I kinda like the threads we get going every once in a while about things like this. Like the worst mistake you’ve ever made, dumbest accident you’ve ever had, etc.
Over the years I’ve heard some crazy ideas from people about home building. And I figured the rest of you would have some too.
A while back I drew a plan for an addition for a guy. The addition was about 30X30. He asked if I thought it could be built for $50,000 or less. I told him it would be about double that. He was stunned.
.
Next time I saw him I saw him he said he had an idea to save BIG money. He no longer thought it made sense to add on to their current house. He was just gonna build a new one.
He said he was thinking about going to the local lumberyard and ordering 2 of their 24X36 garage packages for something like $12,000 each. (May not have that number right)
He figured he could build them end to end. One garage would be a garage, and the other garage would be a house. That way he’d have a new house AND garage for only $24,000.
I told him that made perfect sense, and we should start building construction week.
.
O.K. – Seriously – I was polite to the guy, but pointed out that a garage package was only a small part of a house. Things like a foundation, windows, insulation, partitions, drywall, etc. would still need to be considered.
Haven’t heard from him since…
Have you ever seen a toad sitting on a toadstool?
Replies
At least my neighbor had the sense to come ask me before he cut half of the chords of his attached garage trusses to make room for more storage.
Back in the 80's, there was a Great Moments page about a HO cutting a vertical 'pipe' out of the way in the middle of the attic........
I remember. The "pipe" that wasn't <G>.Live in the solution, not the problem.
Had a homeowner who asked if we could frame his 10,000 sf. house and put the subfloor in after it was dried in...this was a 3 story completely cut up house w/ 4 sets of stairs, 6 bedrooms 6 baths with every other room imaginable.
The funny thing was he was a structural engineer, and had these balconies designed with 8' cantilevers supporting roof loads. insisted that they would work and we were to frame them to his specs. we let him walk out on one and he almost sh*t his pants and had us put footings under them.......
Why put the subfloor in after framing walls? I mean, what was his line of reasoning?
Maybe he wanted to count the number of fasteners in all the framing for his inspection records.
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
to protect it from delaminating
Had a HO all enthused, he had ciphered that the "big problem" in house building was waste. So he came to me and wanted a plan that only used whole sheets of T1-11, and "stock" lengths of 2x.
Had to take him to a couple of under-contruction locations to point out some "realities." Like you need shim space around windows & doors; that not all studs are stud (or standard) length; that a certain amount of "scrap" material is needed for blocking, cripples, & the like.
But, mostly, it was pricing windows and bath fixtures that put a halt to this craziness (oh, and not the finish plumbing, it was the prices for PVC DWV fittings <g>).
I tried posting all such ideas my DGF has had, but I got an error msg: "Post exceeds allowable size limits!"
SamT
Anyone who doesn't take truth seriously in small matters cannot be trusted in large ones either. [Einstein] Tks, BossHogg.
A local (i'll call him a 'neighborhood advocate') came in the other day to tell us of the plans he has for the vacant lot next to his house. Victorian, lots of south glass for energy efficiency, granite foundation, between 3000-4000 s.f., 3-stories, a solar panel (yes, one), custom doors, wood floors everywhere, gravel backfill up to grade on the south side (because the sun will heat it up and radiate into the basement), etc. . . . all in an urban neighborhood where houses average $55,000. When asked when he was going to build it, the response was "I'm not building it! Whoever buys the property will have to build it according to my plans!"
I would call him the village idiot...
When I was still in college, I worked as a draftsman for a local architect. He had a client that was a retired mechanical engineer that was designing an airplane - I think it was called the Magic Carpet.
He would come in every month or so and spend an hour or so with me, giving direction, changes, explanations, etc. I don't remember exactly what it looked like, I just remember it was funky. The drawings were nothing more than plans and elevations, but the guy really knew his stuff. The architect thought it was just his means of keeping his mind active and was more than happy to accommodate him. It was strange, quirky and educational all at once.
I had a customer who wanted two toilets installed in one bathroom. not a toilet and a bidet but two toilets.
I asked him why two toilest and he said that he liked to talk to his wife while both of them used the toilet and I laughed my arss off thinking about this guy, talk about two nasty people.
busta
"It ain't da seafood dat makes ya fat anyway -- it's da batta!"
but two toilets
Well, at least one of them would never have the seat in the wrong position <g>Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
you would think, but I bet that both were up lolbusta :0)"It ain't da seafood dat makes ya fat anyway -- it's da batta!"
I grew up in a house that did not have real plumbing until I was around 8 or 9 years old...we had a 3-holer attached outhouse, called "the backhouse" with holes appropriately sized for Papa Bear, Mama Bear, &, at half-height, Baby Bear -
Me too!
And it became my dad's way of telling the 'hood he was as good as anyone else. After all, who else had a 8' x 12' three holer out back? We lived large!
Had to decorate it inside. A little closet. Coat hooks and shelves for reading material. Even had a partitioned area in back with a old cow feeding trough draining into the hole for us 3 boys to use while someone(s) else was inside.
Later when water and sewer came in, it went out. Stuck a willow branch in the ground over the old hole. 20 years later, that thing was 7 to 8 feet in diameter.
Edited 3/22/2007 10:55 pm ET by peteshlagor
big azz tree there.
every court needs a jester
It was fed well.
snort*
every court needs a jester
My mother painted ours lavender, with yellow trim, just like an Easter egg. She tacked up pretty pictures from old calendars. My favorite was of a mother Cocker Spaniel with a litter of pups at just the cute stage.
We had real toilet paper - no old catalogs, but there were plenty of magazines.
If we had company, I would go in there & make flushing sounds...
My outhouse is a three-holer, also. Including the child seat. It was in use until after WWII when a bathroom was tucked into the corner of the kitchen wing.
I've often wondered why three seats? It seems common ... a previous house of mine had the same setup. Surely folks didn't make this into a family outing of sorts?
Allen
Edited 3/23/2007 2:13 pm ET by WNYguy
I do have a memory of Daddy, Mommy, & me, lined up quietly reading together, but I think it was more in the customized sizing of the seats...there were no hinged, enamel accessory seats involved, just sawed out, neatly beveled openings.
And, if one got wet...
"I asked him why two toilest and he said that he liked to talk to his wife while both of them used the toilet..."
I once had a blueprint that showed a master bath like that - With toilets across the room facing each other. Aside from the obvious waste of space, I think it's disgusting too.
I wanna be left the heck alone when I'm in the can...
Can someone be a closet claustrophobic?
>>>>>>>>>>I wanna be left the heck alone when I'm in the can...Yeah, but two toilets could help settle that arguement my DW and I often have about who can crap the largest............http://logancustomcopper.com
http://grantlogan.net/
"We have enough youth, how about a fountain of smart?"
I wanna be left the heck alone when I'm in the can...
Given your probable farmboy diet...you probably do not have much problem with your wish.
I'm kinda late to this thread, but the two toilet thing sparked a memory. Impress your next client with one of these
http://www.yankodesign.com/product_info.php?products_id=1587
being side by side and talking is cute, but being able to face each other and make out while crapping is true love.
Friend of mine decides hes going to build his own house. Tells me "were going to have the drywall spray primered before the windows are in." I said Auh the windows go in before the drywall....His response:oh do they? 8mos now elec still not done.
>>> he liked to talk to his wife while both of them used the toilet
So romantic.
<had a customer who wanted two toilets installed in one bathroom.>
Hey! I've built that one! Nice repeat clients; an older couple, too!
two toilets; two lavs; giant walk-in shower
Forrest
<Edit - I'll find an old pic to scan and post it>
Edited 3/22/2007 7:26 pm by McDesign
Hey, you could have a husband or wife that doesn't like to use a toilet that someone else used - some kind of OCD issues.
You could be self assured that you were the only one that sat on "your" toilet.“The richest genius, like the most fertile soil, when uncultivated, shoots up into the rankest weeds..” – Hume
LOL
Dainty DW likes the toilets at O'Hare best of any airports as they have the automatic plastic sleeve on the seat.
However, your backside 'butts' up against the unsleeved mechanism (if you are over 110# or over 5 ft 2" tall). Last time this 6 ft 220# bozo $hit at O'hare got a rash at about kidney level a week later.
I had a customer who wanted two toilets installed in one bathroom
Not a bad idea really, but it would cut into the reading time. Plus my wife would be at a total disadvantage in the bouquet department-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
WWPD
My former inlaws, FIL was a contractor, built their dream house. In master bath they put 2 toilets. He said he'd never had to wait for the bathtub, but sure had for the toilet. They were side by side with a half wall partition between. His had a toilet seat with cute little "contractor" tools and hers had fishing gear, reflecting their respective interests.They loved it. To each his own, I guess.
I had one client, back in the early 70s, who mainly asked one question. His constant theme was, "can we make it bigger"? Bigger garage space, 40' I-beam to clear span a three car garage under the new house. Taller ceilings, bigger living room, grand stone fireplace, enormous deck (never thereafter used by more than two people). Like a Texas oil man, the list just went on and on.
After it was completed his daily lament was, "what do I need with such a big house?"
At least he realized it. Some folks - no matter how big you make the garage, they still need to rent a storage facility or add on another bay.
Make the wall cabinets 14" deep and they will try to fir a pile of 15" platters in and complain it is too small.We had one guy who had a mud unfinished space under the house that was almost ten feet from mud to underdesigned floor above.
his architect stepped into it from the deck outside two feet higher and announced, "Oh wonderfull. we can have a nice ten foot ceiling!"Of course I was not there to correct him. I just built to plans and when the owner finally entered his 7'10" space, he asked me where his ten foot high ceilings were.
Hunh?
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I once worked on a house that had no interior partitions. The bathroom was a seperate area, but was in sight of the rest of the house. The exterior walls were mostly windows and there were no window treatments. Strange people.
http://logancustomcopper.com
http://grantlogan.net/
"We have enough youth, how about a fountain of smart?"
Acquaintances of ours had an architect designed home built. The primary bathroom is next to the formal dining room and both have 8' walls... under a 12' ceiling!Our friends must be much more visual than auditory!
"Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd."
~ Voltaire
and both have 8' walls... under a 12' ceiling!
Our friends must be much more visual than auditory!
Gee, I wonder if Panasonic makes a "downdraft" bathroom fan . . . <G>Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
Yup. A downdraft fan strong enough so that the dopler effect takes the noise down with the air!
"Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd."
~ Voltaire
worked on a house that had no interior partitions
Sheesh, about like Philip Johnson's Glass House, but, he, at least, put a couple walls around the toilet (and given that it was PJ, probably only because they wouldn't custom-make "pretty" plumbing fittings . . . )Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
When I worked as a county planner, my boss came to me and said the new court administrator (he had been the county purchasing agent before that) needed more space for files and noticed an unused room. I think he said it looked like this same small sized room was on every floor and I said, "And does it have a big "x" in it, going across the corners of this 'room'?" The boss didn't know, just told me to get the blueprints and check it out. Sure enough, this "room" was the boiler flue!
This was the county where they built jail cells with drop-in type ceilings and the first week it was opened two inmates climbed up above the ceiling and walked along walls until they got to an unsecure area, climbed down and walked out of the jail. Later the county made the walls go higher, but left the drop in ceilings; inmates would hide contraband up in there, assault other inmates in there, etc.
Speaking ofthe jail, it supposedly was built with a room in it that had no doors or windows into it--but after thinking about it, I wonder if that room had lines drawn across its corners!
In a very exclusive old enclave of grand homes (think Newport RI) from the turn of the last century a place called Tuxedo Park about an hour north of NYC, I used to do a lot of work.
I go to see a job. The house has been neglected but still very elegant and grand. The HO is showing me around and brings me into the giant ballroom and with great pride tells me that he had removed the plastered ceiling and a 'friend' of his has taken a chainsaw and cut down those "big ugly 45' ceiling beams, that stretched from wall to wall. Took him about 30 minutes, and now it's all so nice and open with the vaulted ceiling now. Isn't it just faaaaaabulous!!?" He was so pleased.
I could see the 6" stumps of the 5x16" doug-fir at the juncture of wall and roof, nervously projecting their sad little severed remains into the room. (look what they've done to my song Ma...)
"You think they might have been there for a reason"?, I casually asked.
"Oh who cares. I'm going to throw a huge gala ball here in the spring and this is perrrrrfect", he replied.
(oh I bet you just will)
"You do the work here, you can come!!", winked he.
(Oh I bet I just will...actually I think I'm washing my hair that night, so uh...)
I backed out of the grand balled-up room never to return.
Needless to say, I didn't get the job. I always felt a bit guilty that I didn't say more about the fabulous ceiling looming and floating there, held up in a most mysterious way.
Not that there's anything wrong with that...
But I did wonder if he wore all white, and I wonder if he ever found the glass slipper that might have been lost on that marvelous night.
I used to install kitchens in tuxedo park when I worked for Masterwork Kitchens out of Goshen. Any chance we crossed paths? Worked with a guy named Al Bojman.
"it aint the work I mind,
It's the feeling of falling further behind."Bozini Latini
There's a chance that we crossed. I ran into dozens of trades during my years working in Tuxedo. Al Bojman doesn't ring a bell though.
You were from north of there, I was from just south of Tuxedo in Suffern.I used to buy my tools in Goshen at that tool outlet where the guys would keep the stock in heaps and piles that spilled over into the barely passable aisles. Got a lot of good deals there though. Nothing like that around here.
the place was called tool factory outlet. Maybe we did cross. anyway, nice to cross paths on this thread about a familiar place.later,
jay"it aint the work I mind,
It's the feeling of falling further behind."Bozini Latini
Tool Factory, that was it.
I used to get the flyers in the mail and maybe once every three months on a Saturday I would tell the DW that I had to uh...you know...uh, there's this place that...I have to.
Her Irish eyes would dance and tell me to go knock myself out.The Tool Factory. They were the real deal. It was about a 45 minute drive through the beautiful rolling farm land of Orange Cty. A perfect break for a then young(ish) carpenter/dad and his yawning pickup.
<<
The Tool Factory. They were the real deal. It was about a 45 minute drive through the beautiful rolling farm land of Orange Cty. A perfect break for a then young(ish) carpenter/dad and his yawning pickup.>>
You're talkin' 'bout my neighborhood now. For many years, I got my morning coffee and danish at the "Country Convenience", next to Tool Factory Outlet, on my way to jobs all over the Hudson Valley. Bought more than a few tools from those guys too. Crazy place to try to find anything.
There's a little hick town a few miles from Fargo, ND where nobody seems to have ever heard about building codes or can bring themselves to part with a dollar.
In one case a guy asked if I would remodel his basement into bedrooms for his daughters. He wasn't very interested in installing egress windows. Also the head room of the basement before remodeling was barely 6'. After noting pipes that would have to be placed above a dropped ceiling and how the pad would have to be raised to make things level, I figured that the finished height of the bed rooms would be 5'. "That's OK," he said, "My daughters aren't very tall." Curious, I called the town's building inspector just to ask if there was any specific local code that allowed a ceiling to be so low. He refused to tell me over the phone and I got the idea that even he didn't know.
Few months later in the same town a landlord asked me to finish a remodel of a basement apartment that a previous "handy man" had started but abandoned. In this bathroom the walls consisted of 1/4" ply on studs. The shower walls were rocked with ordinary drywall (not even MR) that apparently were only to be taped and painted (no tile). The remodeler also neglected to install a shower pan. The shower walls came straight to the floor. In the shower a light fixture hung from a cord and there was a steam radiator mounted on the cement foundation wall that served as one of the shower walls. The cellar floor drain served as the shower drain. Best thing yet was that the only way to get to the toilet in this layout was to walk through the shower. I told the owner the entire work thus far would have to be torn out and he never returned my call.
HO / potential client call this week:
1600 SF LA / Brick
2 Car Garage
3 BR / 2 1/2 Bath
Porches front and Rear
Well and Septic / Culvert and Long Driveway
Landscape and Sod
I submitted $3,500 Plans and Spec Proposal , with question: What is your all inclusive budget?
Answer: Just economy finish levels.....total budget to include design work, engineering, permits and site prep $50 - $100,000.00
"total budget to include design work, engineering, permits and site prep $50 - $100,000"
So what's your point ???
(-:
I had a GC in here yesterday. He said there was a message on his answering maching from a guy wanting to know how big of a house he could build for $50,000.
The GC didn't know whether to call the guy back or not....
Absurdity, n.: A statement or belief manifestly inconsistent with one's own opinion. [Ambrose Bierce]
must be the guy I know who had me walk through a house he was thinking about buying for his daughter (about 70k 2 bedroom, older but nice with full dry basement) and after looking, he stated to the real estate agent "we can get a house built like this for about $60k, why would I buy this one? The agent and I both had to hold back our laughter.
Oh yea, I forgot.....in your area $0.20 per Sf for plans and specs work, but most folks just use the 8 1/2" x 11" free print outs form internet plan services. front elevation and dimensions (12' x 14' Bedroom 2)
You wouldn't believe the "plan" I'm working from now - An 80' long log home drawn on 8.5X11 paper with one of those $19.95 house drawing programs from wally world. No elevations or foundation print. Dimensions were added by hand..Heck, people often think I'm nuts to want $.20 a square foot for a plan. Don't know if you saw the note I posted the other day. I had a guy in a BIG hurry to get a plan drawn. He said: "It only takes an hour or so on a computer, doesn't it?"I didn't end up drawnig a plan for him...
In America, the demand for power to compel is a confession of incompetence to lead. [Eugene E. Wilson]
Hey Boss,
Had a customer call me the other day and want me to help them get their plan through the county plan review because they haven't been able to get it approved after two attempts.
I mistakenly said sure, bring it over and we can take a looksie. They show up empty handed and so I bit, where are the plans. The HO pulls out a cocktail napkin from their honeymoon several months prior.
That will be a 5k deposit for me to "draw" your plans sir...
No way, I just want you to get them through plan review.
Speechless, the new bride perks up and says, "We'll pay the 5k upon completion of the entire home."
That one didn't work out for me...
And by the way, the square footage was around 6000 on an alarming large cocktail napkin from some resort in the Carribean. Wow!
Don't know how long you've been around BT. You may or may not have seen the worst "blueprint" I've ever gotten:
View Image
Unquestionably, there is progress. The average American now pays out twice as much in taxes as he formerly got in wages. [H.L. Mencken]
at least you got a "scaled drawing", and color to boot. What do these people think when we get this crap? and then they bitch at us about not building exactly what they want. Come on...
Boss Hog,
Please don't go ask the local building department for a set of my plans. Most are drawn on notebook paper and amount to floor plans only..
I drew up one reasonable set of plans and brought my scale model. They passed.. he came and looked at my work and has approved all the sketches since.
Love the model!
Forrest
when i first started in business i met a new client who took me to a wharehouse he was moving into and told me he wanted a office a kitchen and a shower built into it
the whole floor plan was described to me by him using his shoes to make a mark on the floor roughly outlining everthing
office was approximately the size of a garage plus rooms
next job was to take a old farm house on 150 acres and gut it to the outer walls then put on a addittion 20 x 40 2 story total heated area 6000 sq ft including 6 bathrooms 4 fireplaces (wrk took 2 years) during which he was out of the country many times never saying when he was leaving or coming back ,
we never had any plans or a scrap of paper to work from
after that i renovated a restaurant , a old house turned into apartments and a 3 story former school into office rentals
i even did renovations for him at his winter home in the bahamas
in total i did work for him for 7 years (he died ) and not once did i ever have a scrap of paper for instructions
i must admit i found it hard to adjust to the real world of pricing jobs and budjets after working for him
About 15 years ago, I had a job that was kind of unique that your warehouse fill in reminded my of.He had a great big old barn and he wanted to build an airplane in side of it, but the space would have been almost impossible to heaat for his winter hobby.So he explained he wanted to close in an area with stud walls and ply sheathing so he could heaat and work in there. He had worked out how much space to use and spray painted outline of it, and he had a pile of lumber ready.I asked him how he would get the airplane out once it was built and got a vacant deer in the headlights look....I suggested a way that one whole wal could be mounted with screws to make it easy to knock out and he liked that idea.This wa a fill in job between a couple other things for me and I was ready to jump on it the same day. Alright he says, I have to run down to the post office and library, then I'll be back to help....I didn't see him again 'till about 2:30 PM when I was all finished and picking up my tools. Somehow, he had it in mind that I would be there all week to build a couple lousy walls! He had to inspect it to see what had I left out. Platform frame meant few toenails so he could not see the nails...it took almost as long to get the drift of the job first in the morning and to explain how it was done that PM as it did to build it all.
I charged for all that time and got paid.His airplane parts are still gathering dust from what I hear...
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
I don't recall giving you permission to share my blue prints with the whole world.
did they actually submit their napkin twice for review????-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
WWPD
don't know, didn't get that far to ask, after they wouldn't pay the initial 5k they found the door in short time...
3 posts in an hour and five minutes in the same thread?
You ain't goin' no where!Legal Disclaimer: The preceeding comments are for entertainment purposes only and are in no way to be construed as professional advice. The reader of these comments agrees to hold harmless the poster, EJCinc, from any and all claims that EJCinc offered professional advice, ideas, or comments to the reader that may or may not have resulted in the damage, injury, or death to the readers property or person.
Really I am still waiting for final decisions on the hotel deal.
Truthfully, the custom home business is good and I am not sure about the hotel deal.
"I had a GC in here yesterday. He said there was a message on his answering machine from a guy wanting to know how big of a house he could build for $50,000.
The GC didn't know whether to call the guy back or not...."How could he pass up a gem of an opportunity like that?! I would of had fun with the guy, led him on and at the meeting brought over the Malibu Barbie dream house.
Pay up.
We did a room addition where the HO wanted to know why we had all this wood on site. She could see why we were opening the wall to attach the new room, but the foundation forms and dirt work was puzzling her. Thinking that we had a communication foul-up, I asked her what she was expecting?
My boss had a history of selling one job to a client and having us build something different. I was paid by the hour and had no authority, but felt that I should make an effort to be aware of what was going on.
She was looking for several large buckets and a huge brush. After some conversation, I discovered that she had no idea how buildings were built. She had a vague memory of a TV show where a large artist's brush appeared from off screen and painted a wall and windows on screen. She had no idea how such a thing could be done and was interested to see it.
At first I thought she was kidding me, if so she was good actress.
I carefully explained that it was more involved than that and described the process. She nodded and said she understood.
I told my boss about it later. He said that when he talked with her about the job she seemed a little odd.
I'm building a patio cover right now, two days ago put up a 20 ft.long 6x14 rough cedar beam supported by RC 6x6 posts as called for in the plans.
Today the HO asked if I was going to wrap the posts and beams, or was I going to sand them smooth so they could be painted. I didn't even know how to answer that one.
Last fall I built a fence for folks. Before they left to go south for the winter, I had walked over it all with them, driving a smallstake in each location where a post would be as designated on the plans from their landscape architect. I stood where the gate was planned and held my armns out and openned and closed myself, so every detail was simulated for them to understand all the minute details.When it was 85% completed, I emailed them a a photo and got a phone call back.Paul - the fence is very beautiful and well done, but how are you going to move it to where it is supposed to be?Gulp! Did I do something wrong?
Double check all plans and he admitted I was right but the landscape archy had not drawn what they wanted location wise and somehow they had not picked up on it.....That cost somebody two grand to move.
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
BossHog,
Actaully my whole house plans are so crazy that the only one stupid enough to tackle the job was some forklift salesman who would work nights and evenings.
I mean who ever thought of putting two frames on one house?
Who ever thought of using black walnut as a framing material?
Buuying cheapest ungraded wood available.
No plans,
A tower that starts on the second floor and goes up the roof and back down again.
recycled windows, recycled doors, not using plywood or OSB for flooring!
NO Budget?
How about the customer who expects you to give them cheap materials because you get "contractors discount" at the lumber yard?
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