Damn contractors!

[Northeast Rod Run]

Originally Posted by Track Junky

So the city does not require you to submit a set of plans for approval on an addition?
Are you sure your not on Fantasy Island?

Sorry, that was to easy. Good luck!!

You don't have to submit a formal set of plans. You can just work off pretty much a sketch.

The thing is if you do that, they are much more strict with their approvals, so most people will overbuild, but many people still do it that way. When you do have plans though, the city is much more forgiving because the designer's stamp is on it, so all the responsibility falls on him instead of the city.

Yuo can even pull your own building permit without having a contractor

[Track Junky]

That goes for pretty much anywhere. Most agencies require 3 sets at a certain size plus one extra elevation page.

Once you open up the wall on the existing structure your going to have to place a beam with a post on each end. Beam and post size will have to be calculated. In addition, the load has now transferred to each end of the beam which means a new footing on each side. Another thing is that once you have opened up that wall it has lost it's shear value and an engineer is going to have to figure out what hardware and material to use to regain it's shear value.

My recommendation, get something drawn up and engineered then make your phone calls. You are wasting peoples time when you dont have a set of plans. Gas and time cost money.

[Northeast Rod Run]

One guy finally came by today and i only talked to him last week, but then again he is a friend. He already said he can't even think about touching it until mid-summer, but that is ok by me because I'm trying to pay cash for almost all of it and that just gives me more time to save.

I've told guys that I don't have plans yet, but they say it doesn't matter to them. Some said that they wanted to come by first to see the lot anyway. That way when they get the plans they already know the site. A couple of them have even said that they don't need any because they have their own software that they generate plans from.

[Track Junky]

Originally Posted by Northeast Rod Run

I've told guys that I don't have plans yet, but they say it doesn't matter to them. Some said that they wanted to come by first to see the lot anyway. That way when they get the plans they already know the site. A couple of them have even said that they don't need any because they have their own software that they generate plans from.

No, it doesn't matter to them but they didn't come running over to take a look though did they. I gaurantee if you had an approved set of plans they would be alot more inclined to pay you a visit.

[waynieZ]

Even with plans they don't always come. I gave a copy of stamped plans to a contractor and he still has them a year after it got built. we played phone and going to his current site tag, nothing ever came of it. I was also told if you pull the permit the contractor can leave the job while not complete. But if he pulls it he is responsible for it. You'll know when you talk to the right guy he will be interested and be in contact with you in an acceptable time frame..

[John510]

Go on yelp and find a good one. You can tell by the reviews before you even call if they will be great or suck.

[Northeast Rod Run]

Originally Posted by John510

Go on yelp and find a good one. You can tell by the reviews before you even call if they will be great or suck.

hmmmm...................

[makoshark]

Originally Posted by Northeast Rod Run

hmmmm...................

That may be fine, but I would stick with someone you can get a recommendation from someone you know. You never know on those type of sites who the person is giving the review.

As for contractors not calling back, I'm a contractor, and I have recently experienced just that on a job I was on. I cannot explain as to why they are doing it. If I ran into a job I simply did not want to do, then I would either tell the potential customer I was just too busy to do the job or give an overly high estimate. Construction work has begun to pick back up, so many are busy. The pickings are slim compared to pre-2008 as many contractors couldn't tough out the recession. I would say, if the contractor doesn't do a follow-up with you, then do not bother calling them back. You're just asking for future grief if you do manage to get one of them to actually start working on your project.

Pay my traveling expenses and room and board and I'll come knock it out for ya

[OOCustoms]

Im no longer in the roofing biz directly since Im in the Air Force now but a site I was and am still on is Roofing.com. It has many very good contractors on it. I know your looking for a general contractor as well so you might try going on there and see if anyone is on there in your area and maybe has general contractors they know and use. Like I said Ive been on the site for a couple years now and there are plenty of very good roofers on there. Im not talking about just guys who roof for a living but guys who live and breath roofing which is very rare. Anyways I hope this helps and if you need any advice on roofing just let me know.

Marc

[Northeast Rod Run]

Got my estimate by email today and I am very happy with it. I guess it's good to have friends that are willing to pass their discounts on to you.

I should be talking to the contractor by week's end, just to work out the fine details. I'm hoping I can at least start the foundation work by early summer, but in reality I will be happy even if it takes all year to get it done. Just don't want my '69 to spend another winter inside a tent

The biggest thing now, is just figuring out how to pay for it