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PaperclipPerfector  4mo ago (text post)   2983 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for June 29, 2025

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Homeowners of The Motte -- what would you differently if you could do it all over again?

I plan on building a house in the next 12 months on a lot about an hour away from the Gulf of Mexico America. It's going to be a two-story 5BR house with porches on the front and the back, built in a traditional Southern style.

I'm a bit overwhelmed as I don't even know what I don't know about building, and I want to avoid making costly mistakes that I'll have to pay to renovate later (or worse, be unable to fix at all). Happy to hear both from people who built and people who bought.

On building or remodelling, what I will say is that one of the absolute most visible parts of the work is the drywall/trim finishing. Most GCs sub this out, and most subs are horrible. Since this is close to the final stage of construction, it is hard to have the patience to make them do it right, but it is what you will notice every day even if the rest of the work is great. If a remodel, the drywall stage is an absolute nightmare due to the obscene amount of dust that low quality contractors create. I recommend stressing to GC that professional drywall finishers are a must.

Does this add a significant amount of cost?

I had bad drywall subs, so I am not sure. Theoretically, a high quality drywall crew would work faster (so not a big cost increase) and cleaner, but drywall is considered shitty entry level work so it is very hard to find a high quality crew.

But basically what happens is that the painters blame the trim (who blame the drywall) or drywall people who blame the framing (which cannot be redone), counting on you and GC to just run out of patience. GCs dont think drywall is real work, so they sub it out without much quality control. Also, at this stage the GC is counting money and will probably try to get some margin by cheaping out on drywall. Results are probably a lot better with new construction than remodel.

Good to know, thanks. It sounds like I'll just need to keep an extra close eye on the GC towards the end.

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