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I have done a lot of remodels for homeowners. I give the choice of paying me by the hour or a flat price.
Most people actually pay me by the hour. If I give a flat price I round up to a full day.
***Yes!!! For the hardworking Amish folks***
Seen them work on a few homes & am duely impressed!
Hours well spent & do not need babysitting (so they = "the contractors" don't ********* over for $$$$).
Not sure where most of those on here are coming from? Of coarse paying by the hour is common. I am not sure how in this market you could do it any other way, if, its a custom home. It did take me 3 years to build my new home, but I had little choice. Could not get a construction loan as I was my own general contractor ( Big savings right there , over 100,000 for me ). Its not rocket science , you shop the trades, get several quotes, references, then make the decision based on how complicated the job was. If you always go with the guy with a fixed price, it will show in the end....as he is loosing his shirt and cuts corners doing his part of the house. Some jobs where the sub is providing the materials like sheet rock, a fixed price is expected , if , its a run of the mill home. many finish trades will not work any other way when it comes to special craft experience, where you supply the materials.I always bought the materials, at my discount, or on Ebay , etc. If you hired out this work and the contractor had to locate special materials, he would quote you very high on a fixed price. Building a custom home these days , its almost impossible to do everything on fixed price. Time and materials is a common way of doing business. In my case, as I was on the job every day it was no problem, yes sometimes I paid a little more , but I got the quality I expected, which in the long run actually is a cost savings over having to do the job over because an unknowing sub did not know what he was doing.
I once did build a summer home on a fixed cost, but I was 600 miles away and had to hire a GC. In that case, he lost money, but, in the end as we added on more changes, etc, got a lot of it back. I do not like to do business that way, it always shows when you use unskilled contractors including GCs . Its all about money equals time. More than once I fired a contractor for not being efficient in his building practices, and it was costing me money, I found another one. When it comes to skilled finish work, I do not see how you could get a guy to give a fixed price. I used the same guy, we became friends, he had a full time job elsewhere building houses, and worked for me on week-ends and evenings. In that case, just one guy most of the time, so I could see the results of the workmanship at all times, one of the reasons it took so long, 3 years plus, I built with cash as home loans were impossible to get these last few years. When I ran out of funding, I stopped the job and waited for funds to build up so we could start again. I am sure , I saved 100,000 by being my own general, shoping around for material deals, even custom stuff like glazing which was very special on my house. I had material costs all over the place. You know, 10,000 here and 10,000 there ads up for sure...and, I now know what I have got, a quality built modern structure that will stand the test of time., long after I am gone, but I did find satisfaction in the doing, it was MY project as I am retired on the other hand, it was a long 4 years, but I had little choice in most cases.
Based on what?
One "custom home"? That better be one Helluva a "custom home".
Check out my profile and see. Much you don't see is all the grade and dirt work I did myself. over 2,000 hours on my JD. Its tough building on top of a rock ! Worth it however, the view of Lake Superior and the small villages etc below is quite impressive if I say so myself. ( yes , It did take too long to build, mostly for that reason, and lack of funding ).
Much you don't see is all the grade and dirt work I did myself. over 2,000 hours on my JD.
So; in otherwords, you didn't save a 100k as a GC. You saved a bit of money by being a subcontractor and short-cutting specs. Maybe just not in those words.
So; in otherwords, you didn't save a 100k as a GC. You saved a bit of money by being a subcontractor and short-cutting specs. Maybe just not in those words.
My own self as a sub contractor? Kinda strange , but I did save many thousands, by building a road along side the mountain.. Short cutting specs. hardly, if anything we went the other way., examples Hi-Tec German wood stove.( show sample I found from importer), lots of Ebay items, all plumbing, hansgrohe also German,Induction cook top, ebay auction, Finding my own gravel on my property,created a large pit before I was done, at lest 30 feet deep. 8 special made sliding glass doors I made a deal with the extrusion co, and they pressured the MFG to build them.( I saved 10,000 there alone). Laying all in house slate and ceramic floors my self over many week ends. Saved another 10,000 by buying direct Dura-last membrane roof via my contacts. In many cases we cut out the middle man, that's a lot of money saved right there. All the trades I had little control on rates, but did supply considerable savings by buying the parts myself.
The other think is my JD tractor, has a telescoping boom which we used a lot in cutting construction time and purchasing or renting scaffolding.
So, where do you come up with the " short cutting? The house required a 70 lb snow load which required a diversion from the plans and walls inter and outer from the designer. Did my own trucking there. so wound up with R50 walls,R 70 roof and under floor heating via an electric boiler ( no duct work).
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