# It Always Amazes Me!



## jmic (Dec 10, 2005)

I"m always amazed of what people are thinking when they are planning a new home. It can be a long dragged out process between finding a site to buy, selecting a G.C.,having an engineer do a site plan,and getting house blueprints, and after all this going through the permit stage( which around here can take well over 60 days for all reviews). Then when you show up on the job to start the excavation they have trees ribboned to save within 10' of the house location, or you have 3/4's of the cellar dug and they come by and say, " Jee I thought it was going to face in that direction. I guess they just don't ask enough questions upfront to the engineer or G.C., thier focus is on colors and that new Big Screen 52". Do you run into the same situations or is it more of a Fairfield County thing?


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## gravtyklz (Dec 24, 2005)

ahhh I hate when there are home owners a lot!

Obviously Im talking from the electrical field. Home buyers think everyone knows what they're thinking or something?

We've had drywall up and all that jazz.....go to do a trim out, and customers are surprised at where receptacles are and why they're not spaced out perfect for where their bed is going to be.......or why we didnt think that they would want a light here, or there, or why they dont have 4 switches to control one light

Or the really silly things....why is it we used a light box rather than a fan box in their hall way, ofcourse some wonder why we cant just put a 50 lb fan on a little nail in box that can maybe hold 5 lbs.

We've worked with one GC that doesnt allow any of his home owners to discuss things with his subs....I rather like that sometimes.


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## Peladu (Jan 8, 2006)

Also when they are in a pinch they ask, “Well what do you think?’’ or “What would you do?” 

But, I love the people that say, “Just do what you think is best.”

Jmic, you hit it on the head when you said that they are more concerned about the color of the house over the functionality of the house.


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## mdshunk (Mar 13, 2005)

Think of it this way... when you do exactly what was on the plans or the contract, and it's not what the homeowner expected... start to see dollar signs. This usually means a change order is coming down the pike, and you're gonna get paid even more. The important thing here is documentation. Don't take any oral instructions on anything. Do EXACTLY what is on the plans, and your butt is covered. If the house is facing 2 degrees too far one way, and they want it adjusted, talk to the GC and write up a change order. As has been pointed out, we're not mind readers. We can only read what is written on the plans and other contract documents. I'm not so sure that if I was an excavator that I would even dig a foundation based on paint marks, stakes, or batter boards set up by others. I think I'd want written plans so that I can verify the layout done by others.


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## jmic (Dec 10, 2005)

mdshunk I'm not so sure that if I was an excavator that I would even dig a foundation based on paint marks said:


> When I start any job I go by the site plan generated by the engineer of record, and all bench marks and off set staking is done by surveyors. Once changes start, the change order forms come out and they pay.


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## rino1494 (Jan 31, 2006)

Don't even get me started on this subject. I deal with this crap all the time. This is one of the reasons why I love doing specs. I couldn't tell you how many hrs I have spent going over grades with homeowners and how the lot will look. One time, we went over the lot with the homeowners for about 30 min, then layed the entire house out then they decide that they want to angle the house 5 more feet so they have a better view of the cul de sac. The best is when homeowners clear their own lots trying to save the trees. Then when I come lay it out and there is a tree in the middle of the living room. :laughing:


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## jmic (Dec 10, 2005)

I like having 25'-30' around perimeter of house without having any obstacles to work around, such as trees ( although many of the sites we work on have side yard min. at 5' on one side and 10' min on the other. Small lots, big houses ) Like the site we're working on now, I had to ramp up 3' on either side of garage foundation to get machine around to the back yard to do footing drains and backfill the foundation :furious: PITA! What really gets me p-ssed is when you work around a tree lets say 10' off the front of the foundation and you bust your azz working around it, cause the owner just has to have it in the front yard, then once the house is up and they see how rediculous the branches are hanging over the house they decide to have someone come in to take it down and have to pay big bucks after the fact:thumbup: :thumbup: serves them right!:laughing:


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