The House Plan Shop Blog

If you are planning to build a new house in the near future, it is necessary to understand it will not be a simple task. Unless you are a qualified building professional or you have all of the specific skills required for a residential construction project, you will need to hire a builder or contractor. Or if you plan to be your own general contractor, you will be responsible for hiring all of the subcontractors skilled in the various building trades to contribute to the construction of your new home. Below is a list of all the skilled professionals you may need to hire to build your house.

·         Excavator to clear the lot

·         Concrete/Foundation contractor to build and set concrete forms and pour the concrete foundation

·         Carpenter to frame the home

·         Roofer to install roof covering, i.e. shingles

·         Insulation contractor

·         Electrician to wire the home and install outlets, switches and fixtures

·         Plumber to install all plumbing and related fixtures

·         Stone mason, bricklayer or someone to install exterior finish and trim

·         Drywall contractor to install/hang drywall

·         Taper and painter to cover and paint interior walls and trim

·         Finish carpenter to install interior doors and finish the inside of the home with trim, moldings and some decorative elements

·         Flooring contractor to lay tile, carpet, hardwood flooring, etc.

·         Lawn crew to sew grass seed, lay sod and landscape the yard

·         Interior decorator to add all the finishing touches

·         Garage door contractor to install overhead garage doors

Depending on all the details of your new home and the special elements you’d like to include, it may be necessary to hire additional building professionals.

For more information about home plans or building with stock house plans, please visit The House Plan Shop.

Tags: builders, Building a House, building professionals, contractors, home building, home construction, subcontractors

You’ve heard of the crash-test dummies used to test the safety of automobiles. Home insurance companies recently began using this concept to “crash-test” residential construction. The goal is to provide insight, feedback and concrete evidence about home construction that will help devise new disaster-proof construction practices for home building. Home insurance companies can sponsor a test chamber that simulates severe weather conditions and the effect they have on model houses. For example, tests can simulate Mother Nature’s harshest weather conditions by inflicting gale-force winds, torrential rains, hail, fire and debris. The chief engineer for the Institute for Business and Home Safety, Time Reinhold, says “This is an opportunity to create demand for better construction.” The IBHS lab is designed to subject model homes to simulated weather conditions typical of a Category 2 or Category 3 hurricane such as 140 mph winds produced by fans, hail created by freezing water in different size molds, fire produced by blazing embers (burning mulch hurled by fans), open gas lines and burning shrubs and trees, and rain with up to 8” per hour produced by sprinklers.

The IBHS’s test facility debuted in October of 2010 with two test homes side-by-side. One was built to typical building codes used in the Midwest. The other one incorporated structural reinforcements and more durable materials. The results were impressive with the reinforced home suffering only cosmetic damage while the standard-code home collapsed in minutes.

The results were clear. It is worth investing in reinforced construction when it comes to durability and safety. For more information about cost and additional details, review this “crash-test” article.

Source: Crash-Test Homes Show Value of Better Construction, by Clare Kaufman

Tags: home construction, home insurance, Home Safety, residential construction, severe weather