Good Morning Friends,

Many times I have visited different locations around town and found myself checking out the new remodeling job only to find flaws in the contractors work that I would have done in another fashion.

I always look at the inside corners and in some cases I find a 45º mitered inside corner.

How many of you have done the same thing as you visit a newly remodeled jobs?

It's funny you should mention this. I guess since we are all into woodworking you look at other work in progress. Sometimes it is scary to see the short cuts some folks use to get done.

 

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Wayne Mahler
God bless and protect our troops that serve so we can be free.

Not only remodels but even in new construction. The cost of new homes vs. the quality of construction is shameful.

I was a Residential Real Estate Appraiser from 1999 to the end of 2010 before I closed up shop as it was no longer profitable with all the housing and lending garbage going on in So. Calif.. I went through many homes over those years and saw some amazing stuff in homes and some really scary stuff in homes. Both in remodels and in new construction. I am not construction guy or building inspector, but as I had to inspect new homes in construction it amazed me at the variations in quality from builder to builder. Some builders were top notch and made good, sound and functional homes. Others were so shoddy and poorly done, the only way they got built was that the building inspectors were in the builder's pockets. The 2 worst builders in my area in my humble opinion were Forcast Homes and K&B Homes (note: K&B made both lower end more "Entry Level" homes for first time buyers which had poor construction and higher end "Custom Homes" which had good construction from my view). Both very large "Top 10" national residential construction companies. Forcast finally went out of business due to all the law suits and it changed hands multiple times through different companies. My parents bought a brand new home built by Forcast back in 2000 and they and about 300 of their neighbors are still dealing with getting problems fixed. The grading for the project was not compacted properly so all of the homes have settling issues causing cracks in the foundation, walls, cracking counter tops (tile and granite cracking due to shifting), stucco repair and door jams having to be replaced, driveways cracking (no rebar or mesh in the concrete)and many other issues. In renovations to existing homes I have seen a lot of scary things and have pointed them out to home owners many times (with a discalimer that "I am just an appraiser not a building inspector, but that there don't look kosher."). I have also got a lot of great home renovation and home decorating ideas from homes that I have appraised. Since I have to take photos of the interior and exterior of the homes I made sure to get a few photos of things that I liked to run past my wife. If it was out of the ordinary for typical photos that I would need for the report, I would ask the homeowner's permission first and most were happy to let me take the photos.

 

I do it all the time mainly to see how it's done.

 

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HARRY
BULLDOG WOODWORKING.MONTANA

Good Morning All,

I guess it is because we are woodworkers that causes us to look at someone elses work and either admire it or find fault with it and make a statement," what kind of a craftsmanship is this?"

I have seen some work that looks like a 10 year old did it. The sad part is that they got paid for the job.