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Choosing a Construction Contractor – To Hire or Build Yourself?

Written by adminNovember 19, 2021

If your budget is limited, then after registering the land and agreeing on a heap of documents for construction contractors, you are faced with the central question – to build a house on your own, or do you still need to hire a general contractor?

Both options are possible with construction, unlike house design work, which is better to give to a specialized company (unless, of course, you are a civil engineer). Below we will talk about the pros and cons of each of them.

Hiring a General Contractor

This option is unambiguous for those who have no financial problems. There is even nothing to think about – if there is enough money, then why spend all the time at the construction site in the sweat of your brow when you can entrust this business to professionals.

However, even if everything is not so rosy with your money, we advise you to think about the advantages of this option.

How to Choose a General Contractor?

First of all, pick up a few construction contractors companies with good reviews on the Internet and in real life. We do not recommend starting your selection by comparing prices, as you can end up building cheaply and then spend twice as much on fixing the shortcomings.

Contact the selected companies and try to find out the following things from them:

what types of work the company has licenses for;
how many projects and what level (large, trim) the contractor has already implemented;
Ask for the contacts and addresses of several clients to familiarize yourself with the quality of the contractor’s work on the ground.

Contact the company clients whose addresses you received and ask them about their experience of working with this contractor. Perhaps not everyone will meet you halfway, but many will react with understanding. Indeed, in our time, it is not easy to find good contractors, and they, before starting construction, probably did the same thing as you did – they figured out whether they could trust this contractor.

If the company has refused to give you the addresses of clients, you should already think about it because no one will hide grateful clients; they are the best “live” advertising for the company.

From personal communication with clients of companies, you will learn what you cannot discover anywhere else. You can, of course, try your luck on the Internet for a start, but here it is not always clear which positive reviews you can trust and which ones were written by the contractor’s employees themselves. It is not always possible to believe even negative reviews – another company’s employees can quickly leave them in the competition for the market.

Types of General Contractors

There are two main types of general contractors:

Construction organizations that are engaged in construction themselves and at the same time perform the duties of a general contractor.
Firms that are not engaged in construction but only search for and select subcontractors organize and control their work at the facility.

To make you understand the difference between construction companies and general contractors more clearly, we will tell you more about what they do.

General Contractor:

Calculates the cost of all work (estimate work)
Manages construction budget spending
Bears full responsibility for the quality and result of construction work.
Searches hires, organizes, and controls the work of related organizations – subcontractors. As a rule, these are narrow-profile organizations that are engaged in only one type of activity.

Digging pits,
Foundation building,
Walling,
Laying of floors,
Roof construction,
Installation of doors/windows,
Installation of electrical wiring, plumbing, ventilation, water supply
Interior finishing works,
Improvement of the site

Thus, by contacting the general contractor company, you get a personal consultant and organizer of the work and transfer the entire burden of responsibility for the performance of work and their result onto him. All that is required of you is money and periodic monitoring.

Construction Company

Unlike a general contractor, a construction company has its workers of all primary specialties and construction equipment. Due to this, she does not need to look for subcontractors and pay them for the performance of some work; she does everything on her own. The cost of construction is calculated as a rule from the cost of labor plus overhead and profit. Therefore, in this option, as a rule, you can save money compared to general contractors who pay for the services of subcontractors with already pledged profits and wind up their earnings from above.

However, in this case, there is one nuance. If you agree with a small construction company, then with some probability, it will not be able to perform the entire necessary range of work on its own, and it will still have to attract some narrow specialists so that the cost will rise.

Otherwise, you get everything the same – full responsibility for the work performed under the contract following the project.

We Build a House Ourselves

Russia has always been famous for many talents, that is, people who can quickly and reasonably efficiently do something with their own hands without professional education. Therefore, the option to build a house ourselves is quite possible for us.

However, there are many adverse side effects when choosing this option. First, you can’t do it all alone. At least you should have one assistant, and preferably two or more. You can hire guest workers, but they should have at least a general knowledge of construction. We do not recommend attracting friends, as personal experience in construction roofing services NYC shows that this only brings problems.

Secondly, you must understand that you cannot do everything yourself, and for some work, it will simply be necessary to hire subcontractors.

The main rule that you must follow when building on your own is: “if you don’t know how to do it, call a specialist. ” You do not want your house to start cracking at the seams or even collapse at one point, do you? Therefore, treat any work exceptionally responsibly. Read specialized literature, even better – consult with an experienced person in this matter.

Even if you hire subcontractors for particularly demanding or complex jobs, you will still get 20-40% savings. The savings will be the more you do yourself, but do not strive for benefits at the expense of quality.

Pros of Self-Construction

You save money. The most critical and obvious plus. Since you organize the work yourself and buy materials yourself, you save at least 20% on the services of a contractor company, which would do or manage all the same for you, but with its margin.

You are in complete control of the process. You choose the materials yourself, observe every step of the construction (or even do all these steps yourself), and therefore you can be sure of the quality and know all the potential problem areas of your home.

Cons of Self-Construction

You spend much time on

Search for narrow subcontractors (dig a pit, take out the earth, bring concrete).
organization of work, drawing up plans and work schedules for subcontractors;
control over the position of subcontractors;
search, purchase, and delivery of building materials to the site;
search, buy or rent the necessary equipment and tools.

You are solely responsible for

the overall quality of construction work;
compliance of results with the project;
Solution of sudden complications (severe thunderstorm on which you appointed the foundation pouring) Etc.
Ignorance of “little things” that have a significant impact on the process, result, and cost of construction (for example, you thought that the contractor you hire to dig the pit should also take out all the dug earth, and the contractor has his own opinion on this matter).

Conclusion:

So, now you know the main pros and cons of independent construction supervision, and you can make an informed choice. It is best to sensibly assess your abilities, free time, and financial capabilities and make an informed decision. In our opinion, the best option would be to agree with a large construction company with good staff and positive feedback from customers. Thus, you will make an average overpayment but significantly free up your own time and relieve yourself of the burden of responsibility for the result of construction and its compliance with the project.

Written by adminNovember 15, 2021

The basement, unprotected from melt and groundwater, quickly collapses, and with it, the whole house perishes. Moisture accumulated by brick walls or concrete penetrates the structure, which has undesirable consequences at low temperatures. What happens next, every schoolchild knows – water expands when it freezes, and tears even iron pipes, not to mention concrete and brick. Cracks form in the foundation and walls, where water penetrates, which has a corrosive effect on the reinforcement and concrete of structures. Also, water often flows through the junction of the floor with the walls.

In addition, dampness becomes a source of mold, a favorable factor for the reproduction of pathogens. They will not limit their area to the basement, spreading throughout the rest of the building. The sanitary condition of the building is significantly deteriorating.

The problem of dampness is especially acute in the case when the waterproofing qualities of the basements are violated due to:

Design errors;
Poor concrete pouring;
Failure to comply with the technology and timing of the curing of concrete foundations;
Lack of initial waterproofing of expansion joints and floor;
The presence of foreign inclusions in concrete: voids, debris, formwork remnants;
Exit out of the reinforcement foundation;
Defects in waterproofing materials;
Changes in the designated purpose of residential buildings for their industrial use.

How are the Penetrating Waterproofing Works Going?

The device for internal waterproofing of the basement, despite the general construction company principles with the external, is still more complicated. As a rule, the unprotected foundation has already accumulated dampness, condensation has accumulated in the cellar, the walls are covered with fungus, which requires careful surface preparation.

This is partly due to the higher cost of interior work. The best way to treat a basement from the inside is penetrating waterproofing. The device of penetrating waterproofing is performed according to the following method:

Basement concrete walls are thoroughly cleaned of efflorescence, fungus, dirt, and debris;
The surface of the walls is moistened with water, but so as not to flood the room, but to achieve the deepest penetration of water into the concrete mass. Therefore, the water is distributed along the walls slowly and in stages;
Next, the liquid waterproofing mixture is applied with a brush with a synthetic pile in two layers – the second across the first, after it dries. The better the walls are moistened, the deeper the waterproofing mixture penetrates the concrete.

Penetrating waterproofing is characterized by one drawback – it is designed for processing a concrete foundation, moreover, high-quality poured, with cracks, no more than 0.4 mm in depth.

Also in Moscow, another type of waterproofing is now gaining popularity – injection. Even though this waterproofing is not the cheapest, in some cases it becomes the only way to save the basement and the floor from dampness and groundwater.

What Can be Achieved by Waterproofing a Concrete Basement And Masonry Walls?

Firstly, it is possible to avoid dampness and the above consequences.

Secondly, a protected basement space acquires a high economic value. Here it becomes possible to arrange a cellar for storing property, provisions, auxiliary premises – a workshop, a gym, a studio – i.e., everything for which there is enough space and imagination;

Thirdly, the necessary level of comfort is provided in the rooms located above. Basement waterproofing NYC outside from groundwater

The easiest, most effective, and cheapest way to protect the basement from moisture penetration is vertical waterproofing from the outside, which is carried out even at the construction stage, namely, after the concrete has hardened, when the foundation walls have not yet been covered with earth. Therefore, such basement waterproofing will not be a mistake to call foundation waterproofing.

Depending on the materials used, waterproofing is distinguished:

The coating is made of bituminous mastic. The prices for it are very low. Dust, dirt, and debris are removed from the walls, after which they are dried. For better adhesion, they are primed with a special primer, and then covered with mastic with a roller or brush. Recently, you can buy bitumen-polymer materials for the same purpose, which are more durable than ordinary bituminous mastic;
Okechuku – from rolled materials, the basis of which is fiberglass, polyester, fiberglass with two bitumen-polymer layers or ordinary roofing material. First, the walls of the foundation are cleaned, dried, covered with a primer, and then the roll material is glued from the bottom up and overlapped onto the primed surface so that the lower edge of the upper sheet goes over the upper edge of the lower one. Sheets are rolled with a roller. The same method is used to waterproof the floor. The complexity of the work lies in the need to comply with many technical conditions, which is why it is better to invite specialists;
Plastering. It is good for a foundation that, according to calculations, will not undergo deformation. The outer surface of the walls is cleaned, guide beacons are attached to them, and then, just like concrete plaster is thrown, the space between the beacons is filled flush with them with a special insulating compound with modifiers, additives, and binding components. The disadvantage of this method is the requirement for the stability of the foundation. If it settles or deforms, cracks will appear in the plaster, which will become conductors of water;
Made of liquid rubber. Long-lasting protection is achieved by spraying, brushing, or rolling the vertical surface of the foundation in one layer. The method is technologically advanced, but the prices for the material are quite high;
Screen. Bentonite clay mats, which are attached to the foundation using facade dowels, allow creating an effective barrier against ground, flood, and pressure water. On contact with water, the clay swells, filling cracks and forming a gel screen, thereby creating reliable waterproofing. Such waterproofing is laborious and expensive, but effective.

In addition, before proceeding with the installation of the floor and floor, you need to install horizontal insulation – before the walls are erected. The purpose of such waterproofing is not to protect the basement, but to protect the rest of the overlying premises (including the floor) from the capillary rise of water. By separating the underground part of the foundation from the ground one with the help of horizontal insulation, it is possible to cut off the water that penetrates from the ground up the walls and floor.

This type of waterproofing is mandatory. Horizontal waterproofing is carried out by methods:

Roll pasting. The horizontal surface of the foundation is covered with bitumen sheet material in two overlap layers on top of a millimeter layer of mastic;
Coatings. The horizontal surfaces of the foundation are covered with a liquid material based on rubber, rubber, mastic, which creates a protective barrier on the surface of the structure through which water cannot enter;
Penetrating treatments. Special compositions are applied to damp concrete over the surface. Active chemical components penetrate the concrete, reacting with its components. The reaction products are insoluble crystals that fill the pores and microcracks of concrete, increasing its water resistance.

Basement waterproofing from the outside during the construction phase of the house has a lower cost than internal protection from groundwater, in the case when the house is already built. Some techniques allow you to save money and do all the work yourself, spending money only on the purchase of material.

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Choosing a Construction Contractor – To Hire or Build Yourself?

Hiring a General Contractor