Any contractors/builders out there?

[LinvilleGorge]

My dad does a ton of work up in Gingercake. He got talked into taking one job on Beech and said never again. At some point you gotta draw a line and say that too far is too far.

[Floppin]

8 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

My dad does a ton of work up in Gingercake. He got talked into taking one job on Beech and said never again. At some point you gotta draw a line and say that too far is too far.

Eh, I routinely put 4-5 hrs of road time in a day. It's whatever.

[Floppin]

I worked Saturday-Monday getting up at 330am, Leaving at 5am, getting home at 730pm.

[LinvilleGorge]

42 minutes ago, OHYO said:

I don’t want to high jack this thread. I’m a sucker for history also. We met one of the ancestors, he just showed up from Florida one day. His knowledge has cleared up lots of questions we had about the property. It has a hidden room only accessible from the attic.

Can you share some pictures of the treasure?

 

This is just the tip of the iceberg

 

 

 

[LinvilleGorge]

11 minutes ago, Floppin said:

Eh, I routinely put 4-5 hrs of road time in a day. It's whatever.

He's pretty much a one man crew at this point though. He's the one doing the work. He's winding down and cherry picking jobs. 

[OHYO]

4 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

This is just the tip of the iceberg

 

 

 

Impressive! Whats the deal with the bow tie looking thing?

[LinvilleGorge]

2 minutes ago, OHYO said:

Impressive! Whats the deal with the bow tie looking thing?

It's a bow tie. His name is inside the collar. The stain is blood. He was killed at Petersburg in 1864. His grandmother was my 6x grandmother.

[thefuzz]

17 hours ago, LinvilleGorge said:

The more specialized the work the harder it is to get right now. I was talking to a buddy the other day who has been trying to get a mason for a stone retaining wall for over six months. Everyone is booked out to the point they're not even taking new jobs. He can't even get a quote. He reached out to me to see the guys who we worked with in the past and I rattled off some names and he's already called them. I'm like, man that's all I got. I don't know what else to tell you other than to start looking at non-masonry options. Stack some railroad ties or something. You can always do stone down the road if you want.

If young men aren't waking up to the "new high paying jobs" they need to.  There is a reason it's so tough to find good work at decent prices.

It's because there aren't enough trades.  Electricians are making more than attorneys.  Plumbers more than accountants.

College is great, to learn business, then start one or pass one down to your sons.  I wish I had kept up my Fathers electrical biz, I just don't like the work.

A distant friend of mines son had a partial ride to Miami of OH to play QB for them, turned it down, went into the trades, and is making 6 figures at 23 years old.

Learn a trade.

[OnlyPantherFaninMaine]

Appreciate everyone’s responses and thoughts on this. Guess I just will not use him moving forward as we agreed on that price. The lumber has already been delivered to my house and he starts tomorrow. If he does great work I am not too worried about it. 

[Paa Langfart]

On 8/7/2023 at 10:00 PM, OnlyPantherFaninMaine said:

If it helps at all… I have attached the invoice I was provided for the job straight from a local labor company. The contractor made it sound like this was lumber “at his cost” and not what I would be quoted if I walked in and requested the exact same materials. 
 

It’s primarily a large finished space, but there is a large L shaped interior wall he would be framing so we can leave part of the basement unfinished for storage. He’d be framing out a half bathroom down there, approximately 8x6 in addition to a large closet. He will have to box in some plumbing in the ceiling but otherwise it’s just framing around the concrete. 

That 3/4 advantech is good stuff.  I use half a sheet set up on sawhorses as an outside work bench set up permanently outside my shop and always get a good 7-8 years out of a piece before I need to replace it, but I had no idea it was running over $50 a sheet now.  Last time I bought it it was about half that.

[OnlyPantherFaninMaine]

Just noticed the 350 2x4s that were ordered and delivered are spruce. Is that the standard these days? Would have thought pine to be cheaper/more common. 

[Paa Langfart]

In the south it is listed generally as SPF - spruce, pine, or fir.  I personally prefer southern yellow pine but most contractors dont or wont work with it.

[LinvilleGorge]

2 hours ago, OnlyPantherFaninMaine said:

Just noticed the 350 2x4s that were ordered and delivered are spruce. Is that the standard these days? Would have thought pine to be cheaper/more common. 

Kinda odd to be honest. Pine is generally standard. For framing in a basement to hold up some sheetrock it doesn't matter. 

[SmokinwithWilly]

On 8/7/2023 at 6:09 PM, OnlyPantherFaninMaine said:

Getting ready to finish my basement (Maine) - approximately 1,600-1,700 square feet. Funds are tight so will be doing it incrementally and obviously need to start with framing around the concrete as well as some interior wall creation and framing around the plumbing in the ceiling. 
 
Have a contractor I know through a mutual relationship - have known him for a couple years but it’s not like we are super close. He came by the other week to take a look and offered to do the framing for me. I saw the invoice from a local lumber company today - $2000 for lumber. I was quoted at $6000 all in for the materials + labor of strictly the framing. Is that common for the labor to be 2X the materials? He works alone and said it would only take him a couple days. No insulation, electric, or drywall included. 
 

Does this price feel reasonable to folks? Feels a bit high to me but I know people can essentially name their prices in our current environment. I was hoping it would be more like $4.5K-$5K. 

Remember that markup has other costs built into the price. I never let a customer buy materials because if they order the wrong thing or don’t inspect it I’m likely dealing with sub par materials. Where I am in the PNW, single man trucks are operating at $125 an hour and up, $185 for a 2 man. Price sounds reasonable to me depending on how good he is. My only concern would be the couple of days comment. Most contractors know exactly how long a job will take. Ill pay more for top end foundation and framing contractors because those affect everything else.