Ricky, entertain us. Are we stupid, or contagious? IDK, all I got.
Love the pics, love seeing the progress of one man's dream.
Love the pics, love seeing the progress of one man's dream.
Ricky's Audio Video Barn Build Project
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Owen Smith
2K Club - QQ Super Nova
Maybe he's got stuck in the ducting and the builders are trying to dig him out. ("Contractors" is not a term used much in the UK for domestic work, calling them "Builders", "Plumbers", "Electricians" etc is much more common.)
Yes, having some Ricky withdrawal myself. Maybe he's watching a bunch of hockey stuff....
The Red Wings got royally screwed over by the
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This guy in Kansas sez I thought Red Wings were shoes....???
Pour Some Sugar On Me
okay okay already !!! I'll try and do a better job keeping the RickyVision channel on.
Poured part of barn floor on Monday and poured house floor Tuesday.
Will start framing today !!
okay okay already !!! I'll try and do a better job keeping the RickyVision channel on.
Poured part of barn floor on Monday and poured house floor Tuesday.
Will start framing today !!
Well here the contractor could be in charge of the "subs" or subcontractors, which would be the trades guys like plumbers, etc.
In Ricky's case we just call him "the main dude".
ya know, with every house I build comes a fair amount of oops, forgottens, McGivers, oh-shits ! , and change orders.. Its inevitable and I dont care how much pre-project planning you do. It just happens. Ive never kept a list of all the 'challenges' - but I may do so here - just to spice up RickyVision and just to show you all the pitfalls a General Contractor - or self builder - can run in to.
Hopefully nothing that has already been encased in concrete.
Owen Smith
2K Club - QQ Super Nova
I still say a crawlspace would have been better. It is inevitable some of the speakers won't be in the right places.
A lot of that concern can be mitigated with connected raceways running to all 4:walls. Then wires only need to run along baseboards on any given wall, and that is easily hidden.
in response to post 369 -
nope - not that I know of so far ( but it can happen ) But what has happened from start so far -
1. the architect. We went to him with our project - a house and a barn. Up front I asked for a quote - and then I violated my own RickyRule - meaning
I did not get it in writing. He is a great architect - and great architects actually save you money indirectly. He is a nice guy. Our project was delayed by 4 weeks as he lost a loved one during the process. And the bill came in substantially more than expected. He said quote was only for house. Not barn. Lube me up, bend me over.
2. Permits. Each jurisdiction has its own set of rules, fee's etc. But - a permit for a floor drain in the garage ? seriously ? That delayed us by a week
3. The weather. Kiss my ass Mom Nature. She has been - and will continue to be a jerk. You have schedule lined up. Mom rains on parade and back to a new schedule you go as the subcontractor's march to their own set of schedules
4. The barn cement walls went up 2' higher than planned - because they had to. Between more concrete and a lot more sand ------budget buster ! Ill have to sell my rare Scorpions SACD -plus more - to try and recover
5. All geared up last Saturday to fill in garage. We get there and mysteriously the truss manufacture company delivered the barn trusses late Friday. Never mentioned they were coming. There is 204,732 sq foot of space at this site. They dropped them in the one spot - the one 600 sg foot spot that one must never drop the trusses. Odds for that to happen ? .003 percent it could happen. Quit whining and move the trusses, right ? Nope - skytrak will not delv until Tuesday. Cost schedule loss AND had to rent a cement pumper for Monday pour.
This is all I remember so far. Or perhaps care to remember so far
Ive got 7.5 more months to go................plenty of opportunity for Uncle Murphy to show. Plenty more RickyVision drama
nope - not that I know of so far ( but it can happen ) But what has happened from start so far -
1. the architect. We went to him with our project - a house and a barn. Up front I asked for a quote - and then I violated my own RickyRule - meaning
I did not get it in writing. He is a great architect - and great architects actually save you money indirectly. He is a nice guy. Our project was delayed by 4 weeks as he lost a loved one during the process. And the bill came in substantially more than expected. He said quote was only for house. Not barn. Lube me up, bend me over.
2. Permits. Each jurisdiction has its own set of rules, fee's etc. But - a permit for a floor drain in the garage ? seriously ? That delayed us by a week
3. The weather. Kiss my ass Mom Nature. She has been - and will continue to be a jerk. You have schedule lined up. Mom rains on parade and back to a new schedule you go as the subcontractor's march to their own set of schedules
4. The barn cement walls went up 2' higher than planned - because they had to. Between more concrete and a lot more sand ------budget buster ! Ill have to sell my rare Scorpions SACD -plus more - to try and recover
5. All geared up last Saturday to fill in garage. We get there and mysteriously the truss manufacture company delivered the barn trusses late Friday. Never mentioned they were coming. There is 204,732 sq foot of space at this site. They dropped them in the one spot - the one 600 sg foot spot that one must never drop the trusses. Odds for that to happen ? .003 percent it could happen. Quit whining and move the trusses, right ? Nope - skytrak will not delv until Tuesday. Cost schedule loss AND had to rent a cement pumper for Monday pour.
This is all I remember so far. Or perhaps care to remember so far
Ive got 7.5 more months to go................plenty of opportunity for Uncle Murphy to show. Plenty more RickyVision drama
its a non issue Owen. There is flexibility by each location. And even if it were waaay off ? Room correction software from the Surround Processor is yer best bud
Owen Smith
2K Club - QQ Super Nova
I thought they looked rather high.
oh --lest I forget
6. Foundation walls were to be poured on a Tuesday. Out of the blue Friday morn of preceding week, they call and tell me 'were pouring today, get your excavator there with bulldozer as its a slop hole and trucks will get stuck" Call excavator who is an upstanding 'do whatever it takes' guy. He cannot get there due to a funeral. He hooks up Farmer Joe down the road to go over there with his front end loader. Farmer Joe is there 3 hours and pulls out several trucks.
His bill ? 1200 bucks. It should have been 400 max or less. Fine - I paid it but Joe lost the battle. I was going to purchase my sand from him and his sand pit.
Nope. Getting sand elsewhere from a trusted individual
7. Excavator brings in 2 loads of road gravel on a Friday and dumps it for future use. By Monday one load is gone. Weekend delight I guess. This allowed me to meet my future neighbor.....................it did turn out fine but nothing like a little premature job site theft to get the blood boiling
A Day In The Life................. brought to you by RickyVision
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Sounds like you're building NEVERLAND North, Ricko! Any room for a Zoo with exotic animals?
8. This is a biggie. I am finding out that A LOT has changed in the CEDIA / Audio - Video retailer market since I last took a deep dive in 2002. First, there is not enough competition in my area. Second - the Customer Service is atrocious. Apparently if you are not doing the whole swag - new speakers, new equipment - ( audio and video ) , structured wiring, a robust home network, a security system, and powered shades - you dont deserve their attention. If you arent spending a minimum of 150k - you dont get attention. Im low maint for them -- I know what I want and I dont need to talk to them but for 1 or 2 meetings prior to project kick off. One company was all excited to do my work until I told them I dont want all that swag. They then ghosted me. Not even enough respect - or courtesy - to say "sorry not interested"
The other company, I am dealing with the owner. We have had one meeting - 2 months ago - and now I am trying to pin him down on a second one. The list of excuses the last 4 weeks is pathetically sad - yet reeks of snooty rich person arrogance. I have a meeting coming up with him in 10 days
If I ran my business - treated potential customers the way Ive been treated, I would be out of business. Closed shop.
I am tempted to do this alone. Do I really need some high priced arrogant subcontractor ? I can get all the product I want via the internet.
If I could find a professional installer - a gig worker - I would jump on it in a heartbeat.
Any thoughts ?
The other company, I am dealing with the owner. We have had one meeting - 2 months ago - and now I am trying to pin him down on a second one. The list of excuses the last 4 weeks is pathetically sad - yet reeks of snooty rich person arrogance. I have a meeting coming up with him in 10 days
If I ran my business - treated potential customers the way Ive been treated, I would be out of business. Closed shop.
I am tempted to do this alone. Do I really need some high priced arrogant subcontractor ? I can get all the product I want via the internet.
If I could find a professional installer - a gig worker - I would jump on it in a heartbeat.
Any thoughts ?
Wow. Sorry Ricky. Way above my pay grade. It does reek, you have that right.
Owen Smith
2K Club - QQ Super Nova
My parents' previous house was a 300ish year old stone built barn that they converted. Initially they hired builders in, but after half a dozen occasions of the type you describe above my dad decided enough was enough and sacked the lot of them. He was trying to run his window blind business and if major work on the house suddenly changed day he couldn't suddenly be there to supervise it. Instead he put his business on hold and did most of the work on the barn himself. He hired in a labourer to work with him, and for things like trenches just paid someone to come with the relevant machine and dig the trench for one day. Got an architect to design one of the roof trusses, but dad made it himself including all the 12" by 8" timber work built in 18th century style with wooden pegs (and concealed steel reinforcement) to suit the barn. I did all the electrical wiring and helped him with the plumbing. We bought the books of the relevant building regulations at the time (it's all changed since) and it passed every inspection with flying colours. Doing the roof was a bitch, it was a conservation area so it had to be re-roofed with the original stone slabs which are 2" to 3" thick and about 2' by 3' or more for the biggest, those things weigh a lot. The ridge line was done in millstone grit capstones and those weigh more than any of the stone slabs, and you have to carry them by hand and walk up the roof with them. Fortunately my dad was really fit by that stage of the barn renovation and could carry one on his shoulder, which is more than I could. He was 50 years old at the time.
Did we get things wrong and would we do things differently a second time? Sure, but we'd get something else wrong. And my parents made plenty of money on it when they sold it. Sadly planning permission required the garden to remain as a field and my mum wanted a garden, so after a new neighbour complained and it got enforced they decided to sell. The next owners managed to not only have a proper garden but also add outbuildings in the back garden which we weren't allowed. No idea how they got permission or got away with it but good luck to them, the neighbours there were vindictive.
Owen Smith
2K Club - QQ Super Nova
I found the same in the UK. Last time I bought several items of gear in 2007 I was able to get them demo'd properly in the dealer's room, try some stuff out etc. This time all I wanted was a new Arcam AVR31 amp for £4800 (with Arcam promotion), OK not in the league of what you're discussing but enough to turn a profit surely. Nope, had terrible trouble finding a dealer interested because as you say I'm not buying the whole system. They say: "What speakers do you want to listen to?" My reply: "Anything you've got to hand because I'm using the great ones I already have that I bought 25 years ago". That was the last I ever heard from that dealer. Given I'm close enough to Arcam HQ to walk there (and I'm not kidding) never mind drive I considered trying to pick one up direct at Arcam HQ. I finally found a dealer that would let me play with an Arcam AVR5 in their demo room (all the digital side is the same) and just order me an AVR31. If I hadn't liked it I'd have been using various UK legislation to just return it.
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