All Forum Posts by: Damon Owens

The legal workaround is to have a licensed GC friend be the GC for the project. They’ll need to pull the permit and designate you as the superintendent, which means they actually need to hire you. Luckily you can negotiate an extremely low pay which means you’ll need to pay your friend, to pay you, not much money. You’ll need to reimburse them for GL insurance as well, as well as some sort of equitable, but low fee. 

That’s a legal way. I worked on Oahu, Maui, and Kaua’i for 8 years and have met lots of people that didn’t do it legally, but were never caught. I can’t recommend that though. 

One year is standard for installation workmanship. 

20 years in commercial construction here…

Construction Defects lawsuits are brutal, and your completed Ops as you apparently know cover that kind of loss. Personally, I’d never hesitate to pay for Completed Ops. 

Now, doing flips I imagine your defect risk is very low. But I’d have your carrier include it in your GL policy. 

Sounds like you need a lawyer. 😬

I’m so sorry. That’s a terrible position to be in. 

Daniil Kleymann (@RehabValuator on YouTube) has a couple nice videos on how to do this. It’s a multi step process and he does a great job walking the viewer through the process. 

First off, I’ve worked in commercial construction for ~20 years. I’m managed over $500M in construction projects, so I have a little experience in this arena. 
A good commercial GC is in tune with local costs of various construction types and materials. They’ll also be able to conceptually estimate your project based on information you provide. For material types or methods they’re less familiar with, they’ll be able to reach out to local subs and get that information. Now, GC’s aren’t mind readers so the more effort you put into defining your concept the better they’ll be at estimating it. Sometimes you need to search a little to find the right one as some GC’s want plans and specs before providing cost feedback, but other ones will work with you on your concept. 

Most cities have a Planner of the Day available at the building department that can answer those types of questions. Often you can look up the city’s zoning ordinances online and review all the rules such as dwelling units per acre, front/side/rear setbacks, etc. 

I’d suggest talking to someone in your area that is very familiar with local zoning, besides potential contractors. There may be creative possibilities that your contractor isn’t considering. Or, if they’re hillside lots, earthwork and retaining walls will price out most viable options. Not sure of your construction experience, but if it’s on the low to none side it might be worth finding a partner with lots of construction experience for your first new build deal. There’s a lot more to new builds than renovations.