Sweat Equity Jobs
Sweat Equity Jobs
Who doesn't want to save money? It would seem that building a new home would be a perfect opportunity to do just that. Well, looks can indeed be deceiving. The process of building a new home is complicated and for it to go smoothly all of the different jobs and materials need to come together seamlessly. Your builder doesn't want you to hold him/her up.
Low Productivity
If you are able to tackle sweat equity jobs, the weekend is probably the best time if you can't use regular vacation time. Working at night after your regular job will cause you to burn out. Not only will your regular job suffer, but the work on your new home may likely be sub-par.
The biggest problem I see with most sweat equity jobs is the scope of the tasks. Homeowners often underestimate that amount of time a job will take.
An Example
I'll bet you have painted a bedroom or two in your life. You probably knock it out in a long day if it is an average sized room. I can guarantee you that this will not happen in a new construction job. Why? The job will require a minimum of two coats of paint. Secondly you will be caulking, spackling, and sanding for hours.
Imagine this scenario. You have decided to paint the inside of your new home. You are going to use a combination of vacation time, weekends and a couple of weekends when your friends show up. Ah, the ingredients for a disaster! I have witnessed it on many occasions. If you are not in a rush to move in to the new home, it might work. If there is a deadline, you will in all likelihood, move in with unfinished or poorly painted rooms. You don't believe me? Do a simple takeoff for the time it takes to paint one room. Be realistic. I'll bet that you find it will take about 20 - 30 hours to paint just one room from start to finish. If this is so, then do the math to see how many man hours the entire job will consume.
Start Small
If you can get your builder to cooperate with your sweat equity plans, try some small jobs at the front end of the project. Try to install blocking for all of the fixtures that will be eventually fastened to the walls. Perhaps you can move lumber or other materials to specific locations. If the weather conditions are extreme, keep in mind that your productivity will drop, especially if you are not used to working outdoors.
If you are out of shape, try not to tackle physically demanding jobs. If you think you can shovel 15 tons of pea gravel in a day after not having a shovel in your hand for 5 years, you are in for a huge surprise! You may make it through the day, but the next day, it will be payback time!
Code May Block Efforts
The building inspector may get in the way of your sweat equity plans. Some inspectors want all of the work complete - it should be - before they issue a final Certificate of Occupancy. Many people have wanted to build a rear or side deck after they move in to save money. That is not too much of a problem, but the door from the house leading to the deck is a huge problem.
You see, if a person opens the door and walks out to find no deck, they might be on the ground in a hurry. Code officials don't like creating situations like this. Some allow the door to be barricaded, but this creates an egress problem in case of a fire. The bottom line is that your local building inspector may derail your sweat equity schedule. You just might have to complete quite a few projects before you are allowed to take occupancy. Check it out!
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