Construction is Like A Marathon
Have you ever run a marathon?
A marathon is 26.2 miles. For marathoners, the half way mark is mile 22. The last 3 miles are always the hardest.
They are the hardest because a thousand things are trying to come together in a very short time.
When you first start building a home the excavation is exciting. Earth is moving and we have a natural excitement to see dirt moving after what seemed like months of planning and budgeting.
Then comes the foundation. This can take some time but we are still in the excitement phase but we take the challenges that surface.
When framing begins, it’s all fast. Big things happen in a day, and by the end of the week or in two weeks, we have what feels like an open tree house. It’s fun and we begin to imagine our vision.
Following the framing we have exterior siding or covering, roofing, windows and more. We see our vision from the street and we get excited. Then comes all the mechanical and thus begins our frustration. Before anything else can happen to give your home three dimensions, we wait for plumbers, HVAC installers and electricians to install the mechanical guts of the home. These can feel like big accomplishments for some, especially the builder, but for the inexperienced homeowner, they can cause you to pull your hair out. Getting all three or more sub-contractors to get their jobs done in a timely manner can be frustrating. When inspections pass, we move on to insulation and drywall, the big mess phase.
Many homeowners feel a great challenge when drywall is installed. It is commonly messy and there is only room for one contractor on site, whereas just before drywall there were many at your home doing their part.
Now comes the the point in the run where you want to quit, fire everyone and give up. I have seen it happen over and over.
After having built nearly one hundred homes in my life, homeowners get incredibly impatient at the very end. There is almost nothing good a contractor can do to alleviate this last stretch.
Here’s some advice
Breathe and take it a day at a time. Do not look at the schedule, look at the punch list for things to do. Focus on what needs to be done. Line yourself out, do not schedule yourself. Read my post on “Do not Schedule, Line Out.”
Talk with sub-contractors and appreciate them for being there. It goes a long way. Do not stare and hover over them, just be there to help make their job fun. I have seen way too many owner builders hover over sub-contractors like ninny pickers. Stop it.
Keep the site clean. This alone will do wonders. If the site is a mess, it weighs on you. Stay organize and clean.
Persistence wins the day. Stay with it.
