Do your research

My wife works with some younger Nurses who are just getting started in life and this is about one of them. This couple is young-ish, about 30 and both have good jobs. They have been saving and saving to have their own house built and after spending God knows how much, the contractor has screwed them so bad, it'll take another 50 - 60,000 to get it right. They talked to the guy and he found every excuse in the book to blame it someone else and come to find out, he already has lawsuits against him for exactly the same shoddy workmanship.

I've seen 40 pics of all the mistakes this guy made and I'm pissed even though it's not my house. These are not nit picky mistakes, these are Holy Sh** what made you think this was ok ? kind of mistakes. Brand new house that's not even livable.

Swear to God, a high school carpentry class could have done better blindfolded.

Research, research, research your Contractor. Dig, dig, dig for their background or their company.

HAVE. A. CONTRACT. that holds them responsible for anything that's not up to code.

Hire an inspector. Yeah, it's gonna cost another few thousand to pay them to do an inspection of every week, but they'll catch mistakes as they're made and save you tons of money. You can pay another $3,000 for weekly inspections or you can pay another $50,000 to fix it, meanwhile your shady Contractor is in the wind and good luck getting your money back.

originally posted by: DAVID64
My wife works with some younger Nurses who are just getting started in life and this is about one of them.

Good advice.

Also, as a Masonry Contractor of 20+ years I'll add that a legitimate contractor will want everything stated above too, it makes our life easier as well.

a reply to: DAVID64

That's just got to be a soul-crushing experience! The dealings I've had with shoddy businessmen pales in comparison; I only lost about ten grand.

a reply to: DAVID64

Excellent advice.

Only thing I’d add to a good contract with contractors (which in that sequence makes sense given their professional title).

Make sure they only charge for material through out the project. Only pay for a majority of professional services after the project is complete. I do find it acceptable to pay for some so they can float some of their payroll if they’re a smaller shop, bigger ones should be fine waiting for all until the end.

Make sure you read any lien waiver associated with the contract to make sure there’s nothing sneaky.

Basically if it’s a complete build, it should be able to satisfy a home inspector as this would be the easiest time to.

All that said, while I’m familiar with work as a GC, I work more with commercial, and only in data centers, so I may not be completely accurate with residential standard practices.

In either event, always cover your ass, and you’re your only advocate in deals like this. The only leverage you ever have is if you haven’t paid in full, and the only way you’re protected from paying in full is a fair contract.

When I built houses it was $15 to register your LLC, and $50 to register as a builder. Now they got rid of the $50 fee. Lol.
At least I knew what I was doing. They are all past the 10 year mark now.

Another thing, ask for a copy of their license and insurance coverage.
Subcontractors don't need the license, but the actual contractor does.
Well, at least in MI

a reply to: DAVID64

Even with a new build and sometimes even with a big name company you, because usually the big names hire out local subcontractors who are terrible too you need your own inspector and structural engineer. All the DR HORTON people probably know what I'm talking about.

Whats really bad is when they are legit code violations that end up making the house actually not able to live in until they're fixed.

Some people just trust the fact that it's brand new and think it will be fine but its all just people right? And people can and will cut corners because they don't have to live in the pile of crap and they just wanna get it done and cash their check hehehehe

Also I cannot imagine shelling out hundreds of thousands of dollars for subpar shoddy work i would have an aneurysm. People think I research too much and hesitate too much before I buy anything or do anything but this is why I do that.

Always seek advice.

If you got work done before by say a carpenter and he did a great job, ask him does he know of a good builder. He will only recommend you someone good as he knows his name is in the mix now.

Then when you get a name go check for yourself, past builds his company have completed.

A good tradesman will only give you the name of a good builder, no doubt.

a reply to: DAVID64

New builds are #e.

Ive seen new builds having roof repairs after 3 years.

I was fitting doors and windows (untill I damaged my back last year.)
Ive seen a lot of shoddy work.

Ive seen subsidence on a new build because they layed the foundation in very heavy rain.
I would never buy a new house.

My Moto
If its stood for a hundred years, It should stand for a hundred more.

a reply to: alwaysbeenhere2
We built our own. All I had was a contractor that was an old roommate from college after the ones we hired at 1st put us on a long wait list after promising to come. My buddy who needed work had use of his parents license to build in the past. Yet, he was their foreman for years. BUT since all I had was him out of retirement, we had to scramble to get people.

The hardest one was the electrician and my son is working as an apprentice. Not there yet and he was not wanting to burn the house down. So the electricians we tried to hire were ALL aloof. Used to no competition. The A/C guy was working with the electrician and they had pissed off the inspector previously. The inspector came down on them. It took us 7 months to get our final approval thanks to that BS, but the Inspector let us move in since we passed the rough in and he was nit picking them. Nightmare because that put us in a holding pattern for so long and the HOA we are with was stopping by periodically wanting that approval. My son is doing all the rest of the wiring for my out building.