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Posted by marson on September 18, 2006, 7:52 pm
the other thing a gc has to be good at is making decisions. subs will
look to you as having the ultimate responsibility, and will tell you to
"make the call". the list of questions is endless. what elevation to
set the building, where should the sewer come into the house, do you
need undeslab electric, where should the electrical panel go, OSB or
plywood subfloor, what is the plan for the mechanical room, can i drill
through that beam, flat soffits or sloped soffits, where should the
doorbell transformer go? on and on. there is a lot more to
coordinating subs than just calling the plumber up and telling him to
be there at such and so a time tommorrow! regular people have done it
successfully, but don't think it's a matter of a few phone calls to
earn that 10% contractor's fee.
SteveF wrote:
> > Ok, so I am totally new to this. We just purchased our property and
> > plan to begin construction in 08. Our plan next year is to prepare the
> > site for our "dream house" which we think we found in one of the MANY
> > online companies who offer house plans. Shortly after scouring the
> > many sites and finding a few we liked, we discovered the same house is
> > pretty much available on most sites. Now we want the set of plans for
> > planning but not detailed for construction - and we found out the plan
> > we want has no such animal. Hmmm. Is this because the structure is
> > basic enough that a good contractor wouldn't need complete plans?
> >
> > What is everyones take on how to best achieve our dream home? We don't
> > have an excess of money, but we are planning on about $250k to build
> > our 2 story, 3bdrm, 2ba, 1950 sq ft home in the northwest.
> >
> > Should we take the basic design and layout (free online) and take it to
> > an architect? A contractor? A designer? (isnt that the same as an
> > architect?)
> >
> > Should we BE our own general contractor and sub contract the work and
> > do that aspect ourselves.
> >
> >
> > Advice, links to advice and more advice is greatly appreciated!
> >
>
> Personally, I think you answered the question about being your own GC in the
> first 8 words. In addition to knowing HOW to build, the GC knows WHO to
> use. I've been doing small remodeling/construction projects for years,
> including working on a bunch of houses with Habitat for Humanity, and was
> the GC for my two shops (30 x 40, 1.5 stories). BUT the biggest problem you
> are going to face is that the good subcontractors have established
> relationships with the folks who give them regular work. Which means you
> are going to have a rough time finding competent, reliable subs to work on
> your project. When I needed to have my driveway rebuilt I called 8
> companies, got one bid and I knew more about culverts than he did so I hired
> my neighbor and his dump truck, rented a backhoe and did it myself. If they
> start doing it wrong, can you tell? I wound up doing much of the work on my
> shops since I couldn't find folks. I can do everything except HVAC but I
> would find a GC if I was building an entire house. Of course, figuring out
> which GC is the good one won't be easy either.
>
> Tip - NEVER say "Can you give me three references?", unless you want to talk
> to his best friend, neighbor and one of the few jobs that went well. Show
> him what you want built, ask how many projects like that he has done in the
> last year and when he says "Four", you say "Great, I want the names of those
> four". Call all of those four and visit each one.
>
> By the way, since you've got over a year, spend some time pounding nails
> with your local Habitat chapter. It will help you learn how a house goes
> together and may allow you to catch some things that might not be getting
> done right when your house gets built.
>
> Steve.
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