Custom building is a nightmare. We’ve been through that. Building a tract home that a crew has built over and over will still have mistakes and miscommunication. But building a custom home is just asking for trouble because the general contractor and subcontractors have no experience with your design. It’s a first-time-only-time build. No chance [...]
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Building is a nightmare. At least that’s what I hear. Whenever someone learns we are building a custom home, the response is pretty predictable. Generally it’s something like: I hope you don’t get divorced! I’ve heard that’s more stressful than a death in the family. You’re supposed to be done in June? You mean September, [...]
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This is not my happy face. After learning about our first construction delay due to a rental issue, we confirmed that the  panels would be delivered on January 25. The plan was that the panel company would install the basement while teaching our builder the system, so that our builder could install the remaining floors. This [...]
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Last May — after some deliberation about being owner-builders — we decided to hire a construction supervisor or a general contractor, to manage the bulk of the build. We received a great response and, understandably, have since been asked repeatedly about the outcome.
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After considering our construction options, we came to the conclusion that acting as our own contractors isn’t in the schedule. We’ve ruled out using an owner-builder system as they are generally structured. We have been given several references and will be sending out the following letter to them. If you are a general contractor or [...]
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An owner-builder is someone who both owns a property and acts as their own general contractor on the job. They either do the work themselves or hire employees or subcontractors to do the work. When we built our last custom home in 2003, we hired a general contractor. While we sincerely appreciate that he was [...]
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