October 21st, 2009
Framing in progress
I stopped by both Monday and Tuesday of this week and there was no activity, but then today (Wednesday) I arrived to see the entire first floor pretty much framed in. I got to the site at about 6:30pm and the crew was still there, packing up.
October 22nd, 2009 at 7:02 am
Steve Bound says:
Matt and Amanda– the house is starting to take shape. Very Nice—Just a tip… Make sure you really watch the subcontractors. Susan and I just built 2 years ago. The framers did not frame the windows correctly because they were in such a hurry to meet the deadline. Because of their haste, 5 windows leaked, stucko had to be torn off the side of the house and realigned.
Unfortunately, we did not catch these errors.
Now is the time for your to catch problems when it easily fixable. Waiting until the house has been completed becomes more of a headache.
Remember– You are their boss. You are the ones speding the big bucks (even in this economy). I had 3 walk throughs as well as a 5 page punch list.
Good luck with the building process. It is stressful, but well worth it once you move in.
-Steve Bound
October 22nd, 2009 at 7:45 am
Matthew Rogers says:
Hey Steve!
Thanks for the advice. We’re planning on having our Realtor checking in (who was in home construction for years) as well as an independent inspection several times throughout the process.
October 22nd, 2009 at 9:29 pm
Dad Bean says:
Has Amanda seen the back yard through the kitchen windows? Have either of you two checked out the kitchen yet?? Having walls up really changes how the room look. Some times it is hard to visual understand the pictures on the prints and then see them built in place. Can’t wait to see the walls in place.
DAD Bean
October 29th, 2009 at 11:36 am
No end in sight says:
Matt-
congratulations on being as far as you are in your process. What took you 7 weeks to get started took us 5-1/2 months. We were turned on to your blog by a neighbor who is building with H&H. I don’t want to dash your hopes. I am also “trying” to build with H&H with hopes of this being our “forever home”. Our neghbor signed papers in January. They are not yet completed with their house. And from my understanding H&H doesn’t have intention of completing it either at this time due to being upside down with liens against the property for lack of payment to vendors. We signed up in April. We did not break ground until Aug, framing started in late September and they are suppose to complete framing this week – I highly doubt it. Our process has been extremely slow. We were told at the time we signed up that we would be in our house by mid sept to oct. Framing had not even started yet when our 150 days had passed. Now they are not sure that we will even be in this year. Please understand, I am not trying to discourage you. I too was in the happy place of oh it is just vendors. They will find new ones and everything will work out. However, if you talk with H&H today they will tell you several of their vendors are changing. But it is not because they are out of business. Many are still reputible companies, and I have been advised that H&H is having to change due to the vendor won’t supply them because of back payments not received. We have had to contact a real estate attorney at this point because it is very plausible that H&H won’t be able to complete our house and we have a substantial amount invested.
I wish you the best and will continue to follow your progress. I hope that you have a great building experience from this point on, but please be aware that H&H may not be providing the full story with why construction is slowed.
October 30th, 2009 at 5:14 pm
B.B. says:
Hopefully they will finish your house.
I would warn anyone looking to do business with Hansen & Horn to think twice!
Go to the Marion County’s Circuit Court Clerk website http://www.civicnet.net
Click -Marion County Clerk Court Information Searches & Reports.
Click – Civil Court Searches.
Click – Search & pay with Credit Card (you can review cases without having to pay a fee).
Type in Hansen and Horn and look at the number of lawsuits that have been filed against them. 31 as of today, 20 were filed within the past year.
Suits filed from vendors, subcontractors and home owners.
You may want to contact an attorney and protect yourself.
B.B.
October 30th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
B.B. says:
Hire an attorney
October 30th, 2009 at 8:33 pm
somethingtothinkabout says:
how are coming up with 20 in the last year?
When i search it only shows 5.
type in ward horn also, he’s the primary owner, i’m showing 1 there.
November 2nd, 2009 at 4:41 pm
Matthew Rogers says:
BB–
I don’t think it’s necessary to contact an attorney right now. We have everything covered, our Realtor is watching our back, and Hansen and Horn has been good about compensating us for the delays. Right now we’re just going to let things play out.
November 2nd, 2009 at 5:10 pm
VeryConcerned says:
Matt,
We didn’t think it was necessary either…and then 5 months passed of being stuck where you are right now, only for us it has been at the very end stage of the process.
Hire an attorney.
December 11th, 2009 at 9:56 pm
Still framing | Build a House Blog says:
[...] the work done to get the first floor framed in on October 21, nothing had happened until yesterday (October 29). I stopped by late after work; it was too dark [...]