 | Bruce Mosias
Your Advice Expert
| Frugal’s Adventure in Homebuilding:
The Hazards of Low Bid Construction
By Bruce Mosias, Consultant Emeritus
Once upon a time there were three little pigs that left their mother’s house to live on their own.
Each of them went their separate ways in a quest for the perfect spot to set up their new home and life.
The first little pig, named Frugal, decided he would like to live by the sea. He purchased a beautiful site on a bluff overlooking the ocean. Rather than hire an architect to design his home, (“much too expensive”), he purchased a set of plans from a homebuilding magazine that was published in Arizona.
His next step was to hire a contractor to build the house. He obtained three bids on the magazine purchased plans.
The first bid came from Steady Owl, an experienced general contractor and wise individual. Steady said the plans left a lot to the imagination and that there would likely be many additional items that would need to be addressed. Mr. Owl also wanted the construction money to go into an escrow account.
The bid was high.
The second bid came from Scattered Otter, a playful and carefree spirit. Scattered said that he could build the house, but that he would need to take a lot of time off because of summer, spring and winter water activities that he and his buddies had to attend. Mr. Otter could not be exact or even sure of when he could start the work, but he assured Frugal that he could do the work if the pig agreed to his open schedule.
His bid was in the middle.
The third bid came from Sly Fox, who said he could not only build the house from the magazine plans, but could stay within the budget and finish on time. He added that he could probably save Frugal a lot of money and would throw in extras for free.
His bid was low so Frugal hired Sly Fox.
Frugal Pig was overjoyed when Sly Fox finished on-time and on-budget. He did a little pig jig and moved in.
Things were not perfect, but Frugal exclaimed, “So what if the floors are slightly out of level and the trim is separating due to settlement, I saved a bundle by not having a soils engineer.”
After the first year Frugal began to notice that all of the paint was beginning to peel off of the exterior trim and that the flashing was rusting. “Never mind,” Frugal thought, after all, he had saved a bundle by using galvanized sheet metal and Cheap Brand exterior paint. “Who needs primer?” he thought. One coat was cheaper than two. As for the recommendation to use stainless steel flashing in the salt water environment, he scoffed and saved another bundle.
The windows began to leak and Frugal bought a bunch of towels at Thrifty Store to spread across the sills. He had heard that windows should be chosen depending upon the site conditions, but rationalized that the bundle of money he saved by using the windows that Sly Fox had saved from his last remodel, would more than pay for the towel cost.
Frugal began to wonder why mushrooms were growing out of the baseboards in all the rooms and considered getting a book from the library on fungi. Maybe he could start a business if the mushrooms were edible.
About this time the house began sagging at the edge of the bluff, weather was worsening, and the winds were getting stronger. Mr. Wolff, of the building inspection department, red tagged Frugal’s home as uninhabitable because the foundation was slipping.
Frugal was forced to move out and go to live with his brother, Brainy Pig, who had reportedly built a home that was made out of innovative materials that, according to Brainy, “were supposed to be the next generation of construction.”
Next issue: Brainy Pig’s home.
For a free 15 minute phone consultation about your situation,
please call 415-884-2121 or email info@noleak.com
| 
