- Not buying our own generator. On our builder’s estimate, there was no provision for temporary power. When I asked Doug how we would handle the temporary power, he said they would use their generator until a wall was up to accommodate an electrical panel. I thought that was pretty good, until we were charged $30/day plus fuel for the use of it. We are now 74 days in, and although Doug indicated he didn’t charge the full rent, we could easily have bought a used Honda 5500 generator for less than half the rent. I checked the commercial rental rates, and they were $700/month.
- Not communicating enough with builder to get quotes before delivering service. We have been billed some astronomical charges, that we didn’t have any warning of, during the foundation phase. The builders just use the contractors they’re used to working with, without getting competing quotes, in the interest of efficiency. For instance, the form rentals were estimated at $1600, by both our builder and one of the other general contractors we got to estimate. The bill came in at 3x that amount, because the forms were needed for 31 days, 21 days over the 10-day limit. We were just presented with yet another bill for $9500 for trucking 42 loads of sand, yard scrapings, and road base (this in addition to $3500 previous bill from the trucking company.) We didn’t discuss this service or the need for it with any other trucking companies, nor even with our builders. It was just done.
I have tried to communicate with the builder, to let him know that we have to work within a budget (the budget now is based on available working capital). At least it would be good to know what to expect before the bill comes in.
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Brendan sent me here, and I must say that your blog is fascinating! I will bookmark this excellent resource for when I plan to construct a ‘green’ home of my own. Many thanks!
That’s crazy that work just goes ahead, blowing past estimates. At the bike shop, if any costs were going to be higher than expected, the first thing we’d have to do is call the customer and get an OK. Some costs obviously can’t be avoided, but occasionally, one can re-evaluate their source, choice of product (fill, in this case?), etc.
Having a generator after the job’s done wouldn’t be such a bad thing, you could flip it, or keep it in the crawlspace for when those nasty winter storms blow out your power. Anyway…maybe next time you build a dream house….
One thing about budgets…..\murphy’s law is always at work!!!