If It's On The Plans, You Better Put It In The House

The advice that I am about to give you, is from years of experience as a home builder and home remodeler. I have built so many things, so many different ways and am familiar with so many different types of building systems that it would make your head spin right off of your body.

I can't tell you how many different types of house framing component connection problems I've seen. I've had engineers tell me how to build something, only to redesign the entire system on my own. I have solve problems for architects, home designers, homeowners and other contractors, with or without the credit in some cases.

With all of these different experiences, I can tell you one thing for sure. If it's on the plans you better put it in the house. If the engineer or architect calls out a certain type of framing connection, you had better do it that way or get something from them in writing to change it.

I don't care how much experience you have in the home building business, you're not the architect, engineer or city building department representative. If your job is to frame the house, it's not going to be to design it or make changes. I'm telling you this from experience, so I suggest that you pay attention and listen to this last part very carefully.

If it's on the plans and you choose not to install it, or you change something and build it a different way, you're going to be responsible and this type of responsibility usually ends up costing you large sums of money. If it's on the plans, you had better install it in the house. That's probably the best advice I could give any contractor.