re: Found trash in the wall of friend's newish McMansion

We are not all bad. I got into the industry as I was so sick of so much crappy work being performed, but I agree many are very shady and crooked.

How many sq ft does it have to be to qualify as a McMansion?

They recently tore down part of an old school in my town that was built in the 1930's. When they pulled off the interior walls there were several old whiskey bottles and old cigarette packs between the studs. They looked like they were placed there yesterday.

quote:

---

You confirmed my suspicions.

---

That you gave bad advice? Let's see.

Your way: Spend "3-4 hours" and "about a $1k" to extend wifi, manage that POS eyesore Cisco device, provide power and space for it and at the end of the day it is still a wireless connection and if anything goes wonky with it, I'll feel obligated to take a look at it since I'm the infrastructure guy at work and he is just a programmer.

My way: Spend 30 minutes running a $25 cat6 cable and installing two new $5 faceplates to accept ethernet connections and provide maintenance-free 1gig low latency wired connection.

Yeah, I like my way better.

Stop embarrassing yourself.

Stick to versa bits and working in attics and keep thinking rock-solid Cisco WAPs are "wonky"

Stay hydrated.

The workers in one of my homes wrote terrible things on the unfinished sheetrock wall and punched a hole in it. We made them replace the three sheet rock panels (vs repair and paint). We wouldn't have noticed except we acted as the general contractor.

Get an older home that has brick all the way around. Tale tale sign of corner cutting is when they put siding up in the back, to begin with. Yard slopes off and you can see in your neighbors yard is also a surefire way to get a home that has things wrong with it that you can't see. Check to see if the paint is dusting off. Sometimes they don't even use primer on the interior walls in some rooms. Crazy, I know but it happens. Look in the attic and see if wires are just strewn about haphazardly. They should be neat and organized, and preferably not run across tightly in a way that you can get close-lined by it. Run the water and flush the toilets. A lot of these newer homes have plumbing problems, get air in the lines, etc. Look for doors that have been modified so that they can fit in crooked door frames. Could be a sign that the foundation wasn't done right and it is shifting. I've seen homes that are only 5 years old start having foundation problems.

My 1975 home is rock solid but the renovations to modernize were pretty expensive since I didn't do them myself.

quote:

---

Is there any way to find one that isn't a corner cutting, dirty scumbag? 

---

No

What is a 30k millionaire?

quote:

---

Is there any way to find one that isn't a corner cutting, dirty scumbag? All o ever read are these horror stories and how all contractors and their employees are like this. Just word of mouth? I may be using one within next year or so and this worries me

---

A lot of what you read here is hyperbole and ignorance. Are there bad contractors? Yes but that is true for every profession.

It also goes back to getting what you pay for. People want the most sq footage for their money but are shocked to learn that getting 2500 living for $70 per might come with some quality issues. That's like buying a mobile home then crying when it's a heaping pile of shite in 10 years.

It's amazing the reps builders like D.R. Horton have yet they still sell thousands of homes per year. Why is that? Because people aren't willing to pay for the better builders that do exist and that drives a lot of the better builders into commercial work or taking on very limited higher end residential clients where rep matters almost as much as everything else.

If you do your research you can find good builders and/or subs.