Bad Idea? Home Construction

I bought a 2nd house April 3rd and I have been attempting to get work done. I waited for a while on a friend of a friend to provide a quote on some work and he came back way too high... I wasted weeks waiting for him. Then I called out 3 contractors for quotes. 2 didnt show, 1 showed and quoted. The quote was solid so I offered him the work... now, no word from him... he went silent and work is suppose to be starting after having waited another 2 weeks for when he said he could start.
Here is where I am... asking if it is a bad idea. I'm getting impatient and about to start doing work myself! I have never done real work on a house. I have helped a bit with drywall... that is it.
I'm a quick learner, there seems to be lots of info available online. I have some mechanical skills, and I can handle tools... I was an airframe mechanic for 13 years, so I have some concept of loads, reinforcement and fastening.

I need to close a doorway, pull off some old plaster tile walls and drywall. I also have a wall with a door that I want to open up to an archway. I dont believe the wall to be load bearing, the attic joists run parallel to the wall and nothing in the attic terminates over the wall.

Bad idea to take this thing on? Should I keep searching for a contractor? I will probably still need an electrician to come in to do that portion.

Doesn't sound that difficult, i did the same thing to my kitchen door. Not a big deal except for the drywall dust. I made an arched header out of 2x12s and cut it with a saber saw, but you can also get a laminate header, relocate a couple of outlets and switches. Saved a couple thousand bucks, you will learn on the job and there is always Youtube for directions.
Take you time and you will get a lot of satisifaction from doing it yourself.

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Sounds like your friend quoted and accurate number to actually show up and do the job. Either pay up or do it yourself.

DIY. We cut 2 holes in our house for new windows last year and it was NOT worth paying up for. Did it in a weekend basically. You can do it with YouTube. We had some good advice from my father in law and my neighbor who is a carpenter but we did it all ourselves.

Construction isn't rocket science. There are enough resources on the internet for you to learn how to do a better job than anyone you can hire.

tistan said:

Sounds like your friend quoted and accurate number to actually show up and do the job. Either pay up or do it yourself.

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I disagree. I've had some of the absolute worst quotes for work from friends of friends.

Years ago I had an issue with my sliding glass door track coming apart. Initially couldn't find parts. Talked to a friend of a friend who basically told me the ONLY way to fix it was to replace the entire door because you can't replace or fix the tracks. The guy said minimum 3.5k but plan on 4.

A few hours of research, $150 in parts and about 30 minutes of actuall work i fixed the door track. 5 years later the door still opened and closed with one finger.

I won't get into the stupid quotes I've gotten for concrete work but this was the worst. Now I find my own contractors, all I look for is positive reviews and no "hook ups".

Iamchris said:

Bad idea to take this thing on? Should I keep searching for a contractor? I will probably still need an electrician to come in to do that portion.

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One thing I've noticed in my area is each part of town has it's own FB group, and word of mouth within said group can keep a small business employed or ruin them. I live in FL. Every other house has a screened in pool, plus regular windows has screens too. I was at a friend's house on his porch, leaned back in the chair and ripped the screen...36 hours before a home inspection. A friend said screens are easy to do. I looked up the materials at lowe's and it was gonna be like $70. Whatever, that's fine, I'll attempt it, but then I checked the local FB group. Had like 6 replies in 15 minutes about "John is amazing, you gotta call him, here's his number." Quick pic send of the damage, he confirmed there's no bushes in the way, and he said $50 and I can do it this afternoon. DONE! It seems the same for pool problems, AC, plumbing, etc. I would look for a local FB group.

Jump in and do it yourself. None of this stuff is all that difficult. If you are a detail oriented person you'll do fine. YouTube has so many videos for doing things yourself, it makes it easy. Not like when I was young and you had to go to the library or ask some old guy who's been doing stuff for 50 years.

Do it yourself.

Do it, it's a lot easier than you think.

I took a job in construction in my early 20's, basically because I was laid off and I had friends who worked there too. I only needed beer money and to pay for minimal living expenses at the time, but looking back it was the best paying (knowledge) job I ever had because of what it has saved me over the years doing projects myself.

Good luck.

Doing work like this is just like anything else, it all boils down to desire to learn. For me I enjoy learning and adding to my skill set. For me that is usually the biggest motivation even before saving money.

If I were in your shoes I'd go for it.

being able to finish the work and having the finished work look right are different things.

Here’s something that’s going to blow your minds. If you take 3-5 quotes and they are all legitimately too high or they didn’t even get you a quote, then there is something about you that an experienced contractor said noooo thanks lol.

Edit- not returning an estimate and “ghosting” the potential customer is unacceptable.

Call a contractor out and start telling them how handy you are and how you think you could just do it yourself and you’re getting a price that reflects an “amateur know it all” standing over their shoulder the whole tome watching YouTube construction videos

Do it yourself. You've discovered how unreliable many contractors can be. YouTube is your friend. You'll find enough resources to guide you with just about any home repair/construction task you want to take on.

The side benefit with doing the work yourself is that you'll be all the more prepared to do the next home project. Saving lots of money along the way.

Rct851 said:

being able to finish the work and having the finished work look right are different things.

Here’s something that’s going to blow your minds. If you take 3-5 quotes and they are all legitimately too high or they didn’t even get you a quote, then there is something about you that an experienced contractor said noooo thanks lol.

Call a contractor out and start telling them how handy you are and how you think you could just do it yourself and you’re getting a price that reflects an “amateur know it all” standing over their shoulder the whole tome watching YouTube construction videos

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Wow! Let me ask. Are you a contractor?

CobraBob said:

Wow! Let me ask. Are you a contractor?

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sure am. I take it you thought some of that is crazy?

Like most other proffesions remodeling contractors fall into two groups, contractors, and proffesional contractors. The second group is a very small segment of the business, they carry insurance, are licenced they will show up on time do a job correctly, and clean up the worksite for the agreed price, the other group not so much. If you can't find a good one you are better off doing it yourself.
One more thing, the proffesionals wont ask for money until they are finished.

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If you can turn nuts and bolts.

This will be cake.

Google helps a lot but beware on what they say.

some thing says this job is to small for a contractor

No money

I do small jobs like this. But work at a daily pay rate.
I’m not a contractor
Just a guy who will take on about any job

buffalosoldier said:

Like most other proffesions remodeling contractors fall into two groups, contractors, and proffesional contractors. The second group is a very small segment of the business, they carry insurance, are licenced they will show up on time do a job correctly, and clean up the worksite for the agreed price, the other group not so much. If you can't find a good one you are better off doing it yourself.
One more thing, the proffesionals wont ask for money until they are finished.

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What utter bull shit. I am professional and everyone I work with is professional. If you don't make a down payment, you will not get on mine or their schedule. My down payment is 5% or $20k, whichever one is greater. I make down payments to just about everyone of my sub contractors to get on their schedule. You know what, we all show up on time and get the jobs done on time.

So "professionals" are supposed to fund and entire project and then hope the customer pays? How to you even come up with this and then try to pass it on as expertise?

hotcobra03 said:

If you can turn nuts and bolts.

This will be cake.

Google helps a lot but beware on what they say.

some thing says this job is to small for a contractor

No money

I do small jobs like this. But work at a daily pay rate.
I’m not a contractor
Just a guy who will take on about any job

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Small in and out jobs actually pay really good. I still get my hands dirty when I have time. I can usually make $150 hour on small jobs. Home Depot and Lowe's reams people on small jobs. I can do it for 75% of what they charge and still make good money.

Looks like I wont be hiring you then.

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