On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 21:12:47 -0500, "Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq."
wrote:

John H wrote:
On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 10:28:57 -0500, Boater wrote:

Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq. wrote:
Boater wrote:
Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq. wrote:
Boater wrote:
Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq. wrote:
Boater wrote:
Gene 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?
Yes, with three houses and two workshops. Not only was I General
Contractor, I was also 50% of the labor.

Your only real savings, in this market, will be sweat equity. You
can
buy cheaper than you can build.... you just have to find an equally
desperate mortgagee and mortgagor.... or you could do it the seat
equity route, if you have the cash, tools, and a desire to make it
happen.

No bank is going to let *you* (as their mortgagor) serve as General
Contractor unless you hold a contractor's license.

Advice? You're crazy to even attempt it...... uh, but wasn't I
thinking about adding on to the workshop.....

.... Oh, never mind......

It's an incredible burner of time. I had to do it because the
general I hired to build a custom home in Northern Virginia turned
out to be way overextended financially from previous projects, and
could not line up the subs I wanted, and was teetering.

Took the builder to court, had a civil jury trial, and won a
settlement of more than $100,000. Never collected anything but the
builder's license bond from the state.

With the help of the lumberyard (who issued the construction bond)
and my bank, I took over when the foundation had been laid and the
slabs poured, hired a project manager to oversee the subs on
salary and bonus, and completed the house just a hair over budget.
I had to be on the site for about an hour at 6:30 AM just about
every morning.

It was a huge house, ultra modern, with four full brick
fireplaces, nearly 4000 square feet on the main level, and another
3,000 square feet finished in the basement. I looked it up on
Zillow early last year and it was valued at more than $1.5
million. The "crash" of the real estate market apparently hit
Northern Virginia hard, because when I looked it up on Zillow
earlier this evening, it was valued at about $1.1 million.

Just checked the second house I owned in Northern Virgina...it was
the one we sold to build the custom house. I paid $87k for it -
nice builder's subdivision house - and sold it about five years
later for $160,000, I think. Zillow has it at $600,000 and change.
Not bad, and the blue spruce trees I planted there in the
mid-1970s are at least 40 feet tall and full triple wides.
Nice story, and pictures?

There are aerial pictures of both places on Zillow. Soon as you
provide your full legal name here and I verify it, I'll be glad to
supply the addresses of the houses.

Ok, how do you plan on verifying my full legal name?
Quietly; not the way you would do it.

I am always curious why you want to know my full legal name? What's the
deal?

Simple. My feeling is that if your full legal name were publicly known
here, you'd be far less of a snark.

Tell him, Harry!

I'm proof. There's nothing snarky about me.

What were those NoVa addresses again, Harry. We've got a lot of information
available in our tax system. Then you could *prove* you actually did
something you said you did. I would think you'd be proud!
--
** Good Day! **

John H

It appears that Harry has no problem with me posting his address.

You put Harry in a tough spot. His only choice is to start calling you
names or just not answer. Soon he'll be pretending he's got you 'filtered'.
It will be in his special filter, named after himself, which allows him to
read all the posts from those he 'filtered'.
--
** Good Day! **

John H

On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 20:40:09 -0800, "Mike" wrote:


"D K" wrote in message
m...
Don White wrote:
"John H" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 13:29:54 -0400, "Don White"
wrote:

"Vic Smith" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 20:34:39 -0500, Boater
wrote:

Gene 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?
Yes, with three houses and two workshops. Not only was I General
Contractor, I was also 50% of the labor.

Your only real savings, in this market, will be sweat equity. You
can
buy cheaper than you can build.... you just have to find an equally
desperate mortgagee and mortgagor.... or you could do it the seat
equity route, if you have the cash, tools, and a desire to make it
happen.

No bank is going to let *you* (as their mortgagor) serve as General
Contractor unless you hold a contractor's license.

Advice? You're crazy to even attempt it...... uh, but wasn't I
thinking about adding on to the workshop.....

.... Oh, never mind......

It's an incredible burner of time. I had to do it because the general
I
hired to build a custom home in Northern Virginia turned out to be
way
overextended financially from previous projects, and could not line
up
the subs I wanted, and was teetering.

I can imagine the waste of time. I had the misfortune to have my
house torched once - if it wasn't for a neighbor coming home at 2 AM
and raising the alarm we might have been killed.
Anyway, I hired a private adjuster, and you wouldn't believe the ****
I went through with him and his crews.
Had to show his "carpenter" how to cut stringers.
Came home from work one day and his "plaster guys" had done the
kitchen with 1/2" drywall, no shims, to replace the nearly full inch
of plaster and lath. There was almost a half inch gap between the
door and window casings and the drywall.
Had it all torn out by the next day I got home from work, but there
was always some BS waiting for me.
I'd leave work saying, "Let's see what they ****ed up today."
Anyway, I finally got everything done about 85% right, but I never
yelled so much and got in so many faces in such a short period of
time. Actually, I went easy on the crews, they were what they were,
but laid into the adjuster, who's really a GC, a lot.
What was good is the adjuster did keep us in the house because he was
real good at getting the essentials quickly restored.
That was important to me as I had the wife and 4 little kids to think
about, and work, so there was no way I even had time to be my own
general.
Win some, lose some.

--Vic
In 1976 when I was a lot younger and more energetic, I built a cedar
cape
Cod style house myself.
This was the norm up this way at that time. In fact, there was a
Provincial
Govt program where those with minimal savings for a downpayment could
use
sweat equity in order to get a $23K mortgage to build.
Of course I couldn't build my house for that amount...the program was
geared
to small bungalows on modest serviced lots.
I had to find a 2nd mortgage for another $9K. Thought I was in debt up
to
my eyeballs way back then..... but the house was beautiful.on a 2/3
acre lot
with well & septic system way out in the country (about 20 miles from
city
center) To add to my financial burden, I traded in my 5 yr old
Volkswagen
Beatle for a $5K Dodge Aspen S/W.
It all started in march of 1975 when I took over a share in a co-op
program
when a member was transfered to the states by his company.
Wife and I cleared the lot of trees & brush while snow was still on the
ground so we could burn off as much as possible in big bonfires.
I hired a company to dig the foundation hole and another to put up the
concrete foundation. Got my brother and a few buddies to help out
putting
the 1st floor on...then the wife and I would build the walls and ask
relatives to show up to help erect same.
The big 4' x 12" x 16' douglas fir beams were tricky to put up (post &
beam
construction). Once, my brother & law and I fell off the ladders
dropping
the beam and narrowly missing me on the floor.
I did hire a friend of my wifes' family to help finish off the double
course
cedar shingles on the exterior walls, and another guy to lay the
asphalt
shingles on the roof.
(turned out the roofing guy was married to a cousin of mine).
Once inside, an old friend who was a licensed electrician got the
permit but
a friend of my brothers (apprentice electrician) did the work.
Next we got other neighbourhood friends to do the plumbing while home
for
Christmas vacation from Alberta.
Lastly the in-laws gyprocked the entire house no charge. I just
supplied
the materials.
Finally got in in February 1976.
A few years later I added an attached 1.5 story garage all by myself.
Now when I have a project, I hire a guy from my wifes' former company
to do
most of the work while I act as assistant. (re addition for mon in
2002,
replacement of all the old windows with vinyl, tearing down of old
garage &
building of 2 new sheds, decking & fence additions etc)


A 1ft by 4ft by 16ft beam is a hefty beam all right.

--
** Good Day! **

John H

Lord help us! I hope you don't ever plan to build your own house.
When I put a " after a number...that means INCHES
when I put a ' after a number...that meens FEET
so...4"x12" x 16' means a four inch thick by 12 inches wide beam 16 feet
long.

Wrong. It's 3-1/2" X 11-1/4" X 16'


giggle You're absolutely correct. donny is as dumb as harry... so it
seems. I didn't think that was possible.

Holy cow martha, i bilt the house like the plans says with too by fors, and
it's 5 foot shorter than it wuz supposed to be. LOL

--Mike

--Mike


I think he must have gone back and read his original post. He's probably
feeling pretty stupid about now.
--
** Good Day! **

John H

John H wrote:
On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 21:12:47 -0500, "Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq."
*

John H
It appears that Harry has no problem with me posting his address.

You put Harry in a tough spot. His only choice is to start calling you
names or just not answer. Soon he'll be pretending he's got you 'filtered'.
It will be in his special filter, named after himself, which allows him to
read all the posts from those he 'filtered'.
--
** Good Day! **

John H

I have to assume Harry Krause has no problem with me posting his name
address and phone number. He believes not to do so makes one a coward,
and we all know that anyone who owns a handgun is NOT a coward.

I decided to give him 24 hrs to object to me posting his legal name,
address and phone number. If he has no objection, I figured I would
just add a sig file so it would post his legal name, address and phone
number every time I make a post in rec.boats. After all, Harry Krause
has brass balls.

On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 21:23:51 -0800, "Calif Bill"
wrote:


"Boater" wrote in message
...
Don White wrote:
"John H" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 13:29:54 -0400, "Don White"
wrote:

"Vic Smith" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 20:34:39 -0500, Boater
wrote:

Gene 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?
Yes, with three houses and two workshops. Not only was I General
Contractor, I was also 50% of the labor.

Your only real savings, in this market, will be sweat equity. You
can
buy cheaper than you can build.... you just have to find an equally
desperate mortgagee and mortgagor.... or you could do it the seat
equity route, if you have the cash, tools, and a desire to make it
happen.

No bank is going to let *you* (as their mortgagor) serve as General
Contractor unless you hold a contractor's license.

Advice? You're crazy to even attempt it...... uh, but wasn't I
thinking about adding on to the workshop.....

.... Oh, never mind......

It's an incredible burner of time. I had to do it because the general
I
hired to build a custom home in Northern Virginia turned out to be
way
overextended financially from previous projects, and could not line
up
the subs I wanted, and was teetering.

I can imagine the waste of time. I had the misfortune to have my
house torched once - if it wasn't for a neighbor coming home at 2 AM
and raising the alarm we might have been killed.
Anyway, I hired a private adjuster, and you wouldn't believe the ****
I went through with him and his crews.
Had to show his "carpenter" how to cut stringers.
Came home from work one day and his "plaster guys" had done the
kitchen with 1/2" drywall, no shims, to replace the nearly full inch
of plaster and lath. There was almost a half inch gap between the
door and window casings and the drywall.
Had it all torn out by the next day I got home from work, but there
was always some BS waiting for me.
I'd leave work saying, "Let's see what they ****ed up today."
Anyway, I finally got everything done about 85% right, but I never
yelled so much and got in so many faces in such a short period of
time. Actually, I went easy on the crews, they were what they were,
but laid into the adjuster, who's really a GC, a lot.
What was good is the adjuster did keep us in the house because he was
real good at getting the essentials quickly restored.
That was important to me as I had the wife and 4 little kids to think
about, and work, so there was no way I even had time to be my own
general.
Win some, lose some.

--Vic
In 1976 when I was a lot younger and more energetic, I built a cedar
cape
Cod style house myself.
This was the norm up this way at that time. In fact, there was a
Provincial
Govt program where those with minimal savings for a downpayment could
use
sweat equity in order to get a $23K mortgage to build.
Of course I couldn't build my house for that amount...the program was
geared
to small bungalows on modest serviced lots.
I had to find a 2nd mortgage for another $9K. Thought I was in debt up
to
my eyeballs way back then..... but the house was beautiful.on a 2/3
acre lot
with well & septic system way out in the country (about 20 miles from
city
center) To add to my financial burden, I traded in my 5 yr old
Volkswagen
Beatle for a $5K Dodge Aspen S/W.
It all started in march of 1975 when I took over a share in a co-op
program
when a member was transfered to the states by his company.
Wife and I cleared the lot of trees & brush while snow was still on the
ground so we could burn off as much as possible in big bonfires.
I hired a company to dig the foundation hole and another to put up the
concrete foundation. Got my brother and a few buddies to help out
putting
the 1st floor on...then the wife and I would build the walls and ask
relatives to show up to help erect same.
The big 4' x 12" x 16' douglas fir beams were tricky to put up (post &
beam
construction). Once, my brother & law and I fell off the ladders
dropping
the beam and narrowly missing me on the floor.
I did hire a friend of my wifes' family to help finish off the double
course
cedar shingles on the exterior walls, and another guy to lay the
asphalt
shingles on the roof.
(turned out the roofing guy was married to a cousin of mine).
Once inside, an old friend who was a licensed electrician got the
permit but
a friend of my brothers (apprentice electrician) did the work.
Next we got other neighbourhood friends to do the plumbing while home
for
Christmas vacation from Alberta.
Lastly the in-laws gyprocked the entire house no charge. I just
supplied
the materials.
Finally got in in February 1976.
A few years later I added an attached 1.5 story garage all by myself.
Now when I have a project, I hire a guy from my wifes' former company
to do
most of the work while I act as assistant. (re addition for mon in
2002,
replacement of all the old windows with vinyl, tearing down of old
garage &
building of 2 new sheds, decking & fence additions etc)


A 1ft by 4ft by 16ft beam is a hefty beam all right.

--
** Good Day! **

John H

Lord help us! I hope you don't ever plan to build your own house.
When I put a " after a number...that means INCHES
when I put a ' after a number...that meens FEET
so...4"x12" x 16' means a four inch thick by 12 inches wide beam 16 feet
long.


Herring claimed to be a "combat engineer." Doubtful.

Combat engineers blow up things, not build up things.


We do both. There's just not a lot of finesse in the things we build.
There's a huge amount of finesse in the way we blow things up.

Besides, Donnie must have gone back and read his post. I notice he shut up.

--
** Good Day! **

John H

On Wed, 31 Dec 2008 07:19:38 -0500, "Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq."
wrote:

John H wrote:
On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 21:12:47 -0500, "Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq."
*

John H
It appears that Harry has no problem with me posting his address.

You put Harry in a tough spot. His only choice is to start calling you
names or just not answer. Soon he'll be pretending he's got you 'filtered'.
It will be in his special filter, named after himself, which allows him to
read all the posts from those he 'filtered'.
--
** Good Day! **

John H

I have to assume Harry Krause has no problem with me posting his name
address and phone number. He believes not to do so makes one a coward,
and we all know that anyone who owns a handgun is NOT a coward.

I decided to give him 24 hrs to object to me posting his legal name,
address and phone number. If he has no objection, I figured I would
just add a sig file so it would post his legal name, address and phone
number every time I make a post in rec.boats. After all, Harry Krause
has brass balls.

Krause is a bad joke. He's full of comments about the cowardice of others,
but when it comes to 'manning up' he folds every time. He, Jimh, and Donnie
make a great team.
--
** Good Day! **

John H

Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq. wrote:
John H wrote:
On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 21:12:47 -0500, "Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq."
*

John H
It appears that Harry has no problem with me posting his address.

You put Harry in a tough spot. His only choice is to start calling you
names or just not answer. Soon he'll be pretending he's got you
'filtered'.
It will be in his special filter, named after himself, which allows
him to
read all the posts from those he 'filtered'.
--
** Good Day! **

John H

I have to assume Harry Krause has no problem with me posting his name
address and phone number. He believes not to do so makes one a coward,
and we all know that anyone who owns a handgun is NOT a coward.

I decided to give him 24 hrs to object to me posting his legal name,
address and phone number. If he has no objection, I figured I would
just add a sig file so it would post his legal name, address and phone
number every time I make a post in rec.boats. After all, Harry Krause
has brass balls.

You don't know how you are messing with Bub. I know who you are, where
you are and what size union made cement shoes you wear. Be warned. My
secret friend is ready to pounce.
** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **

Boater wrote:
Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq. wrote:
John H wrote:
On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 21:12:47 -0500, "Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq."
*

John H
It appears that Harry has no problem with me posting his address.

You put Harry in a tough spot. His only choice is to start calling you
names or just not answer. Soon he'll be pretending he's got you
'filtered'.
It will be in his special filter, named after himself, which allows
him to
read all the posts from those he 'filtered'.
--
** Good Day! **

John H

I have to assume Harry Krause has no problem with me posting his name
address and phone number. He believes not to do so makes one a
coward, and we all know that anyone who owns a handgun is NOT a coward.

I decided to give him 24 hrs to object to me posting his legal name,
address and phone number. If he has no objection, I figured I would
just add a sig file so it would post his legal name, address and phone
number every time I make a post in rec.boats. After all, Harry Krause
has brass balls.

You don't know how you are messing with Bub. I know who you are, where
you are and what size union made cement shoes you wear. Be warned. My
secret friend is ready to pounce.
** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **

Harry Krause,

I didn't think I was messing with anyone. I can not figure out what
that rambling statement means. Are you telling me I don't need to post
my legal name, because you already know who I am? Are you telling me
that someone who makes his name be known in Usenet is subject to threats
of death, by being thrown in water with cement shoes?

or

Are you telling me you don't care who knows your legal name, address and
phone number?

"John H" wrote in message
news snip..
He, Jimh, and Donnie
make a great team.
--
** Good Day! **

John H


Wish we could say the same about your motly ragtag group.
Ineffective leadership is the most obvious problem with quality of
recruitment a close second.

"John H" wrote in message
...


We do both. There's just not a lot of finesse in the things we build.
There's a huge amount of finesse in the way we blow things up.

Besides, Donnie must have gone back and read his post. I notice he shut
up.

--
** Good Day! **

John H

I always wondered how many of your own men you blew up.
Seeing yor problems with details, following instructions etc...... we're
probably better off not knowing.

"Calif Bill" wrote in message
...

"D K" wrote in message
...
Don White wrote:
"John H" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 13:29:54 -0400, "Don White"

wrote:

"Vic Smith" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 20:34:39 -0500, Boater
wrote:

Gene 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?
Yes, with three houses and two workshops. Not only was I General
Contractor, I was also 50% of the labor.

Your only real savings, in this market, will be sweat equity. You
can
buy cheaper than you can build.... you just have to find an equally
desperate mortgagee and mortgagor.... or you could do it the seat
equity route, if you have the cash, tools, and a desire to make it
happen.

No bank is going to let *you* (as their mortgagor) serve as General
Contractor unless you hold a contractor's license.

Advice? You're crazy to even attempt it...... uh, but wasn't I
thinking about adding on to the workshop.....

.... Oh, never mind......

It's an incredible burner of time. I had to do it because the
general I
hired to build a custom home in Northern Virginia turned out to be
way
overextended financially from previous projects, and could not line
up
the subs I wanted, and was teetering.

I can imagine the waste of time. I had the misfortune to have my
house torched once - if it wasn't for a neighbor coming home at 2 AM
and raising the alarm we might have been killed.
Anyway, I hired a private adjuster, and you wouldn't believe the ****
I went through with him and his crews.
Had to show his "carpenter" how to cut stringers.
Came home from work one day and his "plaster guys" had done the
kitchen with 1/2" drywall, no shims, to replace the nearly full inch
of plaster and lath. There was almost a half inch gap between the
door and window casings and the drywall.
Had it all torn out by the next day I got home from work, but there
was always some BS waiting for me.
I'd leave work saying, "Let's see what they ****ed up today."
Anyway, I finally got everything done about 85% right, but I never
yelled so much and got in so many faces in such a short period of
time. Actually, I went easy on the crews, they were what they were,
but laid into the adjuster, who's really a GC, a lot.
What was good is the adjuster did keep us in the house because he was
real good at getting the essentials quickly restored.
That was important to me as I had the wife and 4 little kids to think
about, and work, so there was no way I even had time to be my own
general.
Win some, lose some.

--Vic
In 1976 when I was a lot younger and more energetic, I built a cedar
cape
Cod style house myself.
This was the norm up this way at that time. In fact, there was a
Provincial
Govt program where those with minimal savings for a downpayment could
use
sweat equity in order to get a $23K mortgage to build.
Of course I couldn't build my house for that amount...the program was
geared
to small bungalows on modest serviced lots.
I had to find a 2nd mortgage for another $9K. Thought I was in debt
up to
my eyeballs way back then..... but the house was beautiful.on a 2/3
acre lot
with well & septic system way out in the country (about 20 miles from
city
center) To add to my financial burden, I traded in my 5 yr old
Volkswagen
Beatle for a $5K Dodge Aspen S/W.
It all started in march of 1975 when I took over a share in a co-op
program
when a member was transfered to the states by his company.
Wife and I cleared the lot of trees & brush while snow was still on
the
ground so we could burn off as much as possible in big bonfires.
I hired a company to dig the foundation hole and another to put up the
concrete foundation. Got my brother and a few buddies to help out
putting
the 1st floor on...then the wife and I would build the walls and ask
relatives to show up to help erect same.
The big 4' x 12" x 16' douglas fir beams were tricky to put up (post &
beam
construction). Once, my brother & law and I fell off the ladders
dropping
the beam and narrowly missing me on the floor.
I did hire a friend of my wifes' family to help finish off the double
course
cedar shingles on the exterior walls, and another guy to lay the
asphalt
shingles on the roof.
(turned out the roofing guy was married to a cousin of mine).
Once inside, an old friend who was a licensed electrician got the
permit but
a friend of my brothers (apprentice electrician) did the work.
Next we got other neighbourhood friends to do the plumbing while home
for
Christmas vacation from Alberta.
Lastly the in-laws gyprocked the entire house no charge. I just
supplied
the materials.
Finally got in in February 1976.
A few years later I added an attached 1.5 story garage all by myself.
Now when I have a project, I hire a guy from my wifes' former company
to do
most of the work while I act as assistant. (re addition for mon in
2002,
replacement of all the old windows with vinyl, tearing down of old
garage &
building of 2 new sheds, decking & fence additions etc)


A 1ft by 4ft by 16ft beam is a hefty beam all right.

--
** Good Day! **

John H

Lord help us! I hope you don't ever plan to build your own house.
When I put a " after a number...that means INCHES
when I put a ' after a number...that meens FEET
so...4"x12" x 16' means a four inch thick by 12 inches wide beam 16
feet long.

Wrong. It's 3-1/2" X 11-1/4" X 16'


Depends. If it is dimensional lumber or older lumber. My mothers house
was built in 1908. A 2x4 is 2" by 4". A problem when having to replace a
piece of lumber.

Up here, the lumber yards use the old measurements when selling dimensional
product.
Everyone with half a brain (sorry Johnny) knows that a 2" x 4" is really 1
5/8 x 3 5/8 inches