Mark,
> I have about one million questions. :-)
Having just finished the construction of a large addition (dining room, new
mechanical room, walk-in closet, laundry room) and workshop... I can
probably answer some of the questions.
> First, how do I go about finding someone to be a general contractor
> on this?
I served as my own general contractor, so I really can not provide you with
a specific answer. All it really consists of is orchestrating the
subcontractors and making sure they adhere to a schedule, setting up
inspection dates, making sure work is completed by the inspection dates...
the major difference between you acting as a gen contractor and hiring a gen
contractor, is that the guy who does it for a living already knows which sub
contractors he wants to use for the jobs. You are left with flipping
through the phone book and relying on recommendations (if you get any) on
who you use for subcontracting.
> 1) permits all get approved (ideally this would be prior to us actually >
closing on the house, as not being able to build the shop would
> make us not want the house...) (me? Someone else?)
Permits were easy. The concrete and framing contractors supplied me with
schematics outlining the specific dimensions of the construction, such as a
cross section of the foundation with dimensions, floor plan, face view of
addition with dimensions. Pretty basic stuff. The framing contractor even
supplied me with the engineering specs for the laminated beam that was used
for the cathedral cieling in the dining room.
My township has a permit system where you go pickup the appropriate packets
(framing, foundation, plumbing & HVAC, electrical)... you fill in the blanks
and attach and relevant documents, and then return it for approval. Some of
the stuff I had to fill in where how many electrical outlets there would be,
how many switches, permanent light fixtures, etc. They charge you a fee for
each outlet for instance and want to know how many you have. For me it was
about $0.50 per outlet. They want to know what insulation specs you're using
for walls and cielings, vented or unvented roof, etc. But it was all fill
in the blank for me.
> 2) Basic Plumbing gets done (tie in to well water and septic
> system, stubbed out at the shop site) (Someone else)
I had to reroute our sewer pipe for the new addition's foundation. It just
required some coordination between the plumbing contractor and the
foundation guys. No major hassle here.
> 3) slab gets poured. (Someone else)
Two step process. The foundation guys come in and dig and level everything
they need, put in the gravel fill, set their wire mesh, rebar and put
foundation insulation in place. Next day inspector comes to approve the
layout, check depths of fill and whatever else, check your rebar and then
gives you a sticker if you pass. The day following inspection, the guys
come back and start pouring and smooth it out.
> 4) steel building gets delivered and erected (me and friends)
Well you need to find out how the building gets anchored into the slab. The
framing contractor showed up on the morning of my foundation pour to set his
framing ties into the concrete where he needed them. So if you need to set
anchors, make sure you know where and you are present when the slab is being
poured.
> 5) Electrical panel installed & hooked to pole (someone else)
I did the same, hired someone for this. We upgraded to 200AMP service at
the same time. New panel / mast / 8' ground rod took about a day's worth of
work for the electrician.
> 6) Shop is wired (me)
> 7) sinks/toilets installed and interior plumbing completed (me)
> 8) interior finished (me)
I did all the finish work myself as well, you just have to adhere to the
codes. This was my first construction job I handled, I found the inspectors
here to be friendly and helpful, but at times not as attentive or
knowledgable as I felt they should be. The electrical inspector was an EE
from a local university, and he reminded me of a few things that I had not
known (like sealing any wiring penetrations in the top plates with fire
rated caulk). The framing / insulation inspector, was a bit behind on the
times and was not aware of the correct use of vapor barriers, so we had some
disagreement over that until I provided him with enough published
information to show him that vapor barriers in cold winter climates is
indeed a good idea.
I found just being friendly and professional with the inspectors was enough
to have them tell you if you made any mistakes. If they like you, they'll
trust you to fix them after they leave. If they don't like you, they'll
slap you with a red (failed inspection) sticker. We have to display all
inspection stickers in the front window of our home... so fortunatey, I have
no embarassing red stickers.
> Is this sounding like something a general contractor would help with
> or would I need to be my own general contractor? If I was the
> general contractor, how does the permit stuff work? A very brief
> check with the Mahoning county website related to new buildings
> (http://www.mahoning-health.org/building/home.htm) indicates that
> you need licensed folks to do plumbing & electrical permits for
> instance...
I would check with your Dept of Licences & Inspection to clarify that. In
my township, I was allowed to do any of the work I chose (including all
electrical and plumbing) because I was the homeowner. No provision required
to be licensed if I was doing the work. If you hire someone, they must be
approved and licenced to work in your municipality. I know my framer did
not do work previously in my township, but paid the fees he needed to and
became licenced to work on my job.
> Pointers / help appreciated. Ideally this would be done (i.e. house
> bought and shop built) by June/July this year.
Now is the time to start lining up your subcontractors if you are going to
be the general contractor. Everyone waits on the foundation guy, so he
needs to be in place. The mid Atlantic got boat loads of rain in the summer
of 2003, and my foundation pour was delayed three weeks, which was a real
set back... because the framers then delayed me another week, because they
had taken on another job to fill in that period of time.
The biggest obstacle I faced during my build was the HVAC system. It was an
overhaul and expansion of the existing system. The first HVAC contractor
screwed me, the second one I fired after he was on the job for three hours
(showed up on a Friday afternoon at 2PM to start a week long job... and his
work sucked right away). Third one was great... he was in there 10 days
after he was at the job site for an estimate, and he quoted a fixed price
regardless of any extra work they found. It took him a day longer than he
quoted me to finish the work, but it was not costing me any extra for those
additional labor hours. And it was done right (finally!).
That's my story about being my own general contractor!
Kai
--
Kai M. Radicke
Wishbone Classics
http://www.wbclassics.com
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