Finished re-reading The Owner-Builder Book for the fourth time. Of all the books I own (and they are legion), this one definitely rates in the top 20 of books read over and over and over again. Karla in Silver Springs, NV

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Recap - partial to date

Posted to jrh by John in North Bend, WA on 3/25/2006

We are now in our 9th month of an owner-managed project and expect to be complete in late May.

Rework caused by bad workmanship, bad materials, incorrect specifications and errors discovered after paying subcontractors have cost close to twenty thousand dollars. Consultant's site visits have been next to useless.

The first problem was that the excavator cut the foundation hole too small. I had to hire a surveyor to lay the foundation out to make sure it was done right. My consultant and the excavator blamed me, but it was logically clear the the hole was the wrong size and it was the fault of the excavator - a point that was decided in my favor later in a financial dispute. Cost - $900 for additional excavation and surveying.

The foundation was laid out incorrectly and I had to hire the surveyor to come back and figure out where the error was made. The excavator and consultant blamed the surveyor, but his computer-generated diagram taken from the 12 corners he sited was correct. Cost $650 for footings rework and survey work.

Extra concrete charges by mistakes and method used for some footings wasted $600 that could have been avoided.

House straps were missing, causing inspection to fail.

Lumber used in framing interior walls was atrocious. 42 studs were not acceptable quality. Framer was supposed to cull out the bad lumber but used them anyway. Walls were not suitable for attaching drywall or for drilling into to run plumbing and wires. It was embarrassing to see such poor quality. Lumber company brought out replacements, but they were in terrible shape as well. I purchased additional studs from a local lumber store and framer, after nasty confrontation, finally agreed to replace the most critical studs.

Consultant said I must have purchased that quality of lumber. Lumber company said I bought their standard construction-grade lumber.

Subsequently many other framing problems occurred. None were discovered by the consultant. Shear walls were missing. Truss blocking was missing. The subfloor was so inadequately nailed and otherwise poorly installed that it failed in places, flexed too much and creaked, so it had to be reinforced at a cost of over $3,000.

Sheathing had to be taken off so improperly installed studs could be shimmed and shaved to make walls even.

Interior walls required $1,600 worth of shimming and shaving so the drywall could be installed properly. (The drywall was beautifully installed.)

The driveway is 450 feet long and the excavator put in the wrong size of conduit for the gas line (one of many issues I had with this "perfect excavators - according to consultant") This problem delayed construction by almost three months as I could not get heat installed until the proper conduit was installed. The contractor had specified the conduit size, but said it was my fault for getting the wrong size -- as did the consultant. So much for the the consultant's claim (20th example) that their customers don't have to know anything about construction.

Much more to add - house is looking great.

Photos