Smaller Kitchens

[Rmarsh]

Finished look with the granite and appliances installed on these three.
I have two more in progress....

[redlite]

I wish all the departments from your company put as much pride into the quality of their work as you
We are at a house in Westport that BP built 20 yrs ago that is absolute rot disaster. First off they put the hardie plank siding right to the roof on all the dormers instead of a freeze board and didn't treat cut off ends. Also didn't properly step flash. So ends of hardie planks rotted. BP actually came back about 5 hrs ago and cut hardie plank back 2 inches and tucked a piece of flashing under.
Big problem is that the gutters across front of house were angled 1 1/2" in wrong direction away from down spouts. Subsequently for 20 yrs water has been pooling up against the house. Rotted hardie backer. Massive water intrusion behind it all and the sheathing OBS is completely rotted away behind siding.
An unneccasry mess that could have been avoided if had been properly flashed and guys that installed gutters knew how to read a level.
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[Rmarsh]

Mike....You are not wrong about any of that. A lot of people told me I wouldn't be happy working for them because of my background...I told them they build a crappy house and only thrived because they own the land tracts....i have helped by improving the interior finish... I am compensated well....and no headaches like when I ran my own business
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[Rmarsh]

I owned and operated my own custom home building business for over ten years.
It was a constant struggle.....an 80 hour work week is not unusual... when you have to keep a business running...estimates... job bidding, payroll etc......and a "no days #^&#^&#^&#^& mentality. When you include enough money in the bid to cover every aspect of the job...give the customer good service......pay your employees well....cover all the overhead...insurance....taxes....and more taxes. Lowballers prices will blow you out of the water and customers want you to match the low price or explain why your price is the right one. Getting caught up in the money grab with the government...suppliers...employees...customers...b urned me out.
With this company there is none of that to deal with. Gave me a brand new truck, gas card, cell phone...no headaches...flexible hours...no customers to deal with.......I just do what I do best....finish work.

[Rmarsh]

keeping our granite installer busy....install one and template another

[Rmarsh]

started another install yesterday.........color is expresso.....more like a dark paint than a stain

[redlite]

Lookin good. Seems the over the range micro becomin thing of the past. That is a neat lookin slab on the first island. Wish I owned my own company right now with the amount of work. My boss is gettin frustrated with referall work being told that we cant take on any new work till at least sept as we are so booked and the referrals gettin pissed we too busy like they expect us to be ready at there door the next week. If they knew the cost of materials they would thank us havin to wait. 5/8" sheet of zip sheathing $73 last week. F'n insane
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[Rmarsh]

Originally Posted by redlite

Lookin good. Seems the over the range micro becomin thing of the past. That is a neat lookin slab on the first island. Wish I owned my own company right now with the amount of work. My boss is gettin frustrated with referall work being told that we cant take on any new work till at least sept as we are so booked and the referrals gettin pissed we too busy like they expect us to be ready at there door the next week. If they knew the cost of materials they would thank us havin to wait. 5/8" sheet of zip sheathing $73 last week. F'n insane
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Thanks Mike....yep all five of these kitchens have the microwave oven in the island.
Owning and running a construction business is very stressful and all time consuming..... imagine having to do estimates and payroll on many nights when you would rather be fishing or spending time with the family and when you present that estimate they act like you are bending them over.......so "be careful what you wish for"
I did it for over ten years......much happier now....my bosses appreciate all that i do....customers can be a huge PIA

[Rmarsh]

finished look with the granite on these...... exterior shot of the model home... at our new subdivision.

[Hookedagain]

Nice looking little house. I'll take a shed dormer over a dog house any day. I also prefer the garage on the right side of the house (No idea why). Theres always a sense of satisfaction when you walk away from a finished project. Nice work as always.

[Rmarsh]

Originally Posted by Hookedagain

Nice looking little house. I'll take a shed dormer over a dog house any day. I also prefer the garage on the right side of the house (No idea why). Theres always a sense of satisfaction when you walk away from a finished project. Nice work as always.

Thanks....I like the floor plan on this one.... large master bedroom, master bath and walk in closet on the first floor...two additional bedrooms and bath on second......I hate climbing stairs.

We are done with the five houses on Chicago St......five more under construction in the new subdivision in Westport.

Speaking of stairs......I have turned over the stair finishing job to a very competent co-worker......my arthritic hands are having trouble doing just basic things now.

[Hookedagain]

Speaking of stairs......I have turned over the stair finishing job to a very competent co-worker......my arthritic hands are having trouble doing just basic things now.[/QUOTE]

I hate climbing stairs as well.
I do however enjoy building them. I have worked in three different stair shops and have done countless in the field. I do have to agree with you though, it is getting more and more painful to be on my knees and un and down the stair as its being built.

Its a good feeling to do projects for repeat customers, I feel like I did something right the first time.

[Rmarsh]

This one is ready for countertops.......repeat customer....buying another new home from us in our new subdivision.........he just sold the house we built for him ten years ago.

[piemma]

Originally Posted by Rmarsh

This one is ready for countertops.......repeat customer....buying another new home from us in our new subdivision.........he just sold the house we built for him ten years ago.

Gives me ideas....

[Rmarsh]

Hooked....I'm guessing Horner, Cooper, DBS?
With a few exceptions..... the hundreds of houses I have built and worked on had stairs built/finished on site. That said....the quality of the shop built stairs is always very good to excellent.....but for a variety reasons...we...and majority of builders prefer built on site.

[Hookedagain]

I was at Cooper for 11 years, Had a friend that worked in the office at DBS and he told me the owner (Joe Delgato) wanted to start a stair shop. A meeting was arranged and we were on our way to building a new stair shop. I worked with them for about 8 weeks at night gathering tool, machinery and everything else that we would need to get this off the ground. I eventually left Cooper to run the DBS shop. Running the shop was not for me though. I wanted to build them...estimating and paperwork sucks! I got another guy from Cooper to come over and he took care of all that part of the shop. Later another guy came over and the three of us Cooper guys had a good thing for a bunch of years. I would build all day and I would install nights and weekends. I kind of got burnt out with stairs though. I was in the field building houses again and stumbled across the guy that I was working with at DBS (the second guy from Cooper). He was working at National Lumber Stair shop in Mansfield, and looking for another stair builder. Off I went to talk to them. I was there for about two and a half years and the shop was struggling bad. The sales team had no idea how to measure a stair and it was costing the company a ton of dough.I bailed and went back in the field, a few months later the stair part of the millwork shop shut down.

[Rmarsh]

Originally Posted by Hookedagain

I was at Cooper for 11 years, Had a friend that worked in the office at DBS and he told me the owner (Joe Delgato) wanted to start a stair shop. A meeting was arranged and we were on our way to building a new stair shop. I worked with them for about 8 weeks at night gathering tool, machinery and everything else that we would need to get this off the ground

Your stairbuilding experience is impressive.

Speaking of DBS.....I met Joe Delgado back in 1980.

I was building a house for my brother in law and when we were ready for insulation, one option was to buy it and install it ourselves. Someone told me to call Joe for a price to supply and install and it was cheaper than what I could buy just the insulation.
Joe showed up to do the job late one night....and installed it all by himself.
Didnt know it back then.... that he would eventually start his own lumber company. While other long established lumber companies were going out of business his company thrived.

[Rmarsh]

Moving on to finish the next house.....customer wanted a third bay for the garage.
This subdivision has 20 good size lots....selling fast with five houses under construction.

[Guppy]

Originally Posted by Rmarsh

Your stairbuilding experience is impressive.

Speaking of DBS...

• ..I met Joe Delgado

back in 1980.

I was building a house for my brother in law and when we were ready for insulation, one option was to buy it and install it ourselves. Someone told me to call Joe for a price to supply and install and it was cheaper than what I could buy just the insulation.
Joe showed up to do the job late one night....and installed it all by himself.
Didnt know it back then.... that he would eventually start his own lumber company. While other long established lumber companies were going out of business his company thrived.

I built a house for his lawyer on Oyster Harbahs ,,, needless to say he stocked the job... :-)

[Rmarsh]

I drive by DBS on my way to work....he has at least eight help wanted signs all along his frontage.


Lumber companies in my area that are long gone.....I had accounts with all of them.
William T King
Sturnevant & Hook
JB Lumber
Beacon Lumber
Acushnet Sawmills
Goodhue Lumber

[Hookedagain]

Originally Posted by Rmarsh

Your stairbuilding experience is impressive.

Speaking of DBS.....I met Joe Delgado back in 1980.

I was building a house for my brother in law and when we were ready for insulation, one option was to buy it and install it ourselves. Someone told me to call Joe for a price to supply and install and it was cheaper than what I could buy just the insulation.
Joe showed up to do the job late one night....and installed it all by himself.
Didnt know it back then.... that he would eventually start his own lumber company. While other long established lumber companies were going out of business his company thrived.

From what he told me, he started hanging drywall out of a station wagon with his wife (now ex wife). He realize he could make some money off the product so he rented a garage and stocked up on drywall. He was buying it in bulk for the discount and marking it up and selling to his customers. His wife was 9 months pregnant delivering drywall to his jobs. This turned into DelGato Drywall. When he sold the company years later to Joe Jorge, one of his employees, he had over 100 guys hanging and finishing drywall. Great guy to work for.

[Rmarsh]

Customer wanted beadboard in all the bathrooms.... very nice look I think. That is ceramic tile on the floor.

[Rmarsh]

more interior pics.....boss is pushing hard to get five more houses done in our new subdivision...most are pre-sold.

[Guppy]

Bob, what’s being used to fill the nail holes on the window in the bath ? Plz

Nice work….

[Rmarsh]

Thanks.....Not sure on the name brand....but its red color is supposed to turn white when its dry and ready to sand.

[Rmarsh]

The trend towards hardwood flooring in the kitchen is now the norm in most of our new houses. Looks nice i suppose....but not practical imo.

[Guppy]

Originally Posted by Rmarsh

The trend towards hardwood flooring in the kitchen is now the norm in most of our new houses. Looks nice i suppose....but not practical imo.

Nice practical kitchen…. Wood floor will be a regret down the road no doubt….

[Rmarsh]

Worst thing a framer can do is not have the kitchen walls square to each other.......#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&s.
This kitchen has stacked upper cabinets....gets a skin on the exposed ends to hide the joint.
Flooring on this one is ceramic tile. The cabinets with the white interior gets glass paneled doors.

[piemma]

Originally Posted by Rmarsh

The trend towards hardwood flooring in the kitchen is now the norm in most of our new houses. Looks nice i suppose....but not practical imo.

We did hardwood in the dining area but 12x12" ceramic tiles in the cooking area. Works fine. I wouldn't do it in front of the sink, stove and fridge.

[Rmarsh]

Originally Posted by piemma

We did hardwood in the dining area but 12x12" ceramic tiles in the cooking area. Works fine. I wouldn't do it in front of the sink, stove and fridge.

The prefinished hardwood we use today has several (I heard as many as eleven) factory applied coats of aluminum oxide finish.... very durable ... supposedly much more durable than the sand and finish in place that usually has three coats of poly. That said I still dont like the idea. In my house the kitchen gets trashed daily....wife and I are very messy cooks.