How long should this new home build take?
bjpharr
6 years ago
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Mark Bischak, Architect
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agobjpharr thanked Mark Bischak, ArchitectRelated Discussions
How long does it take to build a custom home?
Comments (26)As others have pointed out, this is the sort of question that it really depends on who you ask. The answer has caused more than a little friction in my house, that's for sure. We're GCing ourselves, with my father-in-law acting as a co-GC, because he's been in construction since The Dawn Of Time (TM) and knows who to call for stuff. He also does outstanding concrete flatwork. *My* dad is the architect. My brother-in-law is the electrician. So far, so good. We broke ground August 19 of last year, as I recall. Our foundation was poured one year ago today (I remember because my son and I wrote the date in the wet concrete). We were dried in by the end of October. Then came a rather cold, rather snowy Nebraska winter, which has a way of slowing things down. As of today, we're still a couple weeks out - by the time it's all done, we'll be 13 months start to finish. What's slowed us down, besides weather (that cold winter was followed by a very wet spring) has been things like waiting 2.5 weeks for the framer that we (read: my FIL) wanted; having a stick-framed instead of trussed roof; and having to be at the bottom of most of our subs' list, as a lot of them work for builders who get first call on their to-do lists (trim carpentry was a big problem - it took about 2 months to get that done). The best part has been that people - chief among them my mother-in-law - have been riding our butts about how long it's taken, completely ignoring that: 1)We're doing a LOT of stuff ourselves; and 2)The schedule that she thinks homes should be completed is that of a production builder - 6-7 months. Oh, and we've been *living* with the in-laws since June 1 - I did a bit too good a job of marketing our old house and managed to sell it in nine days; even with a 45-day close, we still have spent the entire summer living w/ Grandma & Grandpa. I need a beer. Jason...See Moreno patience, how long will it take to build
Comments (10)Try not to settle for less than "done". Although I can't imagine living in a trailer with 7 little ones! You are already demonstrating an amazing amount of patience to do that. Personally, I'd put the house on hold long enough to build a large garage or barn (with bathroom), just to have a roomy place for the kids to play when it's raining. I've learned to add to my store of patience by breaking every task into the smallest steps, and cheering on as each *step* is completed. This outlook becomes habitual, although subs have tendency to look askance as I praise them for each part of the job... but they also look pleased, so I guess that works, too. Builder to lock-up stage will depend on the number and efficiency of his crews, but even if all are top-notch, I'd expect at least 6 months -- winter weather is going to cause problems that no one can truly avoid. You didn't say how many sf, if it's over 2500, add a month for each 1k sf additional. The interior work remaining will depend on your contract, but if it's bare bones (studwork up, but electrical, plumbing, HVAC, cabintry, dry wall, tiling, and all finishing to do), and DH is working full-time elsewhere, it's going to going to take a LONG time to complete. A very plain, very simple, 2K sf house often takes at least 10,000 hours to complete if all work is done by pros (the barebones interior-only is between half and 2/3 of that hourage)... double that time for each skill you don't have a master's in doing. If your DH spend 4 hours each weekday plus 10 hours each weekend day, that's 40 hours... or about 3 years and one exhausted DH to complete the house. DIY [owner-built] is always about a balance between money-out and skill/ability and exhaustion. In house building there are quite a few things where it makes more sense to pay money out than to DIY. Other than the skill needed, one way to judge is to consider DH's salaried pay per hour... if hiring an experienced sub is near the same cost but faster to complete, you are likely to benefit from hiring rather than DIY. Remember that each 40 hours someone else is working, is one or two weeks less for DH to DIY. I know someone is going to say, "but both can DIY and that means less time to completion", and if those were all school-age kids, that might be true. But IMO, no way should anyone expect anyone to care for young child while DIYing....See MoreHow long did your build take or is projected to take?
Comments (30)Questioning the 20 months won't seem as appropriate once you start building :) There are soooooooo many variables, the county, inspectors, timing (lining up the crews), shipping, screw-ups, weather, materials, personalities, site (level, sloped, soggy, etc...), things you weren't expecting and decide you don't like, things you hadn't thought about and you want, labor, transportation (I'm very rural and don't know how many times I heard "they're having some trouble with they're truck/s), deliveries, you can probably think of a dozen more things that may or may not go as planned. Unless you have a contract that SPECIFICALLY states a completion date (not, it will take 6 months) there's nothing that says they have to have it done when they 'think' it'll be done. Only way to hold them accountable is to put some delinquency clause in the contract that states if they go beyond a specified date there will be a X% per week penalty (or whatever). I doubt you could get a builder to sign something like that w/out a LOT of padding....See MoreHow long should it take to get the new counter top corrected?
Comments (6)Who was at the jobsite to sign off on the template decisions? There are so many details. I insist that my clients are at the template to specify these things. And then I check over the CAD drawings, double check everything. Confirm one last time...and then I sign off of them. If something like this wasn't done, they need to change how they template. Aside from that...it's hard to say how long a repair can take. I work with a very large outfit and to get something scheduled for repair sometimes take weeks as well...approvals, etc. But normally, for smaller fixes/adjustments, just a few days. I'd say this is a pretty substantial fix. If it's a small shop, I have no idea how long they take to do repairs. If your kitchen is currently functional, he might have you on the back burner for a while as times are crazy busy. However, someone needs to communicate with you on this. If your GC is on vacation, call or email the stone guy and say you need to get on the schedule for the repair. An email could be good proof of documenting what's going on too. So an email might be the better way to go....See Morebjpharr
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agobjpharr
6 years agobjpharr
6 years ago
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