Posted by Andrew on March 05, 2006 at 13:24:07:
yes i was taking the suggestion for sailor. 
housebuilding course - Posted by Andrew
Posted by Andrew on March 04, 2006 at 20:15:56:
Can anyone recommend some place in or near california that has a housebuilding course? Only place i have been able to find that has a housebuilding course is heartwood and they are in MA on the other side of the country.
Re: housebuilding course - Posted by Sailor
Posted by Sailor on March 05, 2006 at 18:31:47:
Heartwood is the course I took way back when. At the time there was a class in Calif, but I donât recall the name. If you use a discount airline fare, it might be cheaper to go to MA than someplace else in Calif. (I drove, but as I recall, the class location wasnât near an airport). If Heartwood doesnât suit, since you are in Calif, you probably are close to a community college that offers construction classes. I do recommend the immersion course @ Heartwood, but short of that, do get a copy of âA Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Constructionâ by Alexander, Ishikawa & Silverstein. It is available @ Amazon. Here is a post I wrote earlier on it:
http://www.creonline.com/wwwboard/messages/88440.html
This is my all-time FAVE book, & I used it as a guide to build in the mid-90âs. Iâm tempted to do it again, each time I thumb through the boo. The principles are simple, yet apply to all construction (wish the folks in charge of rebuilding New Orleans would read this book). A lot of Heartwoodâs philosophy of construction is based on this text. Even if only adding a porch, not starting a house from scratch, do NOT do it w/out reading this bookâ
Golly, Andrew, I really thank you for listening to my advice. Now if I could only get some of my offspring to do the same!
Tye
Re: u-build it - Posted by Chtisten
Posted by Chtisten on March 05, 2006 at 12:43:18:
U-build it is a national franchise that walks owner builders through every step of the process they have nationwide discounts on materials and deals set up with local contractors, they also help with financing.
Re: housebuilding course - Posted by Max-Va
Posted by Max-Va on March 05, 2006 at 08:04:26:
I spent 20+ years in the construction business before I felt that I could do one on my own. I jumped and spent almost a year building the house a 1600 sq ft cape cod. It was a great learning experience but wasted a year for a 30K paycheck. I can always say I pounded every nail and glued every pipe in that house, that and a buck will get you coffee at 7-11.
I can not tell why you want to learn how to build a house. I would question this. It is better to hire a contractor than do this on your own. It pays to hire the pro.
Re: housebuilding course - Posted by ski
Posted by ski on March 05, 2006 at 07:28:11:
Are you seriously going to try to build a house with a few courses??? My advice DONâT. If you are looking for some fix-up advice, try Home Depot or Lowes, they give free instructions.
Re: housebuilding course - Posted by Andrew
Posted by Andrew on March 05, 2006 at 20:59:08:
Yeah, it looks like I will probably just end up going to MA to do the homebuilding course. I didnt see any course called the immersion course though. Is that a course that has several different classes besides just housebuilding? Thanks for advice on the bookâŚi think i will buy it.
Andrew
Long reply⌠- Posted by Frank
Posted by Frank on March 06, 2006 at 15:06:25:
Max, while you should be commended about âbuildingâ a house on your own, you have found out that it is not profitable the way that you set out. There are two type of people that are building homes theses days (or at the least, most belong tho these groups or a variant of these group): 1) where building is their passion; 2)building for production. Now there can be overlapping between these but for the most part, you will fit into one of these two groups. Now, I will try to pare these down becasue I could discuss either at great lengths.
When I say build for passion, this is the person that is not so much driven by the mass production or great profit. He needs to make enough to pay the bills. He will engulf himself into that house and will generally not start another house until this one is completed (or at least roughed in prior to drywall). He is usually a specialist in a particualr trade (masonry, framer, etc), or has general knowledge about several trades. An example is my grandfather. He built houses for about 30 years until he had a heart attack (continued to remodel houses for another 20 years). He was a framer and an mason by trade. He would grade out his lots with a 1954 Ford 8N (or a 9N) tractor with a blade on the back that I still have to this day. The majority of his homes had full basements, four sides brick, double carport (before the garages were popular), three bedroom/two baths, and were about 1,900sqft. These houses would sell for about $15,000. He hammered (never used a nailer) all the studs, cut and built all of his roof trusses (local building inspectors generally frown on that today), had intimate knowledge of every component that went into his homes. He would lay all of the blocks in the foundation (before pured walls came along). I never worked with him on concrete blocks, but many have said that he could lay 900 concrete blocks in a day. Since I have never done block work, I am not sure if that is a great amount. Maybe someone with knowledge of block work could comment. I am just positive that is about 850 more than I could lay in a straight line. He layed the bricks on his houses (at least for the most part, as he did occasionally subbed that out). He would do his own concrete work, roofing, and cabinetry. Now he would regularly sub out electrical and plumbing. There would not be much on his houses that he would not touch himself. He generally had a crew of about four or five helpers that would work for him on a regular basis. He was very old school in building. Very stubborn when it comes to change and new technology. He swears against the engineered flooring joists. All of his were 2Xâs. Never mind that they squeak, and twist if not installed properly (although his work was exceptional, there were of course the isolated squeaks). His homes were the tradiional ranches that you would see back in the 50âs, 60âs and 70âs. The ones that were rectagular with the front door coming into the end of the home where living room was and the carport door entering into the kitchen. Like I said, he was old school. He would sell the home that he was living in and move into the home that he was building (even if it is not completed). Painting was not a necessity back then to get an OC (he would do the finnish work when he moved into the house). Getting a OC was not as difficult back then. Once completed, he would move to the next home and start the process again. It would take him about six weeks to get the home in move in condition. This is the most amazing part; he never had a mortgage in his life. The only credit he ever received was the lot (most of the time, he would not pay for the lot until he would sell the house), and he had a great relationship with his lumber house. He would get the material on credit and pay them when the house sold. You see, he had passion for building. But in turn, because of the way that he did his business, the most he ever built in a year was seven (and him and his wife and two kids moved seven times that yearâŚfunny thing was it was all on the same road).
On the flip side, I got into building myself. I learned the ropes working for him mainly framing. Toward the end of him building homes, I got valuable experience as a framer and was able to build with him for about three years. He was a workhorse. Now donât get me wrong, I loved working with that man. To me, there is nothing like being on the job site in the early hours of morning and smelling the scent of fresh 2x4âs being cut in the humid air. To me, that is as close to heaven as I can find here on earth. But at the same time, I could see that if you leveraged yourself then you could expand your operations. If this was done correctly, it could be very effecient. You see, after he quit building, I got into real estate for a while, but eventually came back and started my own building company. However, I modified my plan from his. Instead of being involved in the actual process, I stepped back and became the general contractor. By doing this, I was able to leverage my time across several houses. However, I did take some nuggets from my grandfather. I have an eye for quality. My subs have one chance to get it right and they know it. For me, their finnish product is what i stake my name to and if it is not right, I am the one that takes the hit, not them. Now, I do require that they make things right, but they know that I demand their top quiality work. I have an excellant warranty program. The beauty of it is, it is hardly ever used as I have put together (over my years of experience nad my grandfatherâs years of experience) a list of know areas of failures that can occur. I have a team of inspectors that that go through each house at various stages of the build process (this is in addition to the county inspections) to check for these occurances. You see, it is a lot cheaper to fix now than later. To me, the warranty department is one of the most important departments that a new builder needs to focus on. I consider this type of preventitive action as part of the warranty department. But also being able to develop and adhere to a schedule is just as important. You see, building has evolved over the last 30 years (some say even the last ten years). My standard home is about 2,500sqft. Homes are bigger, more complex components all equal longer build times. There are also about a zillion more builders than there were 30 years ago. This creates a larger demand on the sub contractors. This all equals a more demand for scheduling. If given the opportunity, I can create a schedule to build a home and have it down to the day that it is completed. This schedule is goldâŚthat is until the framer is socked in with rain for two weeks and can not finnish his jobs for the current GC his is working for. This will also put off the roofer, the electrician, the plumber, etc. With any luck, I can get caught up with my dry waller (if I am lucky that is). You have to have a dynamic scheduling system in place. Once that can change with the cirumstances. With me, I have various grades of subs. Some that I use occassionally, some I use regularly, and some that I use constantly. With each grade I expect a level of response that goes along with the premium that I pay. To get âpromotedâ to each my grade, the sub has to prove to me that he/she is worth the work I provide to them. My subs are always being evaluated on each job. By doing this, I establish patterns of work and know what my expectations are. Taking all of this into consderation, I can start the project and set my ending date. Now with my built-in days for changes, I can get to the target date by a very narrow margin (most times, I am early which is always good). Now this has come after years and years of experience. With this experiece, I closed on 69 homes last year and projected to close on about 85 this year. I do not think that any book or course can teach all of the practicalities of building (large scale or small scale), but they can teach you what to look for.
To end this, you need to decide at the start, what type of builder you will be. Whether you are a builder of passion, or one of production. Choose and stick with it. I do not think that what is required in both types, that one can be successful at both. Do not get me wrong, I am very passionate at what I do. There is nothing more thrilling to me than doing precisely what I am doing right now.
In whatever you do plan it through. You will need an plan to succeed. Good luck.
Re: housebuilding course - Posted by Andrew
Posted by Andrew on March 05, 2006 at 13:22:31:
I have no desire to pound every nail and glue every pipe in a house, but your advice is really bad. Its like someone saying they want to learn accounting for their business and you telling them no need, just hire an accountantâŚwell how do you know if you are getting ripped off or not. Same with a houseâŚI know you contractors are a bunch of crooks and i better learn your language so i dont get ripped off.
Thats why i want to learn to build a house.
Re: housebuilding course - Posted by Sharyn SJR
Posted by Sharyn SJR on March 05, 2006 at 11:42:27:
Maybe he is taking a suggestion from Sailor in a post down below. I always read all of her posts. She is very informative.
Re: housebuilding course - Posted by Sailor
Posted by Sailor on March 06, 2006 at 06:46:16:
By immersion I just meant that you are there full-time, fully focused, rather than just attending a class once a week. My prediction is that you w/find this a life-changing event & have a wonderful time. It is a great course for couples, too, learning to share the dream. Let us know about your experienceâ
Tye