If you’re like most people, when you think of building a new house, your thoughts quickly turn to specifics—floor plans, architectural style, kitchen layouts, cabinet doors, countertops. But who’s directing the action, putting together all these pieces and making your house happen? As you meander into a hundred different digressions on flooring materials, appliances, a home office, and a decent-sized laundry room, don’t lose sight of the person who is orchestrating this: your builder. Choose him with care. Of the hundreds of decisions you will make in the course of building your new house, this is the single most important one.
If your budget is tight but you still have a grand vision, you may be tempted to be your own contractor in order to save the builder’s markup. This can work well—if you have nerves of steel, tolerate stress well, have no spouse or partner or children, or flexible work hours, or no need for a day job and can get by on little sleep. Otherwise, look for a builder.
While you’re doing that, line up the other players on your team. You need an attorney to review your contract with the builder, a landscape architect to help you pick a lot, a private home inspector to check the construction and a buyer’s agent if you are planning to buy your house from a production builder. (If you must prioritize, get the buyer’s agent first: he or she will help you find a builder. Line up the others by the time you’re ready to make a deal and negotiate a contract.)
The other players you should be aware of are the land developer and the site superintendent. If you plan to buy in a planned community, the developer is the visionary who bought the raw land, decided on the site amenities, and set the stage for the home builders—all decisions that will have a pronounced effect on the future value of your house. The site superintendent is the person at the job site every day overseeing your house’s construction, stud by stud and brick by brick. You want a superintendent who is knowledgeable and experienced about construction, and someone who can motivate his crews with just the right combination of mother-henning and drill-sergeant strictness.
In addition to lining up the players, you should also know how the building code fits in. The focus of the code is not achieving drama in design, or even a good design; it is the health and safety of the building crew and the eventual occupants—you and your family. The building code will dictate what a builder can or can’t do at the micro-level—for example, the allowable distance between floor joists depending on the span and the floor load, or the required fire rating for building materials used for shared party walls between town houses. But the code says nothing about quality of materials and workmanship.
thesinglemostimportantdecision:yourbuilder
Deciding who will build your house is your number one priority. A great design, superb location, or dramatic view won’t compensate for structural defects or poor workmanship.
assuming the role of general contractor yourself
You might think that this single most important player should be you, that you should be your own general contractor and build the house yourself. This can save you 20 percent or more of the construction cost, so you can build a bigger house with a smaller budget. Before you jump off this cliff, though, make sure you have the expertise and the stamina. Not only do you need a working knowledge of residential construction, you also need enormous patience, an incredibly high tolerance for stress, and oodles of time.
Coming up with a plan and exercising your flair for design is the fun part. Then you have to build it—the not-fun part. You will have a hard time getting tradesmen to bid your job (let alone get a decent price) because you are a one-shot deal and not likely to offer any further work. You may have to get five or more bids from each trade to get a realistic price for each part of the work. Multiply these half dozen bids by the thirty to forty trades required to build a typical house (imagine phone calls and faxes and meetings for each bid), and you begin to see how time-consuming this project will be. And once you finally nail down a total price for everything and get all the necessary permits, you have to schedule each trade and the delivery of its materials at the right times in the construction sequence. Whenever it rains, you will have to reschedule crews and deliveries and hope they will show up. When each trade has finished, you will have to assess the quality of each subcontractor and decide if their work is acceptable. As you get down to the last two months of building, there will be so many details crying for your attention that you will have to be at the site one or two hours every day that crews are there.
Life is short. Save your health and your marriage, and engage a builder. If you are still not persuaded, realize that you need a builder to get financing—lenders almost never finance a custom-built house unless a licensed, experienced builder is in charge (for more on this, see Chapter 4).
what type of builder?
There are three general categories: a custom builder, a production builder, or semi-custom builder.
A custom builder builds one-of-a kind houses, often one at a time. He’s willing to build plain or fancy, using unusual materials and crafting unique details. He may provide the design, or you may hire an architect or buy an off-the-shelf, predrawn design from a home-plan design service. A custom builder’s price covers only the construction costs; you buy the lot yourself, wherever you want to build. The plus side of working with a custom builder is that you can get exactly what you want. The minus side is that it costs a lot—on average, the construction costs are about twice those of a tract-built house, and the lot cost is on top of this (for more on this, see Chapter 6).
A production builder, as tract builders prefer to be called, does not offer the anything-you-want smorgasbord; he will build only the plans he offers. Though some will modify their basic house, most do not. The construction materials and finishes will be of his choosing, but you can pick the colors and patterns.
A production builder will not build anywhere; he buys a number of lots in one location from a land developer. Unlike a custom builder, a production builder sells both the house and the lot as a package. Most build one or two furnished models so that prospective buyers can get an idea of the quality and style being offered, but they won’t turn over any dirt or start to build any houses until they have a signed sales contract in hand.
The other houses are then built in a production-line fashion, emphasizing speed and efficiency. A custom builder might build only three or four houses a year (and sometimes as many as forty-five or fifty), but a production builder may build anywhere from fifty to fifteen hundred houses a year. These houses may be detailed, but the details will be simple ones that can be easily and quickly executed. Purchasing the materials in bulk and building the same house over and over (so that all costs are known) enables a production builder to sell his houses for much less money than a custom builder, who builds the same house only once or twice and is only building a few houses at any one time, usually on scattered sites.
Most new houses are production-built because they are usually the most affordable. The world of production homes, however, has changed dramatically over the last fifty years. No more one-size-fits-all houses made of ticky-tacky. Production builders offer small, large, and in-between houses, with options that allow buyers to customize their houses to a remarkable degree. And most build in planned communities that offer amenities that can include nature trails, swimming pools, tennis courts, and occasionally golf courses. Furthermore, in major metropolitan markets, the larger production builders may build houses in as many as fifteen different locations.
A semi-custom builder is a hybrid of the other two. In most instances, he buys lots, just as a production builder, but sometimes you must buy the lot first. In either case, he will modify the plan extensively and offer a wider selection of finishes, light fixtures, cabinets, and appliances. If you want something that a semi-custom builder doesn’t ordinarily offer, he may be willing to get it. This type of builder charges more than a production builder but less than a custom one.
how quickly do you need a new house?
Time constraints may point you in one direction. Engaging an architect to design your house and a custom builder to build it can easily take a year or more. When the market is hot and demand is high for architects, builders, and tradesmen, the process can take as long as two years, especially if a design is elaborate. If you skip the architect and work with a custom builder who has his own plan, this process can be shorter, but you should still anticipate at least nine months to a year.
On the other hand, a house from a production builder who already has the design and building permits in hand and the subcontractors lined up usually takes about four months, once construction starts. When the market is hot, though, production builders also incur delays.
evaluating the market and builders
Whether or not you decide to buy a house from a production builder, visit a number of builders’ furnished models in the area of the country where you are going to build. This will provide invaluable information as to what’s acceptable in that market. McDonald’s may look the same all over the country, but housing conventions are surprisingly varied. For example, houses in one area may have no basements, while those somewhere else all do. Building a house that doesn’t meet local conventions will seriously compromise your resale possibilities.
How you look for a builder will depend on which type you want. With a production builder, much of your search will entail touring and evaluating furnished models. With a custom builder, you will have to look at finished houses and talk with former clients. In either case, the builder’s experience is critical. How much is enough? At least three years and preferably five as a home builder. A skilled tradesman or a site superintendent will know a lot about the construction end of things, but the management skills are equally important and don’t come overnight. Additionally, a builder must have a dependable network of subcontractors and material suppliers to deliver a house on time and on budget. Developing the dependable network usually takes about two years. This network is even more critical in boom times when builders everywhere face shortages of qualified tradesmen and building materials. The builders who keep workers on the job and supplies in the pipeline are the well-established ones, not the new guy on the block.
A national home-building firm may seem to be the most dependable. But a national firm starting up in a new market is in the same position as a small local builder just starting out, when it comes to suppliers and subcontractors. If they’ve been in business locally for less than two years, any size of firm may have difficulty getting materials and labor, and construction may be delayed. When entering a new market, a national firm also has to learn local building conventions. This takes time. In Florida, for example, humidity extremes, voracious termites, and hurricane wind forces create unique building conditions. A Chicago-based builder can’t build his houses the same way when he sets up shop in Florida; he has to learn the local ropes first.
Besides local experience, the next litmus test should be reputation. The serious builder knows the value of a good reputation—future work largely depends on referrals from satisfied customers. Such a builder will stand proudly behind his work and his buyers, and his reputation will be easy to determine. (For more on builders, see Chapters 5 and 6.)
hireexpertise:theotherplayers
For many endeavors you may be inclined to wing it, go with the flow, act on a whim. That’s okay when the stakes are low. But a new house has bankrupting potential, and you need all the expert advice you can get. Many new-home buyers do not seek advice in the mistaken belief that hiring an expert is expensive and unnecessary. In fact, the advice can cost far less than imagined and be invaluable.
For production-built houses, you should engage an attorney to review your sales contract, a landscape architect to help you choose a lot, an arborist to evaluate mature trees (if there are any on your lot), and a private home inspector to monitor construction. The costs for all this advice would be about what a builder would charge for the whirlpool tub that most people insist on but rarely use once the novelty has worn off. Engaging a fifth expert, a buyer’s agent, will be costless, as the agent’s commission will be paid by the builder.
In the case of a custom-built house, the attorney’s fees to review your contract with the builder will be higher, but that much more important because you will be putting more money into the project.
If you are going to benefit from these experts, however, they must be engaged and give their input before you sign a sales contract. The only exception is a private home inspector, whose services must be noted on the sales contract, but he will not do any work until your house starts to go up.
the attorney
Why bring a lawyer into this? The purchase of a new house obligates you financially for years, if not decades. Getting a clear understanding of the sales contract is only prudent, especially given that almost all contracts are heavily weighted in favor of the writer, which in this case is the builder. An experienced real-estate attorney will help you understand the terms of your contract and evaluate whether it is reasonable or standard for the home-building industry in your area.
You should consult an attorney before signing the sales contract. If this means passing up a soon-to-expire “builder’s special” (such as a finished basement or a kitchen upgrade included in the base price), you can sign a contract, but write in this crucial phrase: “This contract is subject to review and approval by purchaser’s attorney for [X number of] days. If the purchaser’s attorney disapproves of the contract, it will be canceled. If the attorney approves the contract, it will be enforced.” (The number of days should be enough time for an adequate review: at least five business days.) Such a clause will enable you to get both the special deal and the attorney’s review.
If you are working with a custom builder, with much more money at risk, you have an even stronger reason to ask an attorney to review the builder’s contract. An architect’s contract should be reviewed as well. Most architects use a standard form drafted by the American Institute of Architects, but it’s a one-size-fits-all document that may require modification for your circumstances. (For more information on engaging an attorney, see Chapter 11; for more on sales contracts, see Chapters 13 and 14.)
the landscape architect
Even if your interest in the yard does not extend beyond keeping the grass mowed, you still need the services of a landscape architect to help you select a lot. A landscape architect is an expert in soils engineering, building design, and hydrology, not to mention plants. He or she can assess whether or not there is sufficient grading to carry rainwater away from the house. If the grading is insufficient, the water can seriously damage your foundation. In most new production-built communities, rainwater is not carried away from a house through a series of underground drains connected to the downspouts. The water is directed through a series of surface channels that collect in a drainage swale. The swale—basically a ditch—can be very shallow, so the untrained eye can easily miss it. But its location and the number of lots that drain into it can be critical. If the lot you are considering is a “collector”—that is, it has a drainage swale that collects rainwater from several adjacent properties—a sizable pond can appear with every cloudburst. In some jurisdictions, the drainage swale can be as close as ten feet to the house, which can seriously affect the feasibility of a deck or patio.
Trying to divine the drainage pattern when you buy a lot is often challenging, even to a professional. The top soil has been removed, and the builder may be in the process of “cutting and filling”—moving earth from one spot to another. Although the builder will have an engineered site plan that indicates what the final drainage arrangement is supposed to be, the actual lot conditions can be significantly different from the plan. A landscape architect can help you sort out any discrepancies.
If you do have landscaping ambitions, ask the landscape architect to evaluate your floor plan. Minor modifications to the house may enhance your enjoyment of your yard when you’re looking at it from inside, may make your house feel bigger, and may facilitate the creation of “outdoor rooms.” (For more on landscaping, see Chapter 10.)
the consulting arborist
If trees are an important reason for purchasing a lot, you need to have them examined by a consulting arborist—a tree specialist who deals with the long-term care, diseases, and insect-infestation problems of mature trees. Landscape architects certainly work with trees, but their work is more concerned with tree selection and planting than with tree care. Most builders try to be conscientious about saving trees, but few are knowledgeable about tree preservation on a job site. Trees that are damaged during construction usually die slowly—two to twelve years may pass before the damage is evident and the tree dies. By this time, no one makes the causal connection.
An experienced arborist will identify which trees are worth saving. Though most people instinctively want to save the biggest trees on a lot, the less impressive, midsized ones are more likely to survive construction intact. After an arborist has determined which trees to keep and how much of the surrounding ground must remain undisturbed during construction to protect them, the area left for building the house may be drastically reduced or oddly shaped. For this reason, an arborist should be called in before selecting or designing a floor plan. (For more on trees, see Chapter 10.)
the private home inspector
Municipal building inspectors look at code-related safety issues. But private home inspectors examine the workmanship and the quality of materials—matters of some importance in the construction of your new house. Though some private home inspectors specialize in new construction, you will be better served by those who regularly look at both old and new houses. They know firsthand how materials in your climate wear over time and which items on a new house can become future problems if not addressed during construction. An experienced private inspector also knows the codes, and he can pick up things that municipal inspectors may miss.
Most new-home buyers hire a home inspector after construction has been completed, but before the final papers are signed. To get the full benefit of an inspector’s expertise, however, you should engage his services at three other critical points during construction. The first is after the footings and foundation walls have been poured and the drain tile has been installed and still exposed. The second is after the structural framing is up and the electrical wiring, plumbing and heating, and air-conditioning systems have been installed but everything is still exposed. The third is after the insulation has been installed but before the drywall goes up, which is especially critical if you are building in an area with severe winters. (For more on the private home inspector, see Chapter 11.)
the buyer’s agent
If you are buying a house from a production builder, an experienced buyer’s agent who specializes in new-home sales and new-home communities in your area can help you zero in on a price range, location, plan type, and community amenities. In areas of the country where there are as many as thirty-five new-home communities being built in a single market, the surfeit of choices can be daunting. Besides helping you find a house, a buyer’s agent can also advise you on probable closing costs and get you started in obtaining financing.
How do developers, with so much at stake, choose builders? Reputation and previous experience are paramount, especially in areas of the country such as suburban Houston, where there is no residential building code and no municipal building inspectors to act as an outside check.
A developer also wants to be sure that the builder is a man of his word. “A developer is concerned that a builder will build what he says he will, X and not Y,” said developer Michael T. Rose of Laurel, Maryland. Not only will building Y instead of X anger the purchasers who expected X, it will also devalue the other lots in the project that a developer is trying to sell.
Alexandria, Virginia, developer John Cowles looks for candor. “You want a builder who will truthfully convey to purchasers the facts and truths about a community and not misrepresent it. You don’t want buyers to come back and say ‘I was told this and that.’ ” To ensure that there are no misunderstandings in his developments, Cowles requires every builder to have purchasers sign a disclosure statement informing them that, for example, the project is across the street from a Metro station or the recreation facility will be built at the midpoint of the community, not when it opens.
Once you narrow the field and focus in on one or two builders, a buyer’s agent will help you sort through what comes with the basic house and what items are upgrades, which options will enhance resale, and why you should avoid the truly unusual such as fuchsia bathroom fixtures. The buyer’s agent will also walk you through the sales contract and help you negotiate the price. Keep in mind, however, that buyers’ agents look for different things in a sales contract than real-estate attorneys; agents do not provide attorney’s services.
If you want to be represented by a buyer’s agent, you should note that nearly all production builders require that the agent accompany you to the model the first time that you visit. Some builders are more flexible and will still honor a buyer’s agent and pay the agent a commission if the agent faxes ahead or communicates with the builder’s sales agent within a short time of your visit. (For more on buyer’s agents, see Chapter 11.)
thelanddeveloper
In a new-home community, all your business dealings will be with a home builder rather than the land developer, so it is easy to dismiss the developer’s role. This would be a mistake. The developer’s decisions affect the entire landscape, from what the exterior of every house will look like to the type and size of houses, the size and shape of the lots, the layout of the streets, the size and kind of trees planted, the number of tennis courts, the presence of amenities such as biking and jogging trails, and even (if the project is big enough) the mix in the local shopping center.
The amenities and the neighborhood character will have a pronounced effect on the future value of your purchase. Accordingly, researching the developer’s track record and experience is as important as checking out a builder.
Although you may underestimate the developer’s role, the developer is keenly aware of you and your preferences. All his decisions about where to purchase land and how to subdivide it are predicated on the type of houses he thinks buyers will want. Moreover, the developer has to predict housing trends at the time he purchases raw land, which can be five to ten years before he can sell lots. Though home builders are the ones most often asked to predict housing trends, the real visionaries of the future, by necessity, are developers.
In the years spent bringing a project to market, a developer is faced with many critical decisions, but the one most directly affecting you is his choice of builders. A bad choice here becomes a nightmare for everyone involved, and a developer’s years of effort can go for naught. Bad builders anger buyers, give a project a bad name, and drive away future buyers. If a builder does not perform, the developer cannot just summarily boot him out because he has already sold him lots. In this unhappy situation, the developer’s only recourse is to refuse to sell the builder any future lots, while prodding him to bring the houses already under construction up to par.
checkingoutadeveloper
There are a number of tactics to help you make a wise choice:
♦ First, visit the site. If the project has been up and running for several years, the quality and character of the completed neighborhoods will be evident. But you still need to ask the residents if the developer delivered on the amenities as promised in the sales pitch.
♦ Ask the residents about the level and quality of services provided through the Home Owner’s Association (HOA), which the developer organized. Depending on where you are looking, the HOA may have greater or lesser responsibilities. In some places, HOA responsibilities are limited to enforcing deed restrictions, arranging for garbage pickup and snow removal, and maintenance and operation of the recreational facilities and neighborhood parks. But in others, such as unincorporated areas of Texas, the HOA may also be providing full-time firemen, emergency response, police, and street lighting.
♦ If the project is just starting and you see piles of dirt everywhere, that’s already a sign that the developer is not well organized. There will always be dirt somewhere, but it should be piled in areas where buyers will not encounter it.
♦ Check on the developer’s track record. How many years has he been in business? Some developers are very experienced as home builders, but success as a developer requires different skills. Visit some of the developer’s completed projects and talk with buyers there. Ask elected officials how they view the developer.
♦ Talk with the developer’s banker. If you check with the major lenders in the area, you’ll soon learn the developer’s reputation in the financial community. This is important because if the developer flounders and another firm takes over the project, the character may change substantially.
♦ Ask the developer how he tracks his builders and gets buyer feedback. For example, does the developer have field inspectors who monitor construction progress? If so, how often do they visit job sites? Does the developer periodically contact buyers to see how their experience is going? If a developer does not do either of these things, a builder can underperform, and unsuspecting buyers will continue to buy houses from him.
♦ Finally, you want a developer who will stand behind you in a crisis, as did developer Mark Montgomery of Rockville, Maryland, when one of his builders declared bankruptcy with ten houses under construction and buyers out $50,000 to $150,000. Promising premium lots at his golf-course community to another builder if he would finish the houses at cost, Montgomery got the houses completed and the buyers lost nothing.
thesitesuperintendent
You engage a builder to build your house, but the key person who will make or break your new home is the site superintendent. He’s the one who oversees the construction of each house and ensures its quality. As a retired Virginia builder succinctly put it, “A site superintendent can make a hero or a bum out of you.”
The site superintendent is characterized by home builders, private home inspectors, and other site superintendents themselves as “the builder’s quarterback,” “an air traffic controller for builders,” “an orchestra director,” “a mother hen,” and “a skillful diplomat.” But exactly what does the superintendent do that makes his performance so central? First, he schedules the thirty to forty different trades subcontracted by the home-building firm, and he oversees their work. He orders materials, schedules their delivery, and frequently confers with the on-site sales agent and the purchasers. Before the construction begins, he schedules all the trades in proper sequence over the 90 to 120 days required to build a production-built house, or over a longer period if it is a custom-built house. Work delays—most often caused by the weather but occasionally by a tradesman who did not complete his work, did it incorrectly, or didn’t have enough material to complete the job—mean frequent rescheduling. Not only must the site superintendent then reschedule the next two or three trades, he must also tell those due to come two to four weeks later.
If you still think you can be your own general contractor, realize that even a building professional found it much harder than he ever imagined. Two years ago, Rockville, Maryland, architect Richard Donnally had reached a point in his career where he was ready to live out his dream—designing and building his own house. As a principal in his own firm, he had the freedom to rearrange his work schedule. After twenty-five years of involvement in the building industry, he persuaded his bank that he had sufficient expertise to manage the project. And by acting as his own contractor, he could lower the cost of his custom-built house by about 20 percent and still include all the features and finishes he wanted for his forty-five-hundred-square-foot house.
Designing the house was “exhilarating and challenging.” But once Donnally started trying to get it built, he learned the real reason that most people do not do this, and why banks discourage it. “Building a house is much harder than it looks. It’s not rocket science, but to do it well requires an incredibly high tolerance for stress because there will be problems every step of the way.”
Just getting to first base with a final cost figure was hard, Donnally found. “When I started, I had a good idea of the going rates for labor and materials. I thought I could just get three bids from each type of subcontractor and pick the most realistic one, but I had to get ten to fifteen bids to get one that was reasonable. To get a reasonable price and an honest profit margin for the concrete work—foundation, basement slab, sidewalks, and patio—I had to get twenty bids.”
Not only was it hard to get a reasonable price, it was hard to get any price. “I would give a sub specs and drawings and then the guy would never call back. The truth is, though your project is everything to you, you are a small deal to suppliers and tradespeople. They give preference to the guy building a lot of houses, because he can give them steady work.
“The thing that really drives you crazy in getting bids is that there are more than thirty tradesmen on your job. The granite-countertop guy, the cultured-marble countertop guy, the gutter guy, the roof guy—each one only does that one specific job. You don’t realize before you start the number of people you must get bids from.”
As Donnally’s house went up, he learned another critical fact about bidding. “When you ask for a bid, you can’t assume that your bidder will include everything that is required but not specified. For example, I assumed that the guys who hang the interior doors would include the hardware [door handles and latch plates] in their price. They didn’t. I had to go out and get these and pay an extra labor charge to get them included. An experienced general contractor would have said, ‘When bidding interior doors, include hardware.’
“Some of the confusion about what was included and what wasn’t was caused by the lack of detail in my own drawings. In the commercial work that I usually design, everything is detailed and specified, down to the length, finish, and spacing of each screw. We have at least fifty sheets of details and a very thick book of specifications. If you hired an architect to design a house with fifty sheets of details, the fee could be as much as a hundred thousand dollars. You won’t get that level of detail in residential projects, so there are a lot of openings for mistakes and use of inferior materials.”
When Donnally finally assembled all the bids and started to build his house, the work proceeded in fits and starts. “The subs would meet my price but not show up. Or they would show up for a few days and disappear to do other jobs. I discovered that a mark of a really good sub is not just the quality of his work. He is also really organized and doesn’t commit to more than he can handle.
“When one sub didn’t show up, I had to cancel and reschedule the others who were to come next. They would go to other jobs and it was hard to get them rescheduled back to me.”
One solution to the no-shows was getting the subs who did reliably show up to take on more work. “This was a mistake. I learned the hard way that when a sub is recommended for one thing, don’t ask him to do something he doesn’t do 100 percent of the time. My framing carpenter said he could do finish carpentry, but he was lousy.”
All the no-shows and rescheduling strung the job out months longer than Donnally had anticipated. “My original estimate for building my house was eight months. Then I thought ten months was more realistic, but twelve months was what it took.”
Quality control was another issue for this rookie builder. “Some mistakes were easy to spot—my wife, for example, picked up that the sink base was not centered with the window above it. But the average person couldn’t tell if you have a proper footing or enough nails in the framing. You can’t depend on a municipal building inspector to make sure that these are done correctly. Some are more careful than others, but they spend only a few minutes at the job site. For the framing and foundations work—critical for the structural integrity of your house—I did a lot of checking and I got a lot of references.”
Staying on top of everything was “unbelievably time consuming,” Donnally discovered. “At the beginning, I was at the job site only once a week, then twice a week, but the last month, when we were racing to finish, I was there every day for two to four hours. It was a good thing I am a partner in my firm, or I would have been fired. I managed to move my work around and I worked a lot of late nights.”
Developing the right management style was another challenge, Donnally found. “You can be tough and mean and get the work done. But if you’re too mean, the subs will walk off. A colleague came to look at the job and spoke sharply to one person and he didn’t come back for three days. You have to have a sense of humor and be encouraging. You have to be stern. Subs can be like teenagers and never clean up after themselves. I had to get a cleaning service in halfway through construction because there was so much trash and sawdust and debris.
“In short, to run such a project well, you have to be a mix of a drill sergeant and a mother hen. And you have to tolerate stress well. Problems will occur and you must know how to fix them. As a friend said, ‘Construction is knowing how to fix a mistake and make it look good.’ ”
After he finished and moved into his new house, would he do it again? “By doing it this way I saved about a hundred thousand dollars and got the house I wanted. But if I’d had a hundred thousand more, I would have hired a general contractor in a second.”
And just to make things more complicated, a site superintendent may be responsible for anywhere from three to twelve houses at any given moment, all at different stages of construction. If bad weather forces him to suspend operations, he may have to contact a different set of subcontractors for each house.
Although a site superintendent does not need to have an encyclopedic knowledge of every trade—though many do have this—he must know enough to ensure that the work is acceptable and 100 percent complete, not the 96 percent that many tradesmen are inclined to deliver.
Most crews of tradesmen are not salaried workers; they are hired by a subcontracting firm that pays them by the job. Since this often creates an attitude of “I’ll do this well enough to get paid” rather than “I’ll do the best I can,” the site superintendent has to clarify for each incoming crew what “well enough” means and then check that his instructions are followed. This can be both time-consuming and occasionally exasperating, so a site superintendent will try to get a crew that he has worked with on previous jobs; but with constant rescheduling, this is not always possible. The site superintendent does not usually have the authority to hire and fire crews, but a complaint to his front office generally means that a crew, individual, or firm won’t be hired again.
Ordering materials is another important part of the site superintendent’s job. He must have the proper materials at the site for each incoming trade, but he can’t order anything too far in advance because theft can be a real problem in new developments without residents to observe a site after everyone has left for the day.
How much experience does a site superintendent need before he can handle all this? That depends on the project. With a production-built subdivision, the houses generally have fewer details, and the firm has already built the same house many times. All the glitches in the design will have been worked out. In this situation, the site superintendent does not need years of experience, but he still must have a tenacious personality. If he knows something is wrong, he has to insist that it be done correctly, and he has to have enough gumption to say “No way you can do this on my job.” And if a subdivision has houses with many customized details—not uncommon in the higher price ranges—more experience is required. A general rule of thumb in the industry is that after five years, a site superintendent should be able to build anything.
If the project has many houses going up at the same time or if each house is large and complicated, many production builders have both a front-end and a back-end superintendent. The front man takes the house from the initial excavation and foundation work to the installation of the drywall. The back man, usually a more junior person, supervises the dry wall through the painting and all the finish work. Though the first man’s job is tougher from a technical standpoint, the second man’s work is what the buyer notices, and in that sense more critical.
How does one person, or two if there is a front as well as a back man, stay on top of things? Organization and stamina. In the course of a typical ten- to eleven-hour workday, which normally begins at six or six-thirty in the morning, a site superintendent makes about forty phone calls, spends two hours on routine paperwork, and deals with twenty-five to as many as eighty people as he checks each house at least twice.
As a prospective home buyer, how can you tell if a project has a good site superintendent?
♦ Cleanliness: Does the site look orderly or is trash strewn about? If the site superintendent is not making each crew clean up when their work is complete—as all contracts stipulate—it’s a sure sign that he’s not in control of the job.
♦ Does there appear to be activity going on every day? There may be legitimate periods of inactivity for two to three days and sometimes as long as a week. But if nothing happens for ten days, the job is very likely being mismanaged.
♦ Meet the superintendent before you sign the sales contract. Many building firms set up a formal meeting with both the sales agent and the site superintendent before the job starts and periodically during construction. Asking to meet the superintendent before you sign on is unusual, but a builder should be able to accommodate this.
whenabuildersayshisproduct “meets the code”
When a builder tells you that his product “meets the code,” he is telling you that his houses meet a safety standard, not a quality one. A building code will say nothing about the quality of construction materials or workmanship or the useful allocation of space. The code is a health- and safety-driven document, and its primary focus is the welfare of the people constructing and those eventually occupying a structure.
♦ What does he think of you hiring a private home inspector to make periodic inspections? A good site superintendent will be confident and open-minded. As the house goes up, he’s likely to say to your inspector, “Just make a list and leave it for me,” knowing that he can handle whatever comes up. A less confident and experienced site superintendent may be less sanguine.
♦ For a production-built project, how often does he talk with the sales agent? The sales agent works with the buyers, but the site superintendent builds the house. If the two don’t talk frequently, changes that you want may not get incorporated into the house when they could be done at minimal cost and with minimal disruption.
♦ Has the site superintendent run other projects for this firm? If so, where? Go there and ask the residents about their experiences with both the firm and the superintendent. If any of the houses are occupied in the location where you want to buy, talk with these residents also. Be sure to ask how promptly the superintendent responded to their queries and concerns—it should be within a day.
♦ How many houses is the site superintendent supervising? The larger and more elaborate the house, the fewer he can supervise effectively. If you want a large, custom-built, four-thousand-square-foot, million-dollar house with elaborate everything, a site superintendent can’t look after more than two or three and do a good job. Even a smaller, less expensive custom-built house will have many details and unique features, so looking after more than three is still pushing it.
♦ If you’re looking at a twenty-five-hundred-square-foot, half-million-dollar semi-custom built house with less elaborate details and finishes, the site superintendent could likely look after as many as ten to twelve at a time if the houses are all at the same site. If the lots are scattered, trying to supervise any more than eight would be difficult.
♦ If you’re considering a production-built house, the lots will all be in one location and there will be far less detailing. An experienced site superintendent can comfortably look after twelve houses; with fifteen he’ll be stretched, especially if there are labor shortages (when this happens, many crews will be inexperienced and require much closer supervision).
Moreover, depending on where you purchase your house, you may not have any code protection. In Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Vermont, the state does not require a residential building code. A local jurisdiction may or may not adopt one. In the other states, some rural counties may not have a building department or inspectors. In all these cases, a home buyer’s only recourse is to hire a private home inspector to make periodic inspections during construction.
the residential inspection
The particulars of the residential-inspection process differ across the country, but the process is essentially the same. In the course of constructing a typical single-family or town house, there can be anywhere from five to fourteen inspection visits by a municipal building inspector if everything is installed correctly, more if the inspector has to come back to recheck.
During a building boom, a single inspector can check as many as thirty houses at seven different sites in a single day. Since a municipal building inspector typically spends only five minutes at each visit, he can only certify that the structure is in compliance with the code “to the best of his knowledge.” There is always the possibility that something critical is missed.
The jurisdiction that issues the occupancy permit has the responsibility to force a builder to fix any code problems that come to light within a fixed period after completion, usually one year. In many states, a building department has an additional twelve months to monitor the project and ensure that the problem is fixed.
A reputable builder will correct any errors immediately. If he drags his feet, many jurisdictions can take him to court, and some have additional “incentives” to elicit prompt compliance—for example, fines that can start at five hundred dollars a day.
Though only five to fourteen inspections, each only a few minutes’ duration, may seem barely adequate, the system generally works well. A reputable home builder knows that in addition to the legalities, a code-compliant house is good business—a huge number of sales come by referral.
The code addresses a finite range of issues, and most of a residential building department’s dealings are with the building permit holders—that is, the home builders. But all building departments receive complaints from home buyers who mistakenly believe that their builder has wronged them in a way that the department should remedy. A classic buyer freak-out: cracks in the basement slab caused by normal settlement and shrinkage as the concrete cures. This is not under the purview of the building department. Nor is this misunderstanding: Some years ago a woman called a Maryland building department to complain that her builder wasn’t mowing her lawn.
Building inspectors also get complaints that may be legitimate, but they are powerless to do anything because the problem is a quality issue, not a code one. A common such complaint is rattling dishes—every time the new-home owner walks across the floor, the dishes in the cabinets rattle. The new homeowners explain that this problem did not exist in their previous house, which was built forty years ago when lumber was much less costly and home builders routinely oversized the structural framing members. The floors didn’t bounce and the dishes didn’t rattle because the builder put in more and larger floor joists than were structurally required. With today’s volatile lumber prices, however, most builders construct a floor with less wood than they used forty years ago. The floors are closely engineered for actual floor loads, and the focus is on building a floor that meets structural requirements, not aesthetic ones. The result: the floors are as strong or stronger than those in older houses, but the builder may use the smallest allowable floor-joist sizes and place them as far apart as possible. As a result, even a dog weighing 50 pounds walking across the room can cause the dishes in the cabinet to rattle.
When home builders shop the competition, what do they look for? Telltale signs of quality in the model and at the job site, and glitz that will inveigle a buyer to look further and make a return visit. While some of these telltale signs are only evident to a professional, there are a number that any home buyer could check.
For most builders, the note-taking starts as they head down the street toward the model or a custom builder’s show home. Of course, the house has to look good. But Fairfax, Virginia, builder Bill Barber’s first question is this: “How is the house sited? I never like a house below the street—I don’t want water in it.”
Pulling up in front, the analysis begins in earnest. Newark, Ohio, builder Vince Ghiloni looks for the small but telling details that indicate how much care a builder takes. “I look at the size of the light fixtures by the front door and garage. Larger ones look much better and they don’t cost much more than little tiny ones. I check the downspouts. Is there a plastic splash block or did the builder go to the extra effort and expense and put in drains to carry rainwater away from the house?”
Once in the house, most builders start with the glitz and the gimmicks, because when these are well done, they definitely help with sales. As Mendocino, California, builder Frank Fanto observed, “It’s the sizzle that sells the steak, not what you’re chewing on.”
Inside the house, Ghiloni looks at the big picture: Does the floor plan work? Is there good traffic flow? He also examines the details: Is there large trim around doors, windows, and wall bases? “A larger four-inch trim around a door just looks better than a two-and-a-half-inch trim piece, and the cost is only five or six dollars a door. I feel the trim surface to see if it’s smooth or full of flecks and painted in a hurry. Stair-railing spindles are 1⅜-inch or 1¾-inch. The cost difference is small, but the extra ⅜-inch gives the railing much more strength.”
Drywall is hard to get completely perfect, and buyers will have to live with a certain amount of imperfection, Barber says. But the ceiling shouldn’t have any sags, and large wall expanses that are flooded with sunlight should be done with extra care so that waves and bumps don’t show.
Fanto, a custom builder himself, pointed out that production houses may not have the level of detail and workmanship found in a custom house, but the basics should work. The models always look good, but a nearly completed house—not the model—is usually a better indicator of the standards. “Try everything,” he advises, “especially the things you wouldn’t notice until you moved in—all the faucets, outlets, appliances including running the dishwasher through an entire cycle. Operate all the windows. Shut all the doors—if the latches aren’t lined up properly, they won’t stay closed.”
But, as Fanto notes, “The quality of finish work in a house, however, is just the icing on the cake. It doesn’t say much about its structural integrity.” For assessing those nuts and bolts, a look at the job site speaks volumes. Builder Randy Rinehart of Charlottesville, Virginia, advises, “Not only do the conditions at a job site indicate how conscientious the builder is about customer and employee safety, it also shows how good a manager he is, and, in turn, how well the house is being built. For example, are food wrappers, wood scraps, and pieces of drywall and electrician’s wire lying around the house or yard? Or is there a Dumpster and a clean job site so that the next trade to come on the job can do its job quickly and efficiently? Are the construction materials protected and stored properly? If it’s an all-brick front, are windows protected so that the glass won’t get scratched with mortar?”
Another telling detail at a job site is a builder’s sign. “If there’s no sign, I always ask, does this person want to stay in business? And more immediately, without a sign, how can a guy deliver materials to the job site?” Ghiloni said.
Focusing in on the house itself, Columbia, Maryland, builder Allan Washak mentioned one quick test that can be a good quality indicator. Engineered floor joists (the framing members that hold up the floors) that are partially made of oriented strand board (it looks like particleboard with big chunks) may look cheap, but they’re actually much better and more expensive than a sawn piece of lumber that comes straight from the tree. Dimensional lumber, as this is called, is full of sap and cracks. It will shrink the first year the house is occupied, causing the floor to move slightly. Doors can become hard to open and nail pops and cracks will appear in the drywall.
Windows are another quality indicator. Many buyers think a wood window is the gold standard, but Ghiloni said the real test is how energy efficient and maintenance-free it is. An argon-filled window with low-emissivity (low-e) glass is more energy efficient, and the low-e glass helps to keep carpets and furniture from fading. A wood window that has an exterior cladding of vinyl or aluminum will never need painting, but “an unclad one must be painted every three to five years, a maintenance headache for the next one hundred years.” Many of the telling framing details, however, are hard to assess. Fanto suggested hiring someone who is educated, such as a general contractor, to look for you.
And while you can tell a lot by looking at a builder’s work, Barber concludes that the final test should be how you feel when you meet him face to face. “You must meet and like the builder—you will be married to him for one and a half years.”