Smaller Kitchens

[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.

[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]

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.

[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]

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.

[Rmarsh]

Wood burning fireplace on this house at customers request....instead of natural gas. This new subdivision has no natural gas.....for customers that want gas appliances...we bury a very large underground propane tank......gas appliances just need a conversion kit. I got the ac cranking here....so im working comfortably.
Soffit and crown moulding next.... cabinets just got delivered to next job...so i might go install them and come back to finish later.

[Rmarsh]

Nine foot high ceilings makes it a little more difficult to do the soffit and crown. Working on a step ladder instead of my lower installers bench...can be awkward. Checking and re-checking the fit of every piece gets tedious.....making sure both ends fit precisely. There is only enough crown moulding to do it right the first time....one false move and you will run short....and have to wait to reorder and ship another piece.
Island cabinets being a different color....is trending.

[piemma]

hey this is crazy but we put in a raised hearth fireplace when the kitchen was build and put an insert in 10 years ago.

[nightfighter]

Originally Posted by Rmarsh

Nine foot high ceilings makes it a little more difficult to do the soffit and crown. Working on a step ladder instead of my lower installers bench...can be awkward. Checking and re-checking the fit of every piece gets tedious.....making sure both ends fit precisely. There is only enough crown moulding to do it right the first time....one false move and you will run short....and have to wait to reorder and ship another piece.
Island cabinets being a different color....is trending.

Happened in my own kitchen!!! Was short by the length of the miter on a 16 inch run.... Drives me nuts. I gotten to putting in a $500 bounty, paid to me, if person ordering shorts me on moldings.

[Rmarsh]

Knowing how close it is figured....I rough cut by half inch longer ....all the individual pieces and label before any fitting or angle cuts....decide on the best use of the 96 inch pieces....before cutting....waste pieces are literally just a handfull
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[Rmarsh]

Originally Posted by piemma

hey this is crazy but we put in a raised hearth fireplace when the kitchen was build and put an insert in 10 years ago.

Gas fireplace is so much less work and mess.....But .....I've been supplementing my oil burning hot water heating system with a wood burning stove since I built my house in '77.....cutting, splitting, drying and storing all that wood adds up to a lot of work.....and makes a mess. When my 100 year old mother in law lived here with us....she insisted on having the wood stove going at all times.......it's in the room where she spent most of her day.

[Rmarsh]

Just sold for $790,000!!! Incredible.......to think that when I started in the home building business... two story colonials on acre lots went for $39,500.

[Guppy]

Originally Posted by Rmarsh

Just sold for $790,000!!! Incredible.......to think that when I started in the home building business... two story colonials on acre lots went for $39,500.

They are all the same only different…. ;-)

A rendering from a plan I drew 10 ? Yrs. ago…
They where around 5 then,,,

[Rmarsh]

Originally Posted by Guppy

They are all the same only different…. ;-)

A rendering from a plan I drew 10 ? Yrs. ago…
They where around 5 then,,,

Attachment 68180

Wow.....that is amazingly similar.........
and I like your version very much.
Ours is on a sloping lot so it's a walkout in the back....
Makes for a nice finished basement.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

[nightfighter]

What's the gabled bump outs in both of those? (I see the shed bump out for the gas insert vent in Bob's.)

[Guppy]

Originally Posted by nightfighter

What's the gabled bump outs in both of those? (I see the shed bump out for the gas insert vent in Bob's.)

To be honest, I don’t remember… LOL
Probably master bath,,,,