Omion Emmanuel asked:


Many Nigerians abroad have been defrauded back home trying to build a house. The stories of bitter experiences are everywhere, but often time, the main cause of the problem is you. yourself in the diaspora, that always wants to eat your cake and still have it and at the long run you end up losing so much.

Nigerians, no matter how civilised have consistently finds it difficult taking right channels in their endeavour and this is causing a lot of problems .

Building a house at home can be as easy, as going to the supermarket to shop, however you have to pay the price through proper channel and save yourself from heartache or you pay the hardway and God help you don’t end up loosing your money altogether.

Money is easily lost in overdependence on relatives and friends alike. When you entrust your money to these people because they are close to you, is good but if you’re unlucky to have the very terrible relations you may be in trouble without knowing.. Family ties will prevent you from taking legal action against them. These are what you must do to avoid these problems.
(1) Let Professionals Handle your Project:

This is where many a lot of people get it wrong and uptill now are still lauguishing in ignorance. People believe contracting the professionals will increase your cost of building, this is absolutely untrue, though at the surface to you layman, a professional charges so high an amount of money, he stretches you to the point of investing a little beyond your budget and you’re wandering why you have to spend several thousands of naira to a man that will only come to your site, look for a tree to sit under, stays for 30 minutes to 1 hour in your site and is collecting all the money. Ask those that have faced the repercussion of not consulting professinals the evidence are dotting the landscape of Nigeria.

Paying for the professionals is not a waste but you are paying for him to save you money unknowingly, not clear to you. Yes, at the face you look for quacks, they charge so low to get the job done, you are not bothered with peanuts you paid them, guess you’re seeing yourself as being smart, but wait for just two years and see what have become of your house. You’ll start spending so much more correcting errors of the quacks and it has to be may be till when the building finally collapses. There are houses in Nigeria, that you have to paint every 6 months for them to look okay, yet some have stayed for 10 years without repainting and still looking better. What of the cracks all over your houses, how did your quack respond to challenges on site that were not initially there. If rain fall what becomes of your house? many and more of what the professionals would have stood on their ground to make sure you have a befitting house, unfortunately everybody sees one as a thief.

One of the safest way is to engage the services of notable Architectural firm in the country, yes they will charge more, but they have a reputation to protect and won’t run away with your money. Building and construction companies that are very good are in the country, why not engage their services.

(2) Don’t Send down all the Money at Once:

Sending lump sum to your closest relatives may afterall be your undoing. A naturally nice person may change on the sight of large money, he would have committed the crime and used your money for his personal gains before blaming the devil. This become even easier since you are not there to monitor things yourself, all he has to do is to send pictures of a beautiful house somewhere to you.

If you delay a little, the worst that will happen is just a little rise in your price but you’ll have had enough chance to cross check either by you coming home or through other friends as third party before investing heavily: also create artificial scarcity, there is errorneous belief that people abroad has a lot of money to throw around.

(3)Crosscheck and don’t allow anybody to bamboozle you into buying or paying for anything when your mind is not thoroughly cleared about it.

(4)Find a time may be once in a year to come home and monitor the progress of your building. It is two ways if you are impressed with what you see it may encourage you to work better and the other way round is to get discouraged, and this will give you the opportunity to take stocks and make the necessary steps to achieve your aims.

(5)Your property documents are what you need and will stand proof of ownership in case of legal tussle or private incursions. If Government, then they should be able to pay you compensation.



ANTWAN

Build WriteWell asked:


Home Building 101 Where To Start

O.K. - You Are Building a Home.

Now What?
Summary:

Resale Matters

Find a Good Builder

Be There!

Another Delay?!!

Know Your Budget

Understanding Home Building is very important prior to starting your new home building process.

You Are Building a Home.

Now What?

Resale Matters

No matter how long you intend to stay in the house you build, it will have to be sold at some point. Avoid building strictly for your own needs. A one or two bedroom house with one bathroom may be perfect for you, but it will be almost impossible to sell.

Build the Right Size Home for the Neighborhood.

Find a Good Builder

When building a house, quality is usually more important than quantity. Finding a Contractor who may take a little while longer than others to build your home because of a focus on quality and understanding your needs may be in your best interest.

Be There!

During construction a lot happens in a short amount of time. This is the most visible during the framing stage. Catching mistakes early saves a lot of extra work later.

Another Delay?!!

Building a house is a complicated project and utilizes dozens of subcontractors, workers and suppliers. Delays can and most likely will happen. This will back up your entire process. A delay in the framing stage stops your home building project: HVAC technicians, electricians, plumbers, drywall hangers and finishers as well as the finish crew are all not able to do their work until the framing is completed. It is best to forget locking in your move in date. Often it is weeks later.

Know Your Budget

When building a house you are given allowances.

Hardware, Cabinets, flooring (carpeting, vinyl, tile), light fixtures, plumbing fixtures, etc may be included in your personal spending allowances. Make certain that you can actually get the materials you want within the allowance amount allotted to you. If Your Appliance allowance is 00 and the fixtures you want are 00 you have ,500 that you will need to come up with. If you upgrade on your countertop selection you may run into the same scenario.

Understanding the Home Building Process is very important prior to engaging in your new home building process.

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LUIS

James Brown asked:


Finding the right contractor to remodel a home is paramount to the success of the project. Some people might turn to the pages in a telephone directory to find a local contractor that they can use. Most homeowners are ready to start the project but need to find a building professional that is worthy of getting their business. A home is one of the biggest investments in life that a homeowner will make and risking it to the hands of a contractor that is not qualified is simply out of the question.

One simple fact about home remodeling contractors is that most do not know everything they should about every area of the home that can be remodeled. Certain contractors specialize in roofing repairs and replacements and others might specialize in remodeling bathrooms at a great price. A professional contractor will have people that they can turn to so that those areas can be finished.

Any building project could have several sub-contractors on the job. Some will be in charge of the window replacements and others will specialize in the exterior surfaces of the home. To find a building contractor that specializes in home remodeling projects, it might be simpler for the homeowner to gain access to the internet and discover the unlimited number of home remodeling companies that have building contractors on staff.

Most of the home remodeling companies will ask homeowners to answer a few questions and submit them in a easy to read form. Most home remodeling companies will ask the homeowner to tell them about the work they need and they need all the specifics of the project not just an overview explanation. This type of home contractor referral program is a free service that puts the homeowner under no obligation at all to hire a particular contractor.

The best people for the project are certain to be local and with one telephone call the home modeling company can put them in touch with each other. Most homeowners are provided with the names of at least three home building contractors that live in the area or close by. The home remodeling contractor can draw up a fair estimate of the cost and present it to the homeowner after they have visited the job site.

Some home remodeling projects might require some masonry or concrete work, which covers a broad spectrum in home remodeling projects. The home remodeling company will be able to get the right contractor in touch with the homeowner if they know that the concrete needs to be poured for an outside deck, or is a project that will require the contractor to place bricks on the outside walls of the house.

One of the best tools that home contractors use on a project is a full explanation of the work that is required and the time that the homeowner expects it to be finished. A building contractor usually has many projects in progress at one time, and this information is used for scheduling purposes and to ensure that building materials will be available as they have promised on the estimate that they give the homeowner for the project that they have in mind.



ARMANDO

Lori Smith asked:


“Renovate” is one handy verb to use when describing improving a building, or a home, or a section of such a home. Two prominent types of renovations are commercial and residential. The first thing to implement prior to any renovation is to look into contacts that the people around you can refer; this way, you get to avoid con artists and fixers but also spot the best. The one pushing the project may be a professional albeit self-taught genius or some average homeowner, yet we all reach the point when we want to just step back and get professional home building or renovating. Yearly, an a remarkable amount is spent on projects with an equally remarkable range of difficulty: from bathroom to kitchen makeovers to high-rise access.

At the start of the project, our contractor will want to devote some time familiarizing oneself to the site about to undergo the change. The contractor ought to be local; they have an edge over outsiders if only on the matter of buildings and renovations laws. Is there anything to avoid and to be on the lookout for when looking for a renovation contractor to do some building renovations? Watch out for owner-contactor matchmaking services that put the spotlight on contractor members having underwent the necessary legalities, and with valid permit at that. On the contrary, they can misinform the owner misled by the false sense of security. For instance, it pays to know what differentiates a certified and a registered contractor.

If you run out of totally reliable sources of information in these matters, look them up in the BBB or the Better Business Bureau in your locality first before rubbing your elbows raw together with some worn local Yellow Pages. Maximize your time too by looking up home improvement contractors with less-than-polished records or with dubious and vague feedback. Of course, the web or the Information Superhighway is always a standalone archive of contacts with a good home improvement contractor waiting at the end. Try googling keywords like “contractors”, or the name of some familiar professional that you are interested in, and you might also find some of his good affiliates in your own area.

When hiring your would-be contractor, it is standard practice to look up the validity of their insurance, licenses, bonding and other essential credentials. Ascertain who the references are and, if possible, ask about finished works similar to your current one. Get in touch with previous clients, since it might be worth pursuing. Think also if the contractor is could be contacted from start to finish, and if the contractor can update the owner regularly.

Just as importantly, check whether there is a chance that the project will be delayed in any way; is there a way to spot and do away with these delaying elements? Why not get to meet previous satisfied customers too? If the contractor thinks likewise, pay a visit to the contractor’s former project to see how work on the structure was accomplished.



TIMMY

Gary Belk asked:


Copyright (c) 2008 Gary Belk

You’ve heard the horror stories and possibly lived through your own. The home remodel that was supposed to take six months, ends up taking a year or more. And the budget? Well, that was pretty much shot by the third month. The architect and the contractor (when you can find either one of them) are pointing fingers at each other. Subcontractors forget what day they’re supposed to show up. And the materials? Wasn’t the flooring supposed to be bamboo, not pine?

This is the world of remodeling. A process that’s guaranteed to make your every moment, either asleep or awake, a perpetual nightmare. For many people this can be like entering their own Twilight Zone. A hellish place of missed deadlines, cost overruns, and headaches that start at the pupils and sear through the brain. This is not a good place to be. And now, you don’t have to be in it.

Why? Because design/build firms around the country have taken the remodeling process and turned it on its head. What was a gruesome task has been transformed, through proper planning and administration, into a pleasant experience that saves time and money.

This is the world of design/build. An approach to remodeling that goes all the way back to the Egyptians, an approach that unifies and integrates every element of the remodeling process, from initial design to final completion. All under one roof, all in the hands of one company, and all with 100% accountability. If it worked for the pharaohs, you better believe it will work for you.

The beauty of design/build is in the simplicity of its structure. For comparison here is the way most remodeling jobs are currently handled.

With a regular remodeling job, the client typically consults with an architect who would draw up the plans for the project. Once a design has client approval the plans go out to bid to several general contractors. When the bids return, more often than not the client is surprised to learn that the architect’s initial estimate for the design is off by 50% or more. At this point the client’s architect must revise the design and resubmit the revised design to the general contractors so that they can revise their bids. This process may go several rounds, several thousands of dollars and often creates tension between all involved. This is a situation that lends itself to playing the blame game. If at the end of this excruciating process one of the general contractors is selected the process moves on to the next step. The contractor gives the client his contract and timetable. And voila, it begins! T’s crossed, I’s dotted, one nice straight line from beginning to end. The client assumes he’ll be enjoying that new addition, kitchen, whatever in a few months. The money is budgeted and the client can hardly wait. But in this case ‘wait’ may be the operative word.

Shortly into the job, the electrician tells the general contractor that he’s run into problems, because the plans weren’t drawn right (”problems” is a word the client is going to hear a lot). The contractor contacts the client who then has to track down the architect. Construction, of course, stops. Playing phone tag with the architect, who by now has moved on to other jobs, comes next. And when he is finally reached, he’s totally miffed that a subcontractor could possibly think his plans were anything less than perfection. Good lord, what’s the world coming to! And now the imbroglio heats up in earnest.

The electrician gets into it with the architect, the contractor wrings his hands in despair, and the client stands helplessly by. Finally, of course, agreement is reached on how to proceed, usually with no one assuming any responsibility for the error much less the delay.

But that’s far from the end of the story, because by now the general contractor’s subs have all gone off in different directions while the job was stalled. New work schedules, new supply delivery schedules, and just about new everything have to be re-figured. And it goes on, and on, and on. What doesn’t keep going on is the money budgeted for the remodel. It may be pretty much gone, period.

This scenario may be repeated may times before the job is finally finished ‘ late, over budget, and with probably a dozen compromises along the way. in summation, “the horror, the horror”. Now the typical design/build scenario: The client comes to the design/build firm with their ideas and concepts. The in-house design team which may include both an architect and an oterior designer, take the client’s needs and desire in to consideration and comes up with the design. It’s that simple, and the design process costs ½ as much as going to an architect.

But it gets even simpler. The in-house design team passes the blueprints on to the estimator who gets the best possible prices from suppliers and comes up with the total cost, and a construction timetable. Usually this is then presented to the client as a fixed price contract. And because the design/build firm is the general contractor on the remodel, everything is checked and double checked to make absolutely certain that everything will run smoothly and efficiently. They designed it ‘ now it is time to build it!

Since the process is under one roof with one primary source for accountability, the likelihood of squabbles, missed deadlines and cost overruns is much less likely.

Anyone who is contemplating remodeling plans in the future really owe it to themselves to sit down with a design/build firm in their area to talk about their project. Prospective clients should ask to see pictures of jobs that the design/build firm has done, and get testimonials from clients who have had jobs completed.

It doesn’t make any difference if you are planning a kitchen remodel, bathroom remodel or a new garage. ft. addition. The design/build approach will ultimately save that client money, time and aggravation (probably a lot of aggravation). And, of course, the remodel has a much better chance of being the way you want it - on-time and on-budget.



JAY

Vanja asked:


Building a basement in the Bay Area. Should I use a specialized drainage contractor (very expensive), or let my concrete sub do the job? Is it really that hard to do drainage of a basement? It seems to me like a hole with gravel and a pipe. Why does it cost over 30K to do?

ELMO

Jan Lombaard asked:


Building a new home, renovating an existing house, or doing home improvements to properties, involves considerable planning and has large financial implications to all involved. It is therefore extremely important to appoint a contractor who has the neccesary background, expertise and a good track record.

When looking for a contractor you may want to consider the following suggestions:

1. Do not accept the lowest tender just because of the price!

- Ask at least three (3) contractors to quote on the work you want done.

- Stipulate what detail you want specified in the tender and compare the tenders to ensure that the contractors have priced all items and then evaluate the tenders.

- Compare all prices against each other to evaluate why one tender is cheaper than the other.

- Request the contractor to specify in his tender, in detail, what materials are to be used and where, in order to avoid disputes later.

- Contractors may price some items provisionally in order for you to choose from other related products, or if they are unsure of the quantities.

- Make sure that tenders allow for the same provisional quantities and products.

- Carefully examine the tender, and award the tender based on specifications, not only on the price.

2. Read the contract

- Read the contract and make sure of your obligations before signing it.

- Be careful for biased wording in the contract.

- Do not sign any documentation until you formally award the tender to a specific contractor.

- The contract must be properly understood and signed by both parties.

3. Check the contractors references before awarding the tender

- Ask for references and follow them up by phone, or go and see the work that was previously carried out.

- Check whether the quality suits you and find out how the contractor treated his clients before signing, also ask them of the after sales service they received, if any was needed.

4. Do not pay deposits without security

- It is common for contractors to request large deposits up front.

5. Do not pay whenever the contractor request payment

- Payments should be scheduled in the contract and paid accordingly, on receipt of a invoice. Keep record of all payments.

6. Keep records and do not negotiate in good faith without documentation.

- A full written record of all decisions taken between yourself and the contractor should be kept. Dates and pricing (where applicable) should always be mentioned.

- It is normal for decisions to be taken during the contract to change original specifications.

- Before the contractor implements any changes, make sure he has given a price (additional cost or saving) for the change, and be sure that you keep records of all the additional costs, as these extras can mount up in value and influence your budget.

7. Do not accept poor workmanship

- If you are unhappy with any aspect or quality of any portion of the work, inform the contractor as soon as possible as certain aspects may be difficult or impossible to rectify later.

- Insist that mistakes are rectified before final payments are made.



BART

General Contractors asked:


Selecting a remodeling contractor for your Home improvement remodeling project can not only be a time consuming but can be a bit confusing as well.

 Let California Construction Center put your worries to rest.

 California Construction Center has been remodeling and improving homes with reliable and professional service for more than 22 years. Our years of experience, knowledge and creativity give us the tools to plan and build any of your home improvement needs.

 We can assist you with everything you will need to complete your renovation project. From custom kitchens to roofs, our mission is to provide you with the highest possible quality and service.

 We specialize in entire home remodeling projects including; Kitchen and Bathroom remodeling,Room Addition, New Construction, Roof and Floor Contractors, Paint, Electrical, Plumbing,Tex-Cote, Stucco, Driveways, Fire Damage and more!

California Construction Center has been remodeling homes throughout southern California with the highest possible quality and service.

We take the responsibility of being invited into your home very seriously.

We make sure the remodeling process flows smoothly and professionally from start to finish. Final inspection - guaranty to ensuring your complete satisfaction.

Our goal is to provide your dream with unique design that allows you to live and work just the way you want to!

 Our pride in workmanship, fair business practice, superior customer service, and unsurpassed safety records, are just a few reasons to choose California Construction Center.

We turn your dreams into reality!

 Call Us Now And Get A FREE Estimate - 8003724080

 Or visit our web site: http://www.californiaconstructioncenter.com



JACK

sno asked:


I have been dealing with three different contractors for 3 weeks now to get a bid on building a storage shed and doing cosmetic work to the exterior of the company I work with. I’ve gotten promises from all 3 that I’d have a bid “asap”, but have received only 1 of the 3….and his bid doesn’t include half the work I requested. I’ve phoned these people 3 times each, one couldn’t remember who I was each time I called (he’s been crossed off my list)…the other one keeps promising to drop off a detailed bid. How long am I suppose to reasonably give these guys? You’d think with the state of economy as it is, these guys would jump at the chance to get work.

My biggest concern is answering to the owner of the company. He keeps asking for these bids… I keep telling him that I am in contact with these contractors and am waiting … I don’t want it to look like I am incapable of following through with this task! Do I start all over with new contractors?
I know that I can open the bidding to more than 3 contractors…problem is, the boss wanted to keep business local so that is why I chose these 3. By going outside my town, we will be charged travel time in addition to the cost of building. I found this out a few months back when I contracted for building two new bathrooms. I **** the thought of starting over from square one since we were hoping to have the shed built by now…and here I am still working on getting these guys to submit bids! I’ve been direct with them while remaining professional. thanks.
I was provided the list of local contractors from the HRA. We are looking at getting a loan for building improvements and was advised to choose one of their “approved” contractors.

DOMINIQUE