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TrytoFollow...Building a Colonial

Here are some photos of the silt fence and tree protection. These are required by the town. Unfortunately they have to go up before the trees and house can come down. So they will probably get damaged and will have to be redone. Tree Protection

The asbestos abatement contractor has finished removing all of the affected sheet rock. This is a picture of the living room looking into the dining room.

One of the requirements in obtaining a demolition permit is to have the house tested for asbestos . Unfortunately, the tests found that the sheet rock drywall joint compound contains asbestos in an amount greater then 1%. So we are required to hire as asbestos abatement contractor and have the sheet rock removed from the house prior to full demolition. The contractors were in this weekend doing the necessary setup work, e.g. containment zone and showers. I will try to post pics tomorrow.

It’s been a while since my last post.  Although construction has not started yet, we have been busy finding our builder, filing for a permit, looking for a place to rent and packing. For a builder, we decided to go with a Construction Manager rather then a General Contractor.  The advantages, in my opinion, are flexibility and control of money.  With a GC, you have to pay a large sum of money upfront to the GC and then the GC is responsible for paying the subcontractors.  We have heard to many stories in which either the GC walked off the job (with the money) or failed to pay the subs.  There are two examples of this right down the block and around the corner from where we are building.  Also when you want to make changes during construction, there is usually a change order required and typically it involves additional money.  With a Construction Manager, we pay his fee over time (based on completion percentages) and we pay the subs directly - when t...