Replies

1. 
   calvin | Nov 27, 2009 02:21pm | #1

   I've been a remodeler for the majority of 37 yrs.  Challenge yes.  Look like you've not been there-on some projects an admirable goal.

   In both new construction and remodeling, planning seems to me to be the way to successfully tackle either.  You mention making it up as you go on remodeling.  Experience and retained knowledge gives you a leg up so you're not constantly having to figure out how to deal with problems that come up.  You know the possibilities that could appear in advance and are ready to deal with them.  That's what keeps it interesting, but not necessarily harder.

   Ever been outbid by the remodeler that eventually gives the customer that "I didn't know what was back there"?  How the heck did they ever imagine the heat got upstairs, the plumbing got downstairs and the homeruns made it from one side of the house to the panel?

   Osmosis?

    

    

   So yeah, interesting and hard?  Sure.

   But after all these yrs it's still work.........which is something I could certainly do less of if I had my druthers.

   A Great Place for Information, Comraderie, and a Sucker Punch.

   Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.

   http://www.quittintime.com/

    

2. 
   Matt | Nov 27, 2009 04:16pm | #2

   I build new homes.  Have done very little remodeling.  I like what I do.  I like creating.  That is not to say remodelers don't create, but there is a lot of "fixing" involved too, which isn't my brand of beer.   In common with remodeling there is nothing like the satisfaction of starting with a concept and then putting on the house numbers at the end.  It's just with building it happens on a larger scale.

   What little remodeling I have done I probably spent at least 20% of my time cleaning up after myself.  In new construction, it's more a matter of just going through the motions.  The house actually gets thoroughly swept maybe 3 times during the entire process and never really cleaned until the end.  Maybe I have a labor pick up every spec of trash in the yard prior to landscaping.  This is not to say I don't keep a clean site, just that there is only one day when a vacuum cleaner is actually used....  Again, cleaning - good job for someone else.

   Dealing with people.  I build mostly spec homes.  I love it.  This means usually there is no customer to deal with until the very end.  OH - yea - and a DA RE agent who wants to prove their worth and proficiency in the building process by finding the nick in the drywall behind where the washer will go.  I guess I'm not very patient with people.  OK - I can be patient - but I know when someone tells me that they want all the ceilings in their starter house painted beige instead of ceiling white I can't help to look at them like they are from outer space.   Last year I had a presale customer who in the end I realized that I would never be able to please.  I continued to try, but always had to take my reading classes with me for her punch list items.  No common sense.  We always kept it polite though.  After she moved in she removed some rather nice landscaping plants we had installed, left the few builder bushes, and installed black mulch.  At that point I decided she was just plain weird.

   I think new home building, and in particular spec home building is much riskier.  People don't realize it but most new home builders work on very thin margins and they can easily be eaten up if the completed house sits because of the location or the price.  Everyone claims the contrary, but 90% of the new home buyers mostly just want the most for their money.  Most sq footage, most fancy stuff like granite and crown molding.  For them, the hidden quality of construction takes a back seat.  Then they come here and want to know why their house didn't get the thick insulation, the good quality toilets, etc, etc, etc....  dang cheap builders....

   I've got a lot of respect for the remodeling guys who have built a clientel and reputation and can bid quality jobs with at least some bit of certainty that this is not just another free estimate.  In new home building, there are few repeat customers.  A given person just doesn't buy that many new homes in their lifetime, and even when they are ready to move up, they will more likely go with a location or price as their primary selection criteria.   Sure there are referrals, and I've had a few but again, people are using location or price as their primary criteria.   If you are building on a home buyer owned lot in the end if they get a bug up their butt there is no way to collect the final payment without involving a lawyer.  Remodelers deal with this too, but all the time.  As far as I know every seasoned remodeler has been ripped off in a similar scenario.

   So, I'd rather spend my day in the mud than doing a lot of "yes mam, and no sir" type of stuff.