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Having built my own house, I can definitely say this article is for intellectual stimulation only, and won't result in the construction of an actual home. Not o

Having built my own house, I can definitely say this article is for intellectual stimulation only, and won't result in the construction of an actual home. Not only will you never find contractors and subs that give a shit about this level of detail, but you will struggle explaining these things to permit approvers, county bureaucrats and other people who want to make your life hell because you know more than they do, have more money than them, and are doing something different. Fun article, great information, but won't result in an adobe as planned.

EricE 5y ago
Hehe - you are very right! Never underestimate the ability of the "code enforcers" to stifle innovation. However occasionally you do see examples of excellence managing to push through the bureaucracy - I would love to build a house like this someday: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuYvDuOQ-5M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuYvDuOQ-5M
jethro_tell 5y ago
I would absolutely disagree. My guess is that you have less money than you think you do. I've worked on buildings that were coming in around $2500/sq foot and if the owner didn't like a knot in the board we'd pull it and try again. My other guess is you don't know as much as you think you do and your probably not the building savant you think you are. If you hire an engineer, county bureaucracy doesn't care. If they have to put their stamp on it, and they don't understand it, they care, because they are liable. If you know so much more then them, why didn't you put your stamp on it? I've also built a lot of really odd structures and you do spend a lot of time making sure that everyone agrees that you are doing it in a safe and sane way. Not entirely unlike building consensus in a enterprise setting. There are people that are pros at doing these things. And they know how to get things done. And I've worked with them to build all sorts of crazy stuff.

EricE 5y ago

Hehe - you are very right! Never underestimate the ability of the "code enforcers" to stifle innovation. However occasionally you do see examples of excellence managing to push through the bureaucracy - I would love to build a house like this someday: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuYvDuOQ-5M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuYvDuOQ-5M

jethro_tell 5y ago

I would absolutely disagree. My guess is that you have less money than you think you do. I've worked on buildings that were coming in around $2500/sq foot and if the owner didn't like a knot in the board we'd pull it and try again. My other guess is you don't know as much as you think you do and your probably not the building savant you think you are. If you hire an engineer, county bureaucracy doesn't care. If they have to put their stamp on it, and they don't understand it, they care, because they are liable. If you know so much more then them, why didn't you put your stamp on it? I've also built a lot of really odd structures and you do spend a lot of time making sure that everyone agrees that you are doing it in a safe and sane way. Not entirely unlike building consensus in a enterprise setting. There are people that are pros at doing these things. And they know how to get things done. And I've worked with them to build all sorts of crazy stuff.