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With most of the decisions made, you are probably eager to begin demolition. Hang in there for a little bit longer, since there are still a number of technical and administrative chores to put behind us before the wielding of a pickax. We have al ready determined if the project is legal by checking with all of the required authorities. We will still, however, have to file drawings and papers with the building department, the board of directors, and all other relevant agencies to receive official permission in writing. (Many towns, co op boards, and managing agents require that an architect or engineer prepare and file drawings for construction or renovation.) In addition, you will have to decide what parts of the work you want to do yourself (assuming you are skilled in these areas). No matter who does the work, you should step up your homeowner’s insurance before any construction begins. Speak to your insurance agent, and be sure you tell him exactly what you are doing. Aside from your usual homeowner’s policy you may need special coverage to protect you if you do any of the construction or even if you act as your own general contractor during the construction phase. You may have to carry work men’s compensation insurance if you are hiring workers instead of a general contractor. Your local building department may be able to advise you on this matter. HOW MUCH WILL YOU DO YOURSELF? If you are thinking of doing any of the construction work by yourself, seriously ask the following questions: Will the law allow me to do this part of the work? Is it practical for me to take on this responsibility given the other demands on my time? Is it economical for me to buy all of the tools and master the skills required to take on a particular construction trade? Is it safe for me to do this part of the work or am I exposing myself and my family to hazardous conditions and toxic materials that I don’t know how to handle? Most important, do you have the requisite skills or experience to tackle this part of the job? Have you successfully completed a construction project similar in complexity and scope to the one being attempted here? It would be foolish to take on the construction of an addition to the house if you made a botch of the back porch you at tempted last summer. Being able to put together the components of a barbecue does not mean you can do carpentry, plumbing, or electrical wiring. This guide isn't meant to be a beginner’s manual. The instructions it contains provide a general outline but aren't specific enough to cover all contingencies that may arise as part of your project. It would be unwise of you to use your house as a learning tool and this guide as a construction primer. If you attempt a job you have never done before, there may be some serious consequences. In some cases your lack of experience will simply lead to a sloppy job that may prove expensive to repair. For instance, if you undertake taping and spackling for the first time, it's unlikely that your work will be smooth and seamless. But, bad as the wall may look, sloppy taping won’t cause structural failure. On the other hand, sloppy carpentry or electrical wiring can be dangerous to yourself and others. If you want to attempt a task that you have never done before, be sure you read a number of instruction manuals, watch somebody else at work, and , best of all, ask a professional if you can work alongside him as an assistant. Filing and Other Legal Considerations Legal requirements are established by the local municipality. Some limited renovation work, such as the replacement of roofing shingles or the substitution of one kitchen cabinet for another, may not have to be filed at all. Most towns require that you file any change in the roofline or the number of rooms, or any modification that may impact on the structure, plumbing, or electrical work. If your building is in a historic landmark area, you may have to file with the proper preservation authority. Local laws often require that a professional prepare and file construction drawings and that the electricians and plumbers be licensed. Some municipalities will allow anyone to file drawings with the building department. Some towns require that the panel box be in stalled by a licensed electrician, but the rest of the wiring can be done by someone without a license with some professional supervision. It makes little sense for us to anticipate all of the variations since there are so many local rulings. You will have to read the building code that governs your area and consult with an official in the building department (co-op board, managing office, etc.) to be sure you know what your legal responsibilities are. so that they stand up and don’t leak. Other skills provided by a design professional include managerial skills. Do you know where to buy all of the materials, how to order them, which trade must be called in and in what order? Even if you have extensive experience in do-it-yourself construction, it may be impractical for you to do all of the construction and mechanical work yourself. Do you have plumbing skills? Can you tape and spackle gypsum-board joints so that they are as smooth as glass? Do you have a permit to drive the heavy equipment that makes the task of excavation less backbreaking? Go over all of the tasks and skills that are required to complete the renovation and decide which ones make sense for you to do. If you hire professionals to do all of the work, there are many ways you can keep your hand in. E.g., let us say you have some very good ideas about how you want to redesign a part of your house or apartment. Measure the existing premises and draw up (in scale) your design ideas. It may be possible to hire a designer (an architect or qualified interior designer) on an hourly consultation basis to review your schematic plans and to pro vide structural and mechanical details. Perhaps the designer has some ideas of his or her own that will improve the layout or aesthetics. If the job is primarily cosmetic and you aren't required to file plans with any authority, that may be the limit of your contact with a design professional. If you want the designer to be more involved, you may discuss his taking on other aspects of the project, such as inspection or supervision. (You may find, however, that many architects will be reluctant to involve themselves in your project in this piece meal fashion, since—among other reasons—as “architect of record” they could at some future date be held liable for your mistakes. Interior designers may be equally reluctant for these and other reasons.) Practical Considerations Whether it's practical for you to do all of the work is another question. There are so many different skills required to complete this mammoth job. It may not make a whole lot of sense to take the time out from your regular life to become proficient in all of the skills required. First you have to be a good designer and space planner. Next you have to know how to translate your great ideas into floor plans and elevations. In addition, you should know how things go together Economic Considerations We have never actually questioned your motives in undertaking the project on your own. Some people want to do the work themselves for the personal gratification of honing their skills and providing their own shelter. Others undertake the work simply to save money. Both of these reasons are valid and well worth the time and effort the project will take. If you are in the first category, we suggest you take off an adequate amount of time from your regular job or resign yourself to a long period of living with construction. If you are in the second category, keep in mind that “time is money.” Most construction tasks require a great deal of skill and experience to do the job right. One specialist we have come to admire is the tape-and-spackler. It takes an awful lot of time to learn how to tape and spackle gypsum- board joints so that you can’t see where the wall boards meet. It may take you weeks or months of practice to master what this skilled worker can complete in a few days. Another potentially ex pensive aspect of construction is the cost of tools and equipment. You probably have the tools to do most of the tasks required, such as erecting the framework for partitions and installing gypsum board. On the other hand, some parts of the project may cost more to do yourself than it would to hire a specialist, once you take into account the cost of the tools and supplies. E.g., if you have a small amount of plumbing to do, it may be more economical to hire a plumber for the day rather than purchase the tools you will need to do the work. Last, keep in mind how much it will cost to hire someone to demolish and reconstruct work that you have done yourself but may be of inferior quality. PREPARING CONSTRUCTION DRAWINGS The drawings that contain all of the necessary dimensions and details to construct the project are called the “working” or “construction” drawings. The discussion below will help you read working drawings and , to a limited extent, produce a set of drawings usable for construction. Most architects study for five years and then work as apprentices to a professional architect before they can produce a good set of drawings. If you aren't a professional, it's likely that your drawings will be rudimentary, but with the help of someone in the field, you may be able to produce a basic, usable set. Floor plans, the basis of the working drawings, are usually drawn at the scale of ¼” = 1’-1” or 1/2” = 1’-0”. A plan is a horizontal slice through the house or apartment taken at shoulder height. The plan depicts everything lower than shoulder height in lines and anything over shoulder height (such as an overhead balcony or lighting fixtures) in dashed lines. Any wall that's cut through is shown using thick black lines. Low walls and partitions (less than shoulder height) are drawn using lighter lines. In a renovation project new construction is shown as hatched parallel lines. Windows are shown as thinly spaced parallel lines. All dimensions are indicated using light lines with arrows at the ends. Arrows with circles in the middle are used to show the views of the elevations. An arrow with a tail shows the exact place you are cutting through for a construction section. Elevations are often drawn at the same scale as the plan but may be enlarged if a great deal of detail has to be shown. An elevation is a vertical projection that shows only the heights and widths of items such as refrigerators and kitchen cabinets (but not their depths). You can think of the elevation as a vertical section through the building showing everything as if flattened by a rolling pin. A construction section can be either a horizontal or a vertical slice through a specific item (such as a cabinet or lighting cove) that requires greater explanation if you want someone to build it exactly as you have conceived it. Construction sections are usually drawn at a much larger scale than either plans or elevations since they show very fine details. A good set of construction drawings (which also includes specifications and door and hard ware schedules) has all of the information needed to build the project. If you have a good set of construction documents, you should be able to hand them to a contractor and (once he has looked at the job site) expect him to build the project without any further input from you. The working drawings include all dimensions, and specify the size, location, brand name, and number of every window and door, as well as the finishes for each interior and exterior surface, the location and catalogue numbers of the appliances, lighting and plumbing fixtures, and all the outlets and switches. In addition, there are some areas of the house that may require further detailing, such as how various finishing materials abut one an other and how built-in furniture and cabinets are attached to the wall. These are often in the form of construction sections. All decisions should be made prior to construction so that you may be sure that everything will fit and work well together. Be sure to review the working drawings care fully (even if they have been prepared for you by a professional). It isn't unusual for some important item to be left out of the drawings that you may ultimately have to live without. Some things are obvious omissions, such as the front door or a light switch, and either you or the contractor will catch it later. Other items aren't so obvious. For instance, what if the drawings don't include an outlet for your computer and a light fixture directly over the bathroom medicine chest? If you are looking over the electrician’s shoulder and catch the errors before they are made, you will have to pay extra for the items that were not included in the drawings on which his bid was based. On the other hand, if you aren't around to look over his shoulder, it's likely that the renovation will be completed without the outlet or the lighting fixture. If the drawings are insufficiently detailed, the contractor will provide his own interpretation of what he reads in the sketchy drawings. You, however, may not like the way the contractor chooses to interpret your plans. Very often you make the assumption that the contractor will build an item in a certain way and are astonished to discover that the contractor has a different conception of how it's supposed to look. Even architects and designers have fallen into this trap. For instance, our conception of a tile backsplash behind a kitchen counter is a wall of ceramic tile that extends from the counter itself all the way up to the underside of the overhead cabinet. Not all contractors have the same conception. If you submit a plan to a contractor calling for a “tile back-splash” (and you don’t provide an elevation or a construction section), it's likely that the contractor will provide a 6”-high tile backsplash that does not go all the way up to the bottom of the cabinet. Likewise, if you call for a closet with a clothing rod, you may or may not get overhead shelves. Even if you call for overhead shelves, you should include the sizes and mounting heights of the shelves and denote whether they are made of plywood edged with hardwood trim or left with raw edges, covered in plastic laminate or sanded as preparation for painting. A full set of working drawings has notes all over the drawings and a vast number of elevations. FILING DRAWINGS WITH THE LOCAL AUTHORITIES Most local governments, even in very rural areas, exert some control over what can and can't be built in their jurisdictions. Your first stop, then, will be the town or city hail to find out what you need to file and to which authorities. (Hopefully, you have taken our initial advice and have visited them long before.) They should be able to provide you with the forms for filing and all of the zoning regulations, floodplain restrictions, and energy and building codes that may apply. If you live in a more urban area, chances are that you will have to meet all of the above requirements and more. If you are in a historic area, you may have to make application to the preservation office. You may have to make separate applications to sewer, water, electric, and waste disposal departments. The health department may want to look at your drawings as well. Some areas will insist that you make your home accessible to the disabled. If you live in a condominium or a cooperative house, you will have to submit your plans to the board of the development. They may have rules and regulations above and beyond what is required by the building department. If your community requires you to file drawings to obtain a building permit, you may submit the working drawings rather than produce a separate set of drawings for filing. (Even though some building departments don't require as much de tail as is provided on a working drawing, it doesn’t make much sense to produce two sets of drawings for the same project.) Before filing drawings make sure you know specifically what the building department inspectors expect to find on the drawings. Some departments insist on a site plan (a plan of the property and roof) even if you are renovating only the inside of the house. If you are putting on an addition that will change the roofline of the building, be sure to include the site plan showing the distances from the house to the property lines on all sides. If you are adding another floor, include an elevation showing the total height of the remodeled house. The building department will want to make sure that you are conforming to the zoning restrictions on front, side-yard, and rear-yard setbacks. If the front set back line in your neighborhood is 30’, you are required to construct your house at least 30’ back from the front property line. No living space may protrude into this setback, with the possible exception of an exterior stair or an open porch. The building department will check the site plan to make sure that you don't violate any rights-of- way or utility easements. If you are adding to your house, in addition to all of the above the building department may re quire calculations proving that you aren't exceeding your allowed floor-area ratio (FAR), the ratio of the total number of square feet of the building (calculate the square feet of every floor and add them all up) to the area of the property. If your house is built to its maximum FAR, you may not be allowed to add on to it even if you are in conformance with the height and setback regulations. Also, you must conform to the site cover age requirements. Many areas will allow you to cover only a certain percentage of the lot with building. If you are renovating all or part of an apartment, the building department may want a site plan of the entire apartment house showing the nearest cross streets, as well as a plan of the floor you live on showing the public halls, the location of your apartment, the staircases, and the elevators. New York City requires that your drawings contain the sizes of all the windows in the apartment and a set of notes outlining how the other tenants in the building will be protected from the noise and dust of your construction. The building department is concerned with the welfare of the occupants of any building in their jurisdiction and may legislate on a number of pertinent safety issues. Some urban authorities insist that the building be constructed with only incombustible materials and will not allow you to use wood studs and joists. Some municipalities re quire that your ground-floor windows be large enough to allow you to escape through in case of fire. Buildings that house two or more families may be required to have two means of egress in case of fire, either a second (enclosed) stair or a fire escape, or in lieu of these, a sprinkler system. New York City will not even look at your plans until a report is filed by a certified asbestos inspector. If you have some asbestos anywhere in the building, the authorities may demand that a licensed asbestos technician remove it or contain it before you are permitted to proceed with your renovation. All states are governed by energy conservation codes. The code in your area may require that you show the sizes of the windows on your construction drawings and indicate the type of glazing. Many energy codes have ratios of allowable glazed area to total wall area. You may have to eliminate some of your windows if you have too many square feet of glass, depending, of course, on the type of glazing you use. Some areas don't permit fireplaces since they allow too much of your mechanically generated heat to escape up the flue. Some municipalities will allow you to use heat-circulating fireplaces or wood stoves or special fireplaces that draw air from the outside. In addition to supplying drawings you will have to fill out and submit a number of forms. Try to be as knowledgeable as possible before making your submission to the plan examiner. Go down to the town hall and ask someone at the desk what is required to be included in the drawings. Although we have found examiners and inspectors in suburban and rural areas to be very patient and forthcoming with information, it's best not to pester these people too much. The above listing is in no way complete. You will have to check with the authorities in your area to determine which apply to you. In fact, filing drawings for a building permit is sometimes so complex that the expediting of building department applications is a subspecialty in itself. Most city architects hire such a specialist to ad vise them on their submissions and to move the papers through the building department. You may find it expedient to hire a code consultant to help you through the filing process. (The code consultant isn't usually a licensed professional and , therefore, may not be able to stamp or seal your submission. If your community requires that a licensed engineer or architect take responsibility for the work, you will have to hire one.) ESTIMATING THE COST OF THE JOB Sending the Drawings Out to Bid If you are planning to hire a general contractor or individual tradespeople to construct all or parts of the job, your working drawings will provide the basis for their cost estimates. In professional parlance, the working drawings (together with a list of written specifications and a blank contract form) are called the bid documents. If you are seeking competitive bids, send your working drawings to a few established and recommended general contractors in the area. If all of the items are specified (the name and model of each light fixture, the name and number of the heating unit, the size and style of the baseboard, the size and quality of the doors), you should be able to get some fairly dependable prices. If you have a thorough set of working drawings, and the underlying structure and plumbing of the building is in good shape, the cost of the extras should be within 10 to 15 % of the contractor’s original bid price. It may take the contractors a couple of weeks to come back with their prices. Since this is a private job, you are in no way obligated to take the lowest bid. In fact, you may decide to select the contractor with the highest bid if he has the best reputation, or if he can start immediately, or if the bids are very close. Don’t make your decision on price alone. All contractors aren't equal and there can be a vast difference in the quality of work delivered. You are always best off looking at a number of jobs constructed by the con tractor being considered and speaking to his clients as references. Do-It-Yourself Estimating The most accurate estimate is obtained by getting bids by competent contractors who are working with a thorough set of construction documents. Nothing else is quite as reliable. The next-best thing is doing a materials takeoff. To do a takeoff you must patiently sit down with a pencil, a scale, and a calculator and translate your plans and elevations into a list of materials to be purchased. In a takeoff the quantity of each item (with a contingency of 5 to 10 % added for waste) is multiplied by the price per unit. To estimate the quantity of tile needed for the kitchen floor, mea sure the floor’s area and add a contingency of about 10 % for cut tiles and waste. Tile is often sold by the square foot and it will be easy to estimate the cost of this material. Remember that you will also have to buy adhesive and grout, a tile cutter, if you don’t have one, and perhaps plywood to reinforce the subfloor. It will be more difficult to estimate the cost of labor if a tile installer is to be hired. Your materials supplier may be of great help while you are doing your takeoff. Suppliers have many rules of thumb that can come in handy. As a matter of fact, it's not unusual for a supplier to do the takeoff. The idea behind it's , of course, that you will give him your business. Unfortunately, you probably will be paying higher prices than a contractor would for the materials. Con tractors, unlike the one-time renovator, buy in bulk. They can purchase at lower prices and al ready own all of the tools and equipment. This may offset the cost of labor. For this reason it may be cheaper for you to hire a contractor to do the job than to do it yourself. It may be helpful to have a subcontractor, such as an electrician or plumber, bid on that aspect of the work so that you can compare the cost of materials only (derived from your takeoff) with his price for the whole job. You can then decide whether the difference between the two prices justifies your doing the work yourself. You usually compile a materials takeoff by trade (all of the lumber and nails and then all of the gypsum board and spackling supplies) so that the estimate can proceed in some orderly fashion. Next: An Introduction to Demolition and Construction; Preparing the Site for an Extension |
