GC building a shell-us doing the rest
pearl2007
16 years ago
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jmagill_zn4
16 years agoscott1962
16 years agoRelated Discussions
Building house with GC with no loans
Comments (10)Well, let me specify a few things that I hadn't already. 1. We have a bid from the GC in hand. We got multiple bids and all were pretty competitive. We like one GC the best and his bid was actually the lowest, but not by much. I kind of expected that because he lives about two minutes from where we're building. The other contractors would have had more travel expenses for sure. We're happy with the bid and feel quite confident we'll be able to stay within the budgeted allowance amounts. We've done quite a bit of price checking already to make sure we can stay within the allowances. If we have a well written contract there shouldn't be much to worry about, correct? It's not like the contractor could all of a sudden increase the price by $10,000 for no reason. Obviously, there's the unusual circumstances clause in the contract in case they hit solid rock, etc. Other than if we go over our allowances, it's a lump sum contract and the price can't increase, correct? I thought we might need multiple inspections just to make sure correct materials are being used, etc. I know the GC is supposed to represent my interests, but I thought an independent inspector might be nice to protect our interests. Oh, and regarding letting our GC know our finances. At this point, he certainly doesn't know we could build with all cash. But, if that's the route we decide to take, I'm assuming we'll have to tell him. I'm sure he'll want to know how we plan on paying for the house. I figured he'd want to see bank statements to prove the assets. Or, he might even want to escrow funds to make sure that we don't spend the money. Again, just because he know we have money, he can't just start making random charges if we have a well written contract, right? This post was edited by dreamer16 on Mon, Apr 28, 14 at 11:50...See MoreSilly questions related to visiting your build site & questions for GC
Comments (20)As others have said, if you own the land, then it's your land and you can visit as much as you want to. When I visit and know there will be people working, I usually take some coffee or food. It goes a long way in your relationship. You'll know when the basement has been waterproofed when you can't see the concrete from the outside. It should be covered in something black. Read online to learn the difference between damp proof and water proof, then talk to your builder about what they're planning on doing. Bare minimum code might not cover what you had intended. The two pipes on the exterior of the house tied to the drain tile might be bi-directional clean outs. It's a little difficult to tell from the photo, but if the vertical pipes are connected to the horizontal with a "y" rather than a "t", and they're facing opposite directions, then that's what it could be. Tough to tell what the other two pipes are from your picture. The PVC is a large diameter pipe that sits away from an exterior wall. This rules out sump pit connection since those sit close to the wall. It can be assumed that it ties to the interior drain tile so it might be a floor drain? Not sure what the thin one is but it looks like 1" copper with a fitting on the end? Do you know if the water valve is installed in the yard? Could be water. If you have plans to rough in a 1/2 bath, then judging by the pea gravel that appears to be in, you should see PVC for the toilet and sink sticking up. Ask your builder. You also don't appear to have any stacks for the other floors so plumbing probably still has to come in to lay the basement rough in and start the stacks. They'll also either have to dig under the footing or drill through the basement wall to connect to sewer, depending on your height differential. It's important to find out how high your basement is above street sewer tie in. Judging by the other houses, I'm guessing you'll be high enough and they'll dig under the footing to connect to sewer. Question: What's with the hole to get into the garage? Are you planning storage under the garage and using a precast concrete garage floor?...See MoreBuilding just a shell
Comments (35)The Nichiha (fiber cement) was an incredible bargain. Lowe's normally charged $7.88 a piece. I went in one day, and they had marked it down to $3.88. I thought about buying it, but waited two weeks. When I went back to look at it, it was marked down to $1.88! They had a whole pallet; 250 pieces, and it came to less than $500 including tax. I still have enough left over to side our shed. Our house is 1444 sq ft on one level, with a full walk-out basement. Because the house is so well built (ICF) and R-50 in the attic, our winter heat load calculates out to 12,000 BTU, which is one ton. The summer cooling load is only 9,000 BTU, or 3/4 ton. This is in upstate SC. I had to go minisplit, as they don't make central systems that small. We put one 12K unit in the main part of the house, and a 9K in the master suite. We only run the 12K 99% of the time, and shut it off, and run the 9K at night for cooling. We've only run them both a couple times when it was in the single digits outside. They are Mitsubishi HyperHeat units, good to some -13 F. Our typical summer electric bill is only $20/month higher than no A/C, and winter heat is about $40/month during the coldest months. This season, we were able to leave the heat off until Jan 4, and turned it off in early March, so we only heated for 2 months. Some of that is attributed to our mild climate, but the ICF performs very well, being very tight, well insulated, and having a lot of thermal mass. If you build an energy-efficient house, make SURE that your HVAC contractor knows what they are doing. I had one so-called professional insist that our house needed a 2-1/2 ton central system. That would have been a disaster, wasting energy and performing poorly. Our minis dehumidify very well, and even have a dehumidify mode when it is damp, but too cool for A/C. They are extremely efficient (26 SEER) and nearly silent, both indoors and out. We keep our doors between rooms open all the time, and have a very open plan....See MoreGC quotes same price/sq ft for building in a subdivision or on our lot
Comments (53)It's simple.. if someone else can build your house on your lot for 350K would you not choose them rather than someone who is going to charge you 400K. You didn't say there was someone else who would build your house for 350k. If you got a bid for 350k then why did you post the question in the first place? If you haven't got a bid for 350k then why are you assuming that someone will do it for 350k, if you are making up numbers why make up 350k? Why don't we just say 27 bucks? I mean 27 dollars for a brand new house would be a great deal so let's just use that imaginary number. Also, it's not always more expensive to build on your own lot. If you are smart enough, you would do some research before making generalizations like this one. I admit that I am kind of a dummy. Every single day I wonder why people pay me for my advice. Although. in this particular matter I am speaking from experience and I tell you unequivocally, that building a one off house on a lot developed by an owner IS MORE EXPENSIVE THAN BUILDING THE SAME HOUSE IN A MULTI-LOT MULTI-BUILD SITUATION. This is true every single time so long as the lots are similar. Now there are certain situations where that expense may not be passed on to the buyer. So if you are planning on sleeping with the developer you might get a better price....See Moreiliya1
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