I can't believe my builder won't...

I can’t believe my builder won’t …

 

As we enter the season of love, understanding and goodwill towards man, I offer up a slightly different take on my normal blog, something I like to call: “I can’t believe my builder won’t…”

I can’t believe my builder won’t…  Offer pocket doors.  The value of pocket doors is that they take up no room space.  In tightly configured areas, I have often heard a request for them so as to do away with the swing area of a conventional door.  While some production builders may offer pocket doors, many more try desperately to stay away from them.  In simple terms, they are a warranty nightmare.  No matter how many times you explain to a home buyer to not hang anything on a wall with a pocket door, they will invariably forget or disregard the advice and hang away with picture hooks and other such items through the wall.  The problem is that this area behind the wall is where the door slides away from the opening – hence the term “pocket door”.  This leads to frustrated owners who don’t understand why their doors are becoming scratched up and no longer open properly.  Oh well…

I can’t believe my builder won’t…  Remove some windows to accomodate more wall space for furniture.  Home buyers will often fall in love with a particular model, but will ask for some window modifications to fit their furniture.  What they fail to realize is that the lighting for a home can completely change whenever some windows are removed.  That light airy feeling that attracted them to the home in the first place may seem dark and much less inviting with a window modification, all for the sake of fitting in a piece of furniture that would have been better left at the old house.  Oh well…

I can’t believe my builder won’t … Allow me to add landscaping to the side of my home.  Oftentimes, homes are located ten feet apart.  In addition to fire separation issues, this space is used for drainage swales between the homes.  Adding landscaping in these areas will very likely impact the normal drainage flow, causing water to back up in both your and your neighbor’s yard.  Oh well…

I can’t believe my builder won’t…  Add drop down stairs to access the attic space in my garage.  Please understand, trusses are designed and installed to support the roof, not to serve as a storage area for every unwanted item that you may have collected over the past 20 years.  It is not the builder’s responsibility to make sure that the truss system has been designed as a storage attic.  That is why it is not called a storage attic.  Oh well…

So, instead of saying “I can’t believe my builder won’t…” the next time he politely denies a construction request, try instead to ask yourself the question “Why would my builder ever…”.

Until next time…

Keep kicking the dirt!

Jeff Gersh is President of Gersh Consulting Services, a real estate advisory firm, headquartered in Orlando, FL.  He may be reached at jsgersh@gmail.com or 407-468-9328