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Building Our Custom Home |
| CHECK IT OUT When I asked my readers and others who had built custom homes for advice, time and time again it was mentioned to check on the construction as much as possible. Fortunately, we only live 8 miles from where the new house is being built and have flexible schedules to be there just about every day to check on things. And they were right. No one knows the house better than I do. I know it better than the architect and better than the builder. I should. I have looked at the plans 100s of times, edited, tweaked and even dreamed about them. If something is wrong I am likely to catch it. I have caught dozens and dozens of mistakes simply by being there every day. And if I hadn't pointed them out to the construction crew or the builder, many of them would have gone unnoticed and eventually the construction would have gotten to the point where fixing would have been a costly and time consuming affair. What I am most grateful about catching were leaks in the roof that the builder would not had seen because they were minor and would have dried up before he got there. But they would have been major once the sheetrock got put in place. Another benefit of being on the job site every day is that the construction process has fewer delays. I am able to call up the builder to let him know that the plumber wasn't on the jobsite like I was told. The builder is able to get right on it until finding out a day or two later that important work hasn't been done. The builder does go to the site every day but he usually goes early in the morning, whereas I go late morning or early afternoon. To be honest some of the craftsman probably don't like me being there as they might feel like they are being "watched". I'm not there to critique their work or tell them how to do their job but I will point things out if it wasn't according to plan. In the end they are usually grateful because that means they won't get called back to fix things. Thanks everyone for the advice to be on site often. Now I will tell everyone I know the same thing. ************** Time Lapse Photos of the Construction
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