From: djc@aps.anl.gov (Dan Ciarlette)
Subject: Re: Building a new house
Reply-To: djc@aps.anl.gov
Organization: Argonne National Lab -- APS
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 17:16:17 GMT

Well, a few things that I've learned about having a builder build a house for you.

1.  Get an attorney and have him look over the contract and any additions you or
    him will add.
2.  Make sure you have it IN WRITING that you get a key and have full rights to go
    through the house at anytime.  My contractor wouldn't give me a key they did
    say they wouldn't chase me off if a contractor was there working.  This I consider
    unacceptable.
3.  Make sure you have access to the construction office.  My builder held their 
    construction offie address and phone number more secret than the list of US
    double agents.
4.  Make sure you EVERYTHING picked out before signing the contract.  In my case,
    after I signed, and 2 months later, we went in to pick out our tile and grout.
    They charge me $75.00 to change to color of their ugly darkish gray grout!!!
    All in all, I paid an additional ~$200 in grout color changes!!
5.  On my builder's model homes their are deadbolt locks.  The list of upgrades in
    the house do not say anything about deadbolt locks.  BUT, deadbolt locks are not
    installed in the base house.  So, I thought I got a deadbolt but am not.  While,
    I would change it after I moved in anyway, now I have to risk wrecking the door
    puting one in.  Make sure you know EXACTLY what goes into the house.
6.  Know things like, what type of drywall board is being used (thickness, greenboard
    ....)
7.  What types of subfloors are going in?  Is is plywood then covered by subfloor or
    is it just plywood covered by carpetting?
8.  Make sure the builder guarantees everything.  Say a faucet goes bad in 6 months,
    the builder should fix it and not tell you to contact the faucet manufacturer.
9.  Make sure your NEVER paying out more money that it is costing the contracter. 
    Try to give them as little money as possible during construction.  If they go
    belly up make sure your not losing everything.
10. Make sure that when payments are due that the payments are only paid upon
    completion of the task you are paying for and you are satisfied with the job.
    My builder is trying to get me to pay for completion of drywall before taping
    is done and the roof leaks.
11. Meet with the construction foreman and see what type of personality he has.  Find
    out if there have been any changes in the organization.  My builder had a good
    reputation with customers until a new construction supervisor came along.
12. Make sure the contract stipulates an EXACT date of completion and closing with
    an exact date of inspection/walk through.  
13. For inspection/walk through items, maybe an escrow account that contains $5000
    until completion or something like that would be good.  The builder will ignore
    you unless there is money to be gotten.  Also, I'd try to make it that they do
    not get any of the $5000 or whatever until ALL items are fixed.
14. I wish I put into my contractor that the builder must call me once a week to talk
    about problems and such.  I found a few problems that the builder could have 
    covered up and the inspector may not have noticed but would have caused drywall
    cracks in 5 years.  They got fixed luckily.
15. Do not sign the contract and then let the contractor look it over for a few days
    and sign it.  Make sure you sign it LAST.  Initial every page and date it.
    Maybe add a line in the contract that if a page is not initialed and dated by you
    then that page is not valid.  A contract might, slip a new page in or change one
    on you after they get your signature.
16. Above all, be courtious, but also be stern, don't let them push you or 
    pressure you.  You are the customer and they work for YOU.  You have the right 
    to be happy, talk to people in charge etc...  I started out being too nice and
    nieve.
17. Keep a diary of everything that goes on.  It has proven helpful when the contractor
    says the "house is delayed because of bad weather in November" and I was able to
    say back that "it's too bad that the house wasn't worked on for 3 beautiful sunny
    weeks before the bad weather."  Also, my contractor said that a delay was caused
    because the electical utility did not install the electric.  I quipped back,
    "that was because they rejected the installation of the meter box on Nov 13 and
    I had to tell your construction supervisor on Nov 25 and he was not aware of it."
18. For all items in the house make sure you get:
	o  the installation instructions,
        o  proof the warantee cards were sent in under your name, 
        o  proper training of the equipment in the house,
        o  a phone number to call for problem resolution,
        o  if possible, a guarantee that things like water line ruptures, furnace
           failures and other items like that will be fixed as immediately possible.
           Freezing your butt off because their heating contractor isn't coming for
           days even when it's 50 degrees out is not right.
19. What happens if the builder fails to live up to their part of the bargain.
20. Make sure you know what far apart outlets are, where switches go, where additional
    outlets and ceiling lights that you want go.  Who puts up the lights?  Is there 
    an additional charge for ceiling fans?
21. Is antenna and phone line cabling installed?  Is it how you want?  
22. Maybe have a conduit from the attic to the basement installed for additional wiring
    of phones, antennas, cables, p.a., fire alarm, burglar alarm, who know what you'll
    install later on.


In addition, while I still believe having a new home built is a wonderful and fun
activity that enables you to get the exact home you want I suggest getting a health
club membership so that you can work off your frustrations at times (this is humorous).
 

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