New Home Building

[ByronBob]

As I've mentioned a few times before I've built a new home. Generally the experience has been satisfying but with a few bumps along the way. It started with the framing being less than standard. When they slap walls up you must be involved to pay attention to detail. Some of my walls had entire studs missing nails in them. I pushed on the wall once and almost fell out of the house.

Driveway incorrect, Tyvek flapping in the wind, rafters with rotted wood in them and on and on I could go. This type of stuff you'd never see after the house was finished. The drywallers forgot to cut out a recepticle outlet in the kitchen until I read the blueprints and started questioning the situation.

Well last night the excavator finally came to do finish grading. He forgot to pull a piece of rebar out from where the D-Box was and when I pulled it out it smelled like sewage. Grabbed a shovel and the D-Box is crushed.

Went immediately to the septic tank and started digging. Broke a cleanout lid on that too. /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif I called him and he said holy s*** which was my expression too.

Take home point for everyone. You MUST get involved in projects like this. I mean digital pictures, phone calls to the builder everyday for status updates (I find first thing in am works best) Blueprint understanding, tape measure things, and anything else that you need to do to make sure that everystep of the way you know whats going on and who's doing what. You cannot be passive with stuff like this because once it's covered up and the checks have been issued to people your likely to never see tham again. Amazing how my GC never calls me anymore. But the 500 dollars I owe him isn't in the mail either and it never will.

 

[Glenn1]

I had a similar problem when building my house last year. They poured the frost footer for my walk out basement on top of the ground. It took almost two weeks to make him understand and agree it was wrong. It went down hill after that.

I would recommend anyone thinking of building to reconsider.

 

[Golfgar4]

Bob,

Sorry to hear about your problems. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif But you are absolutely correct. Anybody who is building a home not only needs to be involved, but they need to know the plans inside and out.

A lot of people would ask why should they know that much about the process? After all, that's why they hired a builder!

Well, for the very reason that you mentioned. The first house we built was a real learning experience. One day after work, I went out to the job site to check on things. That's a must for someone building. You've GOT to go out there everyday so you can keep an eye on things.

Anyway, they were supposed to pour the basement floor the next day, so I jumped up on the foundation to take a look at the prep work. As I stood there, I kept thinking that something didn't look right. Finally it hit me. All of the in floor plumbing that would've been covered up in about 10 hours was put in on the wrong side of the basement! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif Everything was backwards. /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

I went straight home (cell phones weren't around then /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif) and called my builder at his home. I explained the problem and what I expected he would do about it. Well, I really don't how this slip up had occurred, because he was a quality builder. But he got it straightened out and all turned out well.

So besides knowing the details of your home, and going out to the job site every day, I would also suggest maintaining a good relationship with the crews that are on the job site. It seemed to make a world of difference in how we were able to discuss problems with the "guys" after we showed up with plates of homemade cookies, or a big jug of lemonade or iced tea. I never brought beer until the end of the very last day a crew was working. Then I brought beer with a platter of sausage, chees and crackers. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif Some people might say that this was bribery. These guys should do quality work without "incentives". This is true, but I looked at it as insurance, not bribery. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

Good luck on your project and hope it all works out well for you.

 

[NIXON]

Byron Bob .
You're absolutey correct about paying attention to detail when building a house . I learned that the hard way . I was the superintendant for a construction company in Montgomery AL.
I also lived in the same development .
So I was not only building for customers , but also neighbors .
I learned a lot about getting it right the first time . But if there was a problem I also learned to get it fixed fast and effectively the first time . I had zero tolerance for sub contractors that did less than quality work . If they didn't build it like they wer going to lve in it the were gone , Period .
The houses were cleaned and swept out daily ,I tried to make sure I didn't have a gang of different subs working on a house at the same time . Once the Vinyl , wood flooring ,and carpet was in the flooring was covered in plastic with card board walkways . Subs took their shoes off at the front door ,and there was no smoking in the house . It took a lot of scheduling on my part ,and some grumbling on the subs part . But in the end it worked out very well . Shorter call back lists and satisfied home owners .
When I moved to Pa , I located a builder that had much the same method as I did . Sure was a nice experience to let someone else do the worrying for a change /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif John
But the end result was worth it .

 

[BIGUN]

I built a house about 25 years ago and it was not a pleasant experience. I could fill a page full of horror stories but I really don’t want to rehash all that in my mind. Like Garry, some of the things included catching concrete about to be poured all wrong. That’s hard to fix after the fact. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif I was out there almost every day checking on things. Almost grew an ulcer over it all. I felt the contractor was making all the money while I was doing all the supervising and making sure things were done right. /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif I have preferred buying preexisting houses ever since. My experience with most of the subs is that if you catch them screwing up, they are not apologetic for screwing up your house, but highly agitated that you caught it and called them on it. I would rate house building as one of my most stressful life experiences.

 

[SPIKER]

well things happen, the septic thing was probably an accident but sounds like you were stuck with a bad builder...

I did drywall, worked with my brothers who had their own buisness (still do) but I don't do it any more. They have a high quality buisness doing mostly UPSCALE homes, not the Waynehomes or hud homes type places" but we did do a few of those low cost houses. it was common to have to spend 10~20 hrs FIXING stuff before we could drywall the house. like you said Missing Nails, no studs or floating studs which have a single nail at one end. ect... the upscale builders do not have that type of problem as bad, still happens, but not nearly as bad. the wayne homes builder only used 1 nail per stud and if his guys split it out too bad it was left that way. we refused to do work for them after the 3rd house... same for the roof joists crooked warped and only partly nailed... not sure HOW they passed rough inspection unless there was $ involved...

Missing electrical boxes is not hard to do, lots of times insulation is put over them, so you (the drywaller) do not even SEE a box just the insulation, and when there are 3 or 4 outlets on one wall with insulation it can happen /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif don't ask me HOW I know. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif anyhow it is best if you are building to get ON-LOCATION daily (at different times too) to inspect, ask questions, and bring some refreshments (HOT COFFEE in winter and COLD DRINKS (no beer unless requested and only at the end of the sub-s job) have pizza delivered & paid for once ot twice too. HOT food is a great to get the labors into good moods and it also helps the quality of the job a LOT. this happens for us only about 1~2 times per 20 homes. but those 1~2 homes look 10 times better than the rest! It usually is not much more work for the subs to go a little extra and make the job much nicer so a little kindness goes a LONG way. Not tomention you are spending 50~150K whats the extra 30 bucks per sub going to cost ya? maybe 200 overall for all of them and you will have one heck of a lot nicer quality jobs.

ALSO rememeber that the HOUSE belongs to the SUBS while they are working on it, they become responceable for accidents and such that can happen on the work site. don't bring a bunch of young kids in while they are there working. when they are up on high stuff stay out of the job site, look around outside and such but disturbing them can cause them or you problems down the road. also be ware that fowl language maybe spoken freely there, take no offence to it and if the misses would then leave her at the curb... (we didn't speak that way but many labors do and those people who do are usually just as hard working or more so than others...) anyhow try and arrance weekly walk throught WITH the GC and the other walk throughs are best done @ lunch time with goodies and or near days end for the subs. remember no beer for the drivers and or durring working hrs. as YOU could be held liable if one of them got smached and fell off roof, even though it is likely it WOULD NOT happen the choice is you'rs ultimatly... most guys would like a good cold lemonade alsmost as much as beer..


Mark M

 

[markct]

well put about keeping the work crews happy, i remember when our foundation was being built, the only work my father contracted out realy, that everyday my parent made sure to have donuts and coffee for the guys in the morning, and lemonade and such thruout the day, set up a couple picnic tables for the guys etc. while i have no doubt that the contractor would have done a quality job anyhow, i think that it definatly helps the work crews moral and if there was gona be any little shortcuts they would probably be alot less likely too consider doing that, i think it also gives you a lot more leverage if something isnt being done the way you like it, basicly i mean that if your on good terms with the guys then they are gona be alot more cooperative. you need to remember that when your hiring a contractor you dont have the pull that a proffesional general contractor has, you will probably never again build a house, whereas a pro will build one every few months so if he likes a sub he will hire them back, they know that you wont be hiring them back weather they are good or not since you wont need them again.

 

[ByronBob]

I went home at lunch to check in on things and to say thanks for the excavator dropping what he was doing to take care of me. It was only the lid on the D-Box which broke and the lids on the box and tank were replaced. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

Spiker I can understand your opinion but for me not having mucho grande to build a house I still want the house done right. A 100,000 house should be as good as a 200,000 house when it comes to workmanship. The 200k house might be bigger, more options ect... but basics like nails in studs ect shouldn't take begging to get.

I like the idea of generosity in the way of food/drinks but in my situation I was displaced because my home wasn't done and the other buyer forced me to move or withdraw his offer. Then when subs say they'll be there only to not show up just isn't right. /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

Hard to be courteous when they can't be.

 

[ByronBob]

Hey Bigun

Didn't mean to pull the ghosts out of the closet on you. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

Shows little has changed in 25 years huh?

 

[ByronBob]

Glenn

My wife was livid many times during the build but as you mention it all went down hill. I didn't want that to happen so I learned early on to pick your spots to while doing things.

When a check came in from the bank I'd leave a message on the GC cell phone. "Hey got a check for 40grad here. When this and that is done I'd love to get it to you." Amazing how fast he got stuff done. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif