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Building your own home
On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 12:21:59 -0500, Jim wrote:
Boater wrote: BAR wrote: Boater wrote: Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq. wrote: Boater wrote: Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq. wrote: Boater wrote: Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq. wrote: Boater wrote: Gene wrote: On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 12:03:49 -0500, "Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq." wrote: We are thinking about using this downturn in the housing market to build a new home, and acting as our own General Contractor. Has anyone in the group done this and do they have any words of advice? Yes, with three houses and two workshops. Not only was I General Contractor, I was also 50% of the labor. Your only real savings, in this market, will be sweat equity. You can buy cheaper than you can build.... you just have to find an equally desperate mortgagee and mortgagor.... or you could do it the seat equity route, if you have the cash, tools, and a desire to make it happen. No bank is going to let *you* (as their mortgagor) serve as General Contractor unless you hold a contractor's license. Advice? You're crazy to even attempt it...... uh, but wasn't I thinking about adding on to the workshop..... .... Oh, never mind...... It's an incredible burner of time. I had to do it because the general I hired to build a custom home in Northern Virginia turned out to be way overextended financially from previous projects, and could not line up the subs I wanted, and was teetering. Took the builder to court, had a civil jury trial, and won a settlement of more than $100,000. Never collected anything but the builder's license bond from the state. With the help of the lumberyard (who issued the construction bond) and my bank, I took over when the foundation had been laid and the slabs poured, hired a project manager to oversee the subs on salary and bonus, and completed the house just a hair over budget. I had to be on the site for about an hour at 6:30 AM just about every morning. It was a huge house, ultra modern, with four full brick fireplaces, nearly 4000 square feet on the main level, and another 3,000 square feet finished in the basement. I looked it up on Zillow early last year and it was valued at more than $1.5 million. The "crash" of the real estate market apparently hit Northern Virginia hard, because when I looked it up on Zillow earlier this evening, it was valued at about $1.1 million. Just checked the second house I owned in Northern Virgina...it was the one we sold to build the custom house. I paid $87k for it - nice builder's subdivision house - and sold it about five years later for $160,000, I think. Zillow has it at $600,000 and change. Not bad, and the blue spruce trees I planted there in the mid-1970s are at least 40 feet tall and full triple wides. Nice story, and pictures? There are aerial pictures of both places on Zillow. Soon as you provide your full legal name here and I verify it, I'll be glad to supply the addresses of the houses. Ok, how do you plan on verifying my full legal name? Quietly; not the way you would do it. I am always curious why you want to know my full legal name? What's the deal? Simple. My feeling is that if your full legal name were publicly known here, you'd be far less of a snark. Knowing who you are hasn't improved your behavior or has it? I'm not a coward. Reggie is. Aren't you the guy who said "My mommy didn't raise a stupid boy" as an excuse for skipping out of the draft? That's cowardly in my book. What say you Krause? Yup. -- ** Good Day! ** John H |
Building your own home
On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 12:41:30 -0500, Boater wrote:
BAR wrote: Boater wrote: BAR wrote: Boater wrote: Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq. wrote: Boater wrote: Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq. wrote: Boater wrote: Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq. wrote: Boater wrote: Gene wrote: On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 12:03:49 -0500, "Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq." wrote: We are thinking about using this downturn in the housing market to build a new home, and acting as our own General Contractor. Has anyone in the group done this and do they have any words of advice? Yes, with three houses and two workshops. Not only was I General Contractor, I was also 50% of the labor. Your only real savings, in this market, will be sweat equity. You can buy cheaper than you can build.... you just have to find an equally desperate mortgagee and mortgagor.... or you could do it the seat equity route, if you have the cash, tools, and a desire to make it happen. No bank is going to let *you* (as their mortgagor) serve as General Contractor unless you hold a contractor's license. Advice? You're crazy to even attempt it...... uh, but wasn't I thinking about adding on to the workshop..... .... Oh, never mind...... It's an incredible burner of time. I had to do it because the general I hired to build a custom home in Northern Virginia turned out to be way overextended financially from previous projects, and could not line up the subs I wanted, and was teetering. Took the builder to court, had a civil jury trial, and won a settlement of more than $100,000. Never collected anything but the builder's license bond from the state. With the help of the lumberyard (who issued the construction bond) and my bank, I took over when the foundation had been laid and the slabs poured, hired a project manager to oversee the subs on salary and bonus, and completed the house just a hair over budget. I had to be on the site for about an hour at 6:30 AM just about every morning. It was a huge house, ultra modern, with four full brick fireplaces, nearly 4000 square feet on the main level, and another 3,000 square feet finished in the basement. I looked it up on Zillow early last year and it was valued at more than $1.5 million. The "crash" of the real estate market apparently hit Northern Virginia hard, because when I looked it up on Zillow earlier this evening, it was valued at about $1.1 million. Just checked the second house I owned in Northern Virgina...it was the one we sold to build the custom house. I paid $87k for it - nice builder's subdivision house - and sold it about five years later for $160,000, I think. Zillow has it at $600,000 and change. Not bad, and the blue spruce trees I planted there in the mid-1970s are at least 40 feet tall and full triple wides. Nice story, and pictures? There are aerial pictures of both places on Zillow. Soon as you provide your full legal name here and I verify it, I'll be glad to supply the addresses of the houses. Ok, how do you plan on verifying my full legal name? Quietly; not the way you would do it. I am always curious why you want to know my full legal name? What's the deal? Simple. My feeling is that if your full legal name were publicly known here, you'd be far less of a snark. Knowing who you are hasn't improved your behavior or has it? I'm not a coward. Reggie is. You are a verbal bully. You are afraid to meet those who you have verbally abused in person for fear of having your attitude physically adjusted. That's simple-minded bull****. First, there are very very very few people in this newsgroup I care to meet. I certainly am not going to waste my time meeting someone I don't care to meet just for the sake of "meeting" them. Second, I seriously doubt any of the loud-mouthed right-wing schitts in this newsgroup have what it takes to adjust my attitude. Most of them are cowards hiding behind screen names, and fearful of their identities leaking out. My identity is no secret. Third, if any of the little schitts show up at my front door looking for trouble, I guarantee they will find it. If they show up to say hello, they'll be welcomed. Fourth, when your butt buddy Herring's old boat was out for maintenance, I invited him out to go fishing. He turned it down. If I recall, I invited you out, too. If memory serves, you are the only two loud-mouthed right-wing schitts in my immediate area, right? Short-guy Scotty, another loud-mouthed right-wing schitt, has an open invite to stop by any time. So, who do you think I fear? Brain-dead Loogy? Reggie NoBalls? Florida Jim, the twerp so frightened he doesn't want anyone to know where in Central Florida he lives? Harry, you've mentioned countless times my refusal to go out on your boat. We need to clear this up so you don't feel so badly about it. This spring, after you've had the boat's spring commissioning done by the dealer, I'll be glad to go for a ride in your boat. But, you can't go. It wasn't your Parker that made me refuse your offer, it was being in such close proximity to you that made me refuse. -- ** Good Day! ** John H |
Building your own home
On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 09:32:19 -0500, Boater wrote:
Tom Francis wrote: On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 07:44:06 -0500, "Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq." wrote: Tom Francis wrote: On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 12:03:49 -0500, "Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq." wrote: We are thinking about using this downturn in the housing market to build a new home, and acting as our own General Contractor. Has anyone in the group done this and do they have any words of advice? Yep. Don't do it. I don't know, Harry was very successful GC'ing his N. VA home. That's Harry. Harry is successful at everything he attempts. He's the Leonardo DaVinci of modern times. To date, Harry has proven extensive knowledge of a whole host of subjects including, of all things, opera. I mean roof loads, foundations, plumbing, electrical - he's got the knowledge base - apparently. So it follows that Harry would be the General Contractor for his own home - he has nothing but time on his hands (as is obvious by the number of posts just yesterday) which is a key element in being a GC for your own home. It's hard for the rest of us mere mortals to understand that. Reggie, of course, is full of schitt. I was successful with the house in NoVa because I had to be. If I had let the original GC get away with his shenanigans, it would have been a financial disaster. And all successful at the time meant was that I was able to complete the project a little over budget. It was a hellacious, time-consuming, aggravating project, and I would not do it again, especially these days. What's the address, Harry? You don't have to be afraid, 'cause you don't live there any more. We can clear this up in no time! -- ** Good Day! ** John H |
Building your own home
John H wrote:
On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 09:32:19 -0500, Boater wrote: Tom Francis wrote: On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 07:44:06 -0500, "Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq." wrote: Tom Francis wrote: On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 12:03:49 -0500, "Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq." wrote: We are thinking about using this downturn in the housing market to build a new home, and acting as our own General Contractor. Has anyone in the group done this and do they have any words of advice? Yep. Don't do it. I don't know, Harry was very successful GC'ing his N. VA home. That's Harry. Harry is successful at everything he attempts. He's the Leonardo DaVinci of modern times. To date, Harry has proven extensive knowledge of a whole host of subjects including, of all things, opera. I mean roof loads, foundations, plumbing, electrical - he's got the knowledge base - apparently. So it follows that Harry would be the General Contractor for his own home - he has nothing but time on his hands (as is obvious by the number of posts just yesterday) which is a key element in being a GC for your own home. It's hard for the rest of us mere mortals to understand that. Reggie, of course, is full of schitt. I was successful with the house in NoVa because I had to be. If I had let the original GC get away with his shenanigans, it would have been a financial disaster. And all successful at the time meant was that I was able to complete the project a little over budget. It was a hellacious, time-consuming, aggravating project, and I would not do it again, especially these days. What's the address, Harry? You don't have to be afraid, 'cause you don't live there any more. We can clear this up in no time! -- ** Good Day! ** John H I have a feeling that Harry made this whole story up. For the life of me, I cant figure out why he goes to so much trouble to conjure up these wild stories. |
Building your own home
On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 13:29:54 -0400, "Don White"
wrote: "Vic Smith" wrote in message .. . On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 20:34:39 -0500, Boater wrote: Gene wrote: On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 12:03:49 -0500, "Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq." wrote: We are thinking about using this downturn in the housing market to build a new home, and acting as our own General Contractor. Has anyone in the group done this and do they have any words of advice? Yes, with three houses and two workshops. Not only was I General Contractor, I was also 50% of the labor. Your only real savings, in this market, will be sweat equity. You can buy cheaper than you can build.... you just have to find an equally desperate mortgagee and mortgagor.... or you could do it the seat equity route, if you have the cash, tools, and a desire to make it happen. No bank is going to let *you* (as their mortgagor) serve as General Contractor unless you hold a contractor's license. Advice? You're crazy to even attempt it...... uh, but wasn't I thinking about adding on to the workshop..... .... Oh, never mind...... It's an incredible burner of time. I had to do it because the general I hired to build a custom home in Northern Virginia turned out to be way overextended financially from previous projects, and could not line up the subs I wanted, and was teetering. I can imagine the waste of time. I had the misfortune to have my house torched once - if it wasn't for a neighbor coming home at 2 AM and raising the alarm we might have been killed. Anyway, I hired a private adjuster, and you wouldn't believe the **** I went through with him and his crews. Had to show his "carpenter" how to cut stringers. Came home from work one day and his "plaster guys" had done the kitchen with 1/2" drywall, no shims, to replace the nearly full inch of plaster and lath. There was almost a half inch gap between the door and window casings and the drywall. Had it all torn out by the next day I got home from work, but there was always some BS waiting for me. I'd leave work saying, "Let's see what they ****ed up today." Anyway, I finally got everything done about 85% right, but I never yelled so much and got in so many faces in such a short period of time. Actually, I went easy on the crews, they were what they were, but laid into the adjuster, who's really a GC, a lot. What was good is the adjuster did keep us in the house because he was real good at getting the essentials quickly restored. That was important to me as I had the wife and 4 little kids to think about, and work, so there was no way I even had time to be my own general. Win some, lose some. --Vic In 1976 when I was a lot younger and more energetic, I built a cedar cape Cod style house myself. This was the norm up this way at that time. In fact, there was a Provincial Govt program where those with minimal savings for a downpayment could use sweat equity in order to get a $23K mortgage to build. Of course I couldn't build my house for that amount...the program was geared to small bungalows on modest serviced lots. I had to find a 2nd mortgage for another $9K. Thought I was in debt up to my eyeballs way back then..... but the house was beautiful.on a 2/3 acre lot with well & septic system way out in the country (about 20 miles from city center) To add to my financial burden, I traded in my 5 yr old Volkswagen Beatle for a $5K Dodge Aspen S/W. It all started in march of 1975 when I took over a share in a co-op program when a member was transfered to the states by his company. Wife and I cleared the lot of trees & brush while snow was still on the ground so we could burn off as much as possible in big bonfires. I hired a company to dig the foundation hole and another to put up the concrete foundation. Got my brother and a few buddies to help out putting the 1st floor on...then the wife and I would build the walls and ask relatives to show up to help erect same. The big 4' x 12" x 16' douglas fir beams were tricky to put up (post & beam construction). Once, my brother & law and I fell off the ladders dropping the beam and narrowly missing me on the floor. I did hire a friend of my wifes' family to help finish off the double course cedar shingles on the exterior walls, and another guy to lay the asphalt shingles on the roof. (turned out the roofing guy was married to a cousin of mine). Once inside, an old friend who was a licensed electrician got the permit but a friend of my brothers (apprentice electrician) did the work. Next we got other neighbourhood friends to do the plumbing while home for Christmas vacation from Alberta. Lastly the in-laws gyprocked the entire house no charge. I just supplied the materials. Finally got in in February 1976. A few years later I added an attached 1.5 story garage all by myself. Now when I have a project, I hire a guy from my wifes' former company to do most of the work while I act as assistant. (re addition for mon in 2002, replacement of all the old windows with vinyl, tearing down of old garage & building of 2 new sheds, decking & fence additions etc) A 1ft by 4ft by 16ft beam is a hefty beam all right. -- ** Good Day! ** John H |
Building your own home
On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 17:08:54 -0500, Jim wrote:
I have a feeling that Harry made this whole story up. For the life of me, I cant figure out why he goes to so much trouble to conjure up these wild stories. If he does, maybe it's to watch your antics. He owns you, and most of this newsgroup. Let's see, you have one nitwit following him to other newsgroups, another checking out tax records. If it weren't for Harry, some here would have no life at all. How many years has this Harry thing been going on? Geeze, after all this time, you would think you would learn. |
Building your own home
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Building your own home
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Building your own home
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Building your own home
On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 18:03:27 -0500, Jim wrote:
wrote: On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 17:08:54 -0500, Jim wrote: I have a feeling that Harry made this whole story up. For the life of me, I cant figure out why he goes to so much trouble to conjure up these wild stories. If he does, maybe it's to watch your antics. He owns you, and most of this newsgroup. Let's see, you have one nitwit following him to other newsgroups, another checking out tax records. If it weren't for Harry, some here would have no life at all. How many years has this Harry thing been going on? Geeze, after all this time, you would think you would learn. I'm told Harry has been here Entertaining boaters for 15 years or so. He does seem to own this newsgroup, so if you would like to see some changes made around here, you need to go right to the top and ask Harry. I'm powerless to help you. Happy new year. LOL -- ** Good Day! ** John H |
Building your own home
On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 13:29:54 -0400, "Don White"
wrote: In 1976 when I was a lot younger and more energetic, I built a cedar cape Cod style house myself. This was the norm up this way at that time. In fact, there was a Provincial Govt program where those with minimal savings for a downpayment could use sweat equity in order to get a $23K mortgage to build. Of course I couldn't build my house for that amount...the program was geared to small bungalows on modest serviced lots. I had to find a 2nd mortgage for another $9K. Thought I was in debt up to my eyeballs way back then..... but the house was beautiful.on a 2/3 acre lot with well & septic system way out in the country (about 20 miles from city center) To add to my financial burden, I traded in my 5 yr old Volkswagen Beatle for a $5K Dodge Aspen S/W. It all started in march of 1975 when I took over a share in a co-op program when a member was transfered to the states by his company. Wife and I cleared the lot of trees & brush while snow was still on the ground so we could burn off as much as possible in big bonfires. I hired a company to dig the foundation hole and another to put up the concrete foundation. Got my brother and a few buddies to help out putting the 1st floor on...then the wife and I would build the walls and ask relatives to show up to help erect same. The big 4' x 12" x 16' douglas fir beams were tricky to put up (post & beam construction). Once, my brother & law and I fell off the ladders dropping the beam and narrowly missing me on the floor. I did hire a friend of my wifes' family to help finish off the double course cedar shingles on the exterior walls, and another guy to lay the asphalt shingles on the roof. (turned out the roofing guy was married to a cousin of mine). Once inside, an old friend who was a licensed electrician got the permit but a friend of my brothers (apprentice electrician) did the work. Next we got other neighbourhood friends to do the plumbing while home for Christmas vacation from Alberta. Lastly the in-laws gyprocked the entire house no charge. I just supplied the materials. Finally got in in February 1976. A few years later I added an attached 1.5 story garage all by myself. Now when I have a project, I hire a guy from my wifes' former company to do most of the work while I act as assistant. (re addition for mon in 2002, replacement of all the old windows with vinyl, tearing down of old garage & building of 2 new sheds, decking & fence additions etc) Must be a good feeling living in a house you built yourself. Closest I came was doing the rear porches on my 2-flat. 3 vertical 6"x 6" x @30' - can't remember, they had to be butted. Big job working alone, but I got my brother out once when I needed him. The old posts had rotted. The iced tea on that porch was always especially tasty. --Vic |
Building your own home
"John H" wrote in message ... On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 13:29:54 -0400, "Don White" wrote: "Vic Smith" wrote in message . .. On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 20:34:39 -0500, Boater wrote: Gene wrote: On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 12:03:49 -0500, "Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq." wrote: We are thinking about using this downturn in the housing market to build a new home, and acting as our own General Contractor. Has anyone in the group done this and do they have any words of advice? Yes, with three houses and two workshops. Not only was I General Contractor, I was also 50% of the labor. Your only real savings, in this market, will be sweat equity. You can buy cheaper than you can build.... you just have to find an equally desperate mortgagee and mortgagor.... or you could do it the seat equity route, if you have the cash, tools, and a desire to make it happen. No bank is going to let *you* (as their mortgagor) serve as General Contractor unless you hold a contractor's license. Advice? You're crazy to even attempt it...... uh, but wasn't I thinking about adding on to the workshop..... .... Oh, never mind...... It's an incredible burner of time. I had to do it because the general I hired to build a custom home in Northern Virginia turned out to be way overextended financially from previous projects, and could not line up the subs I wanted, and was teetering. I can imagine the waste of time. I had the misfortune to have my house torched once - if it wasn't for a neighbor coming home at 2 AM and raising the alarm we might have been killed. Anyway, I hired a private adjuster, and you wouldn't believe the **** I went through with him and his crews. Had to show his "carpenter" how to cut stringers. Came home from work one day and his "plaster guys" had done the kitchen with 1/2" drywall, no shims, to replace the nearly full inch of plaster and lath. There was almost a half inch gap between the door and window casings and the drywall. Had it all torn out by the next day I got home from work, but there was always some BS waiting for me. I'd leave work saying, "Let's see what they ****ed up today." Anyway, I finally got everything done about 85% right, but I never yelled so much and got in so many faces in such a short period of time. Actually, I went easy on the crews, they were what they were, but laid into the adjuster, who's really a GC, a lot. What was good is the adjuster did keep us in the house because he was real good at getting the essentials quickly restored. That was important to me as I had the wife and 4 little kids to think about, and work, so there was no way I even had time to be my own general. Win some, lose some. --Vic In 1976 when I was a lot younger and more energetic, I built a cedar cape Cod style house myself. This was the norm up this way at that time. In fact, there was a Provincial Govt program where those with minimal savings for a downpayment could use sweat equity in order to get a $23K mortgage to build. Of course I couldn't build my house for that amount...the program was geared to small bungalows on modest serviced lots. I had to find a 2nd mortgage for another $9K. Thought I was in debt up to my eyeballs way back then..... but the house was beautiful.on a 2/3 acre lot with well & septic system way out in the country (about 20 miles from city center) To add to my financial burden, I traded in my 5 yr old Volkswagen Beatle for a $5K Dodge Aspen S/W. It all started in march of 1975 when I took over a share in a co-op program when a member was transfered to the states by his company. Wife and I cleared the lot of trees & brush while snow was still on the ground so we could burn off as much as possible in big bonfires. I hired a company to dig the foundation hole and another to put up the concrete foundation. Got my brother and a few buddies to help out putting the 1st floor on...then the wife and I would build the walls and ask relatives to show up to help erect same. The big 4' x 12" x 16' douglas fir beams were tricky to put up (post & beam construction). Once, my brother & law and I fell off the ladders dropping the beam and narrowly missing me on the floor. I did hire a friend of my wifes' family to help finish off the double course cedar shingles on the exterior walls, and another guy to lay the asphalt shingles on the roof. (turned out the roofing guy was married to a cousin of mine). Once inside, an old friend who was a licensed electrician got the permit but a friend of my brothers (apprentice electrician) did the work. Next we got other neighbourhood friends to do the plumbing while home for Christmas vacation from Alberta. Lastly the in-laws gyprocked the entire house no charge. I just supplied the materials. Finally got in in February 1976. A few years later I added an attached 1.5 story garage all by myself. Now when I have a project, I hire a guy from my wifes' former company to do most of the work while I act as assistant. (re addition for mon in 2002, replacement of all the old windows with vinyl, tearing down of old garage & building of 2 new sheds, decking & fence additions etc) A 1ft by 4ft by 16ft beam is a hefty beam all right. -- ** Good Day! ** John H Lord help us! I hope you don't ever plan to build your own house. When I put a " after a number...that means INCHES when I put a ' after a number...that meens FEET so...4"x12" x 16' means a four inch thick by 12 inches wide beam 16 feet long. |
Building your own home
Don White wrote:
"John H" wrote in message ... On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 13:29:54 -0400, "Don White" wrote: "Vic Smith" wrote in message ... On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 20:34:39 -0500, Boater wrote: Gene wrote: On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 12:03:49 -0500, "Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq." wrote: We are thinking about using this downturn in the housing market to build a new home, and acting as our own General Contractor. Has anyone in the group done this and do they have any words of advice? Yes, with three houses and two workshops. Not only was I General Contractor, I was also 50% of the labor. Your only real savings, in this market, will be sweat equity. You can buy cheaper than you can build.... you just have to find an equally desperate mortgagee and mortgagor.... or you could do it the seat equity route, if you have the cash, tools, and a desire to make it happen. No bank is going to let *you* (as their mortgagor) serve as General Contractor unless you hold a contractor's license. Advice? You're crazy to even attempt it...... uh, but wasn't I thinking about adding on to the workshop..... .... Oh, never mind...... It's an incredible burner of time. I had to do it because the general I hired to build a custom home in Northern Virginia turned out to be way overextended financially from previous projects, and could not line up the subs I wanted, and was teetering. I can imagine the waste of time. I had the misfortune to have my house torched once - if it wasn't for a neighbor coming home at 2 AM and raising the alarm we might have been killed. Anyway, I hired a private adjuster, and you wouldn't believe the **** I went through with him and his crews. Had to show his "carpenter" how to cut stringers. Came home from work one day and his "plaster guys" had done the kitchen with 1/2" drywall, no shims, to replace the nearly full inch of plaster and lath. There was almost a half inch gap between the door and window casings and the drywall. Had it all torn out by the next day I got home from work, but there was always some BS waiting for me. I'd leave work saying, "Let's see what they ****ed up today." Anyway, I finally got everything done about 85% right, but I never yelled so much and got in so many faces in such a short period of time. Actually, I went easy on the crews, they were what they were, but laid into the adjuster, who's really a GC, a lot. What was good is the adjuster did keep us in the house because he was real good at getting the essentials quickly restored. That was important to me as I had the wife and 4 little kids to think about, and work, so there was no way I even had time to be my own general. Win some, lose some. --Vic In 1976 when I was a lot younger and more energetic, I built a cedar cape Cod style house myself. This was the norm up this way at that time. In fact, there was a Provincial Govt program where those with minimal savings for a downpayment could use sweat equity in order to get a $23K mortgage to build. Of course I couldn't build my house for that amount...the program was geared to small bungalows on modest serviced lots. I had to find a 2nd mortgage for another $9K. Thought I was in debt up to my eyeballs way back then..... but the house was beautiful.on a 2/3 acre lot with well & septic system way out in the country (about 20 miles from city center) To add to my financial burden, I traded in my 5 yr old Volkswagen Beatle for a $5K Dodge Aspen S/W. It all started in march of 1975 when I took over a share in a co-op program when a member was transfered to the states by his company. Wife and I cleared the lot of trees & brush while snow was still on the ground so we could burn off as much as possible in big bonfires. I hired a company to dig the foundation hole and another to put up the concrete foundation. Got my brother and a few buddies to help out putting the 1st floor on...then the wife and I would build the walls and ask relatives to show up to help erect same. The big 4' x 12" x 16' douglas fir beams were tricky to put up (post & beam construction). Once, my brother & law and I fell off the ladders dropping the beam and narrowly missing me on the floor. I did hire a friend of my wifes' family to help finish off the double course cedar shingles on the exterior walls, and another guy to lay the asphalt shingles on the roof. (turned out the roofing guy was married to a cousin of mine). Once inside, an old friend who was a licensed electrician got the permit but a friend of my brothers (apprentice electrician) did the work. Next we got other neighbourhood friends to do the plumbing while home for Christmas vacation from Alberta. Lastly the in-laws gyprocked the entire house no charge. I just supplied the materials. Finally got in in February 1976. A few years later I added an attached 1.5 story garage all by myself. Now when I have a project, I hire a guy from my wifes' former company to do most of the work while I act as assistant. (re addition for mon in 2002, replacement of all the old windows with vinyl, tearing down of old garage & building of 2 new sheds, decking & fence additions etc) A 1ft by 4ft by 16ft beam is a hefty beam all right. -- ** Good Day! ** John H Lord help us! I hope you don't ever plan to build your own house. When I put a " after a number...that means INCHES when I put a ' after a number...that meens FEET so...4"x12" x 16' means a four inch thick by 12 inches wide beam 16 feet long. Herring claimed to be a "combat engineer." Doubtful. |
Building your own home
"Vic Smith" wrote in message ... On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 13:29:54 -0400, "Don White" wrote: In 1976 when I was a lot younger and more energetic, I built a cedar cape Cod style house myself. This was the norm up this way at that time. In fact, there was a Provincial Govt program where those with minimal savings for a downpayment could use sweat equity in order to get a $23K mortgage to build. Of course I couldn't build my house for that amount...the program was geared to small bungalows on modest serviced lots. I had to find a 2nd mortgage for another $9K. Thought I was in debt up to my eyeballs way back then..... but the house was beautiful.on a 2/3 acre lot with well & septic system way out in the country (about 20 miles from city center) To add to my financial burden, I traded in my 5 yr old Volkswagen Beatle for a $5K Dodge Aspen S/W. It all started in march of 1975 when I took over a share in a co-op program when a member was transfered to the states by his company. Wife and I cleared the lot of trees & brush while snow was still on the ground so we could burn off as much as possible in big bonfires. I hired a company to dig the foundation hole and another to put up the concrete foundation. Got my brother and a few buddies to help out putting the 1st floor on...then the wife and I would build the walls and ask relatives to show up to help erect same. The big 4' x 12" x 16' douglas fir beams were tricky to put up (post & beam construction). Once, my brother & law and I fell off the ladders dropping the beam and narrowly missing me on the floor. I did hire a friend of my wifes' family to help finish off the double course cedar shingles on the exterior walls, and another guy to lay the asphalt shingles on the roof. (turned out the roofing guy was married to a cousin of mine). Once inside, an old friend who was a licensed electrician got the permit but a friend of my brothers (apprentice electrician) did the work. Next we got other neighbourhood friends to do the plumbing while home for Christmas vacation from Alberta. Lastly the in-laws gyprocked the entire house no charge. I just supplied the materials. Finally got in in February 1976. A few years later I added an attached 1.5 story garage all by myself. Now when I have a project, I hire a guy from my wifes' former company to do most of the work while I act as assistant. (re addition for mon in 2002, replacement of all the old windows with vinyl, tearing down of old garage & building of 2 new sheds, decking & fence additions etc) Must be a good feeling living in a house you built yourself. Closest I came was doing the rear porches on my 2-flat. 3 vertical 6"x 6" x @30' - can't remember, they had to be butted. Big job working alone, but I got my brother out once when I needed him. The old posts had rotted. The iced tea on that porch was always especially tasty. --Vic It was tough selling that house to move back into the city. A number of factors came along...such as... two boys with the oldest starting school the county and city and province all got together and decided to stick the new landfill within a half mile of me (as the crow flies) The driving in the dark & rain started to get to me....... not to mention we were on the edge of a local snow belt. Believe it or not, I missed the city |
Building your own home
|
Building your own home
On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 19:45:30 -0400, "Don White"
wrote: "John H" wrote in message .. . On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 13:29:54 -0400, "Don White" wrote: "Vic Smith" wrote in message ... On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 20:34:39 -0500, Boater wrote: Gene wrote: On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 12:03:49 -0500, "Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq." wrote: We are thinking about using this downturn in the housing market to build a new home, and acting as our own General Contractor. Has anyone in the group done this and do they have any words of advice? Yes, with three houses and two workshops. Not only was I General Contractor, I was also 50% of the labor. Your only real savings, in this market, will be sweat equity. You can buy cheaper than you can build.... you just have to find an equally desperate mortgagee and mortgagor.... or you could do it the seat equity route, if you have the cash, tools, and a desire to make it happen. No bank is going to let *you* (as their mortgagor) serve as General Contractor unless you hold a contractor's license. Advice? You're crazy to even attempt it...... uh, but wasn't I thinking about adding on to the workshop..... .... Oh, never mind...... It's an incredible burner of time. I had to do it because the general I hired to build a custom home in Northern Virginia turned out to be way overextended financially from previous projects, and could not line up the subs I wanted, and was teetering. I can imagine the waste of time. I had the misfortune to have my house torched once - if it wasn't for a neighbor coming home at 2 AM and raising the alarm we might have been killed. Anyway, I hired a private adjuster, and you wouldn't believe the **** I went through with him and his crews. Had to show his "carpenter" how to cut stringers. Came home from work one day and his "plaster guys" had done the kitchen with 1/2" drywall, no shims, to replace the nearly full inch of plaster and lath. There was almost a half inch gap between the door and window casings and the drywall. Had it all torn out by the next day I got home from work, but there was always some BS waiting for me. I'd leave work saying, "Let's see what they ****ed up today." Anyway, I finally got everything done about 85% right, but I never yelled so much and got in so many faces in such a short period of time. Actually, I went easy on the crews, they were what they were, but laid into the adjuster, who's really a GC, a lot. What was good is the adjuster did keep us in the house because he was real good at getting the essentials quickly restored. That was important to me as I had the wife and 4 little kids to think about, and work, so there was no way I even had time to be my own general. Win some, lose some. --Vic In 1976 when I was a lot younger and more energetic, I built a cedar cape Cod style house myself. This was the norm up this way at that time. In fact, there was a Provincial Govt program where those with minimal savings for a downpayment could use sweat equity in order to get a $23K mortgage to build. Of course I couldn't build my house for that amount...the program was geared to small bungalows on modest serviced lots. I had to find a 2nd mortgage for another $9K. Thought I was in debt up to my eyeballs way back then..... but the house was beautiful.on a 2/3 acre lot with well & septic system way out in the country (about 20 miles from city center) To add to my financial burden, I traded in my 5 yr old Volkswagen Beatle for a $5K Dodge Aspen S/W. It all started in march of 1975 when I took over a share in a co-op program when a member was transfered to the states by his company. Wife and I cleared the lot of trees & brush while snow was still on the ground so we could burn off as much as possible in big bonfires. I hired a company to dig the foundation hole and another to put up the concrete foundation. Got my brother and a few buddies to help out putting the 1st floor on...then the wife and I would build the walls and ask relatives to show up to help erect same. The big 4' x 12" x 16' douglas fir beams were tricky to put up (post & beam construction). Once, my brother & law and I fell off the ladders dropping the beam and narrowly missing me on the floor. I did hire a friend of my wifes' family to help finish off the double course cedar shingles on the exterior walls, and another guy to lay the asphalt shingles on the roof. (turned out the roofing guy was married to a cousin of mine). Once inside, an old friend who was a licensed electrician got the permit but a friend of my brothers (apprentice electrician) did the work. Next we got other neighbourhood friends to do the plumbing while home for Christmas vacation from Alberta. Lastly the in-laws gyprocked the entire house no charge. I just supplied the materials. Finally got in in February 1976. A few years later I added an attached 1.5 story garage all by myself. Now when I have a project, I hire a guy from my wifes' former company to do most of the work while I act as assistant. (re addition for mon in 2002, replacement of all the old windows with vinyl, tearing down of old garage & building of 2 new sheds, decking & fence additions etc) A 1ft by 4ft by 16ft beam is a hefty beam all right. -- ** Good Day! ** John H Lord help us! I hope you don't ever plan to build your own house. When I put a " after a number...that means INCHES when I put a ' after a number...that meens FEET so...4"x12" x 16' means a four inch thick by 12 inches wide beam 16 feet long. Perhaps you should go back and read your original post? "...The big 4' x 12" x 16' douglas fir beams..." Hopefully, the Lord will help you. -- ** Good Day! ** John H |
Building your own home
John H wrote:
On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 10:28:57 -0500, Boater wrote: Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq. wrote: Boater wrote: Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq. wrote: Boater wrote: Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq. wrote: Boater wrote: Gene wrote: On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 12:03:49 -0500, "Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq." wrote: We are thinking about using this downturn in the housing market to build a new home, and acting as our own General Contractor. Has anyone in the group done this and do they have any words of advice? Yes, with three houses and two workshops. Not only was I General Contractor, I was also 50% of the labor. Your only real savings, in this market, will be sweat equity. You can buy cheaper than you can build.... you just have to find an equally desperate mortgagee and mortgagor.... or you could do it the seat equity route, if you have the cash, tools, and a desire to make it happen. No bank is going to let *you* (as their mortgagor) serve as General Contractor unless you hold a contractor's license. Advice? You're crazy to even attempt it...... uh, but wasn't I thinking about adding on to the workshop..... .... Oh, never mind...... It's an incredible burner of time. I had to do it because the general I hired to build a custom home in Northern Virginia turned out to be way overextended financially from previous projects, and could not line up the subs I wanted, and was teetering. Took the builder to court, had a civil jury trial, and won a settlement of more than $100,000. Never collected anything but the builder's license bond from the state. With the help of the lumberyard (who issued the construction bond) and my bank, I took over when the foundation had been laid and the slabs poured, hired a project manager to oversee the subs on salary and bonus, and completed the house just a hair over budget. I had to be on the site for about an hour at 6:30 AM just about every morning. It was a huge house, ultra modern, with four full brick fireplaces, nearly 4000 square feet on the main level, and another 3,000 square feet finished in the basement. I looked it up on Zillow early last year and it was valued at more than $1.5 million. The "crash" of the real estate market apparently hit Northern Virginia hard, because when I looked it up on Zillow earlier this evening, it was valued at about $1.1 million. Just checked the second house I owned in Northern Virgina...it was the one we sold to build the custom house. I paid $87k for it - nice builder's subdivision house - and sold it about five years later for $160,000, I think. Zillow has it at $600,000 and change. Not bad, and the blue spruce trees I planted there in the mid-1970s are at least 40 feet tall and full triple wides. Nice story, and pictures? There are aerial pictures of both places on Zillow. Soon as you provide your full legal name here and I verify it, I'll be glad to supply the addresses of the houses. Ok, how do you plan on verifying my full legal name? Quietly; not the way you would do it. I am always curious why you want to know my full legal name? What's the deal? Simple. My feeling is that if your full legal name were publicly known here, you'd be far less of a snark. Tell him, Harry! I'm proof. There's nothing snarky about me. What were those NoVa addresses again, Harry. We've got a lot of information available in our tax system. Then you could *prove* you actually did something you said you did. I would think you'd be proud! -- ** Good Day! ** John H It appears that Harry has no problem with me posting his address. |
Building your own home
Boater wrote:
wrote: On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 17:08:54 -0500, Jim wrote: I have a feeling that Harry made this whole story up. For the life of me, I cant figure out why he goes to so much trouble to conjure up these wild stories. If he does, maybe it's to watch your antics. He owns you, and most of this newsgroup. Let's see, you have one nitwit following him to other newsgroups, another checking out tax records. If it weren't for Harry, some here would have no life at all. How many years has this Harry thing been going on? Geeze, after all this time, you would think you would learn. The Tribe of Obsessed with Harry is humorously pathetic. What's even funnier is that most of them, like Jim, are permanent residents of my bozo bin, but they still spend most of their time here taking their flaccid shots at me, and I don't see 99% of their crap. I bozo binned Herring the other day, not because he was annoying me, but because he was reposting the crap from Jim and others because he thought that way I would see it. These boys couldn't fight their way out of a wet paper bag. Ok, Since you have no problem with me publishing your full name, address and phone number, I will do it on a daily basis. After all, you are not a coward. |
Building your own home
Boater wrote:
wrote: On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 12:03:49 -0500, "Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq." wrote: We are thinking about using this downturn in the housing market to build a new home, and acting as our own General Contractor. Has anyone in the group done this and do they have any words of advice? At present, you can buy an existing house for less than you can build it. Reggie isn't going to general contract his own house...he's simply dangling a piece of bait to see who bites. Jealousy rears it's ugly, fat, head. WAFA doesn't even own a house. |
Building your own home
Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq. wrote:
hk wrote: Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq. wrote: We are thinking about using this downturn in the housing market to build a new home, and acting as our own General Contractor. Has anyone in the group done this and do they have any words of advice? Go for it and keep us posted. It will be great fun to read. And by all means, get Loogy to help you. ----------------- www.Newsgroup-Binaries.com - *Completion*Retention*Speed* Access your favorite newsgroups from home or on the road ----------------- Hey, didn't you build you own house? I figure if you can do it, it should be a snap. He couldn't assemble a bird house. You were kidding, right? |
Building your own home
Boater wrote:
Gene wrote: On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 12:03:49 -0500, "Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq." wrote: We are thinking about using this downturn in the housing market to build a new home, and acting as our own General Contractor. Has anyone in the group done this and do they have any words of advice? Yes, with three houses and two workshops. Not only was I General Contractor, I was also 50% of the labor. Your only real savings, in this market, will be sweat equity. You can buy cheaper than you can build.... you just have to find an equally desperate mortgagee and mortgagor.... or you could do it the seat equity route, if you have the cash, tools, and a desire to make it happen. No bank is going to let *you* (as their mortgagor) serve as General Contractor unless you hold a contractor's license. Advice? You're crazy to even attempt it...... uh, but wasn't I thinking about adding on to the workshop..... .... Oh, never mind...... It's an incredible burner of time. I had to do it because the general I hired to build a custom home in Northern Virginia turned out to be way overextended financially from previous projects, and could not line up the subs I wanted, and was teetering. Took the builder to court, had a civil jury trial, and won a settlement of more than $100,000. Never collected anything but the builder's license bond from the state. With the help of the lumberyard (who issued the construction bond) and my bank, I took over when the foundation had been laid and the slabs poured, hired a project manager to oversee the subs on salary and bonus, and completed the house just a hair over budget. I had to be on the site for about an hour at 6:30 AM just about every morning. Lumberyards don't issue construction bonds, you lying asshole. |
Building your own home
Boater wrote:
BAR wrote: Boater wrote: Gene wrote: On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 12:03:49 -0500, "Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq." wrote: We are thinking about using this downturn in the housing market to build a new home, and acting as our own General Contractor. Has anyone in the group done this and do they have any words of advice? Yes, with three houses and two workshops. Not only was I General Contractor, I was also 50% of the labor. Your only real savings, in this market, will be sweat equity. You can buy cheaper than you can build.... you just have to find an equally desperate mortgagee and mortgagor.... or you could do it the seat equity route, if you have the cash, tools, and a desire to make it happen. No bank is going to let *you* (as their mortgagor) serve as General Contractor unless you hold a contractor's license. Advice? You're crazy to even attempt it...... uh, but wasn't I thinking about adding on to the workshop..... .... Oh, never mind...... It's an incredible burner of time. I had to do it because the general I hired to build a custom home in Northern Virginia turned out to be way overextended financially from previous projects, and could not line up the subs I wanted, and was teetering. Took the builder to court, had a civil jury trial, and won a settlement of more than $100,000. Never collected anything but the builder's license bond from the state. With the help of the lumberyard (who issued the construction bond) and my bank, I took over when the foundation had been laid and the slabs poured, hired a project manager to oversee the subs on salary and bonus, and completed the house just a hair over budget. I had to be on the site for about an hour at 6:30 AM just about every morning. It was a huge house, ultra modern, with four full brick fireplaces, nearly 4000 square feet on the main level, and another 3,000 square feet finished in the basement. I looked it up on Zillow early last year and it was valued at more than $1.5 million. The "crash" of the real estate market apparently hit Northern Virginia hard, because when I looked it up on Zillow earlier this evening, it was valued at about $1.1 million. Just checked the second house I owned in Northern Virgina...it was the one we sold to build the custom house. I paid $87k for it - nice builder's subdivision house - and sold it about five years later for $160,000, I think. Zillow has it at $600,000 and change. Not bad, and the blue spruce trees I planted there in the mid-1970s are at least 40 feet tall and full triple wides. Again, you are telling lies. You can't prove either home was owned by you and that the "big house" was built for or by you. Awww, I'm supposed to be concerned about proving things to right-wing trash like you? Please. Don't bother. Continue with the lies. Anyone with a brain is aware of your narcissistic bull**** by now. |
Building your own home
Don White wrote:
"John H" wrote in message ... On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 13:29:54 -0400, "Don White" wrote: "Vic Smith" wrote in message ... On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 20:34:39 -0500, Boater wrote: Gene wrote: On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 12:03:49 -0500, "Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq." wrote: We are thinking about using this downturn in the housing market to build a new home, and acting as our own General Contractor. Has anyone in the group done this and do they have any words of advice? Yes, with three houses and two workshops. Not only was I General Contractor, I was also 50% of the labor. Your only real savings, in this market, will be sweat equity. You can buy cheaper than you can build.... you just have to find an equally desperate mortgagee and mortgagor.... or you could do it the seat equity route, if you have the cash, tools, and a desire to make it happen. No bank is going to let *you* (as their mortgagor) serve as General Contractor unless you hold a contractor's license. Advice? You're crazy to even attempt it...... uh, but wasn't I thinking about adding on to the workshop..... .... Oh, never mind...... It's an incredible burner of time. I had to do it because the general I hired to build a custom home in Northern Virginia turned out to be way overextended financially from previous projects, and could not line up the subs I wanted, and was teetering. I can imagine the waste of time. I had the misfortune to have my house torched once - if it wasn't for a neighbor coming home at 2 AM and raising the alarm we might have been killed. Anyway, I hired a private adjuster, and you wouldn't believe the **** I went through with him and his crews. Had to show his "carpenter" how to cut stringers. Came home from work one day and his "plaster guys" had done the kitchen with 1/2" drywall, no shims, to replace the nearly full inch of plaster and lath. There was almost a half inch gap between the door and window casings and the drywall. Had it all torn out by the next day I got home from work, but there was always some BS waiting for me. I'd leave work saying, "Let's see what they ****ed up today." Anyway, I finally got everything done about 85% right, but I never yelled so much and got in so many faces in such a short period of time. Actually, I went easy on the crews, they were what they were, but laid into the adjuster, who's really a GC, a lot. What was good is the adjuster did keep us in the house because he was real good at getting the essentials quickly restored. That was important to me as I had the wife and 4 little kids to think about, and work, so there was no way I even had time to be my own general. Win some, lose some. --Vic In 1976 when I was a lot younger and more energetic, I built a cedar cape Cod style house myself. This was the norm up this way at that time. In fact, there was a Provincial Govt program where those with minimal savings for a downpayment could use sweat equity in order to get a $23K mortgage to build. Of course I couldn't build my house for that amount...the program was geared to small bungalows on modest serviced lots. I had to find a 2nd mortgage for another $9K. Thought I was in debt up to my eyeballs way back then..... but the house was beautiful.on a 2/3 acre lot with well & septic system way out in the country (about 20 miles from city center) To add to my financial burden, I traded in my 5 yr old Volkswagen Beatle for a $5K Dodge Aspen S/W. It all started in march of 1975 when I took over a share in a co-op program when a member was transfered to the states by his company. Wife and I cleared the lot of trees & brush while snow was still on the ground so we could burn off as much as possible in big bonfires. I hired a company to dig the foundation hole and another to put up the concrete foundation. Got my brother and a few buddies to help out putting the 1st floor on...then the wife and I would build the walls and ask relatives to show up to help erect same. The big 4' x 12" x 16' douglas fir beams were tricky to put up (post & beam construction). Once, my brother & law and I fell off the ladders dropping the beam and narrowly missing me on the floor. I did hire a friend of my wifes' family to help finish off the double course cedar shingles on the exterior walls, and another guy to lay the asphalt shingles on the roof. (turned out the roofing guy was married to a cousin of mine). Once inside, an old friend who was a licensed electrician got the permit but a friend of my brothers (apprentice electrician) did the work. Next we got other neighbourhood friends to do the plumbing while home for Christmas vacation from Alberta. Lastly the in-laws gyprocked the entire house no charge. I just supplied the materials. Finally got in in February 1976. A few years later I added an attached 1.5 story garage all by myself. Now when I have a project, I hire a guy from my wifes' former company to do most of the work while I act as assistant. (re addition for mon in 2002, replacement of all the old windows with vinyl, tearing down of old garage & building of 2 new sheds, decking & fence additions etc) A 1ft by 4ft by 16ft beam is a hefty beam all right. -- ** Good Day! ** John H Lord help us! I hope you don't ever plan to build your own house. When I put a " after a number...that means INCHES when I put a ' after a number...that meens FEET so...4"x12" x 16' means a four inch thick by 12 inches wide beam 16 feet long. Wrong. It's 3-1/2" X 11-1/4" X 16' |
Building your own home
Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq. wrote:
Boater wrote: So, who do you think I fear? Brain-dead Loogy? Reggie NoBalls? Florida Jim, the twerp so frightened he doesn't want anyone to know where in Central Florida he lives? You seem very scared to post your real name, address and phone number. Why is that? It's been posted. Karen (not Krause) owns the house. |
Building your own home
"Tom Francis" wrote in message ... On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 16:19:06 -0600, wrote: On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 17:08:54 -0500, Jim wrote: I have a feeling that Harry made this whole story up. For the life of me, I cant figure out why he goes to so much trouble to conjure up these wild stories. If he does, maybe it's to watch your antics. He owns you, and most of this newsgroup. Let's see, you have one nitwit following him to other newsgroups, another checking out tax records. If it weren't for Harry, some here would have no life at all. How many years has this Harry thing been going on? Geeze, after all this time, you would think you would learn. Heh. I second that. I will admit that I'm partially guilty myself. Shame on me. --Mike |
Building your own home
"D K" wrote in message ... Don White wrote: "John H" wrote in message ... On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 13:29:54 -0400, "Don White" wrote: "Vic Smith" wrote in message ... On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 20:34:39 -0500, Boater wrote: Gene wrote: On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 12:03:49 -0500, "Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq." wrote: We are thinking about using this downturn in the housing market to build a new home, and acting as our own General Contractor. Has anyone in the group done this and do they have any words of advice? Yes, with three houses and two workshops. Not only was I General Contractor, I was also 50% of the labor. Your only real savings, in this market, will be sweat equity. You can buy cheaper than you can build.... you just have to find an equally desperate mortgagee and mortgagor.... or you could do it the seat equity route, if you have the cash, tools, and a desire to make it happen. No bank is going to let *you* (as their mortgagor) serve as General Contractor unless you hold a contractor's license. Advice? You're crazy to even attempt it...... uh, but wasn't I thinking about adding on to the workshop..... .... Oh, never mind...... It's an incredible burner of time. I had to do it because the general I hired to build a custom home in Northern Virginia turned out to be way overextended financially from previous projects, and could not line up the subs I wanted, and was teetering. I can imagine the waste of time. I had the misfortune to have my house torched once - if it wasn't for a neighbor coming home at 2 AM and raising the alarm we might have been killed. Anyway, I hired a private adjuster, and you wouldn't believe the **** I went through with him and his crews. Had to show his "carpenter" how to cut stringers. Came home from work one day and his "plaster guys" had done the kitchen with 1/2" drywall, no shims, to replace the nearly full inch of plaster and lath. There was almost a half inch gap between the door and window casings and the drywall. Had it all torn out by the next day I got home from work, but there was always some BS waiting for me. I'd leave work saying, "Let's see what they ****ed up today." Anyway, I finally got everything done about 85% right, but I never yelled so much and got in so many faces in such a short period of time. Actually, I went easy on the crews, they were what they were, but laid into the adjuster, who's really a GC, a lot. What was good is the adjuster did keep us in the house because he was real good at getting the essentials quickly restored. That was important to me as I had the wife and 4 little kids to think about, and work, so there was no way I even had time to be my own general. Win some, lose some. --Vic In 1976 when I was a lot younger and more energetic, I built a cedar cape Cod style house myself. This was the norm up this way at that time. In fact, there was a Provincial Govt program where those with minimal savings for a downpayment could use sweat equity in order to get a $23K mortgage to build. Of course I couldn't build my house for that amount...the program was geared to small bungalows on modest serviced lots. I had to find a 2nd mortgage for another $9K. Thought I was in debt up to my eyeballs way back then..... but the house was beautiful.on a 2/3 acre lot with well & septic system way out in the country (about 20 miles from city center) To add to my financial burden, I traded in my 5 yr old Volkswagen Beatle for a $5K Dodge Aspen S/W. It all started in march of 1975 when I took over a share in a co-op program when a member was transfered to the states by his company. Wife and I cleared the lot of trees & brush while snow was still on the ground so we could burn off as much as possible in big bonfires. I hired a company to dig the foundation hole and another to put up the concrete foundation. Got my brother and a few buddies to help out putting the 1st floor on...then the wife and I would build the walls and ask relatives to show up to help erect same. The big 4' x 12" x 16' douglas fir beams were tricky to put up (post & beam construction). Once, my brother & law and I fell off the ladders dropping the beam and narrowly missing me on the floor. I did hire a friend of my wifes' family to help finish off the double course cedar shingles on the exterior walls, and another guy to lay the asphalt shingles on the roof. (turned out the roofing guy was married to a cousin of mine). Once inside, an old friend who was a licensed electrician got the permit but a friend of my brothers (apprentice electrician) did the work. Next we got other neighbourhood friends to do the plumbing while home for Christmas vacation from Alberta. Lastly the in-laws gyprocked the entire house no charge. I just supplied the materials. Finally got in in February 1976. A few years later I added an attached 1.5 story garage all by myself. Now when I have a project, I hire a guy from my wifes' former company to do most of the work while I act as assistant. (re addition for mon in 2002, replacement of all the old windows with vinyl, tearing down of old garage & building of 2 new sheds, decking & fence additions etc) A 1ft by 4ft by 16ft beam is a hefty beam all right. -- ** Good Day! ** John H Lord help us! I hope you don't ever plan to build your own house. When I put a " after a number...that means INCHES when I put a ' after a number...that meens FEET so...4"x12" x 16' means a four inch thick by 12 inches wide beam 16 feet long. Wrong. It's 3-1/2" X 11-1/4" X 16' giggle You're absolutely correct. donny is as dumb as harry... so it seems. I didn't think that was possible. Holy cow martha, i bilt the house like the plans says with too by fors, and it's 5 foot shorter than it wuz supposed to be. LOL --Mike --Mike |
Building your own home
"Boater" wrote in message ... Calif Bill wrote: "Boater" wrote in message ... Calif Bill wrote: Maybe harry is Ethiopian. Ya think? Maybe that's why I prefer dark-haired wimmins. Or related to Nigerians. We're all related to Africans, Bilious. Well, maybe you aren't. You're so special. Maybe we are all related to Pangeans. |
Building your own home
"Boater" wrote in message ... Don White wrote: "John H" wrote in message ... On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 13:29:54 -0400, "Don White" wrote: "Vic Smith" wrote in message ... On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 20:34:39 -0500, Boater wrote: Gene wrote: On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 12:03:49 -0500, "Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq." wrote: We are thinking about using this downturn in the housing market to build a new home, and acting as our own General Contractor. Has anyone in the group done this and do they have any words of advice? Yes, with three houses and two workshops. Not only was I General Contractor, I was also 50% of the labor. Your only real savings, in this market, will be sweat equity. You can buy cheaper than you can build.... you just have to find an equally desperate mortgagee and mortgagor.... or you could do it the seat equity route, if you have the cash, tools, and a desire to make it happen. No bank is going to let *you* (as their mortgagor) serve as General Contractor unless you hold a contractor's license. Advice? You're crazy to even attempt it...... uh, but wasn't I thinking about adding on to the workshop..... .... Oh, never mind...... It's an incredible burner of time. I had to do it because the general I hired to build a custom home in Northern Virginia turned out to be way overextended financially from previous projects, and could not line up the subs I wanted, and was teetering. I can imagine the waste of time. I had the misfortune to have my house torched once - if it wasn't for a neighbor coming home at 2 AM and raising the alarm we might have been killed. Anyway, I hired a private adjuster, and you wouldn't believe the **** I went through with him and his crews. Had to show his "carpenter" how to cut stringers. Came home from work one day and his "plaster guys" had done the kitchen with 1/2" drywall, no shims, to replace the nearly full inch of plaster and lath. There was almost a half inch gap between the door and window casings and the drywall. Had it all torn out by the next day I got home from work, but there was always some BS waiting for me. I'd leave work saying, "Let's see what they ****ed up today." Anyway, I finally got everything done about 85% right, but I never yelled so much and got in so many faces in such a short period of time. Actually, I went easy on the crews, they were what they were, but laid into the adjuster, who's really a GC, a lot. What was good is the adjuster did keep us in the house because he was real good at getting the essentials quickly restored. That was important to me as I had the wife and 4 little kids to think about, and work, so there was no way I even had time to be my own general. Win some, lose some. --Vic In 1976 when I was a lot younger and more energetic, I built a cedar cape Cod style house myself. This was the norm up this way at that time. In fact, there was a Provincial Govt program where those with minimal savings for a downpayment could use sweat equity in order to get a $23K mortgage to build. Of course I couldn't build my house for that amount...the program was geared to small bungalows on modest serviced lots. I had to find a 2nd mortgage for another $9K. Thought I was in debt up to my eyeballs way back then..... but the house was beautiful.on a 2/3 acre lot with well & septic system way out in the country (about 20 miles from city center) To add to my financial burden, I traded in my 5 yr old Volkswagen Beatle for a $5K Dodge Aspen S/W. It all started in march of 1975 when I took over a share in a co-op program when a member was transfered to the states by his company. Wife and I cleared the lot of trees & brush while snow was still on the ground so we could burn off as much as possible in big bonfires. I hired a company to dig the foundation hole and another to put up the concrete foundation. Got my brother and a few buddies to help out putting the 1st floor on...then the wife and I would build the walls and ask relatives to show up to help erect same. The big 4' x 12" x 16' douglas fir beams were tricky to put up (post & beam construction). Once, my brother & law and I fell off the ladders dropping the beam and narrowly missing me on the floor. I did hire a friend of my wifes' family to help finish off the double course cedar shingles on the exterior walls, and another guy to lay the asphalt shingles on the roof. (turned out the roofing guy was married to a cousin of mine). Once inside, an old friend who was a licensed electrician got the permit but a friend of my brothers (apprentice electrician) did the work. Next we got other neighbourhood friends to do the plumbing while home for Christmas vacation from Alberta. Lastly the in-laws gyprocked the entire house no charge. I just supplied the materials. Finally got in in February 1976. A few years later I added an attached 1.5 story garage all by myself. Now when I have a project, I hire a guy from my wifes' former company to do most of the work while I act as assistant. (re addition for mon in 2002, replacement of all the old windows with vinyl, tearing down of old garage & building of 2 new sheds, decking & fence additions etc) A 1ft by 4ft by 16ft beam is a hefty beam all right. -- ** Good Day! ** John H Lord help us! I hope you don't ever plan to build your own house. When I put a " after a number...that means INCHES when I put a ' after a number...that meens FEET so...4"x12" x 16' means a four inch thick by 12 inches wide beam 16 feet long. Herring claimed to be a "combat engineer." Doubtful. Combat engineers blow up things, not build up things. |
Building your own home
"D K" wrote in message ... Don White wrote: "John H" wrote in message ... On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 13:29:54 -0400, "Don White" wrote: "Vic Smith" wrote in message ... On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 20:34:39 -0500, Boater wrote: Gene wrote: On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 12:03:49 -0500, "Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq." wrote: We are thinking about using this downturn in the housing market to build a new home, and acting as our own General Contractor. Has anyone in the group done this and do they have any words of advice? Yes, with three houses and two workshops. Not only was I General Contractor, I was also 50% of the labor. Your only real savings, in this market, will be sweat equity. You can buy cheaper than you can build.... you just have to find an equally desperate mortgagee and mortgagor.... or you could do it the seat equity route, if you have the cash, tools, and a desire to make it happen. No bank is going to let *you* (as their mortgagor) serve as General Contractor unless you hold a contractor's license. Advice? You're crazy to even attempt it...... uh, but wasn't I thinking about adding on to the workshop..... .... Oh, never mind...... It's an incredible burner of time. I had to do it because the general I hired to build a custom home in Northern Virginia turned out to be way overextended financially from previous projects, and could not line up the subs I wanted, and was teetering. I can imagine the waste of time. I had the misfortune to have my house torched once - if it wasn't for a neighbor coming home at 2 AM and raising the alarm we might have been killed. Anyway, I hired a private adjuster, and you wouldn't believe the **** I went through with him and his crews. Had to show his "carpenter" how to cut stringers. Came home from work one day and his "plaster guys" had done the kitchen with 1/2" drywall, no shims, to replace the nearly full inch of plaster and lath. There was almost a half inch gap between the door and window casings and the drywall. Had it all torn out by the next day I got home from work, but there was always some BS waiting for me. I'd leave work saying, "Let's see what they ****ed up today." Anyway, I finally got everything done about 85% right, but I never yelled so much and got in so many faces in such a short period of time. Actually, I went easy on the crews, they were what they were, but laid into the adjuster, who's really a GC, a lot. What was good is the adjuster did keep us in the house because he was real good at getting the essentials quickly restored. That was important to me as I had the wife and 4 little kids to think about, and work, so there was no way I even had time to be my own general. Win some, lose some. --Vic In 1976 when I was a lot younger and more energetic, I built a cedar cape Cod style house myself. This was the norm up this way at that time. In fact, there was a Provincial Govt program where those with minimal savings for a downpayment could use sweat equity in order to get a $23K mortgage to build. Of course I couldn't build my house for that amount...the program was geared to small bungalows on modest serviced lots. I had to find a 2nd mortgage for another $9K. Thought I was in debt up to my eyeballs way back then..... but the house was beautiful.on a 2/3 acre lot with well & septic system way out in the country (about 20 miles from city center) To add to my financial burden, I traded in my 5 yr old Volkswagen Beatle for a $5K Dodge Aspen S/W. It all started in march of 1975 when I took over a share in a co-op program when a member was transfered to the states by his company. Wife and I cleared the lot of trees & brush while snow was still on the ground so we could burn off as much as possible in big bonfires. I hired a company to dig the foundation hole and another to put up the concrete foundation. Got my brother and a few buddies to help out putting the 1st floor on...then the wife and I would build the walls and ask relatives to show up to help erect same. The big 4' x 12" x 16' douglas fir beams were tricky to put up (post & beam construction). Once, my brother & law and I fell off the ladders dropping the beam and narrowly missing me on the floor. I did hire a friend of my wifes' family to help finish off the double course cedar shingles on the exterior walls, and another guy to lay the asphalt shingles on the roof. (turned out the roofing guy was married to a cousin of mine). Once inside, an old friend who was a licensed electrician got the permit but a friend of my brothers (apprentice electrician) did the work. Next we got other neighbourhood friends to do the plumbing while home for Christmas vacation from Alberta. Lastly the in-laws gyprocked the entire house no charge. I just supplied the materials. Finally got in in February 1976. A few years later I added an attached 1.5 story garage all by myself. Now when I have a project, I hire a guy from my wifes' former company to do most of the work while I act as assistant. (re addition for mon in 2002, replacement of all the old windows with vinyl, tearing down of old garage & building of 2 new sheds, decking & fence additions etc) A 1ft by 4ft by 16ft beam is a hefty beam all right. -- ** Good Day! ** John H Lord help us! I hope you don't ever plan to build your own house. When I put a " after a number...that means INCHES when I put a ' after a number...that meens FEET so...4"x12" x 16' means a four inch thick by 12 inches wide beam 16 feet long. Wrong. It's 3-1/2" X 11-1/4" X 16' Depends. If it is dimensional lumber or older lumber. My mothers house was built in 1908. A 2x4 is 2" by 4". A problem when having to replace a piece of lumber. |
Building your own home
On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 21:12:47 -0500, "Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq."
wrote: John H wrote: On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 10:28:57 -0500, Boater wrote: Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq. wrote: Boater wrote: Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq. wrote: Boater wrote: Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq. wrote: Boater wrote: Gene wrote: On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 12:03:49 -0500, "Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq." wrote: We are thinking about using this downturn in the housing market to build a new home, and acting as our own General Contractor. Has anyone in the group done this and do they have any words of advice? Yes, with three houses and two workshops. Not only was I General Contractor, I was also 50% of the labor. Your only real savings, in this market, will be sweat equity. You can buy cheaper than you can build.... you just have to find an equally desperate mortgagee and mortgagor.... or you could do it the seat equity route, if you have the cash, tools, and a desire to make it happen. No bank is going to let *you* (as their mortgagor) serve as General Contractor unless you hold a contractor's license. Advice? You're crazy to even attempt it...... uh, but wasn't I thinking about adding on to the workshop..... .... Oh, never mind...... It's an incredible burner of time. I had to do it because the general I hired to build a custom home in Northern Virginia turned out to be way overextended financially from previous projects, and could not line up the subs I wanted, and was teetering. Took the builder to court, had a civil jury trial, and won a settlement of more than $100,000. Never collected anything but the builder's license bond from the state. With the help of the lumberyard (who issued the construction bond) and my bank, I took over when the foundation had been laid and the slabs poured, hired a project manager to oversee the subs on salary and bonus, and completed the house just a hair over budget. I had to be on the site for about an hour at 6:30 AM just about every morning. It was a huge house, ultra modern, with four full brick fireplaces, nearly 4000 square feet on the main level, and another 3,000 square feet finished in the basement. I looked it up on Zillow early last year and it was valued at more than $1.5 million. The "crash" of the real estate market apparently hit Northern Virginia hard, because when I looked it up on Zillow earlier this evening, it was valued at about $1.1 million. Just checked the second house I owned in Northern Virgina...it was the one we sold to build the custom house. I paid $87k for it - nice builder's subdivision house - and sold it about five years later for $160,000, I think. Zillow has it at $600,000 and change. Not bad, and the blue spruce trees I planted there in the mid-1970s are at least 40 feet tall and full triple wides. Nice story, and pictures? There are aerial pictures of both places on Zillow. Soon as you provide your full legal name here and I verify it, I'll be glad to supply the addresses of the houses. Ok, how do you plan on verifying my full legal name? Quietly; not the way you would do it. I am always curious why you want to know my full legal name? What's the deal? Simple. My feeling is that if your full legal name were publicly known here, you'd be far less of a snark. Tell him, Harry! I'm proof. There's nothing snarky about me. What were those NoVa addresses again, Harry. We've got a lot of information available in our tax system. Then you could *prove* you actually did something you said you did. I would think you'd be proud! -- ** Good Day! ** John H It appears that Harry has no problem with me posting his address. You put Harry in a tough spot. His only choice is to start calling you names or just not answer. Soon he'll be pretending he's got you 'filtered'. It will be in his special filter, named after himself, which allows him to read all the posts from those he 'filtered'. -- ** Good Day! ** John H |
Building your own home
On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 20:40:09 -0800, "Mike" wrote:
"D K" wrote in message m... Don White wrote: "John H" wrote in message ... On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 13:29:54 -0400, "Don White" wrote: "Vic Smith" wrote in message ... On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 20:34:39 -0500, Boater wrote: Gene wrote: On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 12:03:49 -0500, "Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq." wrote: We are thinking about using this downturn in the housing market to build a new home, and acting as our own General Contractor. Has anyone in the group done this and do they have any words of advice? Yes, with three houses and two workshops. Not only was I General Contractor, I was also 50% of the labor. Your only real savings, in this market, will be sweat equity. You can buy cheaper than you can build.... you just have to find an equally desperate mortgagee and mortgagor.... or you could do it the seat equity route, if you have the cash, tools, and a desire to make it happen. No bank is going to let *you* (as their mortgagor) serve as General Contractor unless you hold a contractor's license. Advice? You're crazy to even attempt it...... uh, but wasn't I thinking about adding on to the workshop..... .... Oh, never mind...... It's an incredible burner of time. I had to do it because the general I hired to build a custom home in Northern Virginia turned out to be way overextended financially from previous projects, and could not line up the subs I wanted, and was teetering. I can imagine the waste of time. I had the misfortune to have my house torched once - if it wasn't for a neighbor coming home at 2 AM and raising the alarm we might have been killed. Anyway, I hired a private adjuster, and you wouldn't believe the **** I went through with him and his crews. Had to show his "carpenter" how to cut stringers. Came home from work one day and his "plaster guys" had done the kitchen with 1/2" drywall, no shims, to replace the nearly full inch of plaster and lath. There was almost a half inch gap between the door and window casings and the drywall. Had it all torn out by the next day I got home from work, but there was always some BS waiting for me. I'd leave work saying, "Let's see what they ****ed up today." Anyway, I finally got everything done about 85% right, but I never yelled so much and got in so many faces in such a short period of time. Actually, I went easy on the crews, they were what they were, but laid into the adjuster, who's really a GC, a lot. What was good is the adjuster did keep us in the house because he was real good at getting the essentials quickly restored. That was important to me as I had the wife and 4 little kids to think about, and work, so there was no way I even had time to be my own general. Win some, lose some. --Vic In 1976 when I was a lot younger and more energetic, I built a cedar cape Cod style house myself. This was the norm up this way at that time. In fact, there was a Provincial Govt program where those with minimal savings for a downpayment could use sweat equity in order to get a $23K mortgage to build. Of course I couldn't build my house for that amount...the program was geared to small bungalows on modest serviced lots. I had to find a 2nd mortgage for another $9K. Thought I was in debt up to my eyeballs way back then..... but the house was beautiful.on a 2/3 acre lot with well & septic system way out in the country (about 20 miles from city center) To add to my financial burden, I traded in my 5 yr old Volkswagen Beatle for a $5K Dodge Aspen S/W. It all started in march of 1975 when I took over a share in a co-op program when a member was transfered to the states by his company. Wife and I cleared the lot of trees & brush while snow was still on the ground so we could burn off as much as possible in big bonfires. I hired a company to dig the foundation hole and another to put up the concrete foundation. Got my brother and a few buddies to help out putting the 1st floor on...then the wife and I would build the walls and ask relatives to show up to help erect same. The big 4' x 12" x 16' douglas fir beams were tricky to put up (post & beam construction). Once, my brother & law and I fell off the ladders dropping the beam and narrowly missing me on the floor. I did hire a friend of my wifes' family to help finish off the double course cedar shingles on the exterior walls, and another guy to lay the asphalt shingles on the roof. (turned out the roofing guy was married to a cousin of mine). Once inside, an old friend who was a licensed electrician got the permit but a friend of my brothers (apprentice electrician) did the work. Next we got other neighbourhood friends to do the plumbing while home for Christmas vacation from Alberta. Lastly the in-laws gyprocked the entire house no charge. I just supplied the materials. Finally got in in February 1976. A few years later I added an attached 1.5 story garage all by myself. Now when I have a project, I hire a guy from my wifes' former company to do most of the work while I act as assistant. (re addition for mon in 2002, replacement of all the old windows with vinyl, tearing down of old garage & building of 2 new sheds, decking & fence additions etc) A 1ft by 4ft by 16ft beam is a hefty beam all right. -- ** Good Day! ** John H Lord help us! I hope you don't ever plan to build your own house. When I put a " after a number...that means INCHES when I put a ' after a number...that meens FEET so...4"x12" x 16' means a four inch thick by 12 inches wide beam 16 feet long. Wrong. It's 3-1/2" X 11-1/4" X 16' giggle You're absolutely correct. donny is as dumb as harry... so it seems. I didn't think that was possible. Holy cow martha, i bilt the house like the plans says with too by fors, and it's 5 foot shorter than it wuz supposed to be. LOL --Mike --Mike I think he must have gone back and read his original post. He's probably feeling pretty stupid about now. -- ** Good Day! ** John H |
Building your own home
John H wrote:
On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 21:12:47 -0500, "Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq." * John H It appears that Harry has no problem with me posting his address. You put Harry in a tough spot. His only choice is to start calling you names or just not answer. Soon he'll be pretending he's got you 'filtered'. It will be in his special filter, named after himself, which allows him to read all the posts from those he 'filtered'. -- ** Good Day! ** John H I have to assume Harry Krause has no problem with me posting his name address and phone number. He believes not to do so makes one a coward, and we all know that anyone who owns a handgun is NOT a coward. I decided to give him 24 hrs to object to me posting his legal name, address and phone number. If he has no objection, I figured I would just add a sig file so it would post his legal name, address and phone number every time I make a post in rec.boats. After all, Harry Krause has brass balls. |
Building your own home
On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 21:23:51 -0800, "Calif Bill"
wrote: "Boater" wrote in message ... Don White wrote: "John H" wrote in message ... On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 13:29:54 -0400, "Don White" wrote: "Vic Smith" wrote in message ... On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 20:34:39 -0500, Boater wrote: Gene wrote: On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 12:03:49 -0500, "Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq." wrote: We are thinking about using this downturn in the housing market to build a new home, and acting as our own General Contractor. Has anyone in the group done this and do they have any words of advice? Yes, with three houses and two workshops. Not only was I General Contractor, I was also 50% of the labor. Your only real savings, in this market, will be sweat equity. You can buy cheaper than you can build.... you just have to find an equally desperate mortgagee and mortgagor.... or you could do it the seat equity route, if you have the cash, tools, and a desire to make it happen. No bank is going to let *you* (as their mortgagor) serve as General Contractor unless you hold a contractor's license. Advice? You're crazy to even attempt it...... uh, but wasn't I thinking about adding on to the workshop..... .... Oh, never mind...... It's an incredible burner of time. I had to do it because the general I hired to build a custom home in Northern Virginia turned out to be way overextended financially from previous projects, and could not line up the subs I wanted, and was teetering. I can imagine the waste of time. I had the misfortune to have my house torched once - if it wasn't for a neighbor coming home at 2 AM and raising the alarm we might have been killed. Anyway, I hired a private adjuster, and you wouldn't believe the **** I went through with him and his crews. Had to show his "carpenter" how to cut stringers. Came home from work one day and his "plaster guys" had done the kitchen with 1/2" drywall, no shims, to replace the nearly full inch of plaster and lath. There was almost a half inch gap between the door and window casings and the drywall. Had it all torn out by the next day I got home from work, but there was always some BS waiting for me. I'd leave work saying, "Let's see what they ****ed up today." Anyway, I finally got everything done about 85% right, but I never yelled so much and got in so many faces in such a short period of time. Actually, I went easy on the crews, they were what they were, but laid into the adjuster, who's really a GC, a lot. What was good is the adjuster did keep us in the house because he was real good at getting the essentials quickly restored. That was important to me as I had the wife and 4 little kids to think about, and work, so there was no way I even had time to be my own general. Win some, lose some. --Vic In 1976 when I was a lot younger and more energetic, I built a cedar cape Cod style house myself. This was the norm up this way at that time. In fact, there was a Provincial Govt program where those with minimal savings for a downpayment could use sweat equity in order to get a $23K mortgage to build. Of course I couldn't build my house for that amount...the program was geared to small bungalows on modest serviced lots. I had to find a 2nd mortgage for another $9K. Thought I was in debt up to my eyeballs way back then..... but the house was beautiful.on a 2/3 acre lot with well & septic system way out in the country (about 20 miles from city center) To add to my financial burden, I traded in my 5 yr old Volkswagen Beatle for a $5K Dodge Aspen S/W. It all started in march of 1975 when I took over a share in a co-op program when a member was transfered to the states by his company. Wife and I cleared the lot of trees & brush while snow was still on the ground so we could burn off as much as possible in big bonfires. I hired a company to dig the foundation hole and another to put up the concrete foundation. Got my brother and a few buddies to help out putting the 1st floor on...then the wife and I would build the walls and ask relatives to show up to help erect same. The big 4' x 12" x 16' douglas fir beams were tricky to put up (post & beam construction). Once, my brother & law and I fell off the ladders dropping the beam and narrowly missing me on the floor. I did hire a friend of my wifes' family to help finish off the double course cedar shingles on the exterior walls, and another guy to lay the asphalt shingles on the roof. (turned out the roofing guy was married to a cousin of mine). Once inside, an old friend who was a licensed electrician got the permit but a friend of my brothers (apprentice electrician) did the work. Next we got other neighbourhood friends to do the plumbing while home for Christmas vacation from Alberta. Lastly the in-laws gyprocked the entire house no charge. I just supplied the materials. Finally got in in February 1976. A few years later I added an attached 1.5 story garage all by myself. Now when I have a project, I hire a guy from my wifes' former company to do most of the work while I act as assistant. (re addition for mon in 2002, replacement of all the old windows with vinyl, tearing down of old garage & building of 2 new sheds, decking & fence additions etc) A 1ft by 4ft by 16ft beam is a hefty beam all right. -- ** Good Day! ** John H Lord help us! I hope you don't ever plan to build your own house. When I put a " after a number...that means INCHES when I put a ' after a number...that meens FEET so...4"x12" x 16' means a four inch thick by 12 inches wide beam 16 feet long. Herring claimed to be a "combat engineer." Doubtful. Combat engineers blow up things, not build up things. We do both. There's just not a lot of finesse in the things we build. There's a huge amount of finesse in the way we blow things up. Besides, Donnie must have gone back and read his post. I notice he shut up. -- ** Good Day! ** John H |
Building your own home
On Wed, 31 Dec 2008 07:19:38 -0500, "Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq."
wrote: John H wrote: On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 21:12:47 -0500, "Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq." * John H It appears that Harry has no problem with me posting his address. You put Harry in a tough spot. His only choice is to start calling you names or just not answer. Soon he'll be pretending he's got you 'filtered'. It will be in his special filter, named after himself, which allows him to read all the posts from those he 'filtered'. -- ** Good Day! ** John H I have to assume Harry Krause has no problem with me posting his name address and phone number. He believes not to do so makes one a coward, and we all know that anyone who owns a handgun is NOT a coward. I decided to give him 24 hrs to object to me posting his legal name, address and phone number. If he has no objection, I figured I would just add a sig file so it would post his legal name, address and phone number every time I make a post in rec.boats. After all, Harry Krause has brass balls. Krause is a bad joke. He's full of comments about the cowardice of others, but when it comes to 'manning up' he folds every time. He, Jimh, and Donnie make a great team. -- ** Good Day! ** John H |
Building your own home
Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq. wrote:
John H wrote: On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 21:12:47 -0500, "Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq." * John H It appears that Harry has no problem with me posting his address. You put Harry in a tough spot. His only choice is to start calling you names or just not answer. Soon he'll be pretending he's got you 'filtered'. It will be in his special filter, named after himself, which allows him to read all the posts from those he 'filtered'. -- ** Good Day! ** John H I have to assume Harry Krause has no problem with me posting his name address and phone number. He believes not to do so makes one a coward, and we all know that anyone who owns a handgun is NOT a coward. I decided to give him 24 hrs to object to me posting his legal name, address and phone number. If he has no objection, I figured I would just add a sig file so it would post his legal name, address and phone number every time I make a post in rec.boats. After all, Harry Krause has brass balls. You don't know how you are messing with Bub. I know who you are, where you are and what size union made cement shoes you wear. Be warned. My secret friend is ready to pounce. ** Posted from http://www.teranews.com ** |
Building your own home
Boater wrote:
Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq. wrote: John H wrote: On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 21:12:47 -0500, "Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq." * John H It appears that Harry has no problem with me posting his address. You put Harry in a tough spot. His only choice is to start calling you names or just not answer. Soon he'll be pretending he's got you 'filtered'. It will be in his special filter, named after himself, which allows him to read all the posts from those he 'filtered'. -- ** Good Day! ** John H I have to assume Harry Krause has no problem with me posting his name address and phone number. He believes not to do so makes one a coward, and we all know that anyone who owns a handgun is NOT a coward. I decided to give him 24 hrs to object to me posting his legal name, address and phone number. If he has no objection, I figured I would just add a sig file so it would post his legal name, address and phone number every time I make a post in rec.boats. After all, Harry Krause has brass balls. You don't know how you are messing with Bub. I know who you are, where you are and what size union made cement shoes you wear. Be warned. My secret friend is ready to pounce. ** Posted from http://www.teranews.com ** Harry Krause, I didn't think I was messing with anyone. I can not figure out what that rambling statement means. Are you telling me I don't need to post my legal name, because you already know who I am? Are you telling me that someone who makes his name be known in Usenet is subject to threats of death, by being thrown in water with cement shoes? or Are you telling me you don't care who knows your legal name, address and phone number? |
Building your own home
"John H" wrote in message ... snip.. He, Jimh, and Donnie make a great team. -- ** Good Day! ** John H Wish we could say the same about your motly ragtag group. Ineffective leadership is the most obvious problem with quality of recruitment a close second. |
Building your own home
"John H" wrote in message ... We do both. There's just not a lot of finesse in the things we build. There's a huge amount of finesse in the way we blow things up. Besides, Donnie must have gone back and read his post. I notice he shut up. -- ** Good Day! ** John H I always wondered how many of your own men you blew up. Seeing yor problems with details, following instructions etc...... we're probably better off not knowing. |
Building your own home
"Calif Bill" wrote in message ... "D K" wrote in message ... Don White wrote: "John H" wrote in message ... On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 13:29:54 -0400, "Don White" wrote: "Vic Smith" wrote in message ... On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 20:34:39 -0500, Boater wrote: Gene wrote: On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 12:03:49 -0500, "Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq." wrote: We are thinking about using this downturn in the housing market to build a new home, and acting as our own General Contractor. Has anyone in the group done this and do they have any words of advice? Yes, with three houses and two workshops. Not only was I General Contractor, I was also 50% of the labor. Your only real savings, in this market, will be sweat equity. You can buy cheaper than you can build.... you just have to find an equally desperate mortgagee and mortgagor.... or you could do it the seat equity route, if you have the cash, tools, and a desire to make it happen. No bank is going to let *you* (as their mortgagor) serve as General Contractor unless you hold a contractor's license. Advice? You're crazy to even attempt it...... uh, but wasn't I thinking about adding on to the workshop..... .... Oh, never mind...... It's an incredible burner of time. I had to do it because the general I hired to build a custom home in Northern Virginia turned out to be way overextended financially from previous projects, and could not line up the subs I wanted, and was teetering. I can imagine the waste of time. I had the misfortune to have my house torched once - if it wasn't for a neighbor coming home at 2 AM and raising the alarm we might have been killed. Anyway, I hired a private adjuster, and you wouldn't believe the **** I went through with him and his crews. Had to show his "carpenter" how to cut stringers. Came home from work one day and his "plaster guys" had done the kitchen with 1/2" drywall, no shims, to replace the nearly full inch of plaster and lath. There was almost a half inch gap between the door and window casings and the drywall. Had it all torn out by the next day I got home from work, but there was always some BS waiting for me. I'd leave work saying, "Let's see what they ****ed up today." Anyway, I finally got everything done about 85% right, but I never yelled so much and got in so many faces in such a short period of time. Actually, I went easy on the crews, they were what they were, but laid into the adjuster, who's really a GC, a lot. What was good is the adjuster did keep us in the house because he was real good at getting the essentials quickly restored. That was important to me as I had the wife and 4 little kids to think about, and work, so there was no way I even had time to be my own general. Win some, lose some. --Vic In 1976 when I was a lot younger and more energetic, I built a cedar cape Cod style house myself. This was the norm up this way at that time. In fact, there was a Provincial Govt program where those with minimal savings for a downpayment could use sweat equity in order to get a $23K mortgage to build. Of course I couldn't build my house for that amount...the program was geared to small bungalows on modest serviced lots. I had to find a 2nd mortgage for another $9K. Thought I was in debt up to my eyeballs way back then..... but the house was beautiful.on a 2/3 acre lot with well & septic system way out in the country (about 20 miles from city center) To add to my financial burden, I traded in my 5 yr old Volkswagen Beatle for a $5K Dodge Aspen S/W. It all started in march of 1975 when I took over a share in a co-op program when a member was transfered to the states by his company. Wife and I cleared the lot of trees & brush while snow was still on the ground so we could burn off as much as possible in big bonfires. I hired a company to dig the foundation hole and another to put up the concrete foundation. Got my brother and a few buddies to help out putting the 1st floor on...then the wife and I would build the walls and ask relatives to show up to help erect same. The big 4' x 12" x 16' douglas fir beams were tricky to put up (post & beam construction). Once, my brother & law and I fell off the ladders dropping the beam and narrowly missing me on the floor. I did hire a friend of my wifes' family to help finish off the double course cedar shingles on the exterior walls, and another guy to lay the asphalt shingles on the roof. (turned out the roofing guy was married to a cousin of mine). Once inside, an old friend who was a licensed electrician got the permit but a friend of my brothers (apprentice electrician) did the work. Next we got other neighbourhood friends to do the plumbing while home for Christmas vacation from Alberta. Lastly the in-laws gyprocked the entire house no charge. I just supplied the materials. Finally got in in February 1976. A few years later I added an attached 1.5 story garage all by myself. Now when I have a project, I hire a guy from my wifes' former company to do most of the work while I act as assistant. (re addition for mon in 2002, replacement of all the old windows with vinyl, tearing down of old garage & building of 2 new sheds, decking & fence additions etc) A 1ft by 4ft by 16ft beam is a hefty beam all right. -- ** Good Day! ** John H Lord help us! I hope you don't ever plan to build your own house. When I put a " after a number...that means INCHES when I put a ' after a number...that meens FEET so...4"x12" x 16' means a four inch thick by 12 inches wide beam 16 feet long. Wrong. It's 3-1/2" X 11-1/4" X 16' Depends. If it is dimensional lumber or older lumber. My mothers house was built in 1908. A 2x4 is 2" by 4". A problem when having to replace a piece of lumber. Up here, the lumber yards use the old measurements when selling dimensional product. Everyone with half a brain (sorry Johnny) knows that a 2" x 4" is really 1 5/8 x 3 5/8 inches |
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