Home Building Advice

[MikeMartial]

So we've decided it's time to sell our house and finally build a custom house, essentially our dream house.

We are in the very preliminary aspects of this so far; a lot has been purchased, the builder picked, and a basic floorplan laid out.

For those that have built before, either as a general contractor or through a builder, what advice, tips, and/or experience can you share?

 

[velvett]

Educate yourself.
Learn as much as you can about the prices of materials.
Pay attention to what IS included in your contract and what is under "allowances".
Pay attention to what is documented on your written specs are and what is draw on your blueprints.

What kind of builder did you hire?
Design Build company?
Custom builder?
Is it a general contractor with subs?
Cookie cutter builder with a model and sales office?

If you don't have a full set of plans, a contract, specification list and an approximate finish date - get them fast.


Start here:
http://www.nahb.org/

 

[Mr. dB]

Don't pick something from a pattern book.

 

[MikeMartial]

What kind of builder did you hire?
Design Build company?
Custom builder?
Is it a general contractor with subs?
Cookie cutter builder with a model and sales office?

Small custom home builder that does about 30-40 homes a year. Has sub contractors for some of the trades, but not all.

If you don't have a full set of plans, a contract, specification list and an approximate finish date - get them fast.

We will be getting plans drawn up; right now, the builder is looking at the basic floorplan, and giving a very, very estimated cost based on the square footage and what finishing we've verbalized. Within the next few weeks we'll be going into more specific details.

Start here:
http://www.nahb.org/

Thank you!

 

[velvett]

This might be too late but this is a fantastic show.
http://www.kbis.com/kbisshow/index.jsp

If you need any help let me know - I've been doing a lot of work for builder/remodelers lately.

 

[Raina]

As someone who works in the industry I think new home builders should be requesting lien wavers from their builder on a regular basis. It's ultimately a cover your ass thing because if you're paying the builder and the builder isn't paying the subs, you can lose it all.

 

[tinytank]

as a guy working in a building trade, my only advise is to get a contractor, dont be the one orginiseing the trades. they will rip u off, your time scale will go off the charts. i sware ive seen it done before.

 

[MikeMartial]

As someone who works in the industry I think new home builders should be requesting lien wavers from their builder on a regular basis. It's ultimately a cover your ass thing because if you're paying the builder and the builder isn't paying the subs, you can lose it all.

Can you explain this a bit more, Raina?

 

[Raina]

Your builder can get lien wavers from any of their subs. It proves that your contractor is paying everyone. Let's say you gave your builder $20k to go towards lumber expenses. Well without a waver you don't know for sure that they applied that money to that bill. They could have spent it on beaded necklaces...and the lumber company could put a lien on your property for the 20k they were owed.

A lot of people don't understand them or don't think they're a big deal. As that's what I do for a living though I disagree. Cover your ass. Make sure the subs are all paid. A good builder has no issue proving that.

 

[bloodinbloodout]

As someone from the industry - BUILD WITH MASONRY

STONE OR BRICK.

First of all it is MUCH nicer. It is much stronger (structurally and fire code wise) and your house will keep its value much better. How many cedar houses are still around from the 1500s?

It will cost you a bit more up front than the cheap shit but will pay in the long run. Plus it is little to NO maintenence. PM me if you have questions and if you are in the Tri-State area I can help you out with materials.

 

[MattTheSkywalker]

I just bought a piece of land, ripped down an existing structure, and then built a $5M house. (Construction costs were almost $2M) property value + house is ~$5M.
I was my own GC and designer. I hired an engineer as per FL state law to submit plans, but did all the rest myself.

I think you were smart to hire a builder. It is more expensive, but the time you spend as a GC is incredible.

When you use a GC / builder, here is part of the problem: you have NO CONTROL over the subs they use, and the GC is now incentivized to always choose the lowest bid for every trade, as well as to cut corners and all that.

The good news is they have insurance and you won't have to spend 3 hours a day before and after work on your job site.

Raina made a good point on lien waivers - but another way to control that is to manage the payment schedule with your GC to roughly correspond to progress along each trade.

Anyway...you can PM me if you have questions.

 

[GoldenDelicious]

as a guy who grew up in the building industry and am immersed in people who are the engines of the construction industry in this town (and maaaaaaaaaaaaay be going into business with one of them) all i can say is source your materials overseas and get them shipped to you. you will spew your guts up if you found out how much you can get superb quality kitchen/bathroom/fittings/electrical/tiles/doors/locks for in 3rd world manufacturing countries.

 

[velvett]

When you use a GC / builder, here is part of the problem: you have NO CONTROL over the subs they use, and the GC is now incentivized to always choose the lowest bid for every trade, as well as to cut corners and all that.

Ah this is unfortunately very true...

A few thoughts...

Stone and hardwood goes UNDER cabinetry - builders love to save money there. Even things like cheap paint - cheap paint and expensive trim looks like crap, one coat dark stain on wood, plumbing fixtures, fittings and trim - DO YOUR RESEARCH!!!

Oh and speaking of markups as a dealer - I can buy $100k of high end manufactured cabinetry (not by a furniture maker but by a commercial cabinet maker) for $35k.

You have to kind of know the products you are using in your house, one because of it's value (quality) and value (cost) - it goes boths ways - faking a cheap good looking product as a high quality and marking up a good quality product to the ceiling of high expense.

 

[big4life]

Ah this is unfortunately very true...

A few thoughts...

Stone and hardwood goes UNDER cabinetry - builders love to save money there. Even things like cheap paint - cheap paint and expensive trim looks like crap, one coat dark stain on wood, plumbing fixtures, fittings and trim - DO YOUR RESEARCH!!!

I know a guy who worked for a local contractor as a painter. The contacter would give them empty paint buckets with a quality paint name on the side, and they would put cheap paint in the buckets.


Then there are the one week wonders I pass on the way to work. This very large builder in our area, deals in volume, started a developement, and they had a house dried in within two days. Within a week they would have it almost finished. These are cookie cutter plans, so they are kind of easy to mass produce, but there's no way I would even think about looking at one of his houses.