Builder meetings and a great NYT link
Posted on | January 5, 2009 |
So, over the last few weeks we’ve been meeting with builders and construction experts to get quotes on how much it will cost to build the house. This is really the next step before we make the decision about whether or not to proceed with the project now, put it on hold for a few years, or even shelve it entirely (this is pretty unlikely though).
We met first with Andrew Watts from Black Diamond Builders. I have a prior working relationship with Andrew as we built their website and I got some great insight into the quality of their construction and process during the site development. Their work is top notch, and they build for some of the best local architects. Andrew was great in our meeting, pointing out potential pitfalls and areas of improvement and also commending Monica and us on the intelligent design of our house. He had a few concerns around the slab and airflow, but was otherwise unfazed. I expect Andrew’s quote to be one of the higher ones we receive but it will likely be worth it. We should have something back from them by the end of January. It’s quite a long and involved process to quote a house.
The second builder we met with was a fellow by the name of Brad Schofield. He lives in our area and was recommended to my wife by another teacher at her school as Brad had completed some renovations for him. Brad seems like a fantastic guy. He was excited by the process and our different house and had some great ideas around how to make the construction really work for us. Things like using scrap 2×8 lumber in areas of the house where we would be hanging artwork and putting it cross-wise between two studs so that mounting a painting wouldn’t break the air-tight envelope. Cool.
The third builder we met with was Faisal Forhart from Special Projects. Faisal is a builder of refute similar to Andrew and often builds very cool architect-designed homes including those by Mackay-Lyons Sweetapple. To be truthful, we didn’t get a good vibe from him. About halfway through the meeting, he started to shut down and was questioning the requirement for a slab and didn’t seem interested in the project. At the end of the meeting, he told us that he had a 3-4 month backlog of quoting to do and would decide after that if he wanted to quote on our job. Needless to say, we weren’t impressed.
We also tried to meet with a builder by the name of Bruce Sarty, but he told us up front that he wasn’t interested in the project. Fair enough.
We are trying to line up a meeting with Vern Sklaspky from State Homes but haven’t yet had a chance to set up a time. We toured one of his houses and really liked it and the detail he puts into them. Will report back once we meet with him.
I found a great article last week in the New York Times about Passive Homes that I’d like to share. It really makes me feel like we’re on the right path. Have a look.
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