Arranging for the Utility Pole

Yesterday, I met with an engineer from Entergy, our electric utility. On my street, the utility poles are across the street. My neighbor has a utility pole in the alley between his house and our shared property line. Wires come from across the street (hanging through the corner of my property) to this pole. Then they get their power from "their" pole.

(Click image above for a larger version.) In order to keep the wires from hanging across my property, Entergy will install a new utility pole near the street just to the neighbor's side of the property line. This is on the parish easment. When this is complete, wires from across the street will swing to this pole instead, and then continue on to the neighbor's pole in the alley. Meanwhile, my electricity will come down the new pole and feed my house via buried cable.

Lumber Bids - Allow 2-4 Weeks!

Don't wait too long before you get bids on your lumber. I was thinking I would wait until I was about done gathering framing bids before I looked into lumber. But I called two lumber yards today, and they're backed up about 2-1/2 to 3 weeks just to get a material take-off and a bid back to you.

Anyway, my one bid for framing so far is $6.75 per sqft. My friend who builds houses in Hammond says that's way too high. He expects it should be less than $6. He admits that he's not sure where the prices are down on the south shore right now, but he still thinks $6.75 is too high. Another guy I know in the contracting business locally says that this is within the range of what we see here right now. He knows of this framer and swears by his work. He says there are other framers here that will charge up to $8.

Finally, a tip: keep a sheet that tracks where each copy of your plans currently is. I have six copies for distribution, and I know who has the five that are out right now. I'm trying to get two of them back from people who shouldn't need them anymore.

Bids & Legal Stuff

Today was a busy day for a Saturday! I started by meeting with the air condition man that my family has used for years. He's a perfectionist and he knows what he's doing. So I plan to use him unless his prices are sky high.

Later, I finally got a framer to meet with me. That has been a struggle. His bid was higher than I was told to expect, at $6.75 per square foot. I look forward to getting other bids to compare to.

I also went to Luling to look at the work of one of my potential slab guys. This job is in the forming stage. The work looked neat enough. I saw another slab that had already been poured, and I wish I could find out who did that job! It looked very neat, and the finish was level and polished. My guy's work also looked okay for the stage it was at.

I also met with a lawyer who is working on the contract template I will use when hiring each tradesman. He gave me a draft of the contract, the "acceptance of work" form, and the lien waiver. He also gave me material to read so I can learn about this construction business and the issues I need to know about with Louisiana law. I'll be absorbing that over the next few days and getting back to him so we can narrow down to the final versions of the contracts & forms.

One thing I learned is that it's best to have each contract and acceptance form "recorded" with the parish. The way I understand it so far, this makes everything more official and provides backing if someone wants to make a claim or otherwise cause trouble.

About Your Plans

My designer provided six copies of the sets of plans. Two of those copies go to the parish when I apply for the permit. From all I read in owner-builder books, I expected I would need more copies. Now that I'm in the process of getting bids from various tradesmen, I see why.

I had 3 more copies made so that I can get more bids at the same time. Contractors want to take the plans with them to study as they make their estimate. These guys are hard enough to get in touch with to begin with. I don't want to miss opportunities by not having a set of plans handy when they're available to meet. I found a local copy center that charged $3.50 per page, and I have 9 pages in my plan set.

Most contractors don't need all the pages in the set. For example, the slab and piling contractors only need the 3 pages that show the plot plan, the slab design, and the piling details. But since most of my activity right now is dealing with these parts of the job, I was glad I had the copies made.


Learning About Contractors Through Your Plans?

Some plans I've loaned out have come back neat and clean. One person in particular had them for 2-3 days and brought them back a bit folded and ragged with a coffee stain. I wonder how much that tells me about the neatness and quality of their work? This is a slab guy (my first form/pour/finish bid), and I asked him for the location of a current job where I could go see his work. So I'll be able to see for myself.


Plumbers

In other news, I'm waiting for my first plumbing bid. I visited a job his crew was doing, and I was satisfied (not that I have any deep insight into what I saw or anything...). They add plaster under the tubs and showers to give them a good solid feel to your feet, they secure pipes to studs to keep them solid, and they clean up after themselves. I was told that this guy was very good, but not cheap. He does seem professional, which is more than I can say for another plumber I met today...

I went to his house, and he knew I was coming. It's not that I expected him to clean the whole house, but there was clutter everywhere. He spread out my plans on top of some clutter on the coffe table. He gave them a quick study as be handled them roughly & carelessly. Then he spouted something about my laundry room floor drain requiring an expensive drain with some other expensive thing. He threw out a range of $14k-15k for the job, and didn't even want to keep the plans so he could go over it in more detail. That was it. When I left, he didn't even bother to walk me to the front door. I don't think I'll be hiring him... :) But it was good to at least get a price range to guage other bids by.

Plans Stamped - Getting Bids

On Friday, I picked up the stamped plans at the engineer's office. Since I had a designer draw my plans and not an architect, either an architect or an engineer needed to review & stamp them. So now I have the stamped plans and the survey. I've got everything I need to go apply for the permit at the parish office.

Since I don't know exactly when construction will start, and the permit is techically only good for 6 months, I don't know if I should wait longer before getting it. On the other hand, I don't want to wait too long and then discover a problem that's going to delay my permit and delay the start of the project! The guy I talked to at the parish office said that as long as there is continuing progress on the project, they allow a good deal more than 6 months. I'll wait another week or so, or until I have a solid start date from the piling contractor.

I've started collecting bids. So far, I've got 3 for the pilings, and 3 for the post-tension work in the slab (installing the cables and then stressing them later). I've had a couple of contractors recommended to me for forming & pouring the slab, but neither have returned my voicemails. I've also spoken to one plumber who was recommended to me. I was told he's not the cheapest, but he's very good.

For pilings, Howard Piling Co. seems to be popular here. A general contractor at my church recommended them, and then several piling companies I contacted at random also pointed me to Howard when the job I described was too big for their equipment. But I also got recommendations for two different companies owned by brothers named Tassin. Keith and Paul own separate companies that do the same thing. Paul's company seems bigger and one person described him as thinking he's "too important to call you back". I found that to be true after I left 2 voice mails for him with no return call, so I called his brother. In the end, I wound up getting bids from both. Keith has the lower of all three prices. So then it comes down to any other factors that might be apparent.

For post-tension slabs, the company I've found with the most personal recommendations is Tech-Con Systems in Slidell. And they also gave me the second to lowest price. So I will probably go with them.

I'd like to have at least these contractors signed and lined up before the start: pilings, slab, post-tension, plumber, framers, roofers, and bricklayers. That way I can hopefully get the house closed in and protected from the elements as soon as possible. Even if the rest of the project goes on for months, it will be protected from weather.

Paul Lagrange, Enegry Efficiency Consultant

There's a local guy who consults on how to make houses energy efficient and maximize air quality & comfort. His name is Paul Lagrange. He built houses for years, and now he does consulting along with a call-in radio show on Saturday mornings on WWL 870AM.

For $300, he meets with you and goes over your plans. Then he reviews them and puts together a written manual/checklist outlining everything you should do in your home to make it energy efficient and as comfortable as possible. I met with him last Friday at his home office. My mom went with me because I know she'll think of questions I wouldn't know to ask. Paul took us across the street to a home he's building for his parents.

Among other things, we saw the unvented attic. This is where there is no ridge vent or any other opening to let air flow in & out of the attic. Instead, spray foam insulation is in the roof rafters and even covers the rafters themselves. This makes the attic part of the home's thermal envelope. Kind of like an Igloo ice chest. Pipes for plumbing vent stacks and the like go through the foam & the roof to the outside. Bathroom fans are ducted to the outside via small vents in the overhangs. There is no insulation between the attic and the living area of the house. Even on the hottest days down here in the South, the attic never gets more than 10 degrees warmer than the rest of the house. You do hear people that are not for this kind of attic, but from all I've heard I'm sold on it.

There were a lot of other details he pointed out just during the hour we spent with him. I have no doubt that the information I get from Paul will be well worth the $300 I'm spending. If you're on the north or south shores of Lake Pontchartrain, I highly recommend the services that he provides.