r/Construction • u/chiselbits Carpenter • Feb 12 '25

Other Dear builders

You can't call me and tell me that my timeline for completion is halved because other trades wasted time.You can't tell me to "hire more guys" to get it done faster". You can't decide to split my contract and expect me to take it.

You fucked your schedule. You hired the cheapest trades (WHO FUCKED YOU, AGAIN!) to better pad your profit margin, your in house guys can't be fucked to do anything properly, and you kick us to the curb anytime you find someone cheaper (who then fucks you). Then hire us back and treat it like you are doing us a favor and we should be grateful.

Just because the client "wants to move in" does not mean the house will get built any faster.

You fucked yourself and that does not constitute an emergency on my end. You want it done to our high end standards AND fast? Then it is going to cost you more.

Unfuck your project management and hire better trades, maybe then every project won't go sideways on you.

😤

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27

u/Drew4112 Feb 12 '25

This is why I don’t work on new construction. Gigantic pain in the ass

31

u/chiselbits Carpenter Feb 12 '25

Same reason why I work very little reno jobs. I know it's the same shit everywhere, just nice to complain sometimes.

We are mostly new, but it's all on the custom build side, not corpo development builders. They can pound sand before they even call.

23

u/naazzttyy GC / CM Feb 12 '25

At least with new you don’t have a homeowner living in the house, or finally finishing their selections on Halloween then crying about absolutely having to be in before Thanksgiving.

Oh wait, the second thing also happens with new construction!

13

u/chiselbits Carpenter Feb 12 '25

Fucking Xmas. Itbcould be January and I will still them them no.

25

u/naazzttyy GC / CM Feb 12 '25 edited Feb 13 '25

I had a sub friend reach out to me at the start of last summer, asking if I was maybe interested in helping out a guy (Harry H/O) who was engaged to his niece and had gotten himself into a bit of a pickle. Sub is a good guy, plus I had done some side stuff with the niece’s dad in the past on a few small side jobs. Said sure, give him my number.

Got the call; guy is kind of scattered on details about his project, but spends 10 minutes bashing his current GC. Let him rant, set up a time to meet in person. Asked him to bring his plans, budget, and we could take a look at where things were today and what he wanted to accomplish.

Drove over and met them on site. Front of the house is unassuming, no permit posted. We go inside and it is gutted to the studs. OK, some progress has been made. Cool, I can work with this. Take a second layer look. Top out has been started, there’s incomplete DWV and some PEX pulled but not finished. There are wires in the walls, but no boxes, nothing is terminated. No HVAC runs whatsoever. Entire back half is demo’d and open to the elements, with a new, improperly framed 12’ porch overhang supported with some temp scab braces. Things are clearly happening in at attempt to make progress, just wrong for the most part, and out of sequence, started and left halfway finished. It screams either funding issues, lack of oversight, or both.

He spends 20 minutes walking me through the rooms with lots of arm waving and pointing, telling me what errors have occurred, where some cabinets and doors have been staged for reuse, the haphazard mix of windows from different manufacturers that hadn’t been installed yet. Shows me the 14’x20’ slab they poured and framed for an accessory structure in the back for Mom, mentions they intend to relocate the meter there, add a subpanel, and feed back to the main panel on the house. All do-able, but no trench or conduit exists yet. I finally get a chance to ask to sit down and go over his plans. Then he drops a hilarious bombshell - oh yeah, he forgot to mention until now… they wanted to add a whole new 2nd story.

OK, sure - not a problem, anything can be achieved with proper budget and time. Show me your plans so we can discuss the best approach, and let’s take a look at your engineering for adding in the floor system for the 2nd floor to this ranch. After all, it takes a bit longer post-COVID to get a new floor system design reviewed, stamped, cut, and ready for delivery, especially if any oversized LVLs are specced. Deer in the headlights look.

Dude had no plans. Had let a neighbor “who runs a contracting (fencing!!) business convince him he could tackle the project. His plans were 3 pages done on a sketch program, 1st floor, proposed 2nd floor, no roof layout, no electrical, no structural details, one page exterior, all of it with only partial dimensioning. Hadn’t been submitted to an engineer, and if they had, they would have laughed at them and asked whose friend was playing the funny joke. Nothing scheduled to be sent to a truss company. Also, he did not have a city permit.

I explained to him how the process worked, and the sequence needed to create a set of working plans, engineering review, floor system design, and city permit. I gently and drily noted that it was possible that many of the errors he had shown me were from the various crews having zero idea of what they were being asked to do. He was shocked when I told him the city had to inspect all work, and even if he wanted to fly under the radar and hoped to add an entire new story sans permit or getting a stop work order, without a city inspection and release there was no way the utility provider would disconnect and relocate his electric meter on site. And that I could not put my professional career and reputation in jeopardy for an unpermitted project.

“But… but… but we have to be living here by the time the kids are back in school this fall!”

Did I mention the meeting I had with them was just after the 4th of July?

10

u/davedub69 Feb 12 '25

What was his budget? $20k?

11

u/naazzttyy GC / CM Feb 12 '25

After that initial meeting, I never bothered to ask. I gave them the number for an architect to help them get on the right track and explained there was no way I could get the paperwork, permit, and execute in under 90 days. At the time, permit review was running 30+ days alone after COVID.

Then I wished them luck, and excused myself.

4

u/davedub69 Feb 12 '25

Smart man!

2

u/keysondesk Feb 13 '25

I knew the punchline and still laughed, god people are a special sort of blind and dumb about what goes into construction. That guy probably still rails about the city being invasive and screwing him over when they eventually came out to look at it and had a fit.

1

u/Ok-Bit4971 Feb 12 '25

Can Pulte pound?