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How To Add an Addition>Home Additions Blog>He Thinks I'm Irresponsible
 

He thinks I am irresponsible

I recently responded to a letter in my letters page (where else
would I put it?) that is titled  "Is it  typical for a contractor to
charge a design fee"  In sum I said, no.

A contractor wrote me and took me to task for my answer.  I
ask that you read his letter & my reply. I have purposely
erased his name & company affiliation but left the rest of the
letter intact.

Dear Mr.Harbrecht,
I just finished exploring your website and must say you have
some interesting commentary. I do however, take exception
to some of your advise. It is irresponsible for you to tell your
readers that $800.00 is an exorbitant amount of money to
design a remodeling project. Also, I have never been able to
sit at my computer for a "few minutes" and produce an
estimate for a complex Remodeling Project. In order for my
company to produce a concise and accurate estimate, it can
take long hours and sometimes weeks, and after we produce
that estimate we have to live by it and still make a profit.
Some of your advise sounds as if you are telling readers that
it is bad if a Contractor makes a profit. If you were a
successful Remodeling Contractor, I would assume you made
a fair profit after wages and overhead, insurance and
expenses.

In my local area, all applications for a building permit must be
submitted with multiple sets of Construction Documents
sealed by an Architect and, or a Professional Engineer, that
includes any structural modification to a residential building.
An eight hundred dollar fee would only cover the review
process of the documents for the seal and not the work of
drawing the documents or even the cost of printing.  Possibly
in the rural area's, a contractor could get by without a sealed
set of documents, but then he takes the full responsibility if a
structural problem arises.

I am an active member of the National Association of Home
Builders, The Remodelers Council, my local Home Builders
Association and a member of a Remodelers 20 Club. I also
hold a CGR and a CAPS Designation, both of which are
nationally sponsored by NAHB and NARI.

You are providing a service to consumers that have little
knowledge about the services a Professional Remodeler
offers. In order for you to better serve your readers and
clients alike, you would be wise to seek out additional
educational materials for the guidance you are offering. As a
Professional Contractor, it is your obligation to be
responsible with the information you deliver.

My response:

Thank you for your letter. I appreciate what you say
about giving the public responsible advice & that is
what I try to do. I will try to defend what I wrote with the
following:

Maybe I did not make myself clear enough. Let me
expand on what I said. The letter in question said that
the contractor wanted $800 to design the remodel.

Most of the people I dealt with lived in modest homes
anywhere from 800' o 1500' square feet in size. I
suspect that might represent at least a majority of
homes in the USA & a vast majority of homes owned by
my readers. These are the people who need additional
room for themselves & their families. (People with
3000', 5000' or larger homes usually have little need to
expand.)

The choices are limited by not only by  money &
property boundaries but also by the existing
configuration of the house. Those choices are further
limited by existing siding type, existing roof design,
existing foundation height etc.

So, what's to design? How much time & effort does it
take to figure out that a house with a hip roof should
build an addition with a hip roof? How much time &
effort does it take to choose window types & sizes,
siding choice, roofing material & color etc? How much
time & effort does it take to layout wall outlets &
switches & necessary heating demands?

The answer is, not much. We are not talking about
adding to the Taj Mahal or the White House. Not many
homeowners asked me to add two story round turrets
to their home. (That would take a little more time) They
were looking for space at a cost they could afford & at
the same time they wanted the addition to add value to
their home.

In my experience over the years I found myself doing
preliminary sketches of the same additions over &
over & over. They were different wall dimensions,
different windows, different window locations,
different roof designs etc but they were all basically
the same. The people were different, the address was
different, the lot size was different but the remodel
was the same as the one I did next store. Whether I
built a 10' dormer, 20' dormer or 30' dormer or a 14X16
extension they each were the same basic
construction. It was merely a question of size & details
& giving limited choices & advice to the customer.

After a few minutes conversation it became obvious
what the customer wanted to build. All I had to do was
help fill in the details. It was the same as hundreds of
others with different variations. I think anyone with a
modicum of experience could design a dormer,
second story addition or first floor addition all with
room layouts in a short period of time. (The books I sell
tell them how to do what I did & then buy it at the right
price.)

I would use a small drafting tool to do a rough sketch
for the homeowners in a few minutes. Fill in windows,
partitions, closets, electric, heating, bath or kitchen
fixtures etc & the customer had a preliminary design in
about 30 minutes.

I still don't think that a design is worth $800. I know it
isn't because I did it (as did my salespeople) for free &
so did all of my competition & their salespeople. As far
as I know they still do.

Many a customer presented me with an architects set
of drawings on my arrival. The plans cost them a few
thousand dollars & after they found out what the
remodel would cost they dropped the idea & put the
plans in the closet. I would have done it for free & they
wasted a few thousand dollars.

Sorry to say there were no pc computers then but we
still were able to estimate almost any addition in a few
minutes. If you don't know how much it cost you to
build a square foot of wall or roof or foundation or a 30'
dormer after you have done it a few hundred times
then I suggest you might want to try a different method
of estimating.

To sum up, I was not suggesting that a set of building
plans & permit fee are not worth $800. I am saying that
the design was not worth $800.

I am a former president of a chapter of NARI & very
cognizant of what it took to be a professional
contractor. To this day I recommend that my readers
look for contractors in their area who are NARI
members. They are generally a notch or two above the
others.

Lastly let me say that I do not in any way intend to infer
that contractors should not make a fair profit. On the
contrary I keep insisting that people know what they
are paying for so they can buy not the cheapest price
but get the best value for their money. Profit is what
keeps the world going around. (It also put my kids
through school.)

Again, thank you for your letter & your comments.

Regards,
Bill Harbrecht
How To Add an Addition>Home Additions Blog>He Thinks I'm Irresponsible

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