Sunday, October 14, 2007

1717 Lessons Learned

I've wanted to write this article for a long time, and have now had the opportunity. It's a lessons-learned article about building one's own house.


Ten Lessons from an Architect’s Home Building Experience

Over the course of four years, my wife and I bought land, designed our new home, hired a general contractor, and saw the home built and finished. We went through many interviews with contractors, learned how much we could afford, and scaled back the project scope to its current size and configuration.
The general contractor we hired was knowledgeable, but he showed little interest in managing our home. His subcontractors took weeks to arrive on site and attempted to overcharge us, consistently. As designers, my wife and I attempted every method we could to cut costs, including using common material dimensions and doing the finish work ourselves. The contractors took no note of our cost saving designs, and the work we did ourselves produced less than professional results.
We took some chances and used several progressive design materials and methods. We used Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs) for the walls and roof. We used pre-cast concrete stud panels for the basement. And we used several alternative finish materials, including stained concrete in the kitchen and living rooms, plywood flooring in the corridors and studio, and break-metal flashing for wall base.
We’re glad to be in our home, glad that it’s “ours,” and we learned a few lessons on the way:

LESSON #1 Go with your good ideas.
LESSON #2: Build where you want to live.
LESSON #3: Use real contracts.
LESSON #4: Remember how much this is costing you.
LESSON #5: Trust your engineers.
LESSON #6: Hang on to your friends.
LESSON #7: Watch your mouth.
LESSON #8 Don't feel sorry for the contractor.
LESSON #9: Keep track of the costs yourself.
LESSON #10: Don't do it yourself.




Part 1: DESIGN
The first day of design was the best. My wife and I sat across the kitchen table in our little apartment, with the dim overhead light. We set out a roll of architects' trace paper, "trash", and she drew on her side and I drew on mine. The concepts came quickly, we had the ideas already, we were ready to move ahead.

LESSON #1 Go with your good ideas.
My wife and I had a few design ideas that were important to us. One was having steps in significant places, another was having a two-story lit hallway, and a third was energy efficiency and innovative building systems. These were all quirky, personal ideas that, at one time or another, someone would try to talk us out of. We're thankful we followed them through.
First, steps. We have a step down from the entrance into the living area. We have a step up from the public area of the house to the bedrooms. The steps were an area of good compromise between my wife and myself. I've seen a few people trip on them, an elderly neighbor and friends' children, and that makes me re-evaluate their value-to-risk, but they gave us a good place to transition materials, and they're symbolic in some ways, and they're okay.
The two-story lit hallway was an idea that I could see in my mind, but that almost no one else could understand. As we cut rooms off the back of the house, the hallway turned into a dead end with a little library / reading nook at the end. Even those who sympathized with the idea thought it wouldn't be what we expected. That dead end hallway, with the windows and warm southern light, has become one of my favorite rooms in the house. My wife bought me a perfect Eames chair to put by the book shelves, and with a little rug, it's perfect. When I sit it that chair, I almost always think of quitting my job and becoming a poet. So, it's risky, but it's a good risky.
Energy efficiency is always a good idea, and one we enjoy every time the cooling bills come in. The SIPS were a good idea - they went up simply, gave us vaulted ceilings, and a very quiet, tight home.


Part 2: LAND
Finding the land came quickly too. We had simple goals: close to work, close to church, on a street with sidewalks and curbs. And we had a budget. Our first realtor thought our budget was useless, impossible, a waste of her time. She gave us some sites far outside the city limits, sites without water or sewer. She proceeded then to inform us that her son was an up and coming home builder, that he was very successful, that he had connections who may be helpful to our otherwise impossible goals, and that this could all turn out to be a profitable experience for all of us.
We left her office and found another realtor. I understand it would be helpful to readers to share how we found a better realtor, but honestly, I can't remember. However, I may never forget his face, because for the next two years, following our land purchase, we remained on his mailing list, and each envelope included another business card with his smiling portrait. We found the land we wanted. It was on an old, under-developed, dead-end street. It was quiet, but with plenty of activity. The architecture on the street was already widely varied: very small homes and large ones, some new, and most with the character of age. We met friendly people, it was near to the office, near to church, and the street had sidewalks and curbs.
Our realtor with the friendly photograph spent several months referring us to contractors and pressing us to finish our drawings. Despite his pressure, we knew we needed to press on. Our drawings had to be precise, so that our pricing would be fair. We standardized our dimensions - 4 foot and 8 foot increments, for efficiency of materials. We selected modern construction systems for simplicity of construction, for off-the-shelf accessibility, and for timely coordination. We were sure that these deliberate methods, along with detailed construction drawings, would allow any contractor to produce the home we wanted exactly, to give us a price we could both have confidence in without fear of change orders, and that that price would be lower than the market rate.

LESSON #2: Build where you want to live.
Of all the decisions we made in this process, I think we did this one right. This one goes to the nature of "home." A lot of people give a lot of reasons for buying a particular house. The most popular reasons are resale value, school systems, and safety. I won't deny the validity of these concerns, but I will say that they must take second place to concerns about living.
I didn't want to buy a house while thinking about selling it. I'm not an entrepreneur, not a developer or a realtor. Resale wasn't my goal. I wanted a place to grow my family, a sanctuary from the world, a home.
In our town, the school districts change every year. Demographics shift, politicians play their games, and bussing is unpredictable. There's no way to predict the status of the system when my children will be of age, it's my civil duty support whatever local system our family is in, and if we don't like it, private school is an option.
And safety - it's a myth. The way to improve crime statistics in any region is to support the law enforcement in those areas, to get to know your neighbors, and to live a better example. I'm over-simplifying several enormous social issues, but again, I didn't want to live paranoid, and I didn't want to live removed from true society.
Our neighborhood has the sidewalks and curbs we wanted. We enjoy walking the street. We're thankful to see so many kids playing so often. We have a park, a playground, and a grocery store a comfortable walking distance away. And, our son will grow up hearing no fewer than four different languages, meeting children of different races, with parents of different backgrounds and professions. It's the right way to live in the world, and I feel good about it.


Part 3: CONTRACTORS
We started meeting with contractors. The first meetings were in comfortable offices and restaurants. We met with our realtor's associates, we met with reputable professionals in our area, we met with friends of colleagues. They reviewed our floor plans, they didn't sit down. "$100 per square foot." It was like a contractor mantra. It was like they were unionized. It was like their finger was on the pulse of the market, and that market could be phenomenally quantified and averaged, in respect of materials and labor and all conceivable contingencies, and the universal answer was "$100 per square foot." Design didn't matter. Innovative materials and methods didn't matter. Standardized dimensions? That's just naïve. One contractor did have another way of pricing: it was a factor of the price of the land, the square footage of the footprint, and some engineered constant driven by market forces and mood. The more we tried to reason with this man, asking him to bill us for the materials and labor for the work, plus a reasonable overhead, the more we just got mad.
Finally, we called the phone number on a yard sign that we saw on a front lawn of a renovated home in a prominent neighborhood.

LESSON #3: Use real contracts.
We used A105-1993, “Standard Form of Agreement Between Owner and Contractor for a Small Project” from the American Institute of Architects. A standard contract can be customized to meet your project, and your specific needs. Much of the day-to-day agreements between you and your contractor will be simple, verbal, or scratched on notebook paper. However, having a real contract in place as a foundation will dramatically limit your liabilities and can help profoundly when the issues get tricky. Contact your local AIA chapter, or go to www.aia.org.


Part 4: THE BANK

Several of my angriest phone calls during this process were with the bank. They were doing their due diligence. With the sub-prime mortgage crisis now, it’s a good thing they did, but man did they give us a hard time.

10/30 Got a call from the bank's plans appraiser. "Your typical buyer is looking for:.." Apparently our house is not a typical house that a typical buyer would want to buy with the amount of money we're putting in. We don't have a coat closet and we don't have a palatial bathroom and so on. It's hard to build your own house. We'll see what happens next.

LESSON #4: Remember how much this is costing you.
Most of these lessons are related, but this is a big one. With all hope that your home is the investment you intend it to be, it will still cost you a lot of money. Your mortgage will very likely be the largest bill you pay every month, every month until you are a much older person.
I remind you of this because every time I make that mortgage payment, I am reminded of all the things around the house that the contractor didn't finish. I'm reminded of the places around the house, where the contractor used inferior products or methods that I will have to pay, again, to replace or have redone. My dad liked to say that you get what you pay for. Remember that you are paying a lot, and make sure you get what you need, in good materials and proven construction methods.


Part 5: PERMITS
Permits for most houses are . . . easy. If you read any municipality’s website, they require about 4 drawings, a site plot, and a couple hundred dollars. If you try to do something new, or anything prefabricated, it gets more complicated. In that case, you need engineers, with seals in your state. You’ll have to answer a lot of questions. We had a lot of engineers.

February and March Our builder called one day saying that our plot plan wasn't drawn just right. We made some changes and turned that in to the city. No progress, no progress - our plans got put back on the bottom of the pile. In early March, I went to the city myself and talked to a few friendly people. The plans were ready to pick up - with no permit,. They were marked up with several comments. Some were things on the plans that they missed, but most were comments that they needed seals for all the pre-fab parts . It took about three weeks to pull those together and three more engineers. This may be the most designers of record per square foot on the East coast.


LESSON #5: Trust your engineers.
As an architect, I have mixed feelings about the profession of engineering. I know that to my engineer friends, the feelings are mutual! Because of the multiple building systems we used on this house, we had a potpourri of engineers, just so we could get our plans through the city. Every time the house creaks and pops with a change in weather, I hope those engineers did their jobs.
The one engineer who really came through for us was our geotech. We had the soils tested many months before construction began. We had a sealed report about the bearing pressure of the soils, and that report became the basis for the foundation design.
On the first day of construction, the contractor called to say that the soils were no good, would have to be over-excavated, and wouldn’t we like to have a much larger basement anyway. When we notified our geotech, he immediately came out to the site, re-tested the soil, and restated his opinion that the soil was fine. He attended an ad hoc meeting with the contractor and our foundation engineer, and stated his opinion that the contractor should put the dirt back in the hole, and certainly should not charge for the work. He got us out of a lot of money, and gave us credibility that kept the contractor at bay when things got tough the next time.


Part 6: WAITING
Finding land can take an instant or years. Getting a loan can take weeks. Permits can take months. And contractors . . . contractors can take as long as they feel like taking, depending on the market. Be prepared to wait a lot.

4/10 No new news. Went out with some hugely supportive friends after work and had a good time. We drove by the lot on the way home and it was dark, but it looks like a good place for a house. We're wondering about when the crew will arrive and how many trucks will drive down our quiet little street over the next months.

LESSON #6: Hang on to your friends.
Every step of the way, you’ll be doubting yourself. And, you’ll have time to do it. You need your friends. You need them for reassurance, for listening ears to your ridiculous stories, for the voice of experience if you’re lucky, and you need them to remind you that you’re not in this adventure alone.


Part 7: CONSTRUCTION BEGINS

We ran to the site the first day we saw the crews arrive. The hole was dug in a day. The pre-fab concrete-stud foundation and basement panels came on a truck and were dropped in a place in a morning. The floor joists went on top of the basement panels, and then we waited.

7/1 Slab poured, sawcut. Wall panel sub says he'll be here before the end of July. Contractor says we'll have some slow weeks.

7/31 Wall panel sub says he'll be here next week.

8/15 Wall panel sub says he'll be here next week.

8/22 Wall panel sub says he'll be here next week without fail.

8/30 10:45pm Trucks fill street in front of our lot with panel blanks. Neighbors call the police because of the late-night disturbance.


LESSON #7: Watch your mouth.
After all the months of waiting for our turn in line, on the first day of construction, the day the digging began, I received a call at work from our contractor. He said, "The soil's no good. We have to dig out twice as much as we expected. It's going to cost $10,000 more. Is that okay?” Without thinking enough, and eager to get started, I said, "Yes." Those three letters haunted the rest of the job and the end result.
Also, it goes without saying that "a gentle answer turns away wrath." Your life savings are on the line, your contractor's work is called into question - your opinions will differ, but you'll be working together for several months at least. Keeping a careful reign on your tongue is critical for so many reasons.

LESSON #8 Don't feel sorry for the contractor. This is my worst regret.
Say "NO.": When he asks you for extra money for things that are already in the contract.
Say "NO.": When he tells you there's a problem that's going to change the whole job and he wants to do it without giving you time to think it through.
Say "NO.": When he tells you that that's the best he can do.
Say "NO.": When he wants to leave part unfinished because he has another job to get to.
Say "NO.": When he tells you his sub is going to be a few months later than expected.
Say "NO.": When he puts a window in a different place than the plans show and he wants to know if he can leave it because, "It doesn't really make a difference, does it?"
To be fair, when you make a change to the job, or when legitimate unforeseeable circumstances arise, make an agreement for a fair change in fee. And, be willing to accept reasonable delays, especially during busy or weather-prone building seasons. Your contract will help you understand what’s fair and what’s to be expected.


Part 8: MORE MONEY
The good news about construction money is that it’s cheap and easy to come by. You’ve already signed all the paperwork, and the bank is more than willing to do their part. A construction loan comes with very low interest, and for the first few draws, you don’t owe very much. The bad news is that you’re paying it out fast.

LESSON #9: Keep track of the costs yourself.
Tracking the allowances, draws, and change orders is critical. If your contractor is like ours, he may have little interest in actually tracking the financials himself, despite your expectations. Our contractor seemed to have some vague idea of a barter system. He continued to remind us that he took the cost of the "hole" on the chin, despite our explanation that it was his sub that was taking him for a ride, and he expected us to take the cost of the other issues as they came up. We maintained a spreadsheet of the agreed price, the allowances, the draws, and the change orders. This became our best resource in the ever-present money conversations. By the middle of the job, our contractor was asking us for copies of our spreadsheets.


Part 9: DOING IT YOURSELF

LESSON #10: Don't do it yourself.
Money is a constant point of decision - what do I want, what am I paying for, and what can I do myself for free? In order to save money, we thought, we opted to do most of the finishes by ourselves. Thus this lesson: Don’t Do It – keep your day job.
1) Paint - we had one bold work day with our best friends. We put on the primer coat. The whole house was whitewashed. We reached as far as we could into the highest points of the ceilings. We wore ourselves out, and realized we had yet to put on the color coats. For what seemed like a very reasonable sum, we hired the painter to finish the job. Since then, I've done some painting around the house and have learned that I'm not the artist I thought I could be - spots on the carpet, spots on the ceiling, wavy cut lines, and no one to blame.
2) Tile: When we worked on the house, it was winter, and we had no heat. Instead, we had a propane heater that looked, sounded, and smelled like an indoor jet engine. My wife did much of the hands-on tile work, I did the cutting. We chose some wonderful tile, which meant that it was extraordinarily hard to cut. My wife's hands were frozen and dried and cracked by mortar for weeks. And despite our noblest efforts, we could not deny the truth that we had never done this before, and we learned this was an art requiring some skill. The freezing conditions begat haste. I hate that we put ourselves through that ordeal, and the finished product leaves some to be desired.
3) Cabinets: This was something I just wanted to do. Perhaps the tile was like that for my wife. I wanted to try to build a part of my own house with my own hands, and I'm glad I did it. I built the cabinet boxes for our kitchen and around the house. They're quirky to say the least, but they're ours. We hired a cabinet shop to make the cherry doors - that was a good decision, to give us a good finish. And after months of “somedays,” we hired a woodworker to fix our drawers so that they actually worked. This has been a wonderful breakthrough, and another good decision. So, when I say I built our cabinets, I must clarify that I didn't build the parts that showed, and the functional parts I built didn't function the first time around. When you decide to do your own work, for whatever reason, it's important to at least know what you're getting into.


Part 10: HOME AT LAST

We’ll never forget our first night in our new house. It was surprisingly quiet after so many months of noisy construction. It was our home. We opened the window and heard the night sounds that are familiar now, but which we were discovering for the first time. Our home is the sanctuary we hoped for. It’s a perfect place to raise our son and future children. It came with memories the day we moved in, and plenty of reminders that nobody’s perfect. And, we learned a lot to pass on to the next generation of home builders.


© 2007 Andy Osterlund, AIA