Hi Everyone!
These are interesting times in the building industry!
The manufacturers that supply the building industry are backed up on their orders and the wait time for materials is getting longer and longer. Many people do not know that most of the lumber, at least in this area of the country (Michigan) was coming from Canada...now, that lumber is getting more expensive because of tariffs on the incoming lumber. Ultimately, the prices of everything are going up..
The improving economy means that the long lead times, rising costs of materials, and the shortage of companies able and willing to work on a new build, remodel, concrete slab, chicken coop, hobby shack, etc, etc is not going away any time soon. What is happening, is that unlicensed, uninsured and semi-skilled people are stepping up to do the work that the licensed and insured companies are not able to get to. This wouldn't be the first time in history that this has happened..in fact, during the great recession, we saw a cleansing period where most of these aforementioned individuals were forced out of the building industry because of lack of demand and poor quality.
I have always been in favor of people contracting their own projects...even building parts of or all of their own projects as homeowners. Now, you may be thinking, "Hold on, I have no business picking up a hammer, let alone building a house!" Yes, I definitely would agree with you if you are telling me that.... But you may have a relative or friend that can! What I have discovered in my lengthy time in the building industry, is that if a person entertains the notion of building something themselves, they either have what it takes...or knows what it takes to build something.
That is where I come in. Throughout my career, I have helped numerous do-it-yourselfers to build their own homes or remodel their places. Sometimes I was on site, and sometimes I consulted from hours away via smart phone and video conferencing.
A normal scenario would see me designing the project (house, barn, she-shed, whatever..), helping the homeowners to pick out the suppliers for their project, doing the energy analysis on the home for their local building department, working with the homeowners to get their permits pulled, and the list goes on and on. Depending where the project is, I will most times be the person leading the team of installers for such items as Insulated Concrete Forms (ICFs), Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs), earth shelter framing, and so on..
I am mentioning this all right now so that I can get your attention...If you have entertained the notion of building something yourself, email me and tell me about it...use this email address: hybridhomeguy@gmail.com. I can also help you if you are acting as your own contractor and not building a thing!
I offer many packages that include me personally designing your project and then navigating you through the different processes to lessen the learning curve and save you money. I will be in your corner for the entire build ready to answer any questions that you may have.
If you are thinking about getting the ball rolling on a project, send me an email and tell me all about it...when you email me, I will send you a copy of my book Build Green Make Green Save Green for FREE! (While supplies last)
All you have to do is email me and tell me about the project that you are thinking of building...here's my email address again: hybridhomeguy@gmail.com.
All the best!
Adam
Sunday, July 22, 2018
Sunday, June 17, 2018
Passive Solar
Greetings everyone! It has been a long time!
A quick update on me, as far as building, we are very busy like everyone else and personally, I am trying hard to spend as much time as possible with family as we live and work this small farm that we own and live on.
I'll get right to the topic, passive solar..
By now, most people understand the concept of passive solar (orienting a structure to let sunlight through the windows during the cold months, and shading the house from the sun during the warm months), so, this post is going to be about a (kind of) recent experience that I had when a high end designer contacted me to discuss a cutting edge project that would be going up in the area near where I live.
I felt honored to make it to the phone interview portion of the designer's search for the perfect builder for their clients. I was blown away by their first question: Are you familiar with passive solar? I didn't want to be rude or seem arrogant, but I responded with, "Are you familiar with Google?". So, I pretty much lost that opportunity to be the storybook builder in their eyes.
Why did I respond with that comment? Well, quite frankly, I, having lived in the trenches and working with some of the most savy green innovators was taken back that a design firm, which charges its clients a bunch of money to guide cutting edge projects, hadn't even taken the time to research my accomplishments or that of the famed Team Hybrid. Now, immediately, I think to myself, "Man, how did I become so arrogant?" In reality, I felt sorry for their client who is paying a gob of money to them to end up with a house that is very close to slightly above what we build as a norm. I asked my wife about how I could ethically take that project knowing that the clients could have spent that extra money on their home. I decided that even if I was selected, I would turn down the job because I just couldn't get past that fact.
As I probably mentioned, I did not get that job..I wasn't selected because it was determined that I wasn't a good communicator. Perhaps it was my response, perhaps it was because I had a tone in my voice and had an off the wall response to each of their questions. In reality, I decided with that first question that the design firm and I would never be able to get along because I lost all respect for them in less than a minute.
My overall take on this situation, is that there are all sorts of people in the world. Some are meant to work with certain people and others are meant to work with others. It is important to determine in the first stages of a project, that would be the meet and beginning design stage, if the team can be compatible. If not, there should be no more time wasted.....especially in an industry where time is money. In that design firm's defense, that is exactly what they were doing. Maybe they asked me that question and expected that response, maybe they did research me, we shall never know because we parted ways immediately and moved on.
Several years ago, I started designing all of our projects in order to get to know the client and their ideas better. I learned so much by being the designer. Designing a house and building the house have a huge advantage over going to someone to draw the plans, then shopping for a builder to figure out the vision and build the project.
Passive solar has been around as long as there as been an Earth and a Sun, and Google Earth can help you or anyone else get the full advantage of passive solar....spend part of a rainy day checking out what I mean and you will probably say, at the very least, "That's pretty neat".
Have a great week and enjoy the weather!
Adam
The Hybrid Home Guy
A quick update on me, as far as building, we are very busy like everyone else and personally, I am trying hard to spend as much time as possible with family as we live and work this small farm that we own and live on.
I'll get right to the topic, passive solar..
By now, most people understand the concept of passive solar (orienting a structure to let sunlight through the windows during the cold months, and shading the house from the sun during the warm months), so, this post is going to be about a (kind of) recent experience that I had when a high end designer contacted me to discuss a cutting edge project that would be going up in the area near where I live.
I felt honored to make it to the phone interview portion of the designer's search for the perfect builder for their clients. I was blown away by their first question: Are you familiar with passive solar? I didn't want to be rude or seem arrogant, but I responded with, "Are you familiar with Google?". So, I pretty much lost that opportunity to be the storybook builder in their eyes.
Why did I respond with that comment? Well, quite frankly, I, having lived in the trenches and working with some of the most savy green innovators was taken back that a design firm, which charges its clients a bunch of money to guide cutting edge projects, hadn't even taken the time to research my accomplishments or that of the famed Team Hybrid. Now, immediately, I think to myself, "Man, how did I become so arrogant?" In reality, I felt sorry for their client who is paying a gob of money to them to end up with a house that is very close to slightly above what we build as a norm. I asked my wife about how I could ethically take that project knowing that the clients could have spent that extra money on their home. I decided that even if I was selected, I would turn down the job because I just couldn't get past that fact.
As I probably mentioned, I did not get that job..I wasn't selected because it was determined that I wasn't a good communicator. Perhaps it was my response, perhaps it was because I had a tone in my voice and had an off the wall response to each of their questions. In reality, I decided with that first question that the design firm and I would never be able to get along because I lost all respect for them in less than a minute.
My overall take on this situation, is that there are all sorts of people in the world. Some are meant to work with certain people and others are meant to work with others. It is important to determine in the first stages of a project, that would be the meet and beginning design stage, if the team can be compatible. If not, there should be no more time wasted.....especially in an industry where time is money. In that design firm's defense, that is exactly what they were doing. Maybe they asked me that question and expected that response, maybe they did research me, we shall never know because we parted ways immediately and moved on.
Several years ago, I started designing all of our projects in order to get to know the client and their ideas better. I learned so much by being the designer. Designing a house and building the house have a huge advantage over going to someone to draw the plans, then shopping for a builder to figure out the vision and build the project.
Passive solar has been around as long as there as been an Earth and a Sun, and Google Earth can help you or anyone else get the full advantage of passive solar....spend part of a rainy day checking out what I mean and you will probably say, at the very least, "That's pretty neat".
Have a great week and enjoy the weather!
Adam
The Hybrid Home Guy
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