Beautiful workmanship in new home builds! NOT!

[Nanu/Nanu]

cheap labor isnt skilled

SKILLED LABOR isnt Cheap.

Doesn't necessarily apply to what happened here. But is a trade saying as you all have probably heard.

My father in law is a paint contractor and strongly advises to never build or buy a new home in times of boom, as your quality of craftsmanship goes way down because of the mentality "there's already another job waiting and we need to make money while we can."

A couple co-workers are building custom homes right now and the shit the subs are doing is unreal. I mean im not a home builder and theres trade tricks for everything but these guys are dealing with blatant disregard. Like @Mandelon said each trade expects the next trade to fix it until it gets to the painter and he says HAHA WTF... I cant fix that but ill do my best to hide it.

 

[FROGMAN524]

We were looking at a new construction up in Summerlin (nice area of Las Vegas) and my wife spotted this. Keep in mind this house base price with no upgrades was 900k. Not only that, this was in the model, not a spec or a base home for sale. So I'm sure they will try and get 1.1 to 1.3million for this thing. Ugh.

Glad when we do a new build my wife and I go by at least twice a week to check on how things are going so we can catch stuff inside the walls etc before its covered up. That item was just pure laziness on both the sub and the construction manager.

It's amazing how much a good construction manager matters. You can go to three different communities all the same builder and if one has a shitty manager the houses stink and if one is good the quality is just better. Even using mostly the same subs.

View attachment 1204179

Im building right now as you probably know and I can tell you, these homes are built by the lowest bidders with the cheapest materials and most convenient timelines to the builder. They don’t care about quality or your satisfaction, they care about passing inspections and putting more zeroes in their bank account as quickly as possible and moving on to the next sucker.

 

[LargeOrangeFont]

cheap labor isnt skilled

SKILLED LABOR isnt Cheap.

Doesn't necessarily apply to what happened here. But is a trade saying as you all have probably heard.

My father in law is a paint contractor and strongly advises to never build or buy a new home in times of boom, as your quality of craftsmanship goes way down because of the mentality "there's already another job waiting and we need to make money while we can."

A couple co-workers are building custom homes right now and the shit the subs are doing is unreal. I mean im not a home builder and theres trade tricks for everything but these guys are dealing with blatant disregard. Like @Mandelon said each trade expects the next trade to fix it until it gets to the painter and he says HAHA WTF... I cant fix that but ill do my best to hide it.

Don’t buy in times of bust either.

And that does not leave you many options .

 

[LargeOrangeFont]

Im building right now as you probably know and I can tell you, these homes are built by the lowest bidders with the cheapest materials and most convenient timelines to the builder. They don’t care about quality or your satisfaction, they care about passing inspections and putting more zeroes in their bank account as quickly as possible and moving on to the next sucker.

Boom or bust, when is that not the case? I’m saying this as someone that bought a new home last year and my builder warranty is up next month

 

[boatpi]

My house was built by Pardee, new 4 years ago. Not many mistakes. The tile, an option, was not the best as they had to return 3 times to remove and replace raised ones. Aside from that, nearly perfect. It is Pardee Meridian. You may want to look at these if interested as they are highly sought after, even now.. My neighbors home sold in 2 weeks. This is another in my tract, note high ceilings that are unique due to costs. One other nearby for less, no pool. Some room to deal on this one.

8367 Claystone Hill Ct, Las Vegas, NV 89113 - 5 beds/4.5 baths

(GLVAR) Sold: 5 beds, 4.5 baths, 4192 sq. ft. house located at 8367 Claystone Hill Ct, Las Vegas, NV 89113 sold for $1,400,000 on Jul 14, 2023. MLS# 2484853. AMAZING OPPORTUNITY & GREAT SW LOCATION! ...

www.redfin.com

This is close too, I believe NO HOA, note land size!

8040 W Torino Ave, Las Vegas, NV - 5 beds/3.5 baths

5 beds, 3.5 baths, 4228 sq. ft. house located at 8040 W Torino Ave, Las Vegas, NV 89113 sold for $690,000 on Dec 12, 2017. View sales history, tax history, home value estimates, and overhead views....

www.redfin.com

 

[Eliminator21vdrive]

We have a tun of growth in my area and as I drive by I can't believe how bad the stucco jobs are.

 

[endobear]

Painting contractor here. We specialize in custom new construction.
I just walked from a GC I was doing $200-300k in work a year for about 10 years
Quality and respect for other trades is terrible. Without a good GC and or PM the customer is screwed.
My GC "was" decent/ok when he was managing the projects. He got super busy and has gone through 4 project managers in the last 4 years. All of which have sucked balls.

 

[endobear]

This is the way a 13000sqft house was turned over to us to paint.

 

[MPHSystems]

Framer: Eh, the drywall hangers will fix it.
Drywall Hanger: Eh, the tapers will fix it.
Taper: Eh, the painters will fix it.
Painters: Wow, that's crooked.

It may be the fault of the guy who set the corner bead off plumb a little bit. Then they mud extra to reach the outside point of that corner bead. That throws the angle off. Maybe the corner stud was an 1/8" off and the hangers didn't put a square in the corner or use some paper shims. Each task makes it worse instead of better!!

Measured with a micrometer
marked with a crayon
cut with a sawsall

 

[MPHSystems]

A friend was an architect with very high end homes in newport beach. she told me it was extra to have plumb and straight walls . Yikes!!

It’s worse than that. Generally you see walls straightened when the finish is going to be smooth plaster. The knockdown helps hide the waves in the walls.

I don’t do residential anymore but on occasion I would see them straightening walls, happened to be on the job when they do it. Seems to take 1 guy 8hrs / 1k sq frt with a straight edge, hand plane a stapler and strips of cardboard.

the problem is they are the last trade before drywall the next day and they have to remove the nail plates to use the plane. They get most of the nail plates back where they came from… most. All the rest, the drywallers find your wire with a screw.

 

[77charger]

I worked in tract homes for years higher end builders houses came out better and of course cost more. Lower end well they were not at same standards.

And most were built by same crews from what I seen.guess depends on pay and superintendent on job sites.

 

[NicPaus]

Cost per sq ft. Tract homes only pencil out at the cheapest price per ft.

Friend builds some of the nicest homes in the Southbay. Company he works for starts at $600 a sq ft. Full blown custom $1000 a sq ft +.

I spent half the day yesterday fixing a brand new kitchen. The attention to detail is non existent. The buyers didn't even notice. Until there fridge would not fit because the countertop was crooked.

 

[whiteworks]

This is a place my buddys building, it’s about 8000’ on a 20 acre site. The home construction is in the $1000.00 a foot range. That’s not including the site work or land acquisition, they moved a couple hundred thousand yards of dirt to make the pad the house sits on. This is a 3-4 year process from land acquisition to occupancy.

 

[hallett21]

This is a place my buddys building, it’s about 8000’ on a 20 acre site. The home construction is in the $1000.00 a foot range. That’s not including the site work or land acquisition, they moved a couple hundred thousand yards of dirt to make the pad the house sits on. This is a 3-4 year process from land acquisition to occupancy. View attachment 1204427 View attachment 1204428 View attachment 1204429 View attachment 1204430 View attachment 1204431

Beautiful home.

And I’m sure this project has….

1-2 guys who just sweep and tidy up the job site.

Weekly meetings with the trades and meeting minutes that get emailed to all parties.

A set of plans with elevations and details on every room. Not just 6 pages and “we’ll figure it out in the field.”

Superintendent who is paid well to manage the project.

Etc etc.

Quality isn’t hard to find. You just have to pay for it.

 

[clarence]

In another 10 years, houses will still be built the same way.

Will they?

Seems like the quality advantages of prefab homes will take over, sooner or later.

Especially as robots can address the craftsman shortage.

 

[bonesfab]

Measured with a micrometer
marked with a crayon
cut with a sawsall

Sounds like some of the shit I see in cars.

 

[LargeOrangeFont]

Will they?

Seems like the quality advantages of prefab homes will take over, sooner or later.

Especially as robots can address the craftsman shortage.

That I do agree with.

 

[Cole Trickle]

As someone that just got done with a custom home build with what i would call a mid level builder I have learned no one cares as much as you do.

If i ever win the lottery there are a couple builders in the area that I would love to work with. It makes the cost per sq foot unrealistic for most people but you get what you pay for and with only a couple builds a year the owner/super would be there daily to make sure things are right...I think a good quality house would take a couple years to build.

I caught countless stuff that I made them fix that the super didn't. In the end I got a good house but if I had been out of state i wouldn't of been happy.

 

[wet hull]

It’s not price point so much as process that gets you quality. What you want to do is find a badass GC, pricing should be cost+ and the plus is gonna be 15%-18% of every invoice that crosses that guys desk, every nail will be marked up 15-18%, over $1M for project and you might get some negotiable percentage from your badass GC.

Now think about this for a minute, this guys making money on every thing that goes into your build, it behooves him to find and use the highest quality material and processes he can. Your biggest concern during this process is going to be reigning in your badass GC and looking for some value engineered solutions vs. babysitting him for quality control.

Make sense?

Nailed this on the head. I am running all my jobs at cost +20%. If the job is smaller in the $100k range I up that to 25%. I also do a 15% markup on on materials I buy.

Now with that out of the way, I have honest conversations with my owners. What is your budget? Build in a 10-15% contingency for changes along the way or adding on extras you thought you didn't need but are now a must. Once we have this number I reverse build the project to see if we can hit this number. If we cant, then what gives? I dont do track projects, every bit is custom built. I will not sacrifice quality and sometimes that dips into my margins to help the customers. If my customer is great then I even manage parts without my 20% added on. Especially if it doesn't effect me but needs a 2nd set of eyes. It goes both ways, take care of me and I take care of you. We are partners in this journey, not employee/ employer.

This industry is getting very tough. You need skilled guys and they are hard to get in a timely manner. I am not a grab a guy off Craigslist GC. Very loyal to my subs. They are loyal back. We work on budgets and they dont sacrifice quality. They dont need to be babysat. I do my best to keep them exclusively on my jobs. I will share them but not preferred. Do we make mistakes or shit the bed occasionally, hell yeah. I do my best to catch the mistake or my subs before a owner can point out. Better we draw attention to it then vise versa.

Not sure where this long winded post ended up but if your a owner, have real conversations with your contractors. Get to know them. Make a effort to be involved in the project. Dont hesitate to ask questions along the way. If you get a rude response, then your in for a long ride. We are human as well, we have daily issues in our personal lives as you do. We can have bad days. Check references, go see their work in person. Do your homework!! Have a solid contract, dont rush change orders, take a deep breath. The journey is worth the whiskey in your new home at the end!!

 

[jet496]

 

[wishiknew]

Exactly.

Quality still exists and it’s not hard to find. The problem is everyone wants something for next to nothing.

Open checkbook builds don’t look like this because the tradesman aren’t jogging through the build.

You get what you pay for then you need to be there to watch and help them everyday

 

[HNL2LHC]

This is a place my buddys building, it’s about 8000’ on a 20 acre site. The home construction is in the $1000.00 a foot range. That’s not including the site work or land acquisition, they moved a couple hundred thousand yards of dirt to make the pad the house sits on. This is a 3-4 year process from land acquisition to occupancy. View attachment 1204427 View attachment 1204428 View attachment 1204429 View attachment 1204430 View attachment 1204431

Nice!!! At least the chose quality windows and doors.

 

[boatpi]

Sort of related, 4K is our first brick and mortar business with employees. We quickly learned the largest headache is employees. It never stops, and take up a lot of valuable time.