Let there be ROOF!....and there was roof...

So it's been almost two weeks since my last post and I'm starting to pass myself off as somewhat of a seasoned General Contractor.  I know I have a long way to go, but it I'm feeling a little more sure-footed at this point and actually believe that I CAN do this now.  It seems kinda like snow skiing to me - I've only been skiing for one day, but I've been up and down the slope numerous times, I know how to get on and off the lift without flailing about wildly and making a scene, and at times I actually look like I've done it before.  Even though I still haven't had that full-speed wipeout on the Moguls that makes you see stars (been THERE too!), I've taken a few in the teeth and gotten back up and continued on my merry way.

The project is now at the point where we can look at the result so far and really begin to visualize what it will look like when complete.  The super-structure has been erected from the foundation thru the roof line, which all took just about 3 weeks and the work throughout the time period has been all about the Framing Contractor.  There's been a little bit of my consultant and I overseeing and authorizing decisions, but that's about it.  The picture above shows the view at this point from about a third of the way up the driveway.  

One of the most compelling things to me during this time was the amount of materials, material orders, shipments, trucks, and loading/unloading that's been going on.  About 97% of the materials were previously determined in a "Take Off" (Bill of Materials in my book) prepared by the Material Supplier from the final blueprints long before construction ever began.  I worked with the Supplier to have the "take-off" bundled into several predetermined "packs" that got delivered to the site along the way as the framer made progress, such as the "foundation and 1st Floor Pack", second floor and Attic Pack, and the Roof pack.  If this were someone else's house you might have had a "Wolfpack", but not in MY house!   There were a number of small parts that had to be special ordered and delivered along the way that we couldn't perfectly plan for in the Take-offs, and that's to be expected (estimation is NOT an exact science - that's why it's called an Estimate!).

Rear View - Master BR  and Back Porch area.

Front View from Street - Left Side facing

You can see from the series of pictures below what we have at this point of the Framers nearly being complete.  I'm happy to say, there were only a few minor hiccups throughout this phase where the framer had to tear out one area or another that wasn't done exactly right the first time.  Also, there were a few "alterations" to the original blueprints that also caused a little heartache.  Basically, the crew of Latino carpenters on the framing crew were very good at working according to plan, but there were some minor language-barrier challenges in trying to communicate a few minor "alterations" I wanted done along the way.

We were also blessed with a fairly long stretch of comfortable and DRY weather throughout the two-week span when the framing was going up and I use the word BLESSING very intently there.  I'd hate to try and frame-up during monsoon season.

Before the framers receive their 3rd and final "draw" (that means I write another CHECK) I will do a very detailed walkthrough (so much for the beach trip over Memorial Day weekend~!~) of the completed framing along with Ed (you remember Ed, right?) and come up with a "punch list" of carpentry items that either need completed, tweaking, or repaired before the framers are sent off to their next framing job nearby.  After that, we move on to Plumbing rough-ins, exterior finishing, roofing, windows/doors, HVAC rough-ins, and THEN Brick/Stone.   

Rear view, deck/garage side.

"LET THERE BE WALLS" - - - and there were walls.

After 3 days, I am a huge fan.  My framing crew are Gods.  Ricardo, Julio, Juan, and the other 4 of them do things I only thought possible in the movies.  Their English is fine, if you just take it a little slow.  They work harder and longer than any other humans I've ever met.  When you hire someone to come fix a broken door or to enlarge your deck it takes them 3 weeks or more to complete the job, coming, going, farting around, more trips to the hardware store, yadda, yadda.  These guys have taken me from dirt and a foundation to half of a friggin' house frame in 3 Days - I kid you not.  3 days.  The seven of them have together converted $25 Grand worth of raw Lumber, floor joists, plywood and sheathing into what you see in these two nearest photos in 3 days - Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.  They show up sometime before I come lazily rolling by at 8am, and they're still there slinging timber after I poop out and head home from my brutally rugged air-conditioned office job at 6pm.   To top it off, they were pissed I wasn't able to get the Roof Package delivered by the end of the day on Friday (the building supply center is closed on the weekends) so that they could get the roof up on Saturday.  Instead, they'll have to work on interior walls over the weekend.  Sheesh!  Now I know where all the trees went that the excavator neatly hauled away on the forestry truck about a month ago!  And PRECISION!  For shits/giggles I thought I'd look important and measure a few wall lengths against the blueprints.  EVERYTHING is spot on.  They are the ones that find the errors in the blueprints (like the 5 inches in the prior post that caused the Mason to come back w/a wrecking ball and redo his front foundation wall!).  Friday, Ricardo - pictured below - informed me that the Architect screwed up and forgot to allow 3" for the brick when planning french doors in the back - which now won't fit because they've framed it to spec. as drawn/designed. 

So now I'll have a french door (singular) instead.  Oh well.  Ricardo is the leader of this crew and the fine man with whom I interact mostly in this phase.  He is extremely courteous, calm, and friendly - most of the time...unless someone else has caused him to lose time.  He claims he's been framing for the last 18 years, and I believe him.  He also takes good care of his crew.  Like Juan - pictured below.

  I managed to snap this shot of Juan in the single moment that I saw him WITHOUT a cigarette in his mouth and sunglasses on.  Juan is an inked-up muscle bound firecracker of a cool guy.  The kind of guy I would've run with 25 years ago just to hit on all the women that he attracted but cast aside for parasites like me to scavenge.  He goes non-stop.  Julio on the other-hand (pictured below) doesn't seem to have quite the charisma as Juan, but brings his own amazement to the show. 

Julio will awe you with his circus-abilities to sling a power-saw in his left hand and a pneumatic hammer in his right, while walking across a solitary 2nd story 2x10 beam, firing perfect 45 degree angle nails into joists on the fly that he just cut. This caused me to go back and call my insurance company and make sure my policy was paid up.  Yup - I'm good.

Needless to say, all of a sudden this serene site has been transformed into a bustling flurry of constant activity this week with supply deliveries rolling in, framers framing, and wierd-ass Cicada/Locusts making a constant flying-saucer "Whirrr" sound in the surrounding woods, like out of some 50's horror B-Movie.  To top it off, the County showed up this week and dug up the street to connect the property to the City water and sewer system, as well as Duke Power setting a pole for power and getting the site "plugged in". 

So with that, I'll leave you with this picture from across the street.  It's been stormy weather this week, but most of the activity has been at night so the schedule hasn't really been impacted much.  I think after all is said-and-done with framing, these guys will have made up about 2 weeks of schedule for me in their quest to get'er done and move on to their next job.  However, they may very well be BACK for Boxing and sheet rock later on, judging from their performance on this phase.  I'm tired, and I have alot of bills to pay so I'll end with that.  Next time, it should actually start to look like a house.

Size DOES matter - 5" is a problem!

First let me thank my friend Gary for covering my next couple of topics in a comment.  I'll touch on them for completeness.  Once the foundation was completed a couple other things that you can't see occurred quickly thereafter: (1) Waterproofing of the subterranean portion of the Foundation (that's the black you can see at ground level on one prior picture) - then (2) Backfilling of the foundation - which first lays a base of porous rock around the perimeter of the foundation to create a "Positive Drain" that keeps moisture away from the house (water is always BAD and you always want to get RID of it!), and then fills in dirt around the base of the foundation and over top of the positive drain to bring the base back up to the initial ground level - (simply replacing what was dug out for the footings).  I also added about 35 tons of rock to backfill inside the garage.  This provides a solid base for the slab of concrete that will later be poured there and keeps things a little cleaner and level in-process until then. And finally (3) direct treatment of the soil around the entire perimeter of the house for Termites.  This is a 10-year protection that keeps them at bay - another large problem in the south.  All three of those items ran me close to another $2 Grand to the excavation contractor and bug-guy combined.  Now on to sexier topics!

By Friday May 6th I was ready to start with the framing contractor at 8am sharp.  By 11:30, we had our first show-stopper.  The framers had discovered that the front of the foundation was off by 5" in three places and they couldn't complete the first floor decking in a manner that would pass the foundation inspection.  All I see are dollar $igns about now.  By 2pm the foundation contractor had returned to the site to spec out the situation.  How could this happen? - you ask?  Like this:  The blueprints were drawn to use natural stone on the front exterior which has a depth of 5".  We instead chose to use "Cultured" stone, which has a depth half that (2.5").  Although the plans specified to adjust the foundation accordingly if "Cultured" stone were used, the Masons measured the base for Natural anyhow, and thus were off on each corner in the front by 2.5 inches on 6 corners, which comes out to 5 inches in 3 places (note the LACK of flooring at the far left corner of the house in the picture above).  Now What!?  The only "next right thing" to do was send the framers home and have the mason's come back over the weekend, bust down the front cinder-block foundation and re-form it to the correct spec.  Luckily, they did this at their expense not mine and we were back in business ready to continue framing come Monday Morning.

So first thing Monday morning Ed calls the County Inspector to come out and do the foundation inspection while the framers start to lay plywood ("Advantech") flooring down on the 1st floor deck.  By 11:30 we're dead in the water AGAIN!  WTF!??? of course was my reaction.  All I knew at this point was the Inspector came to the site and issued a STOP-WORK-ORDER on the project, demanding all construction cease and all workers leave the premises.  The notice posted on the Inspections board cited North Carolina General Statutes so-and-so and all was quite official.  The short of it was that the framers had covered up part of the foundation with plywood flooring that was supposed to get inspected, so work had to stop until the REAL inspector - who was off work that day - could get in to inspect the foundation properly.  The next morning, Ed showed up, met the REAL inspector onsite, apologized profusely for the oversight and helped show the foundation to the satisfaction of the inspector.  The Inspector was happy (very important to keep him that way!) and the Foundation passed inspection.  Back in business by 11:00 a.m.  Framers returned and started going to town. 

At this point, truckloads of materials are getting delivered to the site almost daily, Duke Power showed up on Tuesday to hang a transformer on the pole nearby, install a permanent service pole, and hook up temporary power to the site, and the City is due out any day to tear up the road and connect the water & sewer.  It's all quite overwhelming and exciting at the same time.  The site is constantly a-buzz with activity, saws are whirring, power-hammers are hammering, and a friggin' house is going up!  More later.

Contracts, Contracts, and more Contracts!

Now that the building permit is in hand - Let the fun begin.  Things are moving REALLY fast now because that's how construction contractors are used to working.  The rationale behind speed is that the builder usually has a construction loan to cover the costs and the faster the house goes up & gets done, the sooner they can sell it, payoff the loan, and stop paying the interest being incurred - therefore more money in the builders pocket (remember, being a builder is all about money in your pocket!).  Since I'm not planning on selling this any time soon, I'm more concerned with doing things right with high quality rather than fast.  Nonetheless, some things are still wise to do quickly (framing) to get the house under the protection of a roof and not exposed to weather or other elements (thieves).

In order to get going, you have to learn to write contracts - not huge complex contracts, but simple, basic, yet legally binding contracts to govern the work of those you hire. I've learned that many in the "Contracting" world actually operate WITHOUT contracts - mainly because they're a minor pain-in-the-ass to agree upon - but DON'T DO THAT!  Contracts are how you protect yourself from loss, establish legal leverage, and limit your exposure to rip-offs throughout the construction process.  Anyone you are paying to do anything for you should be working under a contract.  Some of the better, more established professional services (like the architect, surveyor, and material supplier) will likely bring their own contracts to the table, which is fine. Just make sure you READ THEM and push back on any terms that are not acceptable or in your favor.  For example, my material supplier sent me a 6 page credit application and contract to sign with them.  I said "NO, not signing it, I'll pay as I go - I don't need your stinkin' credit".  They said "ok, fine".  That saved not only the agony of filling out the app but also the exposure of all my Personally Identifiable Information (PII), account numbers, balances, net worth, and risk of identity theft.  I'm not going to waste space on the blog describing how to write and execute good contracts or what they should say (each one is different depending on the trade/product/service) but instead will prepare a separate library that has all my contracts and other pertinent documentation that I will sell for a modest fee to anyone REALLY interested in trying this themselves <Add Link to Purchase Site here Later>.  Believe me, it will be worth orders-of-magnitude more than the price!

If you want to know the total cost of doing this you'll have to keep track along the way.  I'll disclose the approximate cost the pieces are running me along the way for my particular project but I'm not going to add it all up for you.  Your costs may vary.  My first costs (after purchasing the lot) went to the County for a Building Permit (~$550.00) and (mentioned before) for the Tap Fees for the Water and Sewer (~$15,000.00).  After that, the first contract was with an Excavator.  They came in to Clear and Grub the lot preparing it to build upon, and cut in (grade) a temporary driveway (which goes where the real driveway will eventually go) putting down large (surge) stone for things like cement trucks to drive upon.  That ran me a little over $4,000.00 and took the lot from the initial picture in a prior posting (wooded) to the photo above.

Once the lot was cleared, graded, and sufficiently stoned (a child of the 70s~!), a professional surveyor was called in to mark/flag exactly where all the corners of the house would sit on the lot (Footprint), per the plotplan (posted previously).  Surveyor cost ran just under $1,000.00 and included two other things I'll get to in a minute.  The flagging was then used by the footings contractor to dig and pour footings.  Footings are what the foundation of your house sits on.  They are basically perfectly positioned slabs of load-bearing concrete poured under what will become the perimeter of the foundation, and under all the support "Piers" inside the perimeter on which the foundation will sit.  The total cost of my footings ran about $7,000.00 and included (get this) about 80 tons of stone that the GeoTech (remember him?) recommended was needed UNDER the footings because of the high clay-content of the soil to a subterranean depth of about 4 feet (very common in the south).  I got a certificate from the GeoTech certifying the footings as sufficient (won't crack/fail) as poured per his recommendation, which makes him liable if I later start to sink (Important!).

When the footings cured/dried, the surveyor came back and set pins/marks where the foundation/brick corners would sit on the footing.  Then I had to hire a Foundation contractor (mason) to come in and construct the Foundation upon the pinned footings.  My foundation is a CRAWL SPACE at an average height of 40".  This gives a little room to move around underneath, and for the HVAC Ductwork to run clearly.  The Foundation Contractor was one of very few that I paid one price for Labor AND Materials because I wanted him responsible for bringing in and Cleaning up the Materials (Bricks, cement blocks, sand, mortar, etc.).  That was a very good idea.  After all was said and done, the foundation contractor ran me a total of about $9,000.00 and resulted in the picture above - ready for Framing!    

Eds, plots, architects, and permits.

At some point you've got to step off the ledge into oblivion and REALLY take the plunge.  You know - the point of no return - which technically comes when you go down and apply for a building permit..  That means you have your lot, you've paid this years' taxes on it, you have your plans, you've figured out funding and have a budget, and you've secured Ed.  Ed?  Who's Ed?  Well, remember all that money I said you were going to save by building yourself??....At this point you need to invest a healthy chunk of it in your own Ed.  My Ed is pictured above, and you can't have him.  Get your own Ed!  My Ed has built over 2300 homes in the area, first with a large developer, then as an independent custom builder of homes just like mine.  Ed is not the General Contractor of Record (GC) for my house - I am.  But I'm paying Ed (more than anyone else is paying him at the moment on purpose) to be there when I call with a question, or a problem, or encouragement.  Ed knows all the answers - even the ones I don't want to hear.  Take a good look at Ed and remember - old guys with grey hair and an attitude know a LOT of shit.  You don't.  The only thing you have to be careful with Ed is he loves to spend MY money!  And that's good, because all Ed wants to do is build a GREAT house.  Ed is like a beaver (not his looks!) - building is in his blood and anything I decide to do in opposition to Ed, is a compromise.  But I simply can't afford EVERYTHING Ed wants to do, so I have to choose wisely.  Ed is my secret weapon in being my own builder.  Everyone should have one.

Now back to the permit - aside from a deed and about $550.00, all you need to get an "OWNER/BUILDER" building permit (in Durham County NC anyway) is an architecturally "Sealed" set of house plans and a plot plan.  If you think you can get beyond this point with a "sketch" of the house, you're wrong.  You must have a bona-fide architect-drawn full set of blueprints AND obtain Structural Engineering (from a licensed Professional Engineer -PE) for the design.  So start looking for a good architect NOW (he'll know where to get the PE) - it's like going to a good dentist.  It's uncomfortable, it's expensive and tedious, and all you wanna do is be done with them, but it's necessary and good for you in the long run.  When you get a set of plans from an architect it's like licensing software - they're only good for ONE site.  You can't re-use plans without paying for another set.  No, they're not cheap - NOTHING is cheap.  Good plans and Structural Engineering from a good Architect & PE will run you anywhere from 3 to 5 Grand, or more, depending on how much work you throw at them.  Try and know what you want going in so all they're doing is producing the plans.  After all was said and done (hundreds of "THAT ONE's" later), I'm actually building the same basic floor plan I'm living in now, with everything that was wrong about it fixed, and a number of "upgrades" tweaks, and changes to make it new again. 

Once your plans are finalized with the Architect (or close to it), you can go-ahead and find yourself a good Surveyor.  For a few hundred more dollars he'll take your house plans and in about 15 minutes (thanks to the high-tech glory of CAD files) produce a viable plot-plan - dropping the footprint of your house onto the survey of your lot (part of mine is shown in the picture above).  In addition to the footprint, your plotplan must include a number of calculations right on the drawing that indicate the "percentage of impervious surface area" your house and paving will take up on the lot.  Mine's about 23%, which is good.  50% is bad.

So, armed with two sets of SEALED Architect and Structural drawings, one well prepared plot plan, and another check (get used to it!), I headed down to the City Building and applied for my OWNER/BUILDER PERMIT, which takes about 10 days to get IF everything is in order.  Oh, and I had to promise (as an owner) that I wouldn't sell the house for at least a year, or I'd need a General Contractors license.  9 days later - I walked out with a Permit and was ready to roll!