Wilder Construction, LLC | Kettle Falls, WA

Insurance Trade or Tricks?

Tue, 25 Apr 2017 20:00:00 GMT

Insurance 101

Check policy, don’t take ‘no’ as an answer, be persistent,
get a contractor involved, never accept claim process errors,
know that you’re dealing with a corporate entity that makes money off of not paying out.
And remember Smokey Robinson’s mother gave him this advice: shop around.

Scenario:

It flooded in Colville. How many home owners knew that their pump houses, garages or basements would fill this year? How many chose to carry flood insurance on their home owner insurance policy? How many of you knew you would need it?

These sleuthing questions are posed to many of us right now as the year of 2017 has made record flooding in Stevens County. Calls have been flooding in on insurance claims in my office. They are not easy to deal with… many times it’s tricky to deal with agents, and I convene with them because I think homeowners deserve what they pay for. I would like to spell out some more thoughts, stories and tips in dealing with insurance companies with respect to home owner policies…

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Cost to Build

Mon, 01 Aug 2016 17:00:00 GMT

Good work ain’t cheap and cheap work ain’t good.

– Devon Stone, Construction Programs & Results

by Keith Wilder, CGP, CAPS

This is a monthly blog geared to help homeowners address building and maintenance issues. In my world, as a contractor and President of the Tri-County Home Builders Association, I see the need for an educational model on what excellence in building entails – namely to ensure a fair and quality product that is hassle and liability free. This month features why it costs so much to remodel, repair or build a new home.

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Why does it cost so much to remodel, repair or build a new home? I get asked that question many times and every contractor out there knows what I'm talking about.

Scenario:

I’ve had a customers ask me to build a structure using estimates from years past. I know lumber, metal and subcontractor prices have almost doubled since then, plus there’s been code upgrades which push costs. A note on the quality of products could also be mentioned as we are progressing in the construction industry. I wish prices would remain steady or even go down, but that’s not the economy we live in. I too have to price accordingly to stay in business, so I can’t go back and charge the same price as I did years ago. Here’s why…

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First of all, there is the cost of materials . Just like milk, eggs, bread and gasoline, building materials have gone up in price in the last 10 years, with many items more than doubling. Some items such as plumbing fixtures have gone three or four times in price. So material costs have gone up including the cost of the glue to lay down your subfloor, concrete for your foundation, the cost of septic systems, roofing materials, carpet, windows and so on. As a result, contractors, subcontractors and suppliers have had to raise their costs in order to at least survive.

Second the price of labor needs to be considered. The price for quality construction workers is not cheap. Skilled labor comes with a cost: all of my men and women have families that they support and they need to make enough money to pay their bills. What’s more is the happiness factor: they need to be happy enough to come to work. Labor prices have increased also, and subcontractor labor is included in that category as they have to keep up with the going rates to survive and feed their families as well.

Next we have the big kicker, government regulations. And lots of them. Government agency costs include fees, licensing, taxes and permits. Government and regulatory agencies such as the following all play a part in driving contractor costs to build:

The Governor – State of WA sales tax at 7.6% of gross costs
State Revenue tax (similar to capital gains – tax on profit)
Payroll taxes – a Federal tax requirement
Department of Employment Security – for lay-offs
Department of Labor & Industries – for workers’ compensation insurance (construction has some of the highest rates in all of the State)
Licensing – business licenses (federal, state & city), company vehicles
Bond – every contractor has to have a bond in the State of WA
Building permits
Compliance with ever-changing energy & building codes
Classes to keep up with the codes

All of these extra expenditures eat at a contractor’s profit. A lot of these programs are beneficial and needed, but it’s the quantities they’re asking that makes the cost to build that much more expensive. For example, say you want to build a $250,000 three-bedroom home and it has been quoted at $300K, why does it cost $50,000 more? Essentially because of the aforementioned agency fees and taxes. As a business owner, every time I turn around some entity of government is taking more and leaving less. I know I’m preaching to the choir with other small business owners, but these agencies amplify the overhead for any business owner, which in turn makes costs higher to build and, unfortunately, squeezes profit margins.

A note of “good” news is that through our local Tri-County Home Builders Association we work to fight government over-regulation. The Spokane and Tri-County Home Builders are committed and travel as a team to Olympia every year to encourage and persuade government officials to make it easier to stay in business for the building industry.

Being a general contractor is not glamorous but it is what I enjoy doing. I’m in business and have to pay my employees and staff, computers, printers, the paper the estimate gets put on, the trucks and trailers and the tools that go in them, the gas that it takes to get to a job or an estimate request, and all the overhead costs. All said and done, there has to be enough to feed my family, buy a gallon of milk and a fishing pole too.

Universal Design

Wed, 01 Jun 2016 14:00:00 GMT

This month features Universal Design, home building designed for usability, functionality and social inclusion.

What’s a New Home Cost?

Sun, 01 May 2016 20:30:00 GMT

This month’s feature is about the cost of a new home, from simple to extravagant.

If you live in the local area, you can also find this blog in the Silverado Express publication under my monthly column - "Contractor Corner."

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Every time people ask What’s the cost per square foot? I’d like to ask, What’s the cost per pound of a new car? There is such a range of prices in cars and it mostly depends on what features the buyer wants. Do you want stereo or XM? Automatic or manual? Rims or hub caps? These answers boil down to the buyer’s choices which, in turn, will drive the cost. Same with the housing industry… there’s a big difference between a $95 per square foot home and a $350 square foot home. That cost is mainly determined by the homeowner’s choices on the finishes of their home and where they choose to build.

Specifically, from a contractor’s perspective, the main questions that affect the cost of a new home are...

Where is the property located?
What’s the type of soil and slope?
And, very importantly, what are the homeowner’s design preferences?

Some of the preliminary factors to building a home – such as location, soil type, power and well systems in place or not and roads built in – can really make a monetary statement on their own, even prior to building the house. These initial expenses factor in to the overall cost to build a home, but are considered ‘extras’ – not included in the contractor’s cost to build.

Where is the property located?

People ask ‘why does that matter?’ This is a very important consideration for a contractor
because I need to know if we’re building on sand or rocks and what kind of slope, if any. A house placed on a slope will most definitely cost more to build than a house on a flat lot, mainly because homes on sloped lots often require more costly gravel backfill material at the foundation. They also might need expensive retaining walls to create a flat area for a driveway or hold back soil at the walk-out. So carefully analyze the impact that your sloped lot may have on your design. It’s best to design a house that’s appropriate for the lot without the unreasonably expensive construction techniques.

How much do you know about the soil on your home site? Soils drain and retain water differently, and soils have vastly differently capacities to bear structural loads. Is the site developed or undeveloped? An undeveloped lot is one where the utilities – electricity, water, gas and sewer – need to be calculated in. The sewer system can also weigh into extra costs depending on the soil type and slope of the lot, and the available area(s) for the system. Some soils can be perked easier and a gravity system can be added, and some soils require a pressurized system which costs more money. And since a private sanitation system is more expensive than connecting to a public one, the cost isn’t typically considered in the ‘base’ cost of building a house. Again, it’s usually an ‘extra.’

Other questions related to extras are…

Does a well need to be drilled?
Is there an existing road or does a new road or driveway need to be instated to the home? If so, how long and steep is the road or driveway? Can the concrete truck make it in or any other heavy equipment that’s needed for the job?
Do you have power on your property? If not, there’s the extra cost of putting power in.

Another consideration about the location is are we building five miles from my shop or 60 miles away? There’s a difference in the cost because I’m paying my guys to travel plus the gas.

Simple to Extravagant

We’ve built an 1800 square foot home for over a half a million dollars and we’ve built an 1800 square foot home for $160,000. The difference was drawn merely from homeowner preferences. The less expensive home was completely livable but the finish work was much more simple. For example, the windows were wrapped in sheetrock, not wood. The walls were only primed for painting. They also chose Formica countertops and they waited on having finished flooring put in the house.

The half mil house had the best of everything, including quartz countertops, the finest appliances, all wood trim, post-and-beam construction with SIP-panel walls, geo-thermal radiant-heated concrete floors, a built-in steam room in their walk-in tile shower, an $8,000 slipper tub, the best windows that Anderson makes, cedar siding, standing seam metal roof and a landscaped yard.

As far as rooms go, kitchen and bathrooms are what really drive the cost. Bedrooms can be built inexpensively. Here’s a rundown of other home features where the rubber meets the road on costs. Guess which option costs more, and in many cases double:

Flooring costs… Do you want carpet and laminate or tile and hardwood?
Exterior siding … Do you prefer T-111 or stone & fiber cement?
Roofing … Do you want composition, tile or standing seam metal roofing?
Interior trim… Do you want to go with MDF or real wood?
Bath appliances… Do you want an acrylic insert for a shower or walk-in tile?
Countertops… Does Formica work or do you prefer granite or stone?

Also your choices for kitchen appliances, electrical and plumbing fixtures and heating systems do drive the cost. What it boils down to is customer preference. A major point to consider in the cost of a new home is that you can control the costs by the choices you make on the appliances, the flooring, the countertops, tile and so on. For some, I recommend choosing a design professional to assist in making these cost-saving decisions.

I love building the nicest custom homes with the custom hardwoods and ceramic tile, but not everyone can afford that. Most everybody in my experience wants the best and wants their new home to look the best. Not everybody wants to pay for it, especially when they find out the actual cost in today’s market. So like picking out a new vehicle, the cost of building a new home is not a nutshell answer. There’s tiers of cost levels based upon preferences.

There’s a key home calculation resource for homeowners on our About page: tab down to Resources then click on the Complete Design logo. That link will lead to a page called ‘Residential Construction Costs.’ There you can fill out your preferences for every part of your home, from top to bottom and get a good idea of how much the home will cost per square foot and what features it will have.

Energy-efficient or Repurposed?

Fri, 01 Apr 2016 16:41:00 GMT

Windows can be one of your home's most attractive features. Windows provide views, day lighting, ventilation and heat from the sun in the winter. Unfortunately, they can also account for 10% to 25% of your heating bill by letting heat out.

The Importance of HRV Systems

Sat, 12 Mar 2016 18:38:00 GMT

Older homes, drafts, insufficient insulation… all affect heating costs, yet the infiltration of fresh air is needed for a home to be habitable, especially health-wise.

Home Builder Association FAQ

Mon, 01 Feb 2016 07:00:00 GMT

This is a monthly feature geared to help homeowners address building and maintenance issues, and it’s something I’ve envisioned publishing for a long time. In my world, as a contractor and President of the Tri-County Home Builders Association, I see the need for an educational model on what excellence in building entails – namely to ensure a fair and quality product that is hassle and liability free. This month features your local Home Builders Association and how they are serving you and the building industry.
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The development of conditions under which every American family can obtain good housing is a major objective of national policy. … A high level of housing construction and vigorous community development are essential to the economic and social well being of our country. It is, therefore, properly a concern of this government to insure that opportunities are provided every American family to acquire a good home.

– President Dwight D. Eisenhower, January 1954

Those ideal words of the importance of the home in American family life have been part of national policy for nearly a century, but today homeownership under attack. Legislative and regulatory proposals now under consideration would greatly harm homeowners, home buyers, the housing market and the nation’s economy. That is why it’s important to have a thriving Home Builders Association. I’ve mentioned the Spokane Home Builders Association, or SHBA, in a number of my previous articles. As President of the Tri-County Home Builders Association, a chapter of SHBA, I have come to know how important the Association is, for not only the building industry, but also for homeowners, since the housing industry affects us all. Our local Home Builders Association is a crucial working organization to urge making housing issues on all levels a priority in local, state and national politics.

I get questions about what the SHBA represents, so I’m going to present a summary and attempt to answer those questions in light of our mission for prosperous communities.

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Know Your Insurance Policy

Fri, 01 Jan 2016 21:45:00 GMT

This month features knowing your homeowners insurance policy to prevent disappointment, frustration, and devaluation of your property.

Scenario :

Ann and Frank knew the storm was coming and that there was a possibility of damage, but what they didn’t know is if their insurance policy would cover all the reparation costs. After the storm and a phone call to the insurance agent, the couple found out that they only had a quarter of the losses covered on their policy. I would like to tell folks to know their homeowners insurance policy inside and out. Here’s why…

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Insurance is a rip-off until you need it, and when you need that is the wrong time to decide if you have been paying for the right coverage. Too often people find out after the accident, or the roof collapses, that they’re not fully covered for the types of damages incurred.

A few years back in July 2012, the valley in Ferry County, including Republic, Inchelium and Curlew, received severe windstorms. Republic was without power for a week and there was lots of widespread damage from fallen trees. One of my customers on the Little Twin Lakes at the Rainbow Beach Resort had 20 thousand dollars worth of insurance coverage for their lakefront trailer with an addition. After the storm, they found out it would cost them 80 thousand dollars to replace what they had. This is a prime example of the importance of making sure you know your insurance policy. Will your limits cover your losses?

‘Ordinance of Law’ or ‘Building Code Upgrade’

How many homeowners know what Ordinance of Law means? It’s also called Building Code Upgrade in insurance terms. A lot of homeowners pay out their whole life and never have a claim, but many people I’ve met in my industry don’t realize what Building Code Upgrade is until there’s a mishap at their dwelling. For example, if a roof collapses it can’t be rebuilt correctly without it being set at minimum code standards. Otherwise, the insurance companies will only cover ‘as it was built.’ Building codes are just the minimum accepted requirements for a building. That’s not common knowledge.

In last month’s Contractor Corner, I told the story of a 500 dollar job turned into a 60 thousand dollar job. This couple did have Ordinance of Law in their homeowners insurance policy. Their insurance company paid for the complete rebuilding of everything that was done wrong, and included all of my costs that were incurred to put their cabin back together right.

For under 10 dollars a month on most policies, homeowners can get the code upgrades, which means that when something is damaged and needs to be rebuilt, it has to be brought up to current building codes, and it doesn’t matter what it was built like originally within reason. That’s really important because a lot of times when a structure fails, I can’t put it back together legally the way it was because it was done incorrectly, and that’s why it fell in the first place.

Insurance is all about Home Value

Not all insurance companies are the same. Some companies advertise lower rates but what they don’t tell you is the corresponding lower benefits. From my experience, some companies nickel and dime every claim, and they will argue whether they are liable at all. If they are responsible they display reluctance in paying for full replacements. The reason that you have insurance is so that your property and your structures do not get devalued in case of an accident. If an insurance company replaces half of a roof and the roof doesn’t match anymore, that’s devaluing your structure because now it’s got two roofs on it that don’t match.

Some insurance companies do their job and pay out. All in all, some fight and some don’t. In my experience in dealing with insurance companies and residential building in the Tri-County area over the past 14 years, I’ve changed my insurance company, and I’m with a company now that provides the least amount of hassles with optimal benefits to the customer. And I know that I have Building Code Upgrade on my insurance policy. Check with your neighbors, who they go though and their experiences with their insurance company. Some of the most popular insurance companies can be the worst to do business with, and in the long run you can end up spending a lot of extra time, energy, stress and even money to negotiate with them.

Insurance companies don’t make money by paying us money. They pay adjustors to save them money and are usually promoted by the amount of money they save the insurance company. On average, adjustors come to your home, evaluate and often times want to cut you a check then and there. There’s a reason for this: they want to settle quickly. If a contractor gets involved, they have to pay an extra 20% for profit and overhead. The contractor will also do a full assessment, whereas the insurance company claims the bare minimum damage. Quite often there’s more damage done than what the adjustor assesses.

One time I was contracted by a real estate agent with a client who wanted to buy a new home. The home inspector noticed that the roof trusses were sagging. Two years prior, a home inspection was conducted and the roof was approved. In addition, both inspections were handled by the same inspection company. The seller claimed it on the insurance company to appease the new buyer, but the insurance company fought the claim tooth and nail. There were record snowfalls that winter of 2008-09 which obviously directly correlated with this new damage, but this was not enough for proof. Thankfully because of documentation recorded by the realtor, the roof damage was finally proven to be new. We almost had to go to court with the insurance company. We had all the documentation lined up and proof that the snow load caused the problems so in the end, that extraneous action was avoided.

The seller was finally able to contract with Wilder Construction LLC, to repair the damages. We tore the whole roof off, installed new energy-heel trusses that would carry the snow load and raised it two feet to accommodate the required insulation. We patched all the sheetrock on the inside of the house and added new siding on the exterior. It didn’t cost the homeowners that were selling the house any extra and the folks that bought the house got a whole new roof system with an upgrade of 15 inches of up-to-code insulation – over double than what was there prior – along with stabilizing the roof and making it level again. The seller also had the Ordinance of Law clause on their policy so they were able to do these upgrades without any out-of-pocket costs.

On the flipside, we just rebuilt a home that had a house fire. It was a complete loss and the loss was traumatic. We told our customer that we would do our best to make the transition as painless as possible, but I had not worked with their insurance company in the past, yet I was hopeful that they would be unproblematic. We built our customers a new home and their insurance company was the easiest to work with in my experience, so much so that I’m considering changing my insurance company again to that company because they handled all the transactions so smoothly.

Know Your Policy

In our area we have plenty of natural disasters for homeowners to be concerned with, such as wind, lightning, floods, fires and frozen temperatures. Even freezing pipes can cause a problem. A pipe can freeze and split inside the wall; then when it thaws out, there’s a water damage issue at hand that can invite a remodel project from a range of costs.

Insurance is there to keep the value of your home. Homes are supposed appreciate in value, not depreciate in value. In the event of a claim or loss, your insurance company should keep the market value the same. Every homeowner needs to be aware of that so they can reason with the adjustor in an educated way.

Knowing your insurance policy can save a lot of potential disappointment, frustration and property devaluation. If you don’t know all the ins and outs of your insurance policy, I highly recommend going to your insurance company, sitting down with your agent and have the agent explain exactly what you have and don’t have on your policy. That’s what you pay for. I can sit down at my agent’s office and go over all my limits, my liabilities, what I’m covered for, all buildings that are covered, and if my limits cover all my potential losses.

Quality Contractors & Credentials

Tue, 01 Dec 2015 21:45:00 GMT

This month features quality contractors and credentials.

Scenario: A Spokane couple bought a vacation home and wanted to fix it up. They hired a contractor who did not fulfill the criteria of quality building methods, including illegal wiring and plumbing. The ordeal ended up costing the couple double to fix the initial contractor’s substandard building practices. This example shows why homeowners should do their homework and check contractors’ credentials.

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Contractors who don’t know what they’re doing give all contractors a bad name. The fact is not all contractors are bad. Most are hard working and are trying to support their families. There are exceptions where some homeowners have had their homes built or remodeled with substandard methods. For example, I’ve seen roofs built that weren’t vented properly so mold and moisture accumulated in the attic space. I’ve witnessed homeowners not getting the insulation they paid for so their heating bills were higher. I’ve also seen decks that were constructed without pressure-treated wood for the frame, so when the decking deteriorates, everything needs to be replaced instead of just re-decking the surface.

House built on sand

One customer had a house built on sandy soil and there were termites in the ground. We had to remove all the flooring so the exterminator could drill holes in the concrete slab to place poison all around the footings of the home. Next we removed sheetrock, window casings, door trim, studs and headers, and all repaired that damage. I’ve never seen a termite issue in this area like this house; it was infested. There were more termites in that one house than the exterminator had seen in his career.

There were also other bugs finding new ways to get in the house. The soffits were not enclosed and the bird blocks were not sealed, allowing stink bugs and wasps to get into the attic space. There were large beautiful timber beams in the ceiling that were not sealed to the sheetrock, thus allowing the aforementioned bugs access into the house. Other substandard building issues included a roof system that wasn’t square, metal roofing laid incorrectly and an improperly vented attic space.

Stink bugs can get in incredibly tight places. A well built home does not allow stink bugs to get in. These were all contractor mistakes. The finish work looked nice but there was a lot of work and details behind the scenes performed poorly, not completed or simply done wrong. By the time we fixed the bug damage, put new fascia and soffits on their house, the couple spent $8-10 thousand dollars. This is an expensive lesson that could have been avoided had they checked the contractor’s credentials.

Vacation dream home turns into a money pit

We had another couple purchase a house on a lake as a recreation property. The house was about 35-40 years old and they bought it on a bank repo then decided they wanted to fix it up and make it a cozy lake cottage. In the end, they realized – too late - that they hired a contractor who gave them a substandard remodel.

We were called in by the plumber to cut a hole in the wall so he could fix the broken pipe and we could patch the sheetrock, a small inexpensive repair. It turns out that the remodeling contractor did the electrical and plumbing unlicensed. He hid all his mistakes under the sheetrock. As soon as we exposed the pipes we discovered that the washing machine drain was not vented correctly. Hence, we had to open up more of the wall to correct the venting problem. As we opened up more wall space, we found inadequate insulation. When we went to place insulation, we found electrical wires that were loose with exposed ends inside the walls, and connections without being in junction boxes, which is illegal. We ended up tearing apart almost all of the sheetrock in the basement and half the sheetrock upstairs.

Downstairs we discovered that the contractor had notched the floor joist to put the plumbing pipe through. There was a four-inch pipe in a five-and-a-half inch floor joist. There was no support there at all so we had to tear all of that out and reframe the floor plus re-plumb the house. We started in May and finished by the end of July. The customer missed three months of their vacation property because we had it all torn apart. Something that should have cost the unfortunate couple $300-400 dollars ended up costing them $40-50 thousand dollars. That was probably close to the cost for the original contractor to do the work – wrong.

That contractor was no longer in business and his bond was invalid. The homeowners were lucky to be able to claim it on their insurance due to the broken pipe. Ordinance of Law set in, which means we can upgrade substandard or illegal construction and bring it up to code.

Always check contractor references, whether that’s through a local supplier or a neighbor, and interview them. References and local business referrals are important because, in the State of Washington, you don’t have to “know” anything to be a contractor. There are no tests involved. All you have to do is buy the license, insurance and a bond and you too could be a licensed contractor.

Check with our local Spokane Homebuilders Association. They are a great resource for finding a contractor and keep in mind some contractors aren’t going to pay for the homebuilders association membership unless they’re serious about their profession. Some of the membership funds go to support political action to influence our legislators to pass laws that benefit small business. Check out http://www.shba.com/

Winter’s Coming

Sun, 01 Nov 2015 07:00:00 GMT

This month features the importance of fall winterization and planning.

Scenario : Keith left a step ladder out before the snow season. Another time it was a $300 extension ladder, and yet once again he left an expensive tractor attachment out before the snow flew. All of these items sadly went to the dump because he had not conducted proper fall winterization methods. Yes, that Keith in this scenario is me and I would like to say, prepare your home for winter because…

Just as farmers till their fields in the fall to prepare for spring planting, so should homeowners prepare their homes for the winter months and plan ahead for spring building projects. Fall winterization plays an important role for the care, upkeep and preservation of your home. Simple fall preparation tasks can save the homeowner time, money and the headache that comes with paying for the lack of care. Besides minor maintenance such as caulking and cleaning out your gutters, some points to keep in mind might include the following small projects:

☑ Clean your chimney

☑ Pick up items in your yard
☑ Drain garden hoses
☑ Test run your generator
☑ Put gas with preservative in all of your equipment
☑ Have your propane tanks, heating oil/kerosene filled
☑ Close the foundation vents

It’s important to pick up items such as leaf rakes and ladders from your yard so you or the snow plow doesn’t drive over them. I learned this the hard way. Losing a $300 ladder or tractor attachment is not good news! It’s also very important to drain your hoses, especially in case you need them for winter fire safety. I had a chimney fire at my house one year. I wanted to hose down my roof because there were flames and sparks flying out of my chimney onto the asphalt shingled roof. I went to get water and I didn’t have a single hose that was thawed out, so I had to call the fire department.

Another winterization factor is to close your home’s foundation vents. This task saves on heating costs, keeps your feet warm and pipes thawed. You do have to remember to open them in the springtime. If you’re not going to remember to open them later, don’t shut them. I’ve visited homes in June through August with closed foundation vents and they look like there’s a greenhouse growing under the subfloor. This can spell a self-created and expensive new home project.

All in all, mindful fall maintenance of your home is a key factor in saving time, money and stress!

Insulation breaks the bank

Insulation is also a very important factor with respect to heating costs. Nearly every time I advise a new customer on installing insulation, the same response surfaces, ‘Do I really need to put that much insulation?’ Then I tell them the story about when I moved here 28 years ago and I was 24 years old. I loved to go out and get firewood and it was no big deal, but now in my 50’s I don’t appreciate it as much. I wish that I had spent more money on insulation. Trust me, the novelty of going and getting firewood is going to wear off. Of course you can get firewood cheaper than insulating your house but over time that money will trickle out with the thrifty option of less insulation. I tell customers that this is where you’re going to ‘break the bank.’ You can cut corners on your sink, your floors or doors, but you don’t want to cut corners on insulation because it catches up in time and you end up paying more in the long run.

Moreover, building codes are moving more towards saving energy. What used to be considered ‘green’ is now the norm. It won’t be long before triple pane windows will be required in Washington State and our state actually leads the nation in energy conservation and green construction practices.

Plan ahead with your building projects

Most every contractor is winding down for the season so winter is the time to plan ahead for next year’s building and remodel dreams. If you have a building project, November through January is an opportune time to meet with contractors. Maybe you want to expand that new bedroom, remodel your kitchen or put on a new roof. Bring your plan and ideas of what it is you envision happening with your home over the course of the next year. You can discuss your goals, the materials and of course costs involved. This will make it much smoother for next year when the frost is gone to get the project off the ground. And keep in mind quality contractors in general book up for the next year. Some are already booked.

Our local Spokane Homebuilders Association is a great resource for finding a contractor and keep in mind some contractors aren’t going to pay for the homebuilders association membership unless they’re serious about their profession. Some of the membership funds go to support political action to influence our legislators to pass laws that benefit small business. Check out http://www.shba.com/

Unreal Expectations: As Seen on TV

Thu, 01 Oct 2015 08:57:31 GMT

This month features the illusion of unreal expectations.

Scenario: Johnny and Suzy want to expand a room in their house by knocking out a wall. They want to do this in the cheapest way possible. After watching HGTV, they both decide the cheapest way is to do it themselves. In the end, it turned out to be a very expensive lesson, and a dangerous one. The upstairs nearly fell into the lower level because the knocked-out wall was a bearing point for the house. I would like to say, be careful with unreal expectations. Here’s why…

In the last 10 years of being in business, customers seem to have more and more unreal expectations to timelines and costs when it comes to their home improvement projects. With Home & Garden TV and the Do-It-Yourself network, many customers are watching whole renovations completed in a half an hour. They don’t realize a substantial amount of time and labor is required to complete these types of remodeling projects. Mainstream DIY shows typically highlight some of the problems, a bit of the tear-down process then some finishing touches, but to replace a floor doesn’t get done in just a half an hour. If the floor has dry-rot, it has to be cut back; floor joists need to be replaced with good wood, then re-covered with new plywood before new flooring can be installed. So, my first points, and important points to remember when watching these do-it-yourself networks is timelines are presented unrealistically and you never know what you’re getting into on retro remodels.

Often the shows are sponsored by big box stores or major plumbing suppliers and they downgrade the cost of their products, such as a new sink. They say you can have this new kitchen remodel done for $8000 when new cabinets cost more than that. My second point here is the absence of labor cost discussion in some of these DIY programs. If the homeowner doesn’t have the skills to install cabinetry, for example, he would have to hire out for that part of the kitchen remodel. Labor costs are the most significant cost in a remodel. I don’t know where these networks get their numbers because usually they don’t add up. Even though our overhead is smaller than some of those big contractors they’re showing on these programs, I can’t compete with those costs and there’s no way they can complete some of those projects for the prices they say they are.

Yes, these shows are geared to demonstrate to homeowners how to do it themselves, but I’m writing about unreal expectations to remind people to factor in the illusion presented. This is my third point: the illusion and how it can be costly, and sometimes even dangerous. Numerous times we’ve been hired out to fix and finish homeowners’ decisions to remodel their house. On one project, the customers-to-be decided they were going to take a bedroom out and make it a part of the living room like ‘As Seen on TV.’ What they didn’t realize is that the upstairs floor joists met right on that wall, and when they took that wall out the whole upstairs almost caved in. It gets very expensive to go back in and jack the house up and fix all the cracked sheetrock. They didn’t have an awareness of where the bearing points were in the house. When you start moving walls – whether the roof is bearing on that or an upstairs floor – you have to know what’s holding your house together. People have hurt themselves doing things haphazardly or wrong, thinking they knew what they were doing. When we have to go in and fix those mistakes, many times we have to tear out everything and start over in order to finish the project properly. So, all in all, you get what you pay for. If it’s too good to be true, it probably is –whether it’s a bathroom or kitchen remodel, new siding or flooring, moving windows, a new deck, painting a house, or those types of projects.

Realistically, if you want a kitchen remodel, plan on take-out food for a while because it’s not going to get done in time for dinner. It’s more likely going to take a week or more, and not being able to use the appliances and sink are to be expected. And by the time we rearrange the flooring, add an island or new countertops, fix the plumbing and so on, the expenses are going to be greater than what’s ‘As Seen on TV.’

If you have the original blueprint that’s good, but most homeowners don’t know how to read blueprints. They are one-dimensional and a home is three-dimensional, so it’s hard for a lot of customers to transfer that one-dimensional blueprint into what that actually looks like once it’s built. We will always take the time to do a structural evaluation and go through the cosmetics with our customers to make sure that they understand what that final product is going to look like. It’s nice to have pictures. I always encourage all of my customers to provide pictures of something they’ve seen in a magazine. We can duplicate anything as long as I know what it is that they want. We take pride in being able to build anything for anybody.

In summary, the illusion of timelines, labor costs, project over-simplicity and the unforeseen costs of the mistake factor calculate unreal expectations that can be avoided for the homeowner. Always contact a quality local building contractor who specializes in home renovations and new construction. Let them help you walk through the process of what it’s really going to take. To find a contractor, you can check the phone book or online, but your best bet is to check with your local Home Builders Association at www.shba.com .

Customer Purchased Parts

Tue, 01 Sep 2015 09:01:57 GMT

Scenario : Andy and Jan want to save money on their new dream home so they decide to purchase factory-second doors from a cut-rate supplier. However, from my experience, customer purchased materials can result in a real dilemma for a contractor and themselves as homeowners. Here’s why…

Every customer wants to save money on parts, and they want the best quality for the lowest price. Most customers believe that contractors unreasonably mark up materials. What I do is provide the best quality parts at a reasonable price, whether that means doors, windows, roofing material, concrete, flooring, siding, plumbing fixtures, and so on. Maybe the homeowner wants to buy concrete from the supplier because the contractor can make money on that transaction. This middleman work is actually a substantial part of being a contractor: providing the segments that build a house, and in most cases, a dream home. What the homeowner often doesn’t see included in that purchasing matter is, first, the critical point of timeliness. When the homeowner purchased materials are not on site at the proper time, it delays the project which, in turn, costs the homeowner in the long run. Second, if the materials are on site too early, I have to pay my team to protect the product until it’s ready to use. Third, as a contractor I stand behind the materials because all of my suppliers give me products that I can guarantee. In the long run, the time factor and warrantee saves the homeowner money.

In delving further, homeowners typically go to a cut-rate supplier or big box store and buy materials that are not right for the project and/or do not match the building plans. The most common issue from my experience has been customer purchased doors. I don’t mind them picking them out; that’s the idea of building what they want. But the best case hassle-free scenario is to allow the contractor to supply those doors. Most of the time, in the long run, the old saying ‘you get what you pay for’ comes true in the building world.

For example, a customer bought their own doors that were two inches taller than what the plans called for. He might have saved $500 on the doors, but it cost them $1000 to reframe every opening for each door to make them fit, so he didn’t save any money. Normally I invest two man hours installing a front entryway door and one man hour for each other door. We spent seven man hours doing one front entry door and it still has issues because the door is warped.

Buying “seconds” entails homebuilding materials that are just that, seconds. There’s a reason why these homebuilding parts are at cut-rate suppliers. They were sent from the manufacturer because they didn’t make the standard grade. It’s a factory second. That’s what they distribute. It’s not unlike an outlet where you can buy irregular items. They look beautiful and often cheaper but there’s still something innately flawed. Maybe the product is not square, or it’s warped. These cut-rate outlets may also have first-rate products, but the price will reflect that quality grade.

Plumbing fixtures are another typical homeowner “saving” purchase. Many times customers will go to Home Depot and get a plumbing fixture – just like the one my plumber showed them – but it’s 40% cheaper. The plumber may mark the fixture up by 10% but he’s also selling quality products he can guarantee, so there is a reason for marked up goods in the contractor world. Usually, my plumber can’t obtain parts for some fixtures because they are solely made for Lowe’s, Home Depot or other big box stores. Home Depot is a big box store like WalMart; they dictate to Moen and Kohler what they will pay for a product. For example, Moen makes cheaper Chinese-outsourced plumbing products. It still has their name on it but it’s a line only made for Home Depot or Lowe’s. It’s not Moen’s standard line and it doesn’t have the same quality standard parts in them. They do make a standard grade that they sell to plumbers and retail outlets, such as Haney’s or Ferguson’s. Home Depot and big box stores sell the inferior look-alike product but it’s a cheaper grade. My plumber has to go through China to get such non-standard parts, and by the time he gets an O-ring or plastic compression fitting that’s a special size, the job’s not cost-effective any more. Furthermore, if a customer purchased fixture starts leaking six months later, there’s no guarantee. The plumber’s going to charge $80 an hour to fix that because he did not supply that part.

WalMart paint is another contractor nightmare. If you’ve purchased and used WalMart paint, you too have experienced its incongruence with the market’s paint standards. A job with WalMart paint may take five coats to cover a surface and still not qualify for the kind of standard that I provide and guarantee. Years ago, we built a house for a customer who was on a very tight budget. We built a beautiful home as inexpensively as possible. She decided to do the painting to save herself some money. A year or two later, she asked me to come back and do a tile entry at the front door. When I first went to her house, I couldn’t believe the chaotic paint job in the front entryway and living room; every line from the roller could be seen going every which way. It was the worst paint job I had ever seen. After building a quality home, I thought every time she invites somebody over and they walk in the front door, they may go, ‘Oh! Who built your house?’ and my name’s all over that paint job. They may not notice that the corners are perfectly square or how solid the floors are in the kitchen and living room, that the siding is jointed flawlessly, that every joint of the trim is perfectly mitered, and so on. I felt so bad about my reputation because observers may think we did the painting. I felt like sending a painting crew over, pay out of my pocket just to erase the WalMart “paint” job and make it match the excellence of the rest of her new residence, just to verify my name-stamp on the home.

In conclusion, from my experience of customer purchased materials, not many of them have worked out suitably. Overall, they have been across-the-board nightmares and have ended up costing the customer more time and money, so I am recommending homeowners to think twice about purchasing their own homebuilding parts and to work with the contractor before they try to “save money.” It’s frustrating as a contractor to provide 90% of a house. On the contrary, when a customer allows the contractor to provide all of the homebuilding materials – with the choice options open for styles and the customer’s likes – the home gets built in time complete with guaranteed parts and fixtures, whether that be electrical, plumbing, roofing, painting, the works. The project stays on schedule and on budget, along with providing the end-product, your new home, which we stand behind.

Plan Ahead

Sat, 01 Aug 2015 09:03:47 GMT

This month features the importance of planning ahead for your building needs.

Scenario : The kids and the grandkids have all gone back to school after an adventurous summer and Auntie May just remembered she has to get the siding finished on her barn before the snow flies. Auntie May decides to call me and ask if I can get the work done in time. This is what I am thinking…

Every year in October after the first freeze my phone rings off the hook from customers who say ‘I need to have a certain imperative project done before the snow flies,’ and every year most quality contractors are busy at that time. Homeowners need to plan their projects early for several reasons, and they are as follows:

First, it’s best to start early to check references and licensing, plus the Labor and Industry website to make sure there have not been any liens or judgments against the contractor’s work.
Second, it gives the homeowner time to conduct interviews with the contractors and get a range of bids for the scope of work.
Furthermore, the owner has time to initiate and complete a review process versus a last minute frenzy which can open the door to uncomfortable variables, such as unsatisfactory work or incomplete work, and inevitably, these variables can equate to a higher cost in order to get the project completed correctly.
Finally, and relative to my third point, homeowners who plan ahead most often receive a better deal.

Winter Planning

The best time to plan building projects is in the winter months when there is ample time to envision your projects and draw up your plans. When the snow breaks, which invariably transpires from March through May, the homeowner can be outlining the projected work desired, conducting interviews with contractors, checking references, getting bids, generating a cost analysis, and in multiple project cases, creating a project management schematic. When all these preliminary planning steps are in line by summertime – contractors are in high gear by July – not only does the project have the proper time to be completed, but it allows for any unplanned setbacks on either party’s part. Ultimately, the homeowner’s feeling of satisfaction tops the project when it is completed with expert craftsmanship and in time for winter.

On the contrary, waiting until the last minute can trigger last minute decisions, which can entail hiring a contractor who is not busy and usually there is a reason for that. This, again, can contribute to the homeowner satisfaction factor, unprofessional workmanship and/or possible increased prices.

Roofing #1 for Last Minute Calls

With my yearly last minute calls, the top contractor request has been for roofing. General problems people have are roofs that they know are leaky, but that haven’t leaked all summer, so it gets put on the back burner until a good rainstorm ensues late in the year. Then they remember that the roof has to ‘get done this year,’ but by that time most quality contractors are booked out until the next year.

This year has proven exceptionally well for all of the builders that I know, and every professional builder is busy working on a new house with one in the making after that. It hasn’t always been this way; sometimes there have been slower seasons like a couple of years ago. Now it’s picked up and a general pointer for the builders in the Tri-County region is to look at how Spokane is progressing in the building industry. It’s going very well right now and Tri-County is usually a year behind, so that points to local contractors staying busy through the following year.

Plan Ahead!

If you need to get a building project done, don’t wait, call today. I have lived in Northeast Washington for 28 years and it snows every year – sometimes a little and sometimes a lot – but it snows every year and you don’t have to wait until the signs show up. Winter is going to come. Most contractors in our area are general contractors; they do everything from concrete to siding and roofing. To find a contractor, you can check the phone book or online, but your best bet is to check with your local Home Builders Association at www.shba.com.

How to Choose a Contractor

Wed, 01 Jul 2015 09:05:14 GMT

My starting point is How to Choose a Contractor.

Scenario: Jane wants to build a deck. She’s not sure who to hire and, as with most homeowners, trust is an issue, so she thinks about all her friends who could possibly do the work. Then she ran into me and asked for some advice. Here’s what I told her…

The first thing I would recommend is to go to your local supply house like Haney’s or Builders, maybe Colville Valley Concrete Company, because they know who’s who in the building world. They hear it continuously about who does good work and who doesn’t. Second, word of mouth is good. Who did your neighbors or friends hire? Did they have a good experience with the company? And third, always check your contractor’s references … make sure they’re licensed. Go to www.lni.wa.gov . There you can search by their name, UBI number or their registration numbers. Also check how long they’ve been registered and if there are any pending or past legal actions. Plus our local Spokane Home Builders Association is a great resource for finding a contractor. Check out the membership directory on www.shba.com .

As a homeowner, your best bet is to find somebody who “knows.” If you don’t really know, find someone who does. References and local business referrals are important because, in the State of Washington, you don’t have to “know” anything to be a contractor. There are no tests involved. All you have to do is buy the license, insurance and a bond and you too could be a licensed contractor. You even have to be wary of Angie’s List because their referral service is based on payment. For me to be on Angie’s List, I pay them and I’m approved. It sounds good in the commercials for Johnny Homeowner, but they’re biased. It’s like the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval. It’s all about the financials and that’s the reality of it.

As for the benefits of choosing a licensed contractor versus a neighbor building a deck, I’ll give a couple of Contractor Nightmare Stories…

If an unlicensed contractor falls off your roof, they can sue you. A licensed contractor has their own insurance to cover that fall because State law requires it; hence, you have limited liability for any injuries that occur on your property.

In another case, if an unlicensed contractor does a plumbing job that leaks and dry-rots your whole bathroom out, you get the bill for it and you won’t have an avenue for recourse. Licensed contractors can get fines for doing any plumbing because the State requires plumbers to be licensed separately. When you hire a licensed contractor, the State requires the contractor to provide a one-year warranty which includes parts and labor to fix anything that potentially might be a problem with the contracted work. All in all, when you hire an unlicensed contractor, you get no warranty. Anything that goes wrong is the homeowner’s responsibility.

You can check out more tips at the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries website on “What You Should Know About Hiring a Contractor, Remodeler or Handyman” at www.hiringacontractor.lni.wa.gov or call 800-647-0982.