‘Tis true, I’ve been asked by friends to build a Craftsman style home for them .
I’ve known them for years, and they’ve seen tons of my work( live and photo…),AND we are sure we can maintain the friendship and they will end up with what they want…
Now the first ( of what I’m sure will be many), question I have is if there are any opinions on whether I should be contractor, manager, or “consultant”,(I will definitely be framing and doing the finish carpentry, stairs etc). and what are the potential setbacks we might expect from these options…Cheers, and TIA for any advice..Phil.
If it is to be…. ‘twil be done by me.
Replies
I certainly can't tell how good your friendship is, but that aspect should help you decide your level of involvement. But perhaps your personal financial condition is more important.
If you intend to be the contractor, that (usually) means that you are financially responsible, and that you are assuming the financial risks. If you are willing and able to do that, then go for it (and charge for it).
If you can't/shouldn't/won't take on the $$ risk, then you can still be the project manager, the framer, and the finish carp.
Only do this job if you are prepared to lose the friendship.
Do not! Give anything away. Your friends will decide to move to Hawaii on the profit they make from selling the house you worked your self to death to create for them.
They will smile and thank you, thinking, what, i don't know, that you are a big business who gave them a great deal? Not that you sacrificed your nights and weekends for work you didn't charge them for.
Have this discussion first.
I have the opposite perspective. I hired my @#$^&*% brother in law to re-model my kitchen. Before the job he was just my brother in-law, the contractor. Unfortunatly there were problems created by both of us and assumptions were made and expectations yada yada yada. I think I took some advantage of him because he was family and I expected a higher level of service and quality. I know he thought he could get away with certain things and delay other because I'm family. Now 2 years later I am still waiting for some details to be finished and he is waiting for the last of his money and we do not speak. There is no better way to lose friends or family than to enter into a business agreement together. Just my perspective.
Dave
I just read your post, Brought back bad memories for me, I respect the fact that you take some of the blame. I have a ready answer for all my friends (both of them), family & anyone I have to see sunday morning, when they ask me to do there projects. I just say "Lets save time & money, Just start hating me now"
Ive always found that I can't do the projects good enough, fast enough, free enough, ect. ect.
Make friends again with your brother in law.
Let him read your posting.
If you are going to supervise, order, negotitate, deal with who does/doesn't show up, pick up materials(for cost?), answer phone calls(night and weekends), expect it to be done by a certain time, pull in favors from other subs to get you friend a good price, then you should be paid for ALL your time energy. This means PROFIT and OVERHEAD. You don't need to be the GC on the job, just get paid being at their disposal. Don't ALL business include profit and overhead? Even Microsoft, McDonalds, Walmart, or Home Depot do. If they didn't how would they grow into the monopolies they are?