NeighborhoodNettm
Creation Of A Neighborhood
By Bob Phillips
The following is material from a seminar given by Keith Worrel, President of Advantage Homes. The seminar's purpose was to market Advantage Homes and to educate homebuyers about quality, treatment of customer, and cost.
This material, which is copyrighted by Advantage Homes, is published on NeighborhoodNet(tm) with the permission of Keith Worrel. Bob Phillips converted the material to HTML for display on the Internet.
ADVANTAGE HOMES
RAISING THE STANDARD IN KC HOME-BUILDING
All Rights Reserved. No part of this presentation may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission.
Why Does the Standard in KC Need to be Raised?
- Kansas City is known around the country as having low home costs. But the home costs are low for a reason! Overall quality is being sacrificed for a larger amount of square footage.
- The quality of framing material and the framing design used in construction in KC today is not at the level it was years ago.
- In most new homes in KC, #3 framing lumber is being used extensively.
- In most new homes in KC, 2x4 framing is used in all exterior walls. In using 2x6 framing for all exterior walls, energy costs are greatly reduced, and wall twisting and flexing is lessened.
- Floor systems implemented today do not compare to floor systems implemented years ago. Homes traditionally had two layers of sub flooring. Today, they only have one layer of sub flooring. Upgrades need to be made to the floor system in order to eliminate flexing and future problems.
- There are a number of design improvements that can be used when framing to greatly improve the energy efficiency of a home. In using heavier framing material and better design, heating and cooling costs can be greatly reduced.
- Exterior wall sheathing under the siding is typically considered an upgrade in KC. In most other cities it is mandatory.
- The pride of quality by the contractor is typically not evident today.
- The majority of building contractors in KC hire superintendents to monitor the building of the home. By doing this, the builders themselves do not control the quality of the homes.
- Most building contractors use the lowest estimates from the major sub-contractors, which sacrifices overall quality.
- By using the lowest estimates from sub-contractors, framing quality may suffer, typically plastic water lines are used, heating and air conditioning systems do not perform adequately, and electrical design is not acceptable.
- Clients are typically dissatisfied with the treatment given by the contractor, and the quality of their new home.
- I have experienced hiring builders to build me a home. I can say the experiences were not pleasant. I was shocked at the treatment I received, and the poor quality of the end product. I have also talked with numerous friends and neighbors who have recently built a new home, they all have experienced unacceptable treatment and poor quality.
- Client callbacks within the first year seem to be on the rise, and may not be handled in a timely, courteous manner.
- I have again experienced for myself and have talked with friends and neighbors about callbacks. Typically the callbacks were not completed or were not completed in a satisfactory manner.
- Homes only 3 to 6 years old typically need extensive exterior maintenance.
- Because so much wood is used on the exteriors of new homes in KC, maintenance becomes quite expensive. To add to this, typically poor quality paint is being used, which only compounds this problem.
How Will Advantage Homes Build Homes Differently?
- Overall quality will be the first priority. Advantage Homes has a vision to begin to set a new standard that other builders will follow, to make KC known around the country as a quality home area.
- Advantage Homes will limit the number of homes built in a year so that I can personally monitor the overall building process.
- Advantage Homes will use only high grade lumber, material and framing designs.
- Only #2 grade lumber or better will be used in the framing infrastructure. All wall, ceiling and rafter framing will be 16" on center.
- All homes will have 2x6 exterior walls, including garage.
- All floor joists will be 2x10's or larger, and will be 12" on center.
- Exterior wall sheathing will be mandatory on all homes built. (double wall construction)
- Advantage Homes will attempt to use maintenance free exterior products wherever possible. This includes clad windows, brick, stucco, and vinyl siding.
- Soil will be tested prior to foundation being poured in order to insure proper foundation engineering.
- Rebar will be used in all flat concrete work, except the basement, where typically no reinforcement is needed. Rebar in the foundation will be increased to every 24" vertically, and 5 rows horizontally for a nine foot wall. Footings will be 24" wide with 3 rows of rebar.
- Roof sheathing will be plywood instead of 1x4 pine. This is used in order to possibly reduce the costs of replacing a wood roof with a composite roof sometime in the future.
- Advantage Homes will use sub-contractors that have good reputations in KC and have the same quality principles as myself.
- Advantage Homes is willing to pay more in order to receive quality work from the best sub-contractors in KC.
- Framing quality will be improved over a typical KC home.
- Copper plumbing water lines will be mandatory.
- Electrical design will be enhanced and outlet numbers will not be minimized.
- Heating and air conditioning design will be enhanced over the typical system.
- Energy efficiency will be a high priority.
- All windows will be thermopane.
- R-19 insulation batts will be used in all exterior walls. R-38 insulation will be blown into attic.
- Basement exterior walls will be framed with 2x4 walls and be insulated with R-11 batts.
- Energy efficient framing designs in walls and ceilings will be used to ensure the best possible R-factors.
- Zoned heating and cooling will be used when square footage is large enough, to minimize energy costs. This will also ensure optimum use and comfort of the mechanical features.
How Will Advantage Homes Treat the Client Differently?
- Open, two-way communication will be encouraged.
- Clients are encouraged to call me anytime with questions or concerns. If the client thinks there is a problem, I feel it is better to address it early in the building process.
- Advantage Homes will contact the client with weekly or bi-weekly progress updates during the building process.
- The client will be encouraged to review the progress of the home during the entire building process.
- By reviewing the progress regularly, client concerns can be addressed and rectified as soon as possible with minimum cost or effort.
- At no time will the client be locked out of the home. I have experienced builders attempting to lock me out at certain stages of the building process. Once the home is locked, the client will be given a key for entrance.
- Callbacks will be coordinated by me personally. In most instances the sub contractor will be called to rectify the problem. This will be done in as timely a manner as possible.
How Will the Price of Building a Quality Home Compare to Typical KC Prices?
- Usually, it will cost approximately $70-90 a sq. ft. to build a home to Advantage Homes specifications. This would compare to approximately $60-70 a sq. ft. to build a typical KC home.
- But remember, this includes the following upgrades:
- Floor joists to 12" on center
- All exterior walls to 2x6 framing
- Exterior wall sheathing beneath siding
- All wall, ceiling and rafter framing to 16" on center
- All thermopane windows
- Rebar in all flat concrete work
- Zoned heating and cooling
- Maintenance free exteriors
- More energy efficient framing designs.
- To summarize, we all need to decide if we want to invest more money up front for overall quality, or risk paying for repairs and ongoing maintenance expenses for the life of our home.
Written by Bob Phillips. All rights reserved. Copyright 1997, All rights
reserved. August, 1997.
Any reproduction by any means of this material without the explicit written consent of the author is forbidden.
Displayed on NeighborhoodNet(tm) with permission of the author
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