Anyone know much about building a home?
 

I've got a place in the bay area I'd like to 'fix up'. Pretty much gutting the whole thing and re-building most (if not all) of it.

I have no idea where to start, anyone here ever done something like this? Any advice would be great!

Its a royal pain in the ass. I did it once and would never do it again.

first thing you'll want to do is find out which walls are structural support walls. that way you know where you can take down walls and which ones HAVE to stay.

Do you have a contractor?

Isn't there someone you can hire to handle most of it for you? I guess you'd still have to be involved a lot in order to get it built the way you want it... hmm

get the basic stuff sorted out by a technician, like walls, plumbing... But still, it's costly and very labour intensive :(

Can you say why it's a pain in the ass if you want your house to be like you want it? So maybe when i am older and want to build my own house i will know. I heard before contractors are building houses you can tell them what you want when they are making the designs for the houses.

Contractor

where to start? apply for your 83 permits required to install 1 lightbulb.

You want a home or a house? They are different

Yeh, they're called contractors. I went through them like crazy. Delays, delays, delays. It was always a story. Ahhh, the marble is still in Italy. Ahh, one of my main guys is out sick this week. Ahhh, the tiles look straight to me. Umm, its not my fault talk to the electricians. Umm, we're still waiting on those permits. etc. etc.

Bullshit incompetent mofos.

If you have patience go for it. Incompetence and bullshit excuses I can't deal with. So building was too aggravating for my tastes.

I don't have anything yet, I know a few people that are in that business but I havent spoke with them yet.

The house is the old house I used to live in... my mom and sister still stay there

All of the houses in that area are real small... 2-3 bedrooms but since it's so close (2 blocks walking) to a major form of transporation (BART/MUNI/Samtrans) the land is worth a lot.

This is the kind of house that you'd buy to demolish and build a bigger house to make a couple hundred k profit... some people around the neighborhood have been buying up shitholes, building 3 story homes and selling them for around 900k+ in that area.

Rather then have my mom sell that house for less than half of that I'd like to put my money into making it worth more

when you hire the contractor, it is best to ask friends and family for reccomendations.

haha shit, I see what you mean now

thanks for pointing that out

a house

we'll add furniture and maybe a little love when that's done to complete the transformation to 'home'

When you're looking for contractors, always ask for examples of past work and they should be able to provide references of people they have worked for before.

Hope you have the patience for it. It can take up to a couple of years to complete depending on what your expectations are.

Exactly. I guess my problem is when it comes to building things, I demand absolute perfection. I can't stand sloppy work or when things aren't level or lined up precisely i.e. as in the marble and tilework.

I'd be up there every single day when they were finishing up to check all the details of their craftsmanship.

Plus the fuckers were sloppy while the were working on my property. Leaving coke and beer cans all over the place, lunch wrappers and other food waste just tossed on the floors and crap. I mean I know it was under construction, but it just looked messy and bugged the heck out of me.

Like if they were about to put up the drywall and there would be trash and other junk left behind the wall in between the 2 x 4 studs. That irked me to no end.

oh, wait . . ..alert, alert, alert . . . . are you married?

If so, this will be the most trying experience your relationship has ever encountered.

If you can live somewhere else while doing the remodel that is the way to go. Otherwise, you might want to stash her in the garage until this is over.

I definitely agree on that point. Anyone that careless should not be in business.

I am building a house right now and I am acting as the general contractor myself. Big mistake. Right now it has been raining for 4 days straight and they haven't got the roof on yet. So now I am looking at probably replacing the whole floor with new plywood.

Not sure it would be any different if I had hired a general contractor, but at least I wouldn't have been the one responsible for it. He would have had to pay for it since once you get a quote for the whole job you can hold them to it. House is turning out nice otherwise. I hope to be in by Christmas.

i'm in the middle of extensive renovations to one of my properties. biggest pain in the ass ever. i certainly don't want to do it again any time soon.

If you are planning to demo the existing building and start from scratch I reccommend hiring an architect rather than a contractor.

Reason 1) The architect already knows which contractors they work well with and can get the project going on schedule.

Reason 2) The value of the house will be higher due to the thought that the architect puts into the proper layout of the house rather than just slapping up a few rooms.

Reason 3) The architect will oversee the progress of the home so you can spend your time making money rather than yelling at contractors. They will get you all the permits you need, etc.

Reason 4) The overall cost can sometimes actually be cheaper when using an architect because they can avoid a lot of troubles you or the contractor might not know to look for.

I work in an architectural firm during the day so I'm a little biased.