Quote:
Originally Posted by aigel
Agreed, these units are not necessarily helping the neighborhood become prettier or more quiet. But if most homes are owner occupied and the ADU is rented, there will be pretty good checks and balances. Also, the good neighborhoods with good schools and high rents will attract a decent set of tenants. Here we have a lot of freshly divorced, single professionals, older couples.
Good input on dealing with the city. So far I don't have any good references on architects. I still think my idea of calling some builders to see who the work with may be a good approach. Some info can be found on builders websites, i.e. examples of ADUs they built in the area. I also saw a guy put up a whole house in my neighborhood in short order and everything looked very orderly. I may call him as well. Often you see new custom construction take eons.
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New construction taking eons because of two things. Bad contractor that don't push to get work done, sub hang ups, but I also found some owners are reluctant to pay on time and don't want to let go of their money. Contractor billing too much too early and not sticking to their schedule also is the cause of friction. When the time comes, your contract should state something like this:
The actual Cost of the Work shall constitute the Guaranteed Maximum Price of XXXX DOLLARS AND NO CENTS.
$ xxx.00
In the event the Contractor shall produce the work in excess of the Guaranteed Maximum Price, the Contractor shall pay 100% of the excess out of his own funds.
If he underbids, too damn bad. Suck it up and finish it. I got bit in the rear with the reason spike in materials going through the roof. 20% over. Delivery of windows were 120 bucks. I got hit for 235.00 last week for the windows. That's the way it goes.
We will talk about those things when the time comes.