On Dec 30, 7:55*am, Tom Francis
wrote:
On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 07:44:06 -0500, "Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq."

wrote:
Tom Francis wrote:
On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 12:03:49 -0500, "Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq."
wrote:

We are thinking about using this downturn in the housing market to build
a new home, and acting as our own General Contractor. *Has anyone in the
group done this and do they have any words of advice?

Yep.

Don't do it.

I don't know, Harry was very successful GC'ing his N. VA home.

That's Harry. *Harry is successful at everything he attempts.

He's the Leonardo DaVinci of modern times. *To date, Harry has proven
extensive knowledge of a whole host of subjects including, of all
things, opera. *I mean roof loads, foundations, plumbing, electrical -
he's got the knowledge base - apparently.

So it follows that Harry would be the General Contractor for his own
home - he has nothing but time on his hands (as is obvious by the
number of posts just yesterday) which is a key element in being a GC
for your own home.

It's hard for the rest of us mere mortals to understand that.

I wish he'd talk to me, I'd like to know his design parameters like
earthquake loads, wind loads, snow and drifting snow loads, etc. I
wonder which codes he used in his area, including building code,
plumbing code, electrical code, gas code, ADA compliance, fire safety
code etc. What was the tested soil bearing capacity at his site? When
he did his analysis, did he use LRFD or Ultimate Stress Design, (which
is limited stress design and has been changed to be PERMISSABLE stress
design, I hope he caught that!)