Another One

[A.D. Miller]

Million dollar house near Love Field. Texas good old boy checkbook builder responded to my comments on this chimney flashing, "It is fine. We are not required to install it in a code-compliant manner if it is a roof over the patio with no living space below."

And you guys wonder why I have such an attitude . . .

[Mike Gault]

Man that's heinous!

[Vern Heiler]

Million dollar house near Love Field. Texas good old boy checkbook builder responded to my comments on this chimney flashing, "It is fine. We are not required to install it in a code-compliant manner if it is a roof over the patio with no living space below."

And you guys wonder why I have such an attitude . . .

To which I would reply, "I'm not a code inspector".

[Ted Menelly]

Million dollar house near Love Field. Texas good old boy checkbook builder responded to my comments on this chimney flashing, "It is fine. We are not required to install it in a code-compliant manner if it is a roof over the patio with no living space below."

And you guys wonder why I have such an attitude . . .

Those builders, electricians, all are put on this Earth just for you.

[Ken Rowe]

or a "common sense" manner apparently.

[A.D. Miller]

or a "common sense" manner apparently.

KR: The builders are mostly class-A hacks down here. There is absolutely no oversight save for the municipal inspectors who are either DDB (deaf-dumb-blind) purposely or for profit, and the third-party folks like me who have no authority to compel compliance.

[A.D. Miller]

Those builders, electricians, all are put on this Earth just for you.

TM: Someone's got to do it, Foat Wuff . . .

[Bill Tomberlin]

Million dollar house near Love Field. Texas good old boy checkbook builder responded to my comments on this chimney flashing, "It is fine. We are not required to install it in a code-compliant manner if it is a roof over the patio with no living space below."

And you guys wonder why I have such an attitude . . .

Unexcepted throughout the roofing industry. It does not matter what the hack roofing contractor says. This has to be corrected. Can this man sleep at night?

[David Bell]

Thats why its called step flashing,,looks like its been stepped on

[Ken Rowe]

Thats why its called step flashing,,looks like its been stepped on

Stepped on with a few kicks thrown in.

[A.D. Miller]

Unexcepted throughout the roofing industry. It does not matter what the hack roofing contractor says. This has to be corrected. Can this man sleep at night?

BT: He sleeps like a stone. In the current world of checkbook builders and their infamous subs, no one person is responsible for the whole house (except maybe the inspector in the eyes of the court). Nobody watches out for the next guy or feels responsible to correct the mistakes of the guy who came before them.

So then, when the roofer installed his base flashing he was done. It is then the mason's responsibility to install the cap flashing. But the mason is just a mason (at least in his mind) and does not view this as his responsibility - it is the roofers. All the while, checkbook builder boy feels only responsible for collecting his check at the end of the project.

That is the problem with not only the homebuilding industry, but this country as a whole. The Unites States of Buck Passing. Land of the Free to be Irresponsible, and Home of the Knaves.

[Bruce Breedlove]

In the current world of checkbook builders and their infamous subs, no one person is responsible for the whole house (except maybe the inspector in the eyes of the court). Nobody watches out for the next guy or feels responsible to correct the mistakes of the guy who came before them.

So then, when the roofer installed his base flashing he was done. It is then the mason's responsibility to install the cap flashing. But the mason is just a mason (at least in his mind) and does not view this as his responsibility - it is the roofers. All the while, checkbook builder boy feels only responsible for collecting his check at the end of the project.

That's pretty much it. All too often the individual subcontractors are only interested in their portion of the project and don't care about the overall project. This is why you will see plumbers cut joists and beams to run their pipes.

Very often - as demonstrated in this thread - there will be gaps between the work of different subs. The ultimate responsibility for bridging those gaps falls on the contractor (builder). Unfortunately many of these gaps go unbridged, especially in residential construction where the level of sophistication of the contractor (builder) and the subcontractors is typically not as high as that of commercial contractors and subcontractors.

[A.D. Miller]

Very often - as demonstrated in this thread - there will be gaps between the work of different subs. The ultimate responsibility for bridging those gaps falls on the contractor (builder). Unfortunately many of these gaps go unbridged, especially in residential construction where the level of sophistication of the contractor (builder) and the subcontractors is typically not as high as that of commercial contractors and subcontractors.

BB: The problem is greatly exacerbated by the fact that most "builders" today are corporations. The boots on the ground at the individual sites are merely superintendents with little or no construction experience or training.

Only a very few builders follow the model that I followed: on-site supervision by the builder of his crew - no subs. The buck always stopped with me. Nothing happened on the site that I was not aware of. Everyone looked out for and corrected the mistakes of the next guy and last guy respectively.

It all boils down to accountability. The lack of it is the bane of the building industry and this country as a whole.

[Robert Schenck]

Truly hard to believe that's a Million Dollar House !! Simply put - Craftsmanship is certainly lacking here. The brick-work looks terrible, the tiles / flashing looks terrible

Most million dollar homes I've seen are on very big lots, with lots and lots of space between the homes. From the picture provided, it appears you can see the next door neighbors backyard, with very little space between the homes. (Not typical in my neck of the woods).

[Ted Menelly]

Truly hard to believe that's a Million Dollar House !! Simply put - Craftsmanship is certainly lacking here. The brick-work looks terrible, the tiles / flashing looks terrible

Most million dollar homes I've seen are on very big lots, with lots and lots of space between the homes. From the picture provided, it appears you can see the next door neighbors backyard, with very little space between the homes. (Not typical in my neck of the woods).

California....Million dollar homes...big lots?????

I guess that is in certain parts of California. In the cities a condo could be a million plus or a town home or over sized Sears order home that someone did over. Or a beach home where they have a hard time getting to the beach and at high tide they cannot walk the beach and the highway is on the other side of the home.

Love field is closer in the mix of the City and yes the small lots are pretty common. A lot of folks want the small lots for no up keep because they are the kind of folks that if they venture out the door they are headed away from their home to play some where.

I will admit that Aaron can find those million dollar plus homes with hard core non moving builders but I am hard pressed to inspect a home of that value and the builder give folks a hard time in fixing anything. Most don' question what I write up at all and are happy to make the repairs as these homes bring a much great return for the money. I have seen a few that are advertising their model for cheap money because they could not move it and usually market it at a lower price as is but then most of the time they fix things anyway.

I think Aaron is a mean old SOB and they like to fight with him over everything. I take a much softer approach and just mention what needs repair and a brief statement as to whats wrong with it. Nothing demanding and condescending about it. If they question it at all they are calling to clarify the concern and wind up fixing it anyway. I have had a few with their backs up a little but I just say that thee is a right way and a wrong way to do everything and it usually takes just as long to do it wrong as right and they listen to the jovial comment, snicker a little and say "I guess you are right on that one" and take care of the concern.

Aaron finds these lame plumbers, roofers, electricians, builder, builders supers etc all the time.

[A.D. Miller]

Aaron finds these lame plumbers, roofers, electricians, builder, builders supers etc all the time.

YM: Correction. They find me. It is a karmic thing.