It is important to ensure that all the most difficult things are done before, and not during, construction.
After you have thoroughly prepared for construction (see the previous six stages), you can start it with a light heart. The rest of the recommendations are quite simple and occupy only five typewritten pages. However, there is something to think about here. About the role you will have to play during construction and the position you will have to borrow. Certain options are possible here. Let’s start with the most exotic (or vice versa – usual?).
Do it yourself
“Do it yourself” is a wonderful method that has survived to this day in human culture. True, its fans are becoming fewer and fewer, even in developing countries. Of course, it gives great advantages. You don’t need a contract, an estimate, or time to search for and negotiate with construction companies. By the way – without any irony – it gives life more meaning (remember the proverb about the house, the son and the tree). True, if you do not have sufficient construction skills, such a prank is quite risky.
Construction does not go ahead, and the customer does not sleep
If you do not know how to build, but you have the basics of management, you can organize the construction yourself. In this case, you will have to purchase the necessary materials, equipment, ensure their delivery and storage. You will hire workers, command them, solve their life problems, enter into conflicts (the less you pay them, the less they lose – remember the motto about the proletariat and its chains – do you think it has become less relevant over time?). You will probably worry in some way and maybe even sleep badly at night (although this is not necessary if you are a person with a Nordic psychology).
Some even like this role (otherwise why do many thousands of customers choose this particular path?). But what will it get you in the end? Savings of 25-30% of the total cost of construction – in comparison with the services of a construction company. Such a profit is achieved at the expense of your time, health, energy and requires a serious effort (only at first it may seem that earning ten-twenty-fifty-hundred thousand dollars is easy).
The customer is sleeping, and construction is underway
If you love yourself enough, you don’t know how to build, and you don’t want to do construction management, then be prepared for the fact that those 25-30% will settle in the company you invite and with which you conclude a contract. It is she who will take on absolutely all the worries of organizing and supplying the construction. Some companies can also issue a construction permit and all the necessary papers at the technical inventory bureau and property registration committee. What will be left for your share? Funding, control and presence for signing documents.
Chairs in the morning, money in the evening
All kansas city siding contractors, without exception, offer to deposit a certain amount as an advance – for the purchase of part of the construction materials, as well as to cover the overhead and transport costs of the initial stage of construction.
Usually, the advance payment does not exceed 20-30% of the cost of the “box”. However, some companies try to get up to 60%, arguing that it is necessary to purchase all building materials at once. And if, in addition, this amount is charged from the contract value of the entire house according to the estimate, then you should think about whether it is necessary to conclude such a contract. After making the first payment of this kind, builders offer to make the rest of the amount in stages, without connecting the stages of payment with the completed works. In this case, it will be difficult for you to influence them during the construction process and dictate your will. Remember this rule: as soon as the contractor receives money, he loses interest in this amount. It’s not even about honesty, it’s about interest. It is good when interest in the case is reinforced by money that has not yet been received.
The calendar schedule of production and financing of construction and installation works is attached to the contract. These documents must be agreed among themselves. And they are not needed at all to comply with formalities. With their help, you will be able not only to control the work, but also to pay only for what is done. The entire process of building your house should be divided into several stages. After completing each of them, you accept the work and sign the act of acceptance of the work of this stage and pay the next amount of money. The construction plan should clearly state, for example, the following: “on the 38th day from the start of construction, subject to the completion of the work on the installation of the ceilings of the 2nd floor, the customer shall pay 7,860 Swiss francs.”
When paying money for works or building materials, do not forget to take a receipt for payment indicating the amount, the basis of payment and the date. The receipt must bear the seal and signature of an official of the construction company. Do you think all this is unnecessary? Then you are the ideal client for any construction company. Because you will have no reason to file a lawsuit against them. Do you think that you are not in danger? Well, then at least take a receipt from the person to whom you give the money. And let him write it in his own hand. And he will also indicate his passport data (We did not hesitate to check them, as there are characters cheerfully writing down wrong numbers and dates). Searching for missing persons is not the most interesting activity.
Accounting and control is the first sign of our capitalism
There is a concept of hidden works. These are the types of works that are closed by the next stages of construction. For example, filling the foundation with a layer of sand, waterproofing, laying insulation in the floor or on the roof, etc. When the case is seriously organized, a special journal is started, in which the hidden work is recorded. You control each of the stages of such work and put your signature, without which the builders have no right to start the next cycle of work. Of course, no one has yet dismissed the conscientiousness of the builders. But it is not a sin for you to check such things, at least sometimes. Otherwise, you won’t know what your house is made of.
There is a concept of copyright supervision. Architects do not only develop projects. Their role also consists in monitoring the work of builders. The author’s supervision is needed so that the builders adhere to the technology, so that the erected structures meet the accepted norms and rules, and the same thing as in the estimate would be laid in the house itself.
The author’s supervision should be primarily independent. However, such a service can be found in the price lists of some construction companies. They will offer you author supervision at an attractive price – for only 1-2% of the construction cost, while an independent architect can ask for much more – up to 7%. Already someone, and he knows very well what kind of effort and time it takes to control the builders. The architect is your ally and protector. He defends your interests. Will a person who works for a construction company do the same, even if he does not hold an official position in it? The difference in cost is quite large. But the content of these services is no less.