Getting permits under home owner's name vs contractor's
jyaanga
9 years ago
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snoonyb
9 years agojyaanga
9 years agoRelated Discussions
Ownerbuild vs. Contractor rep
Comments (16)Comfortdog, Only you can decide what is best for you and your situation. If you are asking 'can someone with relatively little construction knowledge/experience be their own GC?' the answer is 'yes'. How successful they will be depends on their personal goals, skills and the amount of time they are willing to commit to the project. I know a few people who have gone this route and they have been pleased with their results-having control over their project and saving money. None of them said it was easy though. I also know one guy who freely admits his house cost him more but he was still glad that he was in control. I guess the key is to define why you are considering being an owner-builder and to make sure you do what you need to do be 'successful' from your point of view. We strongly considered being owner-builders. We did not think we would find that perfect fit with a builder for our situation and we did not want to hand over control and a large part of our budget to a GC. We also felt that we had skills to bring to the project and were willing to spend time and resources to educate ourselves *prior* to starting. On the downside, we also had fears and concerns about what could go wrong and our ability to be proactive and avert problems when it would be our first project of this size. A big concern was choosing good subs and getting them to work with us and for a fair price. We looked into U-Build it by the way, and they wanted to charge us $24k for a $300k project for example. We felt this was too much to pay for what they offered and there were services that they offered that we did not need but would be paying for. In the end we have decided to work with a builder. We were able to find one that we think is a great fit for us and our project. We know we could do this on our own, but we decided that it was worth it to us to have the experience and service of an experienced builder. We really want to have some peace and fun during the build, and we felt if we were completely responsible for everything that would be difficult if not impossible. Good Luck with your decision and your build!...See MoreHome inspector vs. contractor opinions
Comments (30)If I had an agent who wanted me to pony up 13k to fix something, I'd tell them to take it out of their commission. That is the least that this agent deserves for throwing you under the bus. Dual disclosure is a joke. I hope you never agree to this again. There is no way an agent can honestly represent both parties. The furnace in our house died during the inspection. It was at least 15 yrs old. The seller wanted us to help pay to replace it. I said forget it. This is the middle of winter (single digits) and we refuse to buy a house without a furnace. Nobody else will either. Either fix it or give us money off the price to buy a new one. He backed off and replaced it. We had our inspector check out the new one before we closed. If I ever have to sell this house, I plan to sell it As is or at auction. I have zero interest in dealing with skinflints who expect me to take a loss just so they can get a deal at my expense. Glad you got a good offer. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for you....See MoreContractor/Architect taking too long to get a permit to start
Comments (9)There is not nearly enough information to really give you good advice. What is the scope of the project (how much money is involved in it)? Who selected the architect? Is this a design build firm or was the architect independent? I suspect you are talking about the mobilization draw, which is just a draw that contractor uses to begin the project. It is similar to a deposit except a deposit is more or less a reservation fee used to reduce the contractor's exposure to cancellation of a job in the early stages of a project. The idea being that the deposit is forfeit if you breach. Typically, a mobilization draw is just prepayment of actual project costs, and doesn't compensate the contractor in the event of a breach. However, the amount he is obligated to return will probably be reduced by legitimate expenses on the project, even if those expenses are not transferable. You would then have to recover those expenses in a separate action. E.g. - Your contractor takes $17,000 and pays $12,000 for deposits to subcontractors. Your contractor subsequently breaches and thus you terminate the relationship, deciding against using the subcontractors. The contractor must return $5,000 of the mobilization draw along with accounting for the missing $12,000. You may then sue the contractor for damages from the breach for the $12,000. Now other damages and remedies really come from who is in breach and how far the parties are willing to push recovery. ---------- Having said all of this, there are a lot of judgment proof contractors out there. A contractor who takes $17,000 and does very little for 4 months, sends up a lot of caution flags. He may be protected by the legal principle of you can't get blood from a turnip. Good luck...See MoreDrainable vs Nondrainable House Wrap under LP SmartSide
Comments (9)A few things here, and I apologize if you know some of this already: First, Typar makes both drainable and flat (non-draining) house wraps. Are you sure the builder used a product that is inconsistent with the contract? A rainscreen cladding system is generally a good idea in coastal New England (and often required by code). Simply put, a rainscreen system provides a gap between the exterior cladding (siding) and the drainage plane (housewrap, weather-resistive barrier, etc,) where any moisture that gets behind the cladding can drain away and dry without penetrating to the structure behind. Drainable housewrap is a relatively affordable way to achieve this in some cases. You say the contract specified the drainable wrap. Do you have a designer or architect who prepared contract documents? If so, discuss with them to fully understand why they specified what they did and what the consequences of a change to flat wrap might be. This discussion should also include a review of the LP SmartSide requirements as cladding manufacturers generally do not honor product warranties if installed over a system they consider inadequate. You should also consult your local code official regarding code requirements for rainscreen design. Drainable housewrap is usually more expensive than flat wrap, but not ludicrously so. That being said, if the drainable product is in the contract and you decide it really should be used, paying for the flat wrap to be replaced with drainable wrap should not be your responsibility. Likewise, if you decide you are okay with the flat wrap you should make sure you get whatever material cost credit to which you may be entitled. Lastly, don't do any of this behind your builder's back. Designing and building a custom house is always a complicated process, and an adversarial relationship never helps. Clear, open communication between design team, owners, and builder is always preferable....See Morejyaanga
9 years agoJoseph Corlett, LLC
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