All Forum Posts by: Nik Moushon

 I think you misunderstood me(or I, you) but a Construction Consultant is different from a traditional GC. Dont go to any GC and ask if they are willing to be a consultant for you and have partial work...that will not end well.

@Johnny L.

I wont waste time echoing what a lot of others what said but will add something new.

Even though this is not a development, you can still make money doing new builds, but you need to find ways to add value. Its incredibly hard right now to make money on new builds when you are just a client. Material costs are through the roof right now on pretty much everything. For example, a piece of wood sheathing went up $5 a sheet where I am at in just one month! So this material price increase have absolutely eaten ALL the profit margins that would be a typical in-fill build that you are doing. Even the demand from the housing shortage can't make up the difference. 

First thing I would suggest, since you've invested a lot of time already into this specific lot (hopefully you havent bought it yet) is to look into Construction Consultants. The title is pretty broad title, so not every CC will do what you are looking for, but there are some that will act as a "partial GC". By that I mean they will act as a typical GC but will push some of the work on to you. For example, the one I am working with does all the typical responsibilities of a GC but leaves paying ALL the subs to me. This saves him time, over head costs and liability (so less insurance and risk). So he doesn't charge as much as a typical GC would. He also charged me a fixed fee instead of a percentage and does not charge for COs (Change Orders), which is where most GC will make extra profit and add more costs on to you. Now, I know what I'm doing so the changes I've made during construction (there are always some) have been minimal and mostly do to trying to have to cut costs in this market. I don't know if you'll find anyone like this in your area or not but its worth a look. Maybe you'll be able to find some profit margins...odds are they they wont be enough. 

The next thing I would suggest is not building on this specific lot. It sounds like its a market value lot that is targeted to a person looking to build their family home. You need to find a empty lot that is way under market value or one that you can add value to. By that it usually means subdividing a lot. Be warned though, this is not cheap because it requires cash up front. But in this market, especially this market, developing or building anything is very difficult. Prices are all over the place for material and labor and basically impossible to nail down as they are changing daily. If you dont factor in a large enough profit margin or large contingency costs...you will get eaten alive. 

Its not impossible to make money here. You just have to be even more cautious and extremely picky right now. Thats how its always been when your at the top of the market bubble....covid just made it worse.

 I agree with you the OP needs to stop calling himself a developer but...you dont need to be a jerk about it. 

8 weeks is not that bad of a turn around, especially in covid era. Its been that way since last year for most of America. Texas might not have seen this since you guys didnt have serious covid spread until the summer but for the rest of us this is the norm now. Sorry to say but...get us to it. It might get a little better as your cities get more use to the new procedures but I doubt it would drop below 6 weeks. A normal turn around time is 4 weeks (pre-covid)...who knows what the new normal is going to be. 

And expect the same kind of delays for materials and labor to. Start adjusting your schedule and pre-paring now or you will get screwed over later when it all is "unexpected". And prices just keep going higher and higher. My lumber prices have increased at least 15-20% in just the last 4 months. So seeing a noticeable price increase from wood at the beginning of every week is scary when you aren't expecting it. So expect it.

Can't believe another month has gone by. Unfortunately it seems to have been a slow month. Weather hasn't been friendly. 

MEP rough-in is complete. I had been originally told by the inspector that I didnt have to have a 100cfm fan over the range, that the in-room vent on the microwave was enough...well he came back and walked back that claim. He is lucky I didn't have drywall up yet...I would've been livid if I had to cut open my ceiling. He also forced me to put in a booster fan on the dryer vent as it was just over the max length....because adding more things for the lent to collect on makes SOOOO much sense. 

Windows have been a royal pain in the ***....the one window they said was on back order they ended up misplacing and couldnt find it....after bs'ing on its delivery date for a month. Then they had to remake it and it would take 2 weeks. Then it got delayed because of weather. So its suppose to be here this wednesday....we will see. So that would be 2 months later than the rest. Home Depot also put in the powder room windows wrong so they got order wrong and didn't match the rest of the windows. But of course since we can "prove" that they ordered them wrong its not their fault...a bunch of flipping bs if you ask me. But even with re-ordering those replacements they still got here quicker than the one window I've been missing this entire time. So all but that one window is installed.

The main roof, which is asphalt shingles, got installed. Nice to have that done. The lower roofs, which will be standing seam metal roofs, we are holding off on until siding gets installed so they dont get beat up by the siding installers. The siding is scheduled to arrive the second week of March. 

We passed the framing inspection last week so insulation is starting today. Hopefully drywall will start this week too. Framing inspection here is only done when everything that goes in the walls is complete. 

Not too many interesting photos on the inside but here are some updated photos from the exterior. Having the windows in adds a lot the elevations. Those triple panel sliding glass doors where pricey but going to be worth it. Lots of light getting brought it and help make the smaller unit size feel not so small. 

The only thing missing on the exterior is the front porch roof. This should be framed in this week or next since siding is only 3 weeks out. 

First, get an architect under contract and start the design work. Find an architect that does medical. Having to hire another consultant is expensive. If you hire an architect that does medical/dental they will know who the good GC are that have done medical before. Technically, any commercial GC can do it but that doesnt mean they will do it right.  

@Ryan Kawash 

First, ask if he has ordered everything. Not when he plans for it to be in. Get him to pin down that he has ordered it. Because delays right now are almost a guarantee on pretty much everything. COVID has screwed over pretty much every deliverable. If you don't pin him down on a date when he ordered them, and from who, he will just keep using COVID as an excuse. Whether its a legit reason or not. 

Second, unless HD has EVERYTHING you need IN STOCK at the store, expect delays there too. I ordered interior doors and they originally gave me a 2 week lead time. Then it got delayed for a month. Without them telling us. Now it got delayed another month. Again, without tell us. Home Depot is not your savior....and they really dont care. So be careful before you just go around your contractor. You may get stuck with at least a partial bill for the stuff already ordered, if not the entire kitchen. Cabinets almost always require 50% down payment, which you will have to pay back the contractor even if you cancel the order. 

 That specific one did end up closing last month. I'll be keeping an eye out for it if it pops back up. That would've been a fun one. I liked that area a lot. Oh well.... and of course I've got my eye out for any other land deals in the area. 

Now...if only we could convince @Steve Vaughan to come join the dark side of developing hahaha

@Jay Hinrichs

Glad to here this is going so well for you...especially no bank troubles. I've seen a lot of developers, locally, sell out their developments for they even started because banks tightened up around here and gave them too much troubles. Keep crushing it. Hopefully we can find something to work on up here some time. 

@Andrew Tonkin There are several things that need to get unpacked here and figured out. Your story isnt perfectly clear on a couple things.

First, the GC doesnt own a permit....the Owner of the property does. He might have paid for it, and you would reimburse him, but its on the Owners property. You can cancel the permit, pull a copy of it and request any information regarding the permit since you are the property Owner. You can even cancel the permit. Canceling it would rid his name on the permit but you would have to resubmit it and probably have to pay all the fees again, maybe not. Just call and talk to the city....I'm sure its not the first time they have dealt with an Owner/GC relationship going south. He can not sue you over this...well he can...you can sue over just about anything these days. The most he could sue you for is getting reimbursement for permit fees...but you said you paid for those already.

Second, you have not made clear who the architect is working for and this will be the linchpin here. Hands down the architect, or designer, owns the copyright to the construction drawings. Not the Owner or the GC. That has been clearly established in law and they dont even need to have a copyright symbol on them. They are treated pretty much the same way art is to an artist. 

Now, where it gets muddy is who hired the architect/designer? If it was you, the Owner, then you have every right to re-use those drawings and submit that permit as many times as you want....on your ONE building. i.e. a single time use. Now if it was the GC, then he is kind of right...in the sense that you are not able to submit those plans but wrong that he owns them. A lot of time a GC will have a drafter that will do up plans for him, especially for residential work, so there is no "architect" just a designer. So in that case he would be the owner of the drawings. BUT if you paid him for the plans, and the were paid in full, then you would be able to use them. If he is refusing to let you build off the plans you paid for then he would have to refund your money.

Third, You have the right to request all of the unused funds back from the GC....unless it was stated that it was a deposit. If it was a deposit then your out of luck. What you are probably no aware of is that most contracts have a "Terminate for Convenience" clause that lets the owner walk away from the contract. BUT that usually states that the GC is entitled to be paid for all work done, plus over head and profit for that work, AS WELL AS, the remainder of the difference for the over head and profit that the GC would've made if the project was complete. Depends on how the contract was written. 

Fourth, READ YOUR CONTRACT!!!! Your contract could change the out come of anything I said above. This is where so many people get screwed over is because they dont know (or dont bother to know) what is the contract they signed. If you sue him and your own contract goes against you, you could have to cover his court costs on top of your own. Make sure you read you contract, understand it and the go talk with an atterny. Do not try to take him to small claims court on your own...you will lose. 

Oh, and one more thing, NEVER give a GC a check to cover anything. Either, you pay for it yourself, have the GC pay for it and you reimburse him or you get an invoice that you pay at a later date. There are very very few things that you would need to pay the GC directly for things.