Overheard conversation!!!!

[Teachu2]

Yeah, you're right. But in this case there were a number of mistakes that were fairly serious and I caught them. And since the contractors were working by the hour, the additional cost was always on me.
.....I've been a contractor for 40 years and know the process.

It must be different in your state than here, but here contractors must use a contract stating a binding bid for a project. Those without a contractor's license cannot do a contract, and they will work for time and materials instead. Individuals can act as their own general contractor without a license, and hire whoever they want to do the work, which I have done in the past. The general contractor I use and trust is upfront about his estimates - he figures in all his subcontractors and the materials, and adds 20%. That cost me about $7,000 when he built my shop, and was worth every penny. He had it done in two weeks (instead of the months it would have taken me) and everything was done right. He wasn't satisfied with the color of the stucco, as it didn't perfectly match the house, so he had his painter paint it to match - at his expense, not mine.

If you have the time, cash, and expertise to run your own job, you can get exactly what you want and save some money. Time is money - if you have a job that isn't flexible, it's a losing proposition. Money - If you have a construction loan, you may pay more for not having a general contractor. Expertise - Changes add $, every time. If you are in the middle of a construction boom, you may not be able to hire competent subcontractors - they are too busy taking care of their long-term general contractor customers.

 

[MossRoad]

Yeah, you're right. But in this case there were a number of mistakes that were fairly serious and I caught them. And since the contractors were working by the hour, the additional cost was always on me.

My house has a heavy red iron steel frame. After I found the footings set incorrectly I sent my contractor on his way and hired the next guy. We worked together to adapt the design to conventional framing and finish it out. A great project and a very rugged house. It's built roof first, then slab and then finished from the top down.

I would never just hand a contractor a set of plans and then come back when the house was done. That is a recipe for disaster, or at least, you end up with what someone else thought was right. This is not about someone getting done as quickly or as cheaply as possible. And as I stated before, a contractor must get paid for their work, so no, this is definitely not a problem for them. It only is if they give a finished price and the owner wants extras for free.

I've been a contractor for 40 years and know the process. But building this house took more than the usual techniques.

My father was and architect, a HUD inspector, and a ceritified construction specifications writer. He'd shown me some things over the years, mistakes that were caught before it got too expensive, and ones that were realized after it was too late. He offered to oversee the construction of his parish's new church. They said no thanks, the contractor was a parishioner of good standing (he had money). So my father poked his nose into it anyway after work each evening. The very first foundation footing was poured, and it was a couple feet off. He got the pastor, a tape, the contractor, the blueprints.... contractor ended up having to jack hammer the footing out and start over. That made for some bad blood in the parish. But he kept on that contractor and found several other items throughout the project. Contractor wasn't happy.

 

[MossRoad]

I see a common theme here which does not fit the typical consumer mold... TBN posters use plastic but abhor carrying debt...

Plastic isn't a four letter word..... debt is.

 

[MossRoad]

The practice of rolling one credit card balance onto another to pay it, and another, and another is called "kiting". Check kiting used to be quit a popular scam, but pretty much always got caught. There are laws against check kiting. There aren't too many laws regarding credit card kiting. It's just that the debt will always catch up to you.

Credit card kiting - Wikipedia

vs

Check kiting - Wikipedia

Paper hanging, floating.... yikes!

 

[ultrarunner]

Moss... you have a way or writing that makes for easy comprehension on many subjects...

We had a public works project undergrounding utilities... one day I saw something that did not look right... a huge underground concrete vault was going in and I asked to speak with the foreman... told him my concerns and it was dismissed... then contacted the project manager and same...

It was no skin off my nose... about six weeks later the project was complete and the new paving of the State Highway completed... about a month after I saw a bunch of official vehicles in a huddle with surveyors and engineers...

Seems the Concrete Vault placement encroached on Hospital Property as I had said... the encroachment of ending up costing a lot of money... the cheapest of which is the Hospital received 25k for the encroachment plus I negotiated a no-fee hookup for a later date... about a year later the area business received bills for the Improvement Project including the hospital... I faxed over the no-fee hook-up due to the vault being on Hospital Property... about a week later it had been reviewed and withdrawn...

Have to wonder how much of this goes on simply because no one is watching?

 

[MossRoad]

My dad also worked on a lot of school projects in his construction specification writer role... he showed me blueprints for a nice high school one time. How beautiful it was going to be, the nice new classrooms, labs, auditorium, heat, air conditioning.... then he says, "Too bad they forgot to leave any space to run the duct work...."

It was too late! They'd framed in the building! :confused2: He said the company he was working for had the task of figuring out how to fix it after the original architects got fired. They ended up having to run almost everything on the roof, exposed. Didn't look too good. But whatcha gonna do at that point? :confused3:

As for his own house that he designed and built himself.... it was an ongoing architectural experiment, so we had all kinds of quirks and things in that house. But at least he knew it before he did it.

 

[Doofy]

I am a bit more optimistic. My kids circle of friends are all squared away - all of them are working, trying to build a life, and
living like that have a bit of sense. I see more of that type than the aforementioned.
The other day, I had to go into a major metropolitan area for the day. One of the things I noticed was the huge number of 20 and 30 somethings on the streets dressed for business and obviously on a career path. Inside the building I visited, the HQ for the organization I spent my entire career working for, I noticed the majority of the staff were in there 30's.

I don't agree with some of their world views, but the point is I see a lot of hard working young people.

Thank God! There may be hope yet.

 

[Doofy]

I know why. Most kids today think they know it all and that we are stupid.

 

[LittleBill21]

I know why. Most kids today think they know it all and that we are stupid.

I use to think that, and now even with thinking, I'm still above the average person in terms of intelligence. It bothers me how much i actually DON'T know, and how i will never have enough time to learn all the subjects i want to learn, kind of depressing to be honest.

 

[Teachu2]

I use to think that, and now even with thinking, I'm still above the average person in terms of intelligence. It bothers me how much i actually DON'T know, and how i will never have enough time to learn all the subjects i want to learn, kind of depressing to be honest.

The depressing part is when you start forgetting what you already learned....

 

[Doofy]

Plastic isn't a four letter word..... debt is.

Amen, Moss! TBN Members not only read these threads but add well thought and stated responses to them. I spend hours reading this stuff and must say "Great Advice" 99% of the time.

 

[LittleBill21]

The depressing part is when you start forgetting what you already learned....

yes I'm 34, and now i have to leave notes with most projects so i can my wrap my head back around what the **** i was doing.

 

[ultrarunner]

A Sharpie and Thumbtacks have served me well.

Use a Sharpie to write on equipment or appliances where and when bought plus warranty...

The Thumbtack is great for under sink notes or literature for faucets and garbage disposals...

A friend has a white board in his garage for oil changes and vehicle service... he is around 80 but can tell you exactly when and what service was done...

I can see how it would be only natural for kids to feel they know everything... when the Mom would babysit the grandkids and they wanted a DVD or Cable show... the 5 year old would take care of it...

 

[RSKY]

I use to think that, and now even with thinking, I'm still above the average person in terms of intelligence. It bothers me how much i actually DON'T know, and how i will never have enough time to learn all the subjects i want to learn, kind of depressing to be honest.

If you realize how much you don't know then you sir, are much more intelligent than most people. I know a lot about a little and a little about a lot. But I am ignorant of most things.

RSKY

RSKY

 

[Raspy]

When I was in college and in an engineering class, we went on a field trip to the new cop shop. It was built like an H beam laid on its side, with the top floor sitting on a kind of spine. Windows all around the perimeter. When they moved in they set up the filing cabinets along one side of the upper floor and the whole floor tilted over, popping the widows out of their frames on the other side. Big disaster.

Then some years later they figured out it was built directly on an earthquake fault, so they abandoned the whole thing and tore it down.

It looked nice and it was touted as an example of fine contemporary architecture. To me it was an example of stupidity. :laughing:

 

[ultrarunner]

Hayward City Hall was built at great expense only to find it was built on the Hayward Earthquake fault...

Multi Story building that could not be used...

It is the tall vertical building on the left...

https://images.search.yahoo.com/ima...&fr=mcafee&fr2=sb-top-images.search.yahoo.com

 

[Doofy]

The Davis/Bacon Act was the biggest boondoggle I've seen. Nothing against great wages for a superior job but when forced to pay Davis/Bacon for shoddy, half-azzed work really irritated me. 8 schools built, all D/B and they are crap! When Gov't is involved prices quadruple.

 

[Macinnis]

Bought a new car at a dealership...found out 6 months later my salesman opened up a business cc using my credit. All online, I had no clue...until they called letting me know they were suing me for 10k in unpaid debt.

I claimed fraud, they agreed and I didn’t have to pay. After this that, I was the one who figured out who did it. Called capital one to let them know how all this happened and they could not have cared less. ‘We don’t prosecute third parties sir.’

I had to go to three different police stations to get them to ‘take the case’. They finally did, arrested the guy and he went back to prison cuz he was still on parole.

He now has a job selling cars at the same dealership my wife bought her truck.

The messed up thing about identity theft...was that while I didn’t have to repay the 10k, my credit was down in the 600’s. It’s now back up in the 800’s, but good thing I didn’t need a loan in that time.

I now carry only and check my credit twice a year...it’s scary how easy it is to open up a ‘business’ card online.

 

[Bird]

When Gov't is involved prices quadruple.

I learned years ago that most companies that have any experience dealing with government entities learn to charge quadruple because they'll earn it. On any project or sale, they don't have to satisfy one or two people, but a lot of people and some of those they have to try to satisfy can't even agree with each other on what they want. And then, when a job or project is completed, they may have a long wait to get paid. In the city for which I worked, most things had to be bought on a bid, and in many cases, the city paid for the low bid when the low bid was four times as much as you or I would have to pay if we walked into a retail establishment and paid for that product.

 

[ultrarunner]

Yep... I would go time and materials for my best contractors... in 25 years there was never an issue... and there were a few audits.

Now that we have been bought by a Health Care Giant everything requires multiple bids and simple projects get real expensive fase plus there are so many additional steps and hands in the pot...

I had a deal with the owner of a very large Time/Clock company for Operating Room clocks and timers...

He gave me unbeatable prices... the best offered.

Now we have to go through the buyer and the prices have tripled.

Just today there was discussion about some of the services I have been doing business with for years... they are all going up on price since the merger... the reason is we had been enjoying special pricing and now that we are part of the big Market Share company the low prices we have been paying would jeopardize the price structure in place charging the big company.

I asked one of the owners and he said it costs more all around to do business with the big company.... I would make his schedule mine and stay late of come early... no problem... now this is not possible.