If you thought it was hard to get a subcontractor on the phone before...just try during deer season in Pennsylvania 😅

Tonight's tipple:*

One of my favorite beers of all time: Small Change "the future is unwritten," an English style dark mild. Perfect for a fall evening by the fire!

*Those who followed me on the Other Site know this is a regular feature of mine. Cheers!

I'd really just like to follow the @radiofreetom.bsky.social strategy of posting which is to talk about serious stuff most of the time but still have a significant percentage of posts dedicated to the resident reigning feline.

In my case, Pepper:

Sometimes you solve the world's problems, sometimes you sort out receptacle colors 🤷🏼‍♀️

Doing area calculations and playing Jenga by the fire...be still my heart 🥰🥰

(Him: do you know how to calculate area?
Me: yes!
Him: even crazy shapes?
Me: yes :)
Him: that's so cool!
Me: 🥹🥹)

Hear, hear.

I'm sick and tired of the "architects are lazy or bad at design or have terrible taste" or whatever when whatever we take before these boards is macerated into mush.

They literally fall all over themselves for precedents we would never be allowed to build now, bc (cont)

Ah yes, mid-November, that time of year when "after the first of the year" sounds so far away but is actually about 4 minutes from now.

I have a cast on my lower leg right now. I'm pretty mobile, but definitely struggle with some things.

Some observations:

- handrails and grab bars are a godsend
- some people are very rude til they see my cast
- most people are very nice

Reading the local Sunday paper, and noticed that my driving teacher passed away.

We didn't have driver's ed at my school, so my parents called on Mr Hibshman.

(I had learned to drive around the farm on my dad's '48 Willys at age 13 or 14, but didn't have any road skills.)

Watching homeowners chase HVAC issues because they

1. didn't want to pay to have it engineered/designed properly in the first place, or

2. listened to the HVAC sub who based the whole system on completely outdated principles,

is heartbreaking.

Back in the day, on The Other Site, we used to do "here's who you should follow" type posts, and that's a big way we all grew and learned about great accounts.

Excited that maybe stuff like that might work here!

But...I can't figure out how to easily tag folks. What am I missing? 😅

Sound smarter on the jobsite!

Don't say "I-beams."

In a recently constructed building, 99% chance it's *not* an I-beam, it's a Wide Flange (or W-Section, same thing).

An I-beam (or S-section) is taller, and has narrower, curved flanges. A Wide Flange is wider + has flat flanges.

ALWAYS include a shaving shelf!

You didn't go to all this effort to renovate your house, or pay all this money for a night in a nice hotel, to fall all over yourself in the shower!

(Also, Antonia is amazing - you should be following her, if you aren't already!)

Remember: in construction, the sub you're talking to will be hyper-focused on their own scope, and that will impact the advice they give you.

They will not be thinking of the impact of their suggestion on the overall project, or other trades.

That's why you need a good GC and a good architect!

Some quick shots of a house we handed back to the owners last week!

This was a full gut custom renovation, including lifting the house and doing a whole new foundation, then setting the house back down.

And - our blower door test revealed near passive house levels of tightness 💪

The single biggest factor impacting speed, quality, and cost of a design/construction project:

The owner's ability to make prompt decisions, communicate clearly, and stick to decisions.

Nothing else comes close.

What's #2?

Paying on time.

Hi! I'm going to try to cross post over here.

I appreciate your follow, and will endeavor to provide value!

I've been trying to follow people, but the app isn't letting me. So hopefully I can get that sorted out.

Meanwhile, I guess it's time to build an account from scratch again...? 🤩💪