The challenge of being a home builder today?
#21
Jack in omaha said:

The challenge of being a home builder today? Is it possible to be a fine homebuilder today?



There are a lot of fine home builders. But you seem to be talking about mass produced homes that are advertised as custom.

Homes are a lot more complex now than they used to be.
Economics is much harder when you use real money.
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#22
no not mass produced at all. We did have a mass produced builder or two here Hearthstone and Celebrity but Hearthstone who did about 900 homes a year went broke.but, perhaps you are right Milk masquerading as cream?
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#23
The problem is not so much the builders as it is the subs.

And that problem goes way back. We had a new house built in 77/78 by a young fellow starting out on his own after working for a larger builder for several years(he was a supervisor when he quit because he could no longer stomach the shortcuts and shoddy work by that builder).

He was going to start building the house we bought as a spec house, taking about 13 to 14 months to build in order to get the subs he wanted(who were working for other builders).

We bought the house before he had even dug the foundation. We gave him 9 months to do the build and added a two month extension. Then we had to vacate the house we were living in to the new owners. He paid for us to live in a motel for 3 weeks before he could get the hose an occupancy permit. The carpets had yet to be installed, so I made him a deal. He paid for the rental tools and he and I installed the carpets(I had experience doing that).

To get the house done, he had to use subs he did not know---and there were a lot of things on the punch list because of that.

Basic house was superb. There were really weird things in the finish end----some one drove a nail through a copper plumbing supply line---no one could figure out why the nail was there. The drywall folks left a huge hole behind the living room fire place mantle---which was installed after the walls were painted.

And whomever made the hole in the foundation for the washer drain to the french drain use a star drill and cracked the foundation from the hole to the top. And the inside of the foundation looked like a bomb crater around the hole(which was covered by the wall framing and sheet rock---until the leaking started).

Just stupid, careless, not caring crap.
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#24
I did work for a small builder who did 4-6 homes a year. He suddenly went with another HVAC company because they were $2k cheaper. No way I could compete with that.
But when that builder built his own big house, he called me to do it instead and didn't argue the price. What does that tell you?

Since I lost my long time helper years ago due to him retiring I have hired several unsuccessfully to replace him- I now have decided to work without help. They don't want to show up on Monday, don't want to work late, cut corners, don't communicate, don't take responsibility, some have foul mouths, and some just lazy! One guy actually came to apply one morning and smelled of alcohol! Forget that!
I was hoping to expand and hire two to four to run it so I can retire, but now I'm afraid to do that and spend most of my time getting sued or having the company name ruined.

I don't know what happened to people?!
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#25
no one takes personal responsibility. On the occasions I need to hire out I am there to witness what is being done and more than once told people to stop, do it correctly or pick up there stuff and get gone. I would imagine few people have the time or an idea of what should be done. I have had 5 roofs done by the same roofer and 2 HVAC systems replaced by the same place as both have done what they contracted to do correctly and in a timely manner. I haven't been lucky with other stuff so it keeps me busy doing it myself. The AC guy really does a quick job of replacing a unit. I do fan, capacitor and furnace replacements myself
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women have trouble understanding Trump's MAGA theme because they had so little involvement in making America great the first time around.

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#26
I work with a kid, he's 32, I'm 51. I hate his lack of work ethics. Several times, we have been in a clients house and he was hungry. I've seen him go rummaging through the clients cupboards looking for food and actually ate some. When we are in a clients house, he uses language that I would be embarrassed to use around a bunch of sailors, . I've told him several times that he would never work on my house. Just recently, I've noticed that he has different standards based on the cost of the job. The cheaper the job, the lower the standards. I don't get it, kids.
I no longer build museums but don't want to change my name. My new job is a lot less stressful. Life is much better.

Garry
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#27
I'm not a homebuilder. We've had good luck with the people we hired. I'm sure there is some shoddy work being done at the tract houses. It's hard to get good people to show up for a small job because they are busy. There was some fallout from the real estate crash, and it hasn't really fully recovered. A friend has the foreman of the crew that built his mcmansion do handyman stuff, he lost his job and now works for himself
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#28
So the latest screw up is a colossal one! On Saturday she visited the house and they were laying carpet. The wrong carpet was being installed. The outcome is still not clear but she was told it is this carpet or she pays for new. The closing date has been set for about 18 days!
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#29
Jack in omaha said:


The challenge of being a home builder today? Is it possible to be a fine homebuilder today?




A fine home builder only does about 4-5 houses a year. Anymore than that and you loose all control of quality and you are just stamping out cookie cutter homes. Regardless of price they are just cookie cutter homes.
There are 10 types of people in the world: those who can read binary code and those who can't.

"To be against hunting, fishing and trapping you have to be spiritually stupid." Ted Nugent
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#30
I think a large part of the problem is that our education system is now focused strictly on either pop culture or tech. No one teaches common sense and practical day to day techniques. Cashiers have to look at the register to know what change is due; people can't even put air in their tires, they don't know how to fix anything. It is better to hire someone or buy a replacement. I bought a new home 6 months ago. I found the shower drain in the master bath had never been connected in the crawl space so I had water in the crawl. It took a week for the plumber to return and repair it. (I didn't do it because it is the builder's responsibility and I have another bath.) Then the gutter drains had been crushed and their was seepage into the crawl. Yesterday three guys showed up and dug out the existing drain and replaced 20 feet of corrugate. It took three weeks to get this done. No one has any reason to produce quality work any more because they are invisible people in a system that doesn't value quality, only quantity and style. Sad state of affairs.
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