realtor said they were nice to look at, but the maintenance on them was an ongoing problem. Probably some of the most honest real estate advice I've ever gotten.

My grandfather had a log cabin built for my grandmother before she passed away.

Windows and eaves needed to be sealed periodically. Seemed like that was every year due to shrinking and swelling. Periodic exterior staining every few years.

And for some reason, they could never keep the wasps out of the place. They would find a little chink in the armor and move back in.

That was a constant battle.

The place was very comfortable. But a lot of work.

 

[beowulf]

Ditto on taking care of the crews. For various projects here I would let them know I would get their lunches - asked them when they took lunch and went and brought food back. I made sure there were chairs and shade and a table for lunch time. Had ice and sodas and water. At the end of the day, I would ask the supervisor if it was okay if I gave them a beer - making sure it was just one. A couple of times they were a guy short and I helped out (though the supervisor, I was found out later, was told not to do that again). Those projects were for reroofing, stucco, a garage/gym building, a concrete pour, and more.

 

[orezok]

I was a licensed general for 40 years. In all that time, never once did I have a sub tell me that a cost had gone down, or that he over estimated an item and that the cost was actually less. Sometime it happens that they guessed too high or the original supplier they planned to use was too expensive. Some generals use the same subs on all their projects and the subs do a cost creep on every job. If you are assured of the job, costs go up along with the profit.

The general finally figures it out and dumps them to get back to market value.

Sit down with your builder and go over the cost line by line and determine if he is actually bidding the work or just using his “good ole boy network” for cost.

You may be surprised and he may be also.

 

[dmccarty]

We looked at log homes and homes built with 6x6s(long story on that design) but in then end, after talking to people and investigating these construction methods, decided to build stick built. We also look long and hard at ICF.

Log homes have issues with settling/shrinkage, bugs, rot, and were more expensive to build when we making decisions. I even read of a case, where the log home was put up during the week, and was stolen over the weekend. Never would have thought that would happen and it certainly is unusual.

As others have said, if the contractor wants out because of money issues OR he has a more profitable house to build, do you really want him building your house?

I would not want to be building or buying a home right now. Too much uncertainty and high prices for materials and workers.

We know of a house sale where the buyers AND sellers have gotten themselves into a real bad situation. The buyers have a good lock on an interest rate but the lock has run out and they are paying the bank money they cannot afford to keep the rate. Each day they pay quite a bit money When the house inspection was done, quite a few problems were found, which was surprising, and these are going to be expensive to fix so the house price was renegotiated. The buyers WANT the house for a variety of reasons but a major one is the low interest rate. If they don't get the house, they will have a much higher rate and they will have to buy a much smaller home as a result. The seller is shafted because of equity debt(Long HORROR show that would shock TBNers) that they don't have the cash or equity to FIX the problems found in the inspection. The sellers will have to disclose the problems to future buyers if the sale falls through and the seller has to sell because of raising interest rates on the equity loan. If it was me, I would run from the sale based on some of the problems found in the inspection. The builder should be hung for what he did and I am shocked the house passed inspections. The current buyers are willing to deal with the problems because of the interest rate lock..... It is a vicious circle the buyer and seller are locked into.

Later,
Dan

 

[ultrarunner]

Some friends are generals although all retired now.

Almost across the board they would spread business around even if it was just one job out of 7 or 10.

I asked why and was told good for business both so no one gets too comfortable but also to establish multiple relationships to have established back up.

My builder friend was at the coffee shop and a commercial electrician said how about letting my boy bid on your next spec home as I want him to have residential experience.

The way it worked was dad basically bought the job for his son and made sure it was done right.

It was half the cost and no shortcuts.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

My grandfather had a log cabin built for my grandmother before she passed away.

Windows and eaves needed to be sealed periodically. Seemed like that was every year due to shrinking and swelling. Periodic exterior staining every few years.

And for some reason, they could never keep the wasps out of the place. They would find a little chink in the armor and move back in.

That was a constant battle.

The place was very comfortable. But a lot of work.

I saw Hoy Axton's house on the North Umpqua. He was living there when he wrote "Joy To the World." Jeremiah was a chainsaw carving of a frog that sat on the porch.

It was a log mansion. We actually looked at buying it, but the necessary maintenance was outside our budget. The bottom two courses of logs needed replaced, and I would have put a copper lock seam roof on it. It was a beautiful hand carved two story log house. The interior door latches were carved pine knots, smoothed to fit your hand, with a hand carved wooden mechanism. It was built in the '50s by two bachelor brothers.

I hope somebody bought it who deserved the place.

 

[DB Pilot]

We had our house built in 2019. Just a short 44 years from the day we were married and planning a house. We found a good builder and are satisfied with the house, but I must say the BS these contractors have is difficult to deal with. I would not want a disgruntled contractor any where near my property.
We also lost money in plans that we had to step back from, for various reasons and misunderstandings, but I like to think that our guardian angels kept us out of trouble, until we found the right way for us to go.

 

[Hay Dude]

We had our house built in 2019. Just a short 44 years from the day we were married and planning a house. We found a good builder and are satisfied with the house, but I must say the BS these contractors have is difficult to deal with. I would not want a disgruntled contractor any where near my property.
We also lost money in plans that we had to step back from, for various reasons and misunderstandings, but I like to think that our guardian angels kept us out of trouble, until we found the right way for us to go.

The primary reason I stopped actively being a builder was the severe degradation in subcontractor quality I experienced from about the beginning of the last great recession in 2008.
I was building and farming from 2000 to today, but by 2020 I had pretty much stopped my construction business advertising and walked away from quite a few offers to build homes.

Too many of today’s customers are overly involved in the process and my good subs retired. New subs I tried made too many mistakes and I knew it was time.

I reshaped my construction business to a more barn/farm construction and away from residential. Also tripled the size of my farming business.

Much happier now.

Will be rebuilding the foundation of a barn to keep a foot in construction for a while longer.

 

[dodge man]

Sometimes the best thing to do is just walk. Stop the entire project for now. I’ve missed out on a house, cars, trucks and felt bad at the time but later realized it was for the better.