What if I get abducted by aliens?

[puntloos]

(hey, caught your attention, eh?) 

 

These are strange times, and yeah, aliens are at the complete bottom of my list of worries, but people do get into personal trouble during a build, and many of self build discussions say that you have to be closely involved in your build (I plan to be, currently all good!).  It feels negligent for me to not at least consider some bad situations and their solutions before we get into them. What if things happen, like:

 

- Major medical issues of you or your loved ones that we have to focus on 100%

- Getting fired or other increased work pressures

- Covid quarantine and we're stuck in some foreign country for 2 months 

 

What if we completely have to ignore the house build except for the most critical (financial?) points. What happens? Can I trust a contractor to do a 'decent' job with instructions such as "please just do what you would do if it were your house - pick any reasonably priced carpet/doorknob/freezer/insulation material"? Or should I hire some independent advisor in that case (and how much would such a person charge to 'be me'?)

Edited July 17, 2022 by puntloos

[Simplysimon]

16 minutes ago, puntloos said:

"please just do what you would do if it were your house

unless you've seen their house, perhaps don't ask the question. only bits of advice i can give - don't worry about tomorrow. look after your knees and wear sunscreen.

[Onoff]

17 minutes ago, puntloos said:

What if I get abducted by aliens?

 

I'm sure there'll be a probe.

 

[recoveringbuilder]

It’s a strange thing trust isn’t it? We’ve never had to put 100% trust in any builder as we’ve always been nearby (twice in a caravan onsite) so always on top of the job although even then things can go wrong when an architect hasn’t thought through the plan properly. There’s a house going up next to us, building warrant took 8 months and during that time the owner was out looking at the plot most weeks. A fortnight ago the builder started the foundation and it looks like they’re now ready for the ufh pipes but during that fortnight the owner has been absent, it’s been a slow job in my opinion but it looks like he’s trusting him him to get it right, unfortunately my trust doesn’t stretch that far 😩

[puntloos]

16 minutes ago, Simplysimon said:

unless you've seen their house, perhaps don't ask the question.

 

Heh well, OK.

 

But seriously, most building companies who want to build a house they can sell for as much monies as possible will have some idea of what people want. They won't just paint the walls hot pink because 'that is what they would do'.. aiming for a certain optimal market value seems like a decent target.

 

If anything I'm hoping it won't be worse than if I were to just buy some off-the-shelf house that comes on the market from a major construction company. Or how could I instruct them with some general rules?

 

16 minutes ago, Simplysimon said:

only bits of advice i can give - don't worry about tomorrow. look after your knees and wear sunscreen.

I got that reference.

 

 

Edited July 17, 2022 by puntloos

[Simplysimon]

I got that reference

the original is better

 

[Pocster]

I’ve been abducted by aliens many many times . The anal probe is a real treat - I do hope they return .

[SteamyTea]

1 hour ago, pocster said:

anal probe is a real treat - I do hope they return .

My old cat never liked the vets after the first trip.

[puntloos]

But, slightly more seriously, am I wrong to assume that a somewhat trustworthy builder (held in check by a contract admin and QS to deliver value) would make fairly good choices anyway even if told "do what you would do if you wanted to sell the house in the general market"?

 

What type of compromise would a completely left-to-own-devices builder make that I might dislike?

[Jilly]

Are you going to live in this house? For most of us the joy and agony is of choosing every darned thing. It does send you a bit bonkers. No way I'd risk some one else's taste in my house...but I wouldn't aim to be hands off. Worst case windows/doors are in the wrong place. Kitchen doesn't work ergonomically, light switches in funny places. all kinds of stuff can happen..

Edited July 17, 2022 by Jilly

[puntloos]

Ah, I missed this one @Jilly sorry. Yes it's this strange balance. Absolutely intend to live in there yes.

 

On the one hand, I'm sure that I would literally find fault with how high a lightswitch is up on a wall (I'm 1m93 tall, so whatever the builder picks certainly stands a risk of being 5cm down from my ideal. 

 

But would it bug me? (not when in alien restraints circling saturn..) But normally, yes, teensy bit, but certainly aiming for perfection is impossible, even if you truly decide every minute detail yourself. What do I know about truly the ideal height of a switch? My hand might be higher than average, but my kid won't reach that for 10 more years. My wife never gets there.. etc. Just a dumb example.

 

As for ergonomics, well, yes, there certainly is a chance people are bad at their job, or uncaring, and won't do sanity checks like clashing doors. It's better I look myself but only the truly structural stuff is unchangable afterwards, which I'm not sure I'd evn be qualified for.

 

And as a final thought, certainly when buying a current house, the chance that it isn't ideal is almost a given. Reaching a good standard even if I pay zero attention is not too unlikely, that's somewhat the point with 'turnkey', no?

 

 

 

 

Edited July 30, 2022 by puntloos

[Jilly]

Ha ha, I'm a bit arty farty, so actually love going shopping for aesthetic stuff after spend so much on hidden detail like insulation. 

[WWilts]

On 17/07/2022 at 21:58, puntloos said:

am I wrong to assume that a somewhat trustworthy builder (held in check by a contract admin and QS to deliver value) would make fairly good choices anyway even if told "do what you would do if you wanted to sell the house in the general market"?

 

What type of compromise would a completely left-to-own-devices builder make that I might dislike?

Builder would hire the subcontractors who happen to be known to him & available at the time. Some would be far more competent & trustworthy than the builder. For such gems, interfering with their tried & tested ways would probably reduce the quality of your build. The rest of the subbies would be threats to the quality of build, and perhaps even to your eventual health and safety.  Not many builders are capable of serving as clerks of works, those that do are not always keen on the role. Nobody except a competent clerk of works cares about the quality & accuracy of your build as much as you do. Most other professionals have been making mistakes for decades, with increasing confidence.