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Re: buying a house.
dakkon #370997 03/26/12 03:31 AM
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Just built a new house 2 years ago and I wired our 'great room' or bonus room or what ever you call it for 5.1 and had cat5e run to every room. A specific room for HT would be nice but with a growing family and my basement occupied by my parents I had to make do with what I could. I would love to have a room specifically for HT but I also really like having my most used room with all the HT toys in it.

So far as why people don't inspect the build on a regualr basis, at least here, you are not allowed onto the site during construction without a builder representative, ie salesman and appropriate safety gear(hard hat) so this cuts into the time you have to look around, you also have to remember until you make that final signature and they hand you the keys, you do not own the house/property, the builder does, you are in fact trespassing with out that builder representative. Not to mention there are far too many people that do not know what is right or wrong with what is going on...............I went by when I got off work at 2:30AM

Last edited by jakewash; 03/26/12 03:38 AM.

Jason
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Re: buying a house.
dakkon #371077 03/26/12 04:42 PM
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Jason, you edited half of a sentence out... now you have to unedited, and share your story.......

If i was going to "build" a house, i think i would put that in the contract. That i could inspect the house whenever workers were not present.... I am no expert, but i can tell if they are not putting much care into their work...

I have already decided, when i do buy a house. i will have a
home inspector
master electrician
master plumber
HVAC person
and a general contractor inspect the place.

I think those inspections will be about 1-2k$... But, if i am going to spend 100-200k$ or more... spending 2k$ in inspections is only 1% of the total cost... I would rather spend that money and find out oh wait, the ENTIRE HVAC system is JAcked, and will need to be replaced 10k$... or something specific that a home inspector is not an expert at....

Re: buying a house.
dakkon #371116 03/26/12 11:26 PM
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I just bought a new house that has a basement with room for a dedicated HT. I'm pretty excited about it, but it wasn't on the must haves list. It just happened to be the house that we liked the most. The basement was certainly a bonus, but the rest of the house is still the best we had seen. My search also resulted in a great family room that could also house a decent HT so now I have two spaces.

On my must haves list was a family room that was designed around a TV and not around a fireplace. It was extremely hard to find a family room that could accommodate a 65" TV at proper viewing height and wall space for speakers. Almost all the homes we looked at had the TV above the fireplace, so you ended up looking at the ceiling to watch TV. It's the stupidest place to put a TV because who gives a crap about a fireplace when the TV will be used for 3 hours a day? I'd rather put the fireplace above the TV just to prove the point that it's a retarded feature of new homes. Yeah, can you tell it pissed me off? Why does any home in this day and age has a single fireplace? What is the usefulness of them and why would you spend a fortune putting them in? The other room that baffles me in modern homes is the living room. It's a totally wasted room with no valid reason to exist. It used to be the "living" room where the family would sit and spend time, but now it is designed as a room to accept guests who would rather be in the family room or around the kitchen munching on Doritos while watching the game. If the living room isn't attached to the entry of your home like most new home construction in my area, why not turn it into a HT because as it is it makes no sense to exist.

Depending on where you live a dedicated HT can be fairly easy to accommodate (in the midwest basements are common) so I feel like this is something that you need to figure out for yourself. How much does a HT matter to you and how hard is it to accommodate that need?

Re: buying a house.
dakkon #371756 04/01/12 04:45 AM
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It was in our contract that we had to stop by the local showhome and have someone take us onto the build site as well as we had to have the appropriate safety wear on, no unauthorized access. I suspect much of this has to do with liability if there ever was an incident; like I said I just went by when convenient for me and kept an eye on things, overall it was a good experience.

I highly doubt they would have signed off on any clause that would have allowed me unacompnied access.

Last edited by jakewash; 04/01/12 04:48 AM.

Jason
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Re: buying a house.
dakkon #371758 04/01/12 06:28 AM
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Jake, did you ever find anything that you didn't like/wanted changed during any of your trips to the build site? I am thinking HFAC duct work that isn't sealed well, stuff like that... Ect.. could you have put in the contract that you wanted to have inspections conducted and problems corrected before drywall was allowed to go up? Also, to have the plumbing inspected prior to the concrete being pored, if it was a slab foundation..?


Maybe i have been watching to much Holmes on homes/ Holmes inspection, but i don't have much faith in new construction homes from the last decade....

Re: buying a house.
dakkon #371761 04/01/12 03:17 PM
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You get to do a walkthrough once the rough ins are done, so if you have an eagle eye and time you can catch that stuff at this time. The site supervisor caught a number of issues that I wasn't at all concerned with and the bigger items I noticed he easily caught, it took extra time and pushed our date back a couple weeks but in the end it was worth the wait; however I did have to stay on top of them to ensure all those items did infact get fixed.

The one thing I have learned after now having 2 houses built is that even though you think you have added all the items and adjusted plans to suit your needs, once you move in you find there is still the odd thing that was over looked.


Jason
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Re: buying a house.
dakkon #371776 04/01/12 05:13 PM
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Having a dedicated space for HT would be my preferences, but with where I live it's difficult to obtain. The builders place homes on a reinforced concrete slab with no option for a basement. So that leaves the family room as the only viable area within the home. Simply buying a home with an extra bedroom doesn't give enough space (generally 11x12). One would have to purchase a home with formal living and dining with a bonus or family room as well. With all that the other rooms within the home become larger as well, easily upping the total homes sq. feet to as much as 1200- 1500 sq. feet. My family room is definitely a doable space for my HT needs, though I'm still saving up some cash for it, I'll have to wait until the fall to begin. This will be my first venture into setting up a HT. With the HT 101 course I've been taking for over a year now (visiting forums) along with help from Axiom,and AXiomites I'll be fine.

Jakewash all the best with your project, I bet you're getting antsy about now, because I got to tell yeah, I certainly I'm.


With out Jesus Christ there can be no Redemption or Salvation.
Re: buying a house.
dakkon #371936 04/02/12 07:04 PM
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I find the 'not allowed on the build site' bit pretty bizarre by our standards here. I'd imagine fist fights if contractors tried to tell locals here that they could not come onto property they own to inspect materials they bought in a home they have to live in when it's done.

The laws are probably different though. Here, If I hire a contractor to work on my property, as the hiring body, I am responsible to ensure the foreman will follow proper safety precautions. I don't think a court case has ever once come of it though, for a non-commercial build. 95% of residential home builders would not even know that they were responsible. I only knew this from an Occupational Health and Safety course I took through work.

Not saying it's a better system. Safety is important, but we were at our build sight almost every evening. Mostly because we rented a neighbours place for the duration, but I still would not have felt comfortable without regular visits. Although, to his credit, our contractor was top notch and last minute corrections or changes were never an issue. A rare experience, but true.

Last edited by Murph; 04/02/12 07:08 PM. Reason: clarity

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Re: buying a house.
dakkon #371938 04/02/12 07:20 PM
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Murph, I think in the U.S. it is common for the contractor to "own" the property and materials, until the money is transfered for the purchase... Only after the money is transfered does the homeowner actually "own" anything..... This is the normal way to buy a new house in the U.S. from my understanding....

But, if the home owner bought the land separate of the house deal, then you would own the the property like in your case. But i get the feeling that not many people at all go this route in the U.S.

Re: buying a house.
dakkon #371940 04/02/12 07:32 PM
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There certainly are 'some' homes going up here that follow that model. Most are in subdivisions owned by the developer and you would pre-pay in that model. Certainly not the norm though but I could see that it might be much more common in larger metro areas.

Even with the above model, local Maritime culture still largely dictates that a framed in house is an open invitation for curious neighbours to come and freely explore. Until you put doors on it, it is considered fair game. Might as well be a public park for the nosy.


With great power comes Awesome irresponsibility.
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