I've never built a house before

"Cash Rewards" (cashrewards) 03/28/2020 at 16:03 • Filed to: None

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But I’m not sure these folks have, either

Top shot shows the 18" height difference between what looks to be a single car garage and the driveway. Second shot is a crane they built, seemingly unaware you could rent them. It's typically two guys building this thing. Definitely not a professional operation.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Cash Rewards 03/28/2020 at 16:34

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Maybe they can rent a massive grinder and take out a bit of the concrete. That seems like a big oops that you could not possibly miss by accident.

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > Cash Rewards 03/28/2020 at 18:02

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It’s a hover car garage. They are prepare for the future 

Cash Rewards > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 03/28/2020 at 18:08

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The rest of the neighborhood is going to look like fools!

SmugAardvark > Cash Rewards 03/28/2020 at 18:37

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This reminds me of the nightmare that was the house next door to me.

A few years ago in late fall , the renters moved out. The owner of the house decided to have the entire roof redone (the houses in my neighborhood were built in the 1920's and 30's). Well, he was a cheap-ass that paid an unlicensed crew to do the work, and all without a permit from the city. They would show up at 5am, and start doing heavy construction by 6am every morning. Of course, people started complaining, and eventually word got around to the city, which promptly red-flagged the site.

The owner never bothered to go through the proper channels, and instead let the house sit without a roof for an entire winter (northern California’s rainy season). As you could expect, everything inside soon began to rot, and mold took over. The moment I stepped outside, all I could smell was moldy drywall. Knowing it would cost more than it was worth to fix the myriad issues , the owner just gave up on the property altogether, and allowed the bank to repossess it.

It was bought by an investor from out of state, who had his two sons handle the tear- down and full rebuild of the property. They were nice enough young guys, but had never actually constructed an entire house before. They lived in the detached garage out back, and spent their days doing, then re-doing everything. It took another 18 months, but the house finally came together, and then they listed it for sale.

And it sat. And sat. And sat some more. Entire open house days would go by with hardly any visitors. I decided one day to walk around during an open house to see why no one seemed interested. Upon going inside, the workmanship showed. Window sills were occasionally slightly uneven, every window pane throughout the house was slightly different in size or design. They had built the house over a portion of the driveway, so you couldn’t get anything bigger than a late ‘60s British roadster to the garage. The layout itself was just slightly strange, as in there was a hallway in the back of the house that just was a sort of dead end, like they meant to put another room out back, but ran out of space. On top of all that, they left a huge oak tree out back that was literally resting against the eaves on the roof. The first big storm after completion put a hole in the roof.

It also didn’t help that they wanted $1.5 million.

Eventually, it did sell, at well below asking price. That was 9 months ago. In that span of time, no one has moved in. However, the guys that built it have still been around regularly. I’m guessing it is because the buyers stipulated that the whole laundry list of things that were done incorrectly needed to be remedied first.

But at least it looks nice when you drive by!

Cash Rewards > SmugAardvark 03/28/2020 at 19:09

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Yup, I bet this goes nearly identically. Thank God it's a block or two away, because that sounds like a nightmare

SmugAardvark > Cash Rewards 03/28/2020 at 19:14

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It was.

Thankfully, the two brothers that were doing the vast majority of work  building the new house were genuinely nice guys. They noticed I was coming and going from my house at odd hours, so they came over one day and asked if I worked night shifts (which, at the time, I did). Then they asked what hours I usually slept , so they could try and do their loudest work outside those times.

They definitely did not need to do that, and I told them as much. But their reasoning was that they knew this was going to be a very long and drawn-out project for them, so it would be best to stay on the good side of the neighbors that would be having to deal with all the commotion. Plus they wanted to know when I’d be awake in case they needed help with something.

RacinBob > SmugAardvark 03/28/2020 at 20:50

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Care to share a street view of before and after?

SmugAardvark > RacinBob 03/28/2020 at 22:46

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