New Shed\Barn...

[Kuhlryde]

I am in the process of building a 20x14 barn/shed. At that size, I don't know what to call it. I need to get my yard **** out of the garage so I can finally work on my car.

Anyway, I am at the point of shingling. Yesterday at about 11:00am, I climbed on top of the damn thing and started putting down tar paper. By 12:00 noon, I was sitting on a sheet of black in the middle of 95 degree sun shine. The pitch on this thing is real steep and my ladder gave out. It slipped about a foot before a clump of dirt caught it and prevented me from face planting in the turf. My heart skipped about 3 beats and finally started working again at about 7:18 am this morning. After that, I was like "screw this, i am going inside". I called a contractor and they are coming out tonight to quote the job.

This brings me to my question. I have never outsourced a job before. I always do it myself. What kind of questions should I ask? The only one I can think of is this:

Do they have insurance?

-Thanks-

 

[rustylocke]

Do You Have Anymore Pics?

 

[amishman]

Nice property!

A 14x20 could house one car nicely of you so entaled. I am about to do an 18x18 garage that will basically be for one car to work on, but I could squeeze two side by side if I had to I guess.

tj

 

[Kuhlryde]

I will take some more pics to share.

Thanks for the cudos! When we got the house last year, it was one year old and had ZERO plants/trees on the 2.5 acres. I have added the barn, pergola and every tree you see there, as well as about 15 others. My car must be so lonely right now.

I decided to go ahead and shingle it myself. I found a helper and we will get it done this weekend.

 

[Jay H 237]

Do you own the land all the way back to the tree line or does it stop where the grass turns to meadow?

I ask since if you own all the way to the trees and no one could build back there then it gives you nice privacy.

 

[bmwpower]

Unless they're nice guys, they're probably going to rake you over the coals to finish an already started job.

I would give it another shot if it were me. ***** that it's 95 out this week.

Looks good so far...

 

[boiler7904]

Nice property and start to your shed. I almost bought an acre of ground with a house and detached two car garage this spring but the fiance found a duplex with virtually no land. She won. We close on Monday. We found out later that the other house was literally falling in.

Back to your question. Here are a few things to ask all contractors that bid on your project.

- Are they licensed in your community (if required)?
- Do they have references that you can contact?
- What warranty do they provide for their work? You'll be on the hook for the material warranty since you are supplying shingles (at least that's what I'm assuming since you started the project.)
- What are the payment terms? You don't want to pay up front with out seeing finished product. They shouldn't have to front (very much) money for material so there shouldn't be a deposit required of you.
- What are they providing for the contract amount? This is where clean up comes in. You don't want to be picking shingles and nails out of your yard for the next month. Are they planning on hauling away scrap or do you already have a dumpster?
- What are they going to require of you? I.E. electric power for compressor, bathroom access, etc.
- When you do select a contractor, make sure that any restriction you are going to place on them is plainly written into the contract that you sign. If you don't want them driving across the lawn, write it down. If they can't start work until 7 or 8 in the morning, write it down (after checking to make sure your working hours are within the hours set by the local building department).

Those are the things that come to mind off the bat. I'm sure other people will come up with other things to add.

 

[Kuhlryde]

Thank you boiler for the questions! I will keep them in mind the next time I decide to contract something out.

My father-in-law has 250 ft of air compressor hose and I have an 80 gallon compressor in my garage. I will just connect them all and run the hose out to the back of the lot. We will start at 6:00am on Saturday and should be done by 10:00 or 11:00. I looked at the weather forcast and it is supposed to be in the low 80's this weekend. In the morning it should be about 65 degrees...perfect weather.

Jay - We own back to the tall grass, but the part after that is a 3 acre plot that is supposed to be going up for sale soon. We will probably try to get it. The owner of the lot has 20 acres and the only way for him to sell it in our community would be to put in a common drive. Fortunately for us, the code says it has to be 2 feet deep and it would be a LOOOONG drive; more than 1000 ft. That would cost a small fortune to put in and I doubt he wants anyone building next to him.

 

[Kuhlryde]

Here are the newest pics of the barn...roof and all! It is not done, but it is moved in.

 

[LSWHO]

Are you putting vents only above the doors and none on the roof ?

 

[Kuhlryde]

actually what you see above the door is not a vent. It is just an unfinished area. The whole roof line is one big ridge vent. We used this strip of plastic stuff with shingles on top of it. It is what many people do with newer houses these days, instead of using the aluminum ones.