Help quality checking my future house (new build)

good lord. I called a some random electrician in town and he told me $300-400 for the 220v and $200 for each 120v. What?!

 

Wow, that's robbery. Takes 15 minutes to add an outlet and about $3 in parts. If I had to add an outlet now that the home is 10 years old it would only be $50. It might be because you live near a large city things are more expensive. I'm in Myrtle Beach. Lots of contractors means lower prices

 

For comparison, My builder did this addition last year. 14x14 room and open-air porch for $20K Notice NO garbage, They cleand up very well every day.

 

Did you tell him it wasn't drywalled yet? That makes a huge difference in labor.

 

No, I guess I should have.

EDIT: he said they'd have to get a permit and that would cause problems with the builder with someone else going in and doing shit. Makes sense

 

I misread, it was $700 for the outlets in the garage and the install of the fan. The fan costs about $250-300 so labor for the rest was about $400. That is fine. Now I have to negotiate this $500 "management fee"...

 

who would the building inspector be, in this case? That isn't the manager is it?

 

It's usually a state certified county or city building department. Not all areas have building departments, but most populated areas have some form of jurisdiction over what gets built, how it gets built, where it gets built in their area. It wouldn't be the project manager, conflict of interest. It would be a state or local government certified inspector employee. Could even be an independent sub-contracted state certified self employed certified inspector. Information would be on the state/city website, whatever that is.
Even if there is NO building inspection process, it's still state law that you build to state standards, which will be whatever building code is in effect at the time your project was started.

Also, the financing entity will control who, what, when, where anything happens on their site. Yes, they own the site until it is transferred to you at closing. They have their own inspectors, however they are most interested in percentage of completion, not building codes, since they pay out based upon percentage completed. They will insist everything is properly done, based on building inspector pass/fail reports. Otherwise, no one gets paid, and anyone's collateral just went to zero. Party's involved can file liens but there's no guarantee anything will ever be paid. So your best bet is to make your building inspector your new best friend.

 

thank you, I will have to check that out

 

I'm having trouble finding a contact on this website.. https://www.nashville.gov/Codes-Administration/Property-Standards/Code-Enforcement.aspx
If I do get in contact with someone, should I send them the pictures of the framing just to see what they say?

 

First, make sure which jurisdiction you're in... if it's actually in the city of Nashville, then call them. Otherwise maybe another small smaller town? city? County? If there are phone numbers listed, that will be your best bet. Call just after 7:30 am. Inspectors answer tons of calls early in the morning. If no phone numbers are listed, then you'll have to use whatever method is available to make contact... or show up at the building department at 7:30am.
A good inspector will listen to your concerns, should be able to meet you on site and go over your concerns. Bear in mind, an inspector cannot just show up on site uninvited, unless something blatantly wrong is evident from the street. However, you, having a vested interest, can legally enter the site with an inspector any time you want.
At the very least try to be there when the inspector does the framing inspection. Sometimes there will only be one combination inspector, who will do the framing, HVAC, plumbing, and electrical. Sometimes there might be two, or three different inspectors. Nashville? Big city, busy building dept., I would say they have different inspectors for different disciplines. Concentrate on framing for now. If you get a hard-nosed inspector, politely ask to speak to the Building Official (his boss). This will get some action.

 

I think I see what the deal is with those trusses - it's because of the balcony.

Here's some updated pics taken from today.

 

There's several spots on the sub floor on the third floor that squeak and feel uneven. There's also a couple of spots that are not flush with each other or have swollen. Do I need to tell them to fix this? Or will they fix it when they put in the flooring?

I've seen some "notes" spray painted in areas (like the orange circle around the hole) that indicate things that need fixing. I'm not sure how thoroughly they went through and inspected things like squeaking and uneven flooring. Seems like they just did a quick inspection.

 

I would drive from Ga to that for you for that price

 

I misread that part actually, it includes fan install so all in all, for 3 outlets and a fan is $400ish not including the cost of the fan

 

They have a framing punch list by now, things to fix while electric and HVAC are installed. All that will only take a few days. Then framing, rough electric, rough HVAC, rough plumbing inspections will happen. I see a pressure gauge on one of the water lines, which indicates a plumbing inspection is already in process (must hold pressure for 24hrs.) All inspections will happen in a day or less. If you haven't been able to make contact with the inspection people yet, you don't have much time. The GC will resist fixing anything framing related after it's been approved by inspectors. The bank will also look at it, and approve a draw (partial payment) or not.
In all fairness, I have found 99.9% of inspection people are serious, dedicated professionals. Building departments cannot afford the liability of anything less.

 

@ThunderOne If you are in Nashville, try this link for Building Inspection contact information https://www.nashville.gov/Codes-Administration/Codes-Administration/Department-Listing.aspx

I am guessing that your townhouse is being built by a large developer. As such the developer should have a project manager or site superintendent assigned to your build. This person should be able to answer your questions concerning quality. The building inspector should be able to answer your questions concerning code.

Quality and code are separate from each other but they are inter-related. For example, a sloppy paint job is a quality issue, squeaking floor can be a quality and code issue if the squeak is due to inadequate nailing and gluing of the subfloor. It does appear as though Nashville has building inspectors grouped by trades (plumbing, electrical, mechanical, general).

Good Luck in your quest.

4BYTOY

 

thanks guys.



concerning this picture, this is the master bedroom. I was under the impression that this room would be vaulted. Wondering if this framing is temporary?
@4BYTOY @06Tacooo @OZ-T

 

Not temporary

 

that's what I thought, which is annoying because the other built unit had that ceiling vaulted.