There are many Sequim contractors and home builders. In the good years, it is a great and profitable business. During the recessions, home building is one of the hardest hit industries. But one of the greatest untold stories is the story of how the vast majority, I repeat “vast majority,” of home builders around the country build to look good but not with quality construction beneath the surface.
I call this the greatest untold story, because the vast majority of consumers don’t know how building shortcuts with material and labor effect the quality and long term comfort of their home. One could write a book on this subject, and maybe I will (but consumers probably wouldn’t read it until they had already hired the wrong builder), but for now let’s just touch on one simple issue, and there must be a hundred like this one.
A client recently asked custom home builder Rick Anderson about the risk of sub-flooring getting wet and swelling, which could eventually cause problems with the flooring, like creaking. Rick is building a home for clients from Henderson, Nevada in a peaceful little valley not far from the Dungeness Spit in Sequim.
The vast majority of contractors will save money wherever they can, including sub-flooring. Rick explained to his client that if it rains on the sub-flooring before the house is closed in, not only does he dry the interior thoroughly with heaters before covering the floors and framing (believe it or not some builders do not thoroughly dry the interior), he also spends the extra money out of his pocket to install sub-flooring that does not swell at the seams even if it does get wet. Ever wonder why your floor squeaks? This is why, but Rick Anderson’s homes do not have squeaky floors. Not even after 10 or 20 years. Again, this is not something consumers know about, and your average builder will never raise it.
If you want to buy a lot to build your home, may I boldly suggest you hire a buyer’s agent with experience (that would be me, thank you), and a home builder who doesn’t take short cuts when you’re not supervising? That would be Rick Anderson, a Sequim Home Builder.
Last Updated on July 27, 2012 by Chuck Marunde
I appreciate your answers, as they appear to be right on the money ! We did do our homework in trying to have our home built. We still do not understand with the market down and continuing to go down, why contractors are not interested in “dealing”. They may change around some figures, but the costs seem to still be stuck in the range of building a custom home from 3 years ago. The architect said, it is a good time to build due to cost os materials being down Did not see that on our bids at all ! The biggest surprise was finding out the cost of sales tax tapped on which we were not aware of. Only one architect had it listed on the bid and that is why the question came up. We were mad because we had told the architect do not give us surprises ! This was a big one which of course, cut into our budget. The word budget did not mean a thing to anyone ! We even asked “why can’t you just build the shell and we will take care of the rest.” Not interested ! We are just still so upset that the process all turned sour when it got down to the nitty gritty Thank God we did not sign any contract and got involved in a possible nightmare and lose our entire savings ! These contractors have only one thing in mind and that is how much they can gouge you ! We would love to talk to someone who when through the custom home building process in Port Angeles or Sequim within the last 5 or 6 years and to hear an HONEST review of all the problems and how much more they had to spend. Our project just kept growing like a weed. We also realized we followed “rules and permits” and our neighbors did not. Permits for everything, but if no one is the wiser who would know For example, clearing your property of trees, our neighbor did not get a permit, and here we were applying for all that, and eagle habitat, and all. They live on the same bluff, and were never, shall we say “caught”. The eye opener for us is when we called the county to check to see if all was in order when we filed the building permit only to be told the county was still waiting for items the architect was supposed to take care of and did not. We got so MAD we pulled the building permit ! Let’s face it, why build a custom home now, when you would never be able to sell it for years if you needed to. On our street alone, there are two lots and 3 houses for sale and not a thing is moving or is there any interest in the property ! We don’t see it recovering in our lifetime . There must be others out there who have been in our situation, but afraid to post or embarrassed that they got hooked. It is a greedy world !!
It’s true that anyone can come to Washington state and get licensed as a general contractor. They pay a fee and Voila! they’re licensed. The Dept. of Labor & Industries is the government watchdog, but let’s face it, as far as consumer protection goes, the so-called government consumer protection agencies don’t help consumers as much as they employ more government employees, create more payroll and bureaucracy, and leave consumers hanging where they thought they were going to get protection from fraudulent contractors. People get ripped off all the time, in both big ways and small ways. This blog is one small way I try to contribute to protecting consumers, by helping them protect themselves by being fully informed and intelligent in their due diligence when selecting a home builder.
Interesting that anyone can come into the State of Washington and apply for a builders license and build homes. They don’t have to “prove” their knowledge. Is this true? If this is true, how do you know what type of experience the builder has that you may be hiring? Can you elaborate more on this. Some of the “California” builders and others only cared about making money ! Driving around Port Angeles and Sequim, you can see evidence of this. Just don’t understand how the county and cities, allowed a lot of what went on.
Charley, your testimony is a wake up call for those planning to build a home, that is, they should get good counsel early on when selecting a builder. I know a builder who guarantees the contract price, which means you don’t get gouged by surprises and extras. He may be the only builder who has that kind of integrity in the area. But one of the services I freely give clients is guiding them through the building process from the beginning. By the way, I would differ on one point Charley. I believe Sequim and Port Angeles have some of the best heath care in the nation. I have spent time with friends (nurses, doctors, dentists) and we really do have some of the best in the world. Olympic Medical Center is rated very high in several of the major health issues and has won numerous awards and received a lot of recognition for its health care.
The Untold Story of Building a Home summarizes it all. I would love to have someone explain to me how these PA and Sequim contractors come up with their bids ! We recently had bids presented and the difference in cost spread between them was excessive. We met with all 5 contractors and to keep competitive, price per foot can’t be negotiated. The home is under 2000 sq foot and not complicated. The word budget does not seem to mean a thing, even when you outright tell them. We felt we were being “gouged” due to area of our property. We have done extensive “homework” for 4 years and just decided to put the whole project on hold indefinitely. We live out of state, and also have come to realize that being in our late 60’s, healthcare is not what we are accustomed to. Talking to locals and their experiences were more of a nightmare than building a home. The beautiful view we have must not allow us to forget other realities.