Signed, Sealed and delivered
All contractors,subcontractors,homebuiders and trades need to make sure that they are licensed, insured, bonded whatevever it takes to make sure that all homeowners or investors are covered if any problems arise.
Communication is so important in all aspects of our industry. Believe me, the best carpenter I have cant communicate witis that I dont send my trim carpenter out on a bid to sell the job h just any homeowner, because unless that homeowner has been woodworking for twenty years, would not have one clue what my carpenter was talking about. As it should be.
What Im saying is that I dont send my trim carpentewr out to sell a job I send a salesman. Know can that salesman do the kind of woodwork that my trim carpenter can do? No! Wouldnt want to see that work.
Builders Insurance
Insurance of all kinds is probably the most talked about and most scutinized topic for all trades everywhere. Liability, workmans compensation, bonding, health, life, equipment, etc.
As you can imagine selecting the right carrier and coverage is crucial for any company let alone the sole proprietor. This issue alone has put many builders in some tough financial positions and put many at risk for future failure.
Protection for your company your workers your properties your clients and the risk you may take is of paramount importance as your buisiness moves forward.
Build your own house!
Step by Step you can do this and save a large amount of money if you like to get your hands dirty!
It will take some of your time away from other things but you will get a great amount of satisfaction when the job is complete.
First, let me start by saying that the days of the large home building companies is all but gone. In these tough economic times it is just to difficult for the builder to keep an in house staff to perform the labor. For the last ten years or so big builders have been taking advantage in outsourcing from a huge labor pool, and it seems now that this trend will continue for years to come.
Huge pools of subcontractors have been easy to come by as they have concentrated their efforts to one trade or another. These trades or subcontractors are concrete, masonry, framing, drywall, electrical, plumbing, mechanical and on and on right down to your painting. These subcontractors have been able to maximize profits by keeping their overhead down and keeping insurance costs low.
Insurance costs have always been difficult for larger companies to manage. Different trades have different risks involved in them therefore fluctuating premiums on that trade. For instance painters insure liability can be next to nothing as opposed to a roofing contractor as the risks off falling off and seriously injuring yourself is much greater than it would be for your interior painters.
We'll talk more about insurance later, needless to say its one of the first criteria that you will use in hiring your subcontractor. OK then lets get to it shall we.
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Build a garage
A garage is easy to build concidering some of the periphery item that you can do without.
Might not need plumbing, insulation, mechanicals such as heat but it sure gives you room for cars workbenches and an extra roof over your head when the weather turns.
Health and your house
This total rehab will be one that youll want to stay up with. This is a total reclamation job that has various different problems at each step well walk you through all of them.
The most important thing to remember is that mold and mildew is a killer. All safety precautions shoud be taken and remember health is paramount in your home.
Demolition
Lets get this striaght right away! If you dont know how it was built youll have a tough time taking it apart. Ive been to many bids where people have said " its all ready for you Jeff just come over and finish it off". Nightmare!
Look I dont call my banker to balance my checkbook. Dont call your local builder to "finish it off" If you havent exposed your contractor to the job before that time have the decency to "finish it off" yourself.The amount of finish work and materials it takes to finish the job can absolutely make a job miserable.
Remodel a rowhouse
If you have an itch to live in the city and want to rehab an existing property than youll want to take a look at this. Many issues need to be taken into concideration before you purchase your house and many issues will be essential up front items that will need to be addressed.
First and foremost determine your structure and consider your addituion or bump-out with a square ft cost in mind. At todays prices you can build anything comfoatable for about 1.75$ per sq. ft,but thats with no bells or whistles.
Upgrade your kitchen and you should add anoter 20,000$ to that. And 10,000$ for every bathroom.
Block it out
Masonry work is the oldest trade known to man. Masonry is the basic foundation for all bearing structres.Concrete block is used after the footers have been poured and can be laid in courses to achieve a crawl space and as many levels of your home as you require.
As in all structures the foundation may need to be excavated to achieve a depth and a level for your concrete footers. Again all footers will require courses of rebar as per code, which helps in keeping tthese footers together and stronger over time. It is imortant to note that all significant structures need and require a base "in earth" that will not move or shift as time moves on. Once the foundation has been created the rest of the build can will be easier to plum and level which is of course the most important factor in all structures.
Look for our article on plumb to help understand the engineering and phisics of its nesseccity.
building an arbor
This project is probably one of my favorites and im sure will beco me one of yours. Many reasons are given and considered when building an arbor. I have often taken many things into consideration whenb building one .
If you take into concideration the movement of the sun day after day, then a summary can be made about how to position your beams at what centers and at what elevations as to give the best possible shade in that area of the cover. Another thought is that all beams can be hung level and the introduced to viney plants that can be strung over and around the beams and in a number of years will give all the shade thats needed.
Proper due diligence wiyh your arbor can give you fabulous retuns on sun and shade for years to come. Brick pavers a a great addittion for the walkway under your arbor... think about it!
Stairs-Use the 7/11 method
We here at IBS have kind of coined this phrase to help us remember the dimension of the treads (the horizontal) and the risers (vertical) pieces of steps. Ther are usuall only a few more rules that are integrated to your stairbuilding job.
The first being that no two risers measured together will ever exeed 15 inches. The second is that the tread will allways be 11 inches.
Finishing your basement
This is one of the most enjoyable projects that any homeowner can involve themselves with, as it doesn't put you out for time or space. Meaning when your day is over you can retreat to your upstairs and still have all the comforts of home.
It will first be significant to make decisions about plumbing and electric. If either of these is needed than it will be important to get your trades in right away so as to secure an estimate and then sign a contract. If you are working off a set of plans then they will suffice for your trades to bid your project.Make a desicion before you proceed about all your finished products so you can schedule each at its most oppotune time.
First, again make sure all has been demolished and cleaned and a proper work space has been achieved.Next you will begin on your block walls which will require furring stips+ which are nothing more than 1"by2" treated pine wood, which can be found at any lumber outlet.These will be attached vertically to your block with masonary nails on 16 inch centers.
Note that a 22 caliber nail gun makes this step so much easier.
Exterior Siding
Before any work begins again make sure that you have thouroughly investigated what type of siding you will use or what type vof facia will be replaced.For instance if you house is brick faced you might find that it is just easier to re-finish it.
On the other hand if its wood or aluminum or vinyl it might just be time to replace it.