Building a house is almost the most horrific thing a couple can take on. As with raising children, you have no real idea of the final cost, either monetarily or emotionally. And, as with child rearing, you want a final product that is honest and won't nickle and dime you to death right when you go on Social Security.
We were so fortunate to have Thom, the Brians, and his younger fellow, Gabriel build this for us. They are local guys who do good work. We know where they live and they stand behind every screw in every piece of plywood.
When we started talking to Thom about this project, Pat mentioned that it was important for him that all the screws be horizontal to maintain the FLW quality. As the work has progressed, we came to understand that the positioning of the screw heads was not nearly important as the mitered joints, precision joiner work and care in choosing which piece of wood goes where.
This is a quality house from top to bottom. But, banks don't understand quality. They understand and lend money on bathrooms and square footage.
Hence the debacle of the past five years, when the houses got bigger, and I think shoddier, sold for "flipping" purposes and built by illegal workers who had no stake in the long term results. They're just trying to send money back home.
Right now we live in a hundred year old house. It is as solid now as when it was built. Hopefully someone a hundred years from now will have the same apprecation for our little house.
Our builder called us yesterday!! I haven't talked to him in 6 or 7 years. He was trying to drum up some business. Just as with everyone else in that profession, in this economy things had slowed down for him. He wanted to let us know that they had expanded into remodelling, etc. just in case we were looking to have anything done.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny how easy it was to talk with him--the guy who built our house--when I have so much trouble being comfortable talking to other acquaintances that I've known much longer and seen more frequently.
Just shows the sort of close relationship you develop with your builder--and it's nice when it was a good one. BB
Well, I know. Anna really had a let down when Thom left her. She and Mike felt abandoned, and when you think about it, they know more about you than most people do. Pat and I have had disagreements in front of them, and they have to understand your daily routines because they are building to accommodate them. Also, you can't be around people, thinking people, talking on a daily basis about what you can and can't afford without them getting a pretty clear idea of your financial situation, which acquaintances never really know. We've been with Thom now for almost a year. He started with us adding on to the biz building. As soon as we can afford it, he'll come back to build our garage, but that will be a year at least.
ReplyDeleteO, and here's another thing, in that FLW documentary on PBS, one striking thing, is that for most people it was the MOST important relationship of their lives. And these were married people, people who lived fascinating, highly functioning lives.
When we finished our country home, I was talking to Mike the builder and told him I thought it had been a lovely experience and he answered, very cryptically, "it's not always like this."