All Forum Posts by: Leland S.

I have a 21+ policy, but the guy contacted me saying he was in town for a funeral and I decided to take his cash outside of the platform. Was a big mistake not to sniff that out. I'm stringent on the 21+ now and have increased my House Rules to very clearly state there are fines and I will call the police if there are unauthorized parties. 

Aside from verification of existing license status in the state of operation, what other means do you advise a GC be vetted before signing a contract for work? 

I had a High School graduation party rent my place in 2020 ended up with half the high school partying in my house. Called the cops and reported underage drinking/pot but nobody came out. Place was wrecked. I tracked them down on social media and found their parents. One of the parents owned a catering business. I sent them the photo album from my security cameras of them smoking pot and drinking, among other things. Needless to say the one dad covered at least the damages but the guy behind it didn't pay a dime. The next weekend the kid filed a false noise complaint against my place. I really wanted to get this kid by reporting him to his new school after his mom blew me off, but figured I'd take the high road. 

My current builder has been not performing on a project I have and it is clear they are not doing anything to change their posture and improve or make up schedule. They are 50% complete and have exhausted 95% of the schedule they initially said they would have no problem meeting. I've given them many warnings but they still will not provide me a realistic schedule to complete. 

I imagine it will create  bit of hostility if I switch builders and cut them. Anyone with experience on how to best go about this would be nice. I am working with a lawyer currently thinking to give them a demand letter, but I don't suspect anything will change so long as I agree to pay them to slack off. I assume I should start working with a  new builder and get quotes before I cancel the contract so that the job has as much overlap between builders as possible. I am on a tight deadline.

I have a 3 floor townhome with trusses and a flat roof. I hired an insulation guy for flash/batt and noticed he didn't insulate between floors. When asked he and my GC said it's not required. I believe I am supposed to follow the 2018 IRC code, but it's so dang complicated you need a specialty engineer to understand it. Ultimately it will show up in my framing inspection, which I haven't heard back from yet, but my assumption would be that every space between interior drywall and exterior siding should have a layer of insulation. 

@Eric Teran. Using the truss drawings I did verify the measurement of the opening for staircases is 135" for that level (posted on the other thread). 

I think I was using that calculator in error assuming that the nosing was part of the run length, but it doesn't appear to be based on the fact that overall run does not change. In that case, if I use the maximum code limit of 3/4 "nosing" or in this case tread overlap, I get a 10.5 equivalent "run" on their stringer calculator. This brings me just under the 135" floor opening calculation early on the 5th tread (so some headroom as you step down). This makes me feel a bit better, but I had better get shop drawings from the metal guy doing the stringer to ensure all these are dialed in. I have no drawings to date of the stringer design.

FYI - the trusses were designed by MiTek. @Nik Moushon mentioned they are the standard, so not sure why they designed it that way. But after the project is over I'm likely to file a complaint to the state licensing board for their failure to read drawings. 

The engineer provided a solution to add 2 3" metal posts to support the trusses they put where the open staircase is supposed to go. They haven't yet gone in to date to show you but they cut out the framing in the floor for the posts.

It is obvious the framing compy doesn't know how to read architecture plans and designed a standard plan.

@Eric Teran Thanks. I pulled the dwg up in Autocad online to see what my architects assumptions were. It appears he used a 4"x11" tread. I think that was my original plan and looks like I'm stuck with that to meet code unless I add some blocking bar between treads. The actual tread measures 11.25" run which adds to the run of the staircase, according to the calculator about 4". I might be one step off from getting the 80" clearance as the floor opening is only 134", so it's coming right to the edge of the tread that violates. I don't know why the architect designed it so close. Also, the opening of the staircase underneath is 134" but this website is calculating 176" to the base of the stringer which means the staircase will oddly have dead floor space under it. The framing has a short truss at the head of each staircase opening so I can't slant the headroom. It is very tight as it is. The truss is supporting the staircase above so it can't move either. I may have to see if the tread manufacturer can give me an 11" depth tread. 

I have a 4 unit townhome complex going up I intend to short term rent in the Nashville area for long term hold. The lot is currently owned under one LLC out of TN right now. I have an exemption from paying LLC taxes for a "family owned small business" that my CPA told me about. I wanted to make sure I organize the new townhomes so that I have maximum tax benefit and legal protection. I was originally thinking adding 4 LLC's to own each Townhome. Any recommendations?