I would have pointed to the playlist itself, which contains all the different parts of building a house.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3MDhLC7Prc&list=PLE7GmFxfJg...
How to build a house alone [video]
231–240 of 292 posts
Re: How to build a house alone [video]
#232Earlier quoted context omitted.
He's basically arguing comparative advantage. You're better off spending the hour programming and paying the contractor a (well, maybe) lower rate for them to do the job faster and better. Which is fine as far as it goes for theoretical economics. But, in practice, as in your example, the mother probably doesn't have a way to get paid for doing some other task rather than cutting the daughter's hair--and would likely…
You'd be surprised. I've met some general contractors making about 2-3x what a senior developer makes. That's in Vancouver where there's a roaring real estate market, and senior developers earn half what they do in the US. I return my cans and bottles for the deposit. Every time I do it I think it's completely illogical because I'm losing $50 each time over just spending the time programming. I justify it to myself a…
I don't disagree, hence my parenthetical :-) Took me over a year to get a plumber scheduled as part of a rather small bathroom remodel in Massachusetts. The construction trades are still hard work but they seem to pay well enough in areas where they're in demand.
I used to hate dealing with bottle deposits because it felt like throwing money away even if it was a modest amount. Now my town recycling lets you bring in deposit bottles and leave them in a shed for the local animal shelter which works just fine for me.
Re: How to build a house alone [video]
#233Skipping ahead to the end, that architect is a disgrace. The walls bumping in and out, the front door hiding behind the garage, two halves of the house on different levels for no discernible reason, the false transverse roof, the hilarious 3rd-floor bumpout as if for a 13th-century princess's loo, this house is dense with really bad ideas. Some of them might be partially blamed on the goofy pie-wedges-around-a-pond subdivision lot, but better work could have been done even in this location. Also that lower floor is going to be dank. Hopefully they put real support studs in under the floor beams before they start installing appliances.
Re: How to build a house alone [video]
#234Earlier quoted context omitted.
You'd be surprised. I've met some general contractors making about 2-3x what a senior developer makes. That's in Vancouver where there's a roaring real estate market, and senior developers earn half what they do in the US. I return my cans and bottles for the deposit. Every time I do it I think it's completely illogical because I'm losing $50 each time over just spending the time programming. I justify it to myself a…
I don't disagree, hence my parenthetical :-) Took me over a year to get a plumber scheduled as part of a rather small bathroom remodel in Massachusetts. The construction trades are still hard work but they seem to pay well enough in areas where they're in demand. I used to hate dealing with bottle deposits because it felt like throwing money away even if it was a modest amount. Now my town recycling lets you bring in…
It sure raises some questions about the typical advice to get a degree. Much more so if you get a degree in something nearly useless like English Literature.
I dropped out of Computer Science at my university, but I've done better than my friends who stayed and graduated with honors. My take away is there's no one best formula in life, rather there are more paths to success (and more ways to define success) than we have imagination to think of.
Re: How to build a house alone [video]
#235Earlier quoted context omitted.
I currently do not have one by myself, but you can see some of it from Google Maps street view: https://goo.gl/maps/rXx5DKRT4K12 It's this one: https://imgur.com/a/afZgOZ2 Naturally it has been maintained over the years, new roofing, new paint, but all in all it's the same house.
Those large roof overhangs are so wonderful. Why aren't they more common in America? Not only do they protect your siding and walls (greatly extending the life of your siding) but they also have huge energy benefits in warm areas by keeping the sun off of your walls. Oh, and if you have a basement, they help keep it dry. Build bigger roof overhangs, America! http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/musings/ever…
Because you often want more sunlight coming in, and just looking at those pictures, it looks like they block a lot of it.
The trend in building is bigger and larger windows for a reason.
Re: How to build a house alone [video]
#236Impressive! Of course technically he’s building it not by himself but with the help of a lot of technology. ;) This man is building a house including the tools you need to build that house completely by himself: Primitive Technology: Tiled Roof Hut https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P73REgj-3UE
Primitive Technology is an awesome channel, one of the marvels of youtube. To anybody who decides to follow his videos: please do not skip reading the description of the videos. He's not just making some primitive-looking stuff with crap he finds about, he actually often tries to replicate what actual primitive peoples did, and explains the historical period and some other details. There are those other channels that…
There was an interesting article on here last week about trying to replicate primitive carpentry for archaeological purposes. An illustrative example of the why was that in their first attempt they broke all their stone axeheads in the first hour; after they got some practice they were able to estimate the acreage they could clear with their techniques. Reconstructions both tell you what you got wrong and provide new information about the capabilities of our ancestors, as well as providing context on the archaeological remains.
Re: How to build a house alone [video]
#237Earlier quoted context omitted.
And don't forget to turn on captions, as his commentary is there.
I've learned about this a while ago (also via a comment), but, I've never turned it on; I like just watching it silently and going "Aaaah he's making an !".
I usually watch the video twice, first with no captions and second with them on. I also like trying to figure out what he's doing in each part, but he uses the captions to explain a lot of interesting things that I didn't catch/understand.
Re: How to build a house alone [video]
#238If I'm buying a house and discover that the owner built it all by himself, I would immediately begin looking elsewhere.
Re: How to build a house alone [video]
#239Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't disagree, hence my parenthetical :-) Took me over a year to get a plumber scheduled as part of a rather small bathroom remodel in Massachusetts. The construction trades are still hard work but they seem to pay well enough in areas where they're in demand. I used to hate dealing with bottle deposits because it felt like throwing money away even if it was a modest amount. Now my town recycling lets you bring in…
It sure raises some questions about the typical advice to get a degree. Much more so if you get a degree in something nearly useless like English Literature. I dropped out of Computer Science at my university, but I've done better than my friends who stayed and graduated with honors. My take away is there's no one best formula in life, rather there are more paths to success (and more ways to define success) than we h…
On the other hand, I know lots of people who have done well for themselves with classic liberal arts degrees (albeit mostly from top schools and they'd probably have done well no matter what they had majored in). But I do suspect that there are a lot of people who would do better going into the trades than dutifully getting a degree that they're generally disinterested in getting.
Re: How to build a house alone [video]
#240If I'm buying a house and discover that the owner built it all by himself, I would immediately begin looking elsewhere.
Depending on where you are, that's what building codes and inspections are for. They make sure everything is done correctly.