Who Has Built A House?

Advice after the intro . . .

I bought a half-acre property in a very nice area back in 1981. On the property was a 1900 square foot center-hall colonial that, as it turns out was a 450 square foot side hall colonial built between 1860 and 1880 which was added to in the 1940s. On the property was a four-horse stable that was converted into a 450 square foot unit and also a 2-car garage. The place was a bit run down when I bought it.

I always wanted to upgrade the property, but the years rolled by and I did not get to it unto 2019 just before the pandemic hit.

The main house was gutted and 1000 square feet was added to the rear so that it is now about 2,900 square feet. The concrete block garage was in sad shape and so we knocked it down and built a new garage near the little stable/cottage and as a result, had room for an in-ground pool.

I always wanted a lift to work on vintage cars and so, while the zoning would not allow for a footprint larger than 520 square feet for the garage, I was able to go up to 16 feet. I put a loft on one side and a tall lift on the other.

I have no regrets other than I should have started a little sooner perhaps. However; I am older now and am enjoying the place quite a lot. It feels like a deferred dream come true. Now as to the advice . . .

As much as possible, work with local people who may be plugged into the relevant authorities such as building inspection department, electrical inspection, Architectural review board, if any, Zoning board, etc.

Architect?

Interview three architects and pick the one with whom there is a report or chemistry, and one who seems to want to help you realize a dream.

Architects in my 'neck of the woods' want to charge a fee of between 12% and 15% of the construction cost, so if possible, negotiate a flat fee at the outset as I had done . . . or at the very least a "not to exceed" fee. If your budget is "X" and you end up spending "2X" (and you will) then the average architect will expect double the fee.

Pick an architect who will listen carefully to your ideas and requirements, but one who won't be shy in offering you a half dozen alternatives.

Make sure there is a clear understanding as to how much work the architect will put into supervising the construction and how much you will act as supervisor/consultant with the builder. My architect and I agreed that he'd go to the site about once every other week and report back to me with progress and recommendations. I went to the site often as well. Eventually, he did have to show up at all.

Builder?

This could turn out to be a real nightmare if a bad decision were made. I interviewed about five builders and the guy I picked was a regular down-to-earth licensed carpenter who came recommended by an architect friend's, architect friend . . . one who had hired the guy to put an extension on his home not far from mine. It helped that he had just finished a house around the corner and took me on a tour.

Labor rates are high in my area and I had thought to bring a lower cost outfit in from miles away, but that would have led to bad result. As it turns out, the local guy knew all the trades and could get to the site faster and leave to go home nearby and was infinitely more efficient than any "lower-priced" outfit could have been.

Of the guys I interviewed he was the only one who looked over the home carefully and pointed out to me: "You do know, that when we put on the extension, the ceiling will either have to drop 2 1/2" on the first floor in the new area or else there'll be a 2 1/2" rise on the second story."

The old floor joists from days gone by were 11 1/2 inches and we needed 14" today. FYI, with the help of my architect friend and the builder, we eliminated the step by using reinforced flitch plate and LVL beams instead of conventional joists.

Edit: Consider opening up an account at a good local supply house or houses for lumber, stone. etc. and pay for the materials directly. You'll have a good accounting of what went into the place.

I paid for the materials monthly and made monthly progress payments to the builder.

We capped the costs for each element of the job and the builder kept to the caps except where I changed the job on the fly - which was very seldom.

What about the other contractors?

If you picked the right builder, let the guy hire his own regular contractors whether he gets a cut or not.

The builder said the following to me:

"If I hire the contractors, I will pick people who will be at my beck and call - people I know well - and they will know that they are working for me and not you. I'll see to it that they do what we want at a fair price.. If you hire the contractor, they will know that you are the boss and they will be somewhat less likely to do what I tell them to do when I tell them to do it. Someone has to manage the schedule of contractor work so they don't have fist fights between plumber and electrician, for example. Do you want me to be the referee or do you want the job yourself?"

I listened except that I hired my own painter and pool guy. The pool guy was a gem and worked out well at much lower than local pricing, but the painter was a walking disaster. I ended up hiring the builder's painter to repair my guy's shoddy work.

I don't want to write a book for free, so this should help you get started.

Cheers,

Joe

Edit: a couple of typos. 😉

I have built hundreds of houses in different scales.
I worked as an architectural scale model builder for more than forty years.

Im building a house right now. So far nothing major has occurred that would make me hang myself 😀
I guess there are 2 main things upon which a successful house building depends - getting a good architect and finding the right people to build the thing…

If you own old cars, motorbikes etc definitely go the route of separate garage. Too much risk of fire, chemicals, petrol and oil smells permeating your house if attached or internal.