Introduction [from the book Working For Subs]

[below is a excerpt from a book by this author:]

 Introduction:

“Unless the LORD build the house, they labor in vain who build.” – Psalm127 ⁱ


Late one evening after having been on the job site for about two hours, this builder was leveling windows, because the framer did not show, and the bricklayer was scheduled to arrive the following day. A stranger dropped by to observe and asked, “Are you the framer,” probably confused by the non work-like attire. After replying, “No, I’m the builder,” The stranger followed quickly with, “Oh, so you are working for subs?” I paused momentarily before realizing what he had meant and replied, “I guess you are right.”

We both chuckled with the understanding that most homebuilders are at the mercy of subcontractors (subs) rather than the reverse that would be expected of your hires in most industries. The quality of you subs determines the outcome of your construction project. The passerby’s comment has stuck with me ever since, and has become the title of this book. If a self-homebuilder can learn how to manage his subcontractors, he has conquered one of the most vexing problems facing this specialty endeavor of contracting.

When an individual undertakes the chore of constructing his own shelter, many times he is the only one who will be available to repair the work that his subcontractors have botched or inadvertently omitted from their scope of work. The reader may well wonder why the main contractor has to stoop to the level of completing work which he has paid someone else to perform? If you want to finish your job on time and under budget, your level of commitment will be tested many times before securing the final inspection. Often you may pray that “the Lord would build the house.”

You will overlook ordering certain materials, like flashing for the roofer or extra studs for the framer. The trim carpenter will be due on the job, and you may have overlooked having the slab swept out the day before. The inspector will be arriving within an hour, and the framer did not anchor the plates at every location. If you want your job to proceed expeditiously to the next phase, whom else will you get to do these minor tasks properly at the last minute but yourself? Otherwise, your next arriving subcontractor may find the job not ready, and move on to his backup contract for the next two weeks, putting your job off for that amount of time.

This book will guide the self-homebuilder with each step (Appx. B) to be taken in the order required, and possible pitfalls he /she may encounter along the path to self-building or hiring a contractor to build his /her own home. The real truth about building your home will be revealed, which you won’t read in other books of this type, so that you can make a rational decision before adopting a plan to begin construction. Many suggestions and construction techniques adopted in this book may appear unconventional to the straight-laced new builder. Once you enter the world of errant subcontractors and unexpected obstacles that homebuilding is, the realization that your attempts to control every detail in a professional orderly manner could lead to overwhelming frustration. You must be flexible and bend to accept many deviations.

Your first impression of this writing may be that it appears like a lot of reading. I suggest this reading is minor compared to the detail and education you will encounter in homebuilding. Using this book as a guide to understanding, and hiring a general contractor may be your best course if the reading seems intimidating.

The New Home Owner's Required Experience:

The following pages will introduce you to the reality of attempting to build a home. Can anyone build a house? The fast answer for most people is, not without advice and help. Not everyone possesses the organization or diligence to accomplish the task. The readers of this book will, however, be given the facts upon which to base their self-assessment as to whether they should attempt their own construction. The anecdotes and experiences of the author will give you insight into to your own attitude, personality, and temperament in regard to undertaking such a project. What you would never attempt yourself can be accomplished by a multitude of professionals offering services, including procurement, legal advice, design, land acquisition, logistics, accounting, bookkeeping, skilled labor, etc.

If you want to save thousands of dollars on your next home, have a rewarding, self-fulfilling experience, live in a comfortable and secure home that you built, and gain knowledge which will help you the rest of your life, then you are a candidate for building your own home. The overall project may seem daunting at first thought, but when performed a step at a time each phase is basically simple and can easily be accomplished by a persistent individual. This method is illustrated sequentially in Working for Subs, available by ebook (Kindle format) or in print at Amazon.com.

This book attempts to educate the reader with its orderly method of explanation of the construction for your home. Most do-it-yourself, build your own home books give overall information on each aspect of the building process, but Working for Subs will take you through each task in the construction effort in logical order. Other building books will not give you an organized simplified method of the order of tasks to completion, but this book does. You will learn where to find subcontractors and how to negotiate with them.

Even if you do decided to undertake your own building, you may want to hire a general contractor as a consultant on an hourly basis. Someone, who has many years of experience with local conditions and requirements and has managed subs, could prove to be invaluable to a neophyte in the trade. A mentor (general contractor) of this sort might be found from the local homebuilders’ association, or by asking other builders and subcontractors. He could be a retired contractor or even a small builder who only builds two to four houses per year and has the time to offer you advice. An experienced builder can save you a lot of wasted cost and misplaced effort.

Inside this writing is given to you a working knowledge of the business, directing you to ask the right questions at the appropriate time of or whom you hire. You will still have to perform the large majority of planning, estimating, ordering, scheduling, hiring, etc., regardless of whom you consult for advice. Our errors are discussed, so you can avoid similar mistakes without having to experience them.

Building your own domicile is not an easy undertaking, but if you are organized and persevere, by attempting one appropriate task before another, it can be accomplished. The whole experience will appear as nothing more than a walk along a challenging but very rewarding path to a Shangri-la of your own making.

The Step-By-Step Journey

You will begin to understand that even though building your home is a complex multidisciplined undertaking each aspect is still basically simple. This is, because when broken down a task at a time, one before the other, in the order that each activity must be performed, the building of your home becomes an easily understandable excursion. Just as stated by Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu,ⁱⁱ “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step,” the homebuilding journey begins with a single step and continues in a task-by-task order. Each of these steps can be easily understood and accomplished when viewed individually instead of overwhelmingly as a whole.

The chapter titles in this book are named to delineate the major milestones of constructing your home, but each chapter also contains multiple sub-milestones that are important. Chapter 2 for example is entitled Finding and Purchasing The Lot, however structuring a form of doing business (e.g. LLC), discussed later in chapter 2, can be critical as well. Each chapter’s title refers to the primary task discussed therein but many other tasks are also contained. See the Detailed Schedules of tasks in Appendix B and in most chapters, rather than the title, for a more thorough list of the content of that chapter.

Other books on the market may offer to lead you on a step-by-step road to construct your house, but you may discover their information disorganized, too brief, or misleading. Many of the elaborate details, concocted to explain the process are just not necessary for the self-contractor and confuse the path toward final completion. This writing attempts to give something unique, which other build-it-yourself books do not. Others give a rough look at each part of the building process, but none give a day-by-day, one-by-one, step-by-step flow of the construction effort with typical problems encountered along the path, like this book.

Working for Subs does not attempt to be a technical manual, micro-managing every structural and aesthetic aspect of construction, nor does it contain elaborate diagrams of components, code references, or tables of materials and their qualities even though there are many useful tables, lists, and schedules included. Other sources and references are available that provide detailed drawings and building code explanations. It is not necessary to know how to perform every activity intricately in order to contract your home. Professionals you hire will handle the varied chores. This book instead will give the reader a step-by-step orderly approach to contract their own medium-sized home putting one task before another in a logical fashion – a contracting cookbook of sorts.

This method of explanation lends itself well to building a residence, since it is truly a process where particular tasks must be performed in progressive order. You could not put on the roof before building the walls or the walls prior to the foundation. Even though there are certain tasks, which may be accomplished simultaneously, the over all majority of duties will be like Lao Tzu’s journey, a critical path of individual steps one before other.

Though this book is devoted to the self-homebuilder, it is also constructive to inform those who want a guide for understanding the various building procedures. You may want to use the book in order to understand the building process of your general contractor, and to communicate on a more informed basis. This writing has employed a colloquial manner of expression in order to incorporate the familiar language of the building industry, and to prepare the reader/builder for understanding the various job-related terms and jargon he will encounter. Even though this book is devoted to the self-homebuilder, it is constructive to inform those who also wish to use it as a guide for observing a general contractor they might hire. You may want to use the book in order to understand the building process your general is following and to communicate in the job-site lingo. (continued in book)

i The New American Bible - http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/

ii Lao-tzu, The Way of Lao-tzu, Chinese philosopher (604 BC - 531 BC) http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/24004.html#note

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