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Excited to find a forum like this!

parkland

Member
Joined
Nov 12, 2014
Messages
15
Location
Canada
Hi all!

I am not in the inspection insudtry, but I am very excited to be able to read a lot of these threads and learn some things.

I will be building a different style home one day, and I hope to learn as much as possible.

I'm from Canada, not the USA, so some codes and such might be different, but I believe the spirit and application of codes will be much the same.

We suffer from a problem where we live, low quality construction a lot of the time.

Almost every one of my friends that has bought or built a home in the last few years, has had problems of some kind, some very major.

One had to be demolished before it was totally complete.

I hope to learn lots, ask advice, and see some of the probems that get dealt with every day, and hopefully I will be able to

make sure that when we build a home, it is done properly.
 
Welcome

Hire a third party inspector you can trust who will check building progress through the entire project
 
parkland said:
We suffer from a problem where we live, low quality construction a lot of the time.

Almost every one of my friends that has bought or built a home in the last few years, has had problems of some kind, some very major.

One had to be demolished before it was totally complete.
Do you have a building department that issues permits and performs inspections?
 
ICE said:
Do you have a building department that issues permits and performs inspections?
Yes we have building inspectors, even in the place we just bought that is unzoned, still building codes apply, I'm sure.

I think it's a lot of small problems that get overlooked during the home building, and then they show their ugly faces all at once.

Lets face it, inspectors don't catch every mistake, and some guys don't care either way.

Sometimes it's just the quality of workmanship that lacks, lazy workers that are not trained good lots of times. Everyone wants

to be a contractor now, and nobody wants to work with older experienced guys to get good at doing anything.

The worst part, is that some places housing is in such a demand, that you either buy a home thats a pile of crap, or you just don't get one.

In other words, you don't search for a contractor with the best references, just finding one without too many complaints is sometimes all you will get.

It seems truly hard to find good contractors now, because of so many fly by night companies that start, fail miserably, then just work under another brother

or cousin etc, but same guys, same company. Especially up in certain places in Alberta, there are little companies that pop up overnight, under bid everyone, and

do terrible work, then it makes it hard for real businesses to exist. Usually they get sued or something happens, just switch family members and go back to work

screwing people over. A lot of them hire thier relatives from other countries, and my friend has seen them put bids in for less than material cost, just to steal work.

This exact example isn't what effects me, but it is just showing the dumb stuff going on sometimes. The lowest quality, and usually lots of problems with inspectors.
 
Welcome to the forum! cda has some good advice there. I would add, before you settle on a contractor and subs.......get and check references!

Good luck........
 
ICE said:
Care to elaborate?
Lots of crap quality work, and get mad when they have to do it properly.

God only knows how much goes un noticed in some operations, a lot of those con artist builders get rich by sneaking stuff by.

I even heard stories of them importing products and passing it off as the brand name product the customer paid for.

This is pretty low, especially with products like external stucco and stuff like that.
 
parkland said:
Lots of crap quality work, and get mad when they have to do it properly. God only knows how much goes un noticed in some operations, a lot of those con artist builders get rich by sneaking stuff by.

I even heard stories of them importing products and passing it off as the brand name product the customer paid for.

This is pretty low, especially with products like external stucco and stuff like that.
Not a builder and do not deal with houses much

But there use to be craftsman that built one house at a time

Maybe find one of those type builders

Yes they cost more, but should be better work and would be focused on your house.
 
Rick18071 said:
Don't forget the codes only tell you the worst and cheapest you can build.
I used to believe that also but now I am not sure. Energy codes are more performance based, The same IRC prescriptive requirements for foundation and exterior shear walls will exceed an IBC engineered design in my seismic zone.

Codes are not the worst and cheapest, they are just the minimum you can legally build to
 
cda said:
Not a builder and do not deal with houses muchBut there use to be craftsman that built one house at a time

Maybe find one of those type builders

Yes they cost more, but should be better work and would be focused on your house.
I know what your saying, and thats the problem, is finding a builder that really takes pride in their work.

There are some, but very few. Maybe in bigger cities with more competition it would be better, and places with slower growth so

there isn't a giant influx of new inexperienced workers.

It's really IMHO a society problem, we all know that higher quality is going to cost more, yet we always seem to go for the cheap.

Not only in buildings, but products as well. Why does walmart do so well? All they sell is cheap imported junk for cheap.
 
Thank you!

Building codes are something I have wondered about many times, and now I have a chance to learn quite a bit.

Not a real good reason for learning any of this, but hey, can't go wrong learning stuff.
 
If memory serves correct, we have a few members that are our neighbors up north........

I believe it is said, "forewarned is forearmed", learn away!
 
I do not know if this is an option for you, but you may want to look into modular homes. The house is built off-site, shipped in several pieces, and assembled at the job site. After a quick internet search, I found a company supplying two story houses.
 
Mech said:
I do not know if this is an option for you, but you may want to look into modular homes. The house is built off-site, shipped in several pieces, and assembled at the job site. After a quick internet search, I found a company supplying two story houses.
So far thoughts are to try something like this :

http://www.steelmasterusa.com/assets/uploads/quonset-hut-home.jpg

But foundation is still an unknown.

I was thinking pad foundation.

And then spray foam the entire steel structure.

Should be a pretty trouble free home if it's built properly. Still a few years out from building it.

I get paid as a contractor at work, so it's hard to get bank loans for anything.

The whole thing will be cash.

I was thinking of going like 50'x100' and making a garage in the back, but we will see what happens later, it might jack the insurance higher than I want.
 
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