Tag: architecture
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Working With People
Our industry today has gotten more complicated. The days of walking up to the counter of the building department with four pages of blue prints have passed. There are numerous committees that have to approve and make their demands to your project. What use to take a day or two in some unpopulated areas…
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Combo Inspections and Common Since
As you are building your projects there are observations you make that the people working on the plans could not obtain from their offices. These observations are discovered because of your presences at the projects location and are not an oversight or lack of understanding by the plan’s developers. When you discover them contact…
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The Importance of Constant Communication
When I am building onto a property which is owned by another it is important to keep them informed. It is unwise to assume that they understand what you’re doing just because they can see the progress. Also, as the framing comes together, they will be able to see the rooms relationship with each…
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Never Stop Questioning
A lot of business schools use the account of Ray Kroc. It is true that he saw something in MacDonald’s that other failed to see. The difference in him and many other is he never stopped questioning. He walked into a San Bernardino fast food restaurant a milkshake mixer salesman but left, a business…
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Plumbing And Lining You Unit
During the building process hopefully, you have been tacking your walls in place so you could go throughout the unit and plumb and line your walls before stacking your roof. The first step in plumbing in lining is to start making the walls are straight. Wall the wall line of you unit to ensure…
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Crawl Space vs. Poured Concrete Foundations
When I began building homes, we use to frame our forms out of 2 X materials and we would stack them and cleat them together with other 2 Xs. After this we would frame a short wall and clad it with plywood. We needed to over brace these forms to prevent blow-out from the concrete.…
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Stay Calm
For many of my clients I am the only one who been through the building or purchasing many times. These are stressful times for the clients and well-meaning people sometimes give poor advice. Take a moment before answering and plan out what you wish to convey. Do not get excited and act like you have…
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Laying Out the Building’s Footprint
Once the concrete is poured and has cured or the Floor joist and sheeting are down it’s time to start layout the footprint of what you’ll be building. The first I like to check my corners for square. I do not use a t square or a sheet of plywood I use Pythagoras’ theorem.…
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Who Owns the Plans
It is helpful when you can maintain a friendly relationship with your client but you have to be careful not to harm your professional responsibility. At the job site after performing some of the tasks and showing the homeowner how to do a portion of the work, I was asked if he could give his…
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Hanging Rebar
I have in previous blogs talked about setting the rebar in chairs, but there are situations when doing so is not practical. I am building an ADU in clay soil. Because clay is considered unstable the footings and slab also is reinforced. This reinforcement is 3/8” or #3 rebar spaced at 126” on center. Since…
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