Can my electrician friend and I moonlight the electrical when you build my house? Do you allow me to use some of my preferred subcontractors on my custom home build?
These are common questions builders get. Bringing your own Trade Partners is often prohibited by many Custom Home Builders in West Michigan. But is it always a bad idea?
Next month, in Part 2, we will explore some reasons to work with a team of professionals. But today in Part 1, I will begin by looking at some of the more common reasons you’re probably thinking about using your own Trade Partners (a.k.a. subcontractors) to work on your home, and the corresponding reasons you might NOT want to work with them. Reasons such as:
Do you really want to do that to your friend or your friend’s employer? Do you expect to get both excellent service and the lowest price from them, or will good service go to the wayside? Will they be quick to answer the call or be onsite for a project that doesn’t pay as much as the 10 other projects on their books?
Your friend probably isn’t a non-profit, and didn’t go into business to be a charity. Real friends pay full price and leave a great review.
Was the previous work you engaged them for related to a Zero Energy Ready Home? Was it new construction? How many times have you worked with them on a project of this scale? Was it a custom ICF home? What about a custom Net-Zero home? R-Value Homes has been building Net-Zero homes and ICF homes in West Michigan since 2004.
Certainly there is a reputation that many in the trades are unscrupulous. We know that as well as you, and work only with the best. Do you also trust our team of Trade Partners? Do you trust the systems we’ve put in place? The multiple net-zero homes and ICF homes we’ve built with the Trade Partners we've vetted and trained?
On this surface this seems great, but in reality inexpensive is almost always counter productive. Is the goal of the project to build a durable, long-lasting, high-performance home that can be passed down for generations, or to build as inexpensively as possible? The two goals are not compatible with each other, sorta like putting a Ferrari engine into a Kia.
Furthermore, a particular business is almost always cheap for a reason. Businesses are either: A) making a profit, or B) in the process of going out of business.
If the former (A), where are they saving $$? Is it coming at the expense of attention to detail, lack of experience, insufficient insurance, using inferior products, unhealthy or unsustainable products, or not paying taxes?
If the latter (B), do you want your roofer, plumber, etc. out of business when you need warranty work? Or worse, taking your deposit and then closing the doors? (I personally know of several companies that have closed the doors and left people hanging, in some cases taking their deposit with them!)
I get it, you want to have your hands in the construction of your own home; but you don’t have the time, tools, or knowledge to do it all. Share this concern with your builder, he or she may have some great suggestions for you.
Some lending companies and insurance providers have strict policies against this—so be sure to check with them first. Also check with your accountant regarding the tax implications.
Sharing a task, however, has some practical drawbacks. It will lead to finger-pointing when something is installed wrong, breaks, fails, or adds work to another Trade. Having a clearly delineated chain of responsibility for a clearly defined scope of work is imperative to get great results and great warranty service. Are you experienced with Net Zero homes and ICF homes?
Did you know that among many of the Trades, there are those who specialize in residential, while others specialize in commercial, industrial, public sector, insurance repair, etc? All within the same field! Furthermore, some specialize in new construction, while others are focused on service and replacement? Still others on large renovations. Just because you know they do great work in a particular field, doesn’t mean they are optimized for the particular needs of your project. And if you ask them to work outside of their niche; they are likely to be inept, expensive, slow, or all of the above. This is likely why you have had some bad experiences with companies others raved about! Hiring a professional net-zero home builder or an ICF home builder can be one of the most important steps in this process.
This became apparent to me on our very first home. Service oriented companies advertise more and typically return calls promptly; so they are easy to find. So we hired one, but it was immediately apparent they were not accustomed to installing the “rough” portion of their work. (Rough is all the items that are inaccessible later--covered by concrete, drywall, etc.) What was worse, they didn’t know how to properly size the things hidden behind the drywall. They generally only had to repair or replace equipment and fixtures. So we wrote that off as a unique experience, and tried again with a different Trade on the next house. The problems were the same, and furthermore I noticed they would send only one guy at a time, and usually not days in a row. It finally dawned on me why--that is how they schedule service work! They don’t have the team and equipment to spend a week or two on a project with a full crew because their company is built around repairs and replacements!
Our Trade Partners not only have a great reputation, we have personally worked with them on numerous projects, and they are geared towards new construction. We know them by name; their strengths and weaknesses, lead times, payment schedules, products used, expectations, etc. They know the same about us. More than that, they have worked with ICF homes multiple times, they understand the things to look out for, to make sure they do or don’t do, etc.
Our long term relationships not only build trust, they build rapport; so our Trade Partners are willing to go the extra mile, to show up when requested, etc.
Helping out a friend is a very understandable goal. Your cousin might be just getting started owning his own business, so you want to “throw him a bone” so to speak. But is he experienced with concrete homes? Does he understand the different sequences required to create an airtight, healthy home? Everybody learns best by making mistakes; are you ok with those mistakes being made on your project?
Even if your friend is a true master, and quality is on point; a master in his craft is still a novice in business management. Consider that 70% of small businesses do not last even 10 years. While helping out a friend is a noble goal, isn’t the long-term well-being of your family an even more important goal?
A final consideration for a new contractor is that they easily require double the oversight, double the communication, and create double the mistakes.
On the other hand, your brother-in-law may have a very successful and well-established business, and you want to let him know you respect that. In which case he probably has enough work already, and likely focuses on a different niche (see the previous point about specialties). He may take on your project as a favor, but neither of you is really happy about the deal. Maybe you’re better off taking him and his wife out to a nice dinner while you discuss it. A minor mistake will cost more than that, not to mention the long term hard feelings.
My brother and sister were organic farmers. They poured heart and soul into raising super high quality, small batch barley; with the thought that with all the craft breweries of Beer City USA, they would have a great market for their niche malt. To their dismay, what they found was that even the small batch craft breweries valued consistency more than anything. These producers wanted the predictable and known results that come from the large growers. The brewers knew that one small change in just one part of the beer-making process would lead to unpredictable results. You would never consider bringing your own hops to a craft brewery, then complaining that the beer they made from it didn’t taste as good as their other offerings.
In the same way, when the builder manages the process; the contractors, schedule, details, etc.; he owns the result. But when you as the client insist on a change, a wrench is thrown into that finely tuned machine. You own the result: the resulting cost implications, schedule impact, quality and performance of the home.
Most likely you are looking into certain custom home builders because you have seen and like their work. You are considering R-Value Homes because we have proven to you that we can deliver the high performance you want: net-zero energy, sustainable, GreenStar certified, etc. The wise strategy is to then follow our process for getting there.
Next month, I will consider reasons to use our team of Trade Partners from a positive standpoint, and conclude with my ultimate answer to the question: “Can you work with my subcontractor friend for the siding?”
At R-Value Homes, we have curated a dedicated team of true professionals, working toward a common goal. Watch our “Custom Home Building Blunders” video today to see how to avoid the painful lessons many homeowners learn too late. Interested in learning more about building an efficient home? Check out our other blogs or reach out to us today!