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General Contracting; A New Recruit

Wayfarer | Posted in General Discussion on October 17, 2003 07:39am

Hey gang, well, I’m clicking along, into month-16 GC’ing my own home; doing some trim work at the moment which is more fun than doing rough electrical and a host of other stuff.  Have had some great help here, thanks!

Anyway, my sister and her husband are thinking about GC’ing a house on the lot next to me (what better neighbors).  Before I started my project, I heard all the “you can’t do it…blah, blah…” from a host of those in the industry (not from those here on this forum though as I was already six months into my project when I got on board here).  Even with all my trial and errors, I don’t think I or any one person can adequately explain entirely what is involved with building a house as I came to discover.  For me at least, I think the single most important “thing” one needs is perseverance; when things look like they will never get done, overwhelming, weather affected, design affected, personality affected, etc., etc., etc., the walk in the dark has to be met with the fact there will eventually be light at the end of the tunnel–even if crawling through that tunnel.

There was at one time a link to a post and thread of a user here who chronologized his experience GC’ing his own project and many referenced it to those thinking of GC’ing a project.  Does anyone have that link?  Also, I don’t know if it is me or the forum as a whole, but I seem to have a difficult time searching for topics of posts in the past on the forum.  Does being logged-in make a difference during a search?  Are there any tricks to using the search feature more effectively?  I was hoping to have my sister and brother-in-law use this forum as a resource tool too.


Edited 10/17/2003 12:41:48 PM ET by Wiley

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  1. CAGIV | Oct 17, 2003 08:43pm | #1

     Does being logged-in make a difference during a search?  Are there any tricks to using the search feature more effectively

    The only trick I've learned is to not get your hopes up, the search feature leaves a lot to be desired.

  2. Ruby | Oct 17, 2003 08:52pm | #2

    I too gave up the search function, but once in a while bite again.

    Lately I was searching a thread and knew the name of it too, "What kind of dog did you buy today?" to see if someone had posted a way to put pictures up, but it said it didn't exist.

    On other searches about tile floor colors/sizes, countertops and ranges, I never had a decent answer.

    If you keep reading on the postings, sooner or later someone will bring your questions up again.

    1. User avater
      Wayfarer | Oct 17, 2003 11:08pm | #3

      Yeah, I don't know what the heck the story is.  I was looking for the GC thread of times past and do a search on "GC," "general contracting," and "general contractor," and keep coming up with a discussion on WHAT SIZE COPPER SUPPLY PIPES FOR SEC...!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

      Will keep looking...

      1. Ruby | Oct 18, 2003 04:07am | #5

        ---"WHAT SIZE COPPER SUPPLY PIPES FOR SEC"---

        Hey, that is the same answer I have been getting!

        No boolean algebra there. Logic would come up with a different answer every time.

        I think that the search function "record" is scratched and is stuck in that groove.<G>

    2. ellen | Oct 18, 2003 12:21am | #4

      I picked up a trick on searches at CT - when you're in advanced search, and you've got the default choice of "search for all words" (or something like that) change it to search for the boolean expression.  I don't know what that means, but it does seem to work better.Ellen

    3. UncleDunc | Oct 18, 2003 06:56am | #6

      AFAIK, the search function never has included thread titles, only message text.

      I found your thread by using the Advanced Search, searching for dog, and ordering the results by newest first. Your message was number six in the results list.

      http://forums.taunton.com/tp-breaktime/messages/?msg=35682.1

      1. Ruby | Oct 18, 2003 02:28pm | #7

        ---"AFAIK, the search function never has included thread titles, only message text"---

        Thanks for finding it for me. I found that out. No one had responded to how to post pictures, that is why it didn't come up.

        Sometimes my computer doesn't bring them up even when they have had answers, that is why I was checking.

        When I finally have this house going, I will try to post pictures and want to learn how to before the time of the truth comes. I only know to go the [IMG] route. Have never tired that "attachment" thing and it is embarrassing around here to try and fail.;-)

        1. User avater
          Wayfarer | Oct 18, 2003 08:00pm | #8

          Finally...I entered "owner+builder" and a wealth of stuff came up.  I don't know if adding the "+" had anything to do with it.

          Ruby, attaching pics are a cinch.  Just go to the "button" below reading "Attach Files" when making a post.  Click on that and you will see a "Browse" button, click on that and look for the attachment you want to use from your hard disk or wherever it is stored, then click the "Upload" button, attach more files or click "Done" and voila! when you press "Post" to submit your post, your image should show up.

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