site development

[Tanya]

The contractors in the area are so busy, it will be very hard for us to find one, and we may have to act as our own general contractor. Can someone give us the general order that things need to be done in? I will refer to Eaton's book, and have ordered the videos, but in the mean time, between power, septic, well, excavation, foundation and setup, what order are things done in?

[rmurray]

Your dealer does not do this?????

Permits..for septic and home...You probably will also need electrical and maybe well permits..but they usually would be gotten by the contractors..

Clearing..temperary driveway if you cannot get to the property..
Escavation..
foundation..
set up...

After home is placed on foundation..septic tank..
After tank is in..well
Electrical once home is blocked and level..not necessarily finished..
Steps and decks to local code at all doors..once home is level..
Skirting may or may not be needed before inspection by the county...If needed before..install once home is level...
If not needed..call inspector once home is level..electrical hooked up..septic and well in...After inspection..power will be turned on...finish skirting..
Permanent driveway..
Landscaping if required..

After inside trim and carpet are done..do a walk through and have appraiser or FHA inspector check out the home...

Close final loan...ENJOY..

Many of the above can be done in a corrdinated fashion with workman finishing many things at the same time..

[Tanya]

Well, it's a confusing situation. The PH dealer we went with is 4 hours away, in another state. The PH dealer in the area we want to build turned out to be very unhelpful and unprofessional. They did however, send out a general contractor to oversee our build, but when he arrived at our lot, he told us that he was simply too busy to help us, and our land is too far away (half hour drive). He left us with a bunch of phone #s of contractors in the area and said call if we have questions. So we started calling every contractor in the area. Nearly everyone said they were too busy, and our land is too far away. (again, 1/2 hour drive.) The only one who has said yes so far does excavation only, perhaps septic. So, basically, our dealer, (the one 4 hours away) is, I think, somewhat at a loss, since he doesn't know our area and what's going on there, not to mention the fact that his colleagues who do basically don't give a sh*t about our project.
So right now we're just doing our best to find people willing to help us, and preparing for the possibility that we simply may not find a general contractor to oversee everything.

[rmurray]

I am sorry...this is the job of your PH sales lot...It is not uncommon for us to have to deliver homes into unfamilier areas...but...they should know how to find local sources...I am sure some help from you might be helpful...but they should be taking the ball and coordinating all services...checking out the contractors..and even finding them..PH will have some contractors thay have used in the past..maybe not the lot you are buying from..but..other lots have...they will pass info from one to another..It would not be right for your lot to expect the other lot to do all the work...but they can get info as needed..

The PH lot should be acting as general contractor...Have a discussion with the local general manager...or..ask about a discussion with the region manager..Customer satisfaction is very important to both of them...and it seems you are started out on the wrong foot...

I have a hard time understanding how they quoted you a price without having a good idea of the specific costs for your land...specific requirements of your local government...on and on....

[Tanya]

Our GM (who also happens to be our salesman) I believe is doing his very best, and I may be jumping the gun thinking we will end up coordinating this ourselves. You're right, that shouldn't be our job, and he never said it was. I just think we're in a very unusual situation, the only reasonably sized town near the area we're building is going through a major boom in development, and there are only a handful of contractors there. They all have more work than they know what do with, backed up for months, and they can afford to be choosy. We've called all the ones in the phone book, and a couple from Las Vegas, and another town about an hour away. We've only found the one guy I mentioned above, so far. I'm just not sure that our GM will have any better luck than that. The one guy that the local PH office did send us, was the one who said, sorry, too busy. The man was wearing a PH shirt, I don't know if he was a contractor or an employee. When our GM heard that story he was stunned, and said "I guess I have a tighter reign on my contractors than they do up there. I send people an hour away and more on a regular basis."
At any rate, I will make sure and have a phone conversation with him, and make sure we're all on the same page.
Oh, and the only price they've quoted us so far is the base price for the home, and the options we requested. We haven't closed yet, we're just trying to get bids. As far as site improvements, they submitted an estimate for that to the lender for approval. Obviously, we'll wait till all the bids are in before we fine tune what options we want, submit the final total to the lender and hopefully get approval.