Building two houses and an office

If you have always wanted to build your own house as I did, I can guarantee from my experience of building 2 houses and an office I have run into every snafu that one could possibly encounter in the process.
Every project that I am about to describe had it’s own unique situation.
All the projects start out with a budget that no matter how prudent one wants to be rapidly multiplies like adding yeast to dough.
The house I decided to build was really unique and since it was designed by a friend who was an architect, he also agreed to supervise the construction since we had engaged a contractor who was doing the job on a material cost plus basis. That entailed me paying all the cost of material at his wholesale discount and he added a percentage for his services as general contractor. In that way, I would save substantially by being able to buy material at his discount. What sounded very good, turned out to be a bad deal I later was to learn.
I had secured a building loan from the bank that was paid out in disbursements, one half to frame out the project, one fourth to do finish work and the balance on their final inspection. The bank officer who handled my loan dispersed the funds as each of these marks was reached.
Once the footings were dug and poured every Thursday the contractor would come by to get a draw for labor, the architect would check the work and give me an ok to pay him. On a couple of occasion his laborers told me they weren’t being paid. Things were going well and it was time to order framing lumber which I paid the lumber yard directly. Much later I found out from one of his workers that the contractor was ripping me off on some of the lumber and using it to build another project on my dime. As the job progressed more shady stuff evolved. I found that the reason he was able to price the job so reasonable was he was using scab labor and stealing my stuff.
One time I was watching them put in the ceiling which was tongue and groove planks that had to be secured with special rod nails that were driven in with 8 pound hammers that cost 80 dollars each. As I watched, a worker carelessly dropped one in the mud never to be found again.






Next came the dealing with inexperienced subcontractors on a job this big and detailed. I had to have 600 amp electrical service because I had zone heating and cooling plus a swimming pool heater. all had to be run in conduits below ground. The contractor had never wired a house with more that 200 amp service, it so happened his son was working as a helper and told me.
Than the pool deck was to be smooth stones floated in concrete and it took 3 tear outs and pours ( that’s 3 concrete trucks loads @ $700/load ) to get it right because the concrete contractor had never poured and floated stone. I found out later that Portland Cement Co. had a special consulting service to advise how to do custom effect jobs like I had.
It goes on! The contractor told me that the area where I was building had a sanitary sewer system and hooked into the line it turned out it was a storm sewer, and after 2 days in the house sewage backed up into all the toilets and we found out we had to have a septic system dug in the front yard; all this costing me more money. Two final things happened that almost made me kill him. One was the foyer which was to be 3 sq foot marble slabs laid on mud ( a concrete base). It was so heavy I had to have the floor reinforced to support the load. Lastly the roof was to be redwood shake shingles, but the pitch was so steep that no one locally would do the job. Luckily some hillbillies were passing thru town and needed work and damn if they didn’t do a perfect job. They were all over the roof like band of monkeys. When the house was finally finished the cost had doubled the projected estimate. Even so it turned out to be a really a great house and I know that my kids loved it. Eventually I lost it to divorce and taxes but it was some house with it’s conversation pit for adults and areas for kids and guests. I don’t for a minute regret building it. I had two more building projects that brought me their share of grief and disappointment………. READ ON!
The next project was an office building that was (a co-adventure) with my friend the architect. He and his partner had gotten a huge job to design twin high rise low income housing units that necessitated their firm expanding and I was looking to move to another office location. So we decided to invest in building shared offices. I would occupy the 1st floor and they would have the basement and 2nd floor. The building was very contemporary having 16 panes of golden glass/ side surrounding a mansard type 2nd floor.





My space on the 1st floor would have no windows for patient privacy (OB/GYN’s). The basement having the architect’s firms draftsmen and utilities, the floors connected by an elevator. It was in a prime location and the bank was eager to lend us money in 1970.
This time we put out bids on the job and hired a general contractor to supervise the construction. He was good, but unfortunately he got hit in the ear by a nail on the job and contracted meningitis and died leaving us to run over on cost and delayed completion; this forced us later to lose business and ultimately lose the building to foreclosure. The plus was that the building was so avant gard that people drove by just to see it; but occasionally vandals shot out the window panels that cost $600 to replace. Another bitter lesson learned!
The last project was completing a house that my parents had started before their untimely death. Because the project was 3/4th complete and to sell at that stage would have been a big financial loss. I decided to complete the house which was agreeable with my wife since the design was something both of us could accept. The architect was my same friend but the contractor was the owner of the housing addition and builder. It turned out that he was inept and his sub-contractors equally so, the back patio had to be re-poured because the water drained into the house not away from it. And the drive way had to have a retaining wall built so we could access to the garage….more cost over-run There were so many faults in construction I had to legally dismiss him from the job and hire someone to correct the botched work. More time and more money. And to this day I can still see evidence of the workmanship that was so poorly done I get sick whenever I pass the house that I long since sold. As a house it was a great place for my daughter Becky to grow up in but the fact that it had a pall of sadness over it was always depressing to me, knowing that this was a dream house of my tragically deceased parents.
I know that I will never build another house, but the experience I have had in doing so are priceless and the journey of learning made the trip worth it.
What is money for unless we can use it to accomplish some dreams?