Outsourced

Webster's defines outsourcing as "the contracting out of a business process which an organization may have previously performed internally or for which it has a new need."  Over the past decade, the exclusivity of this term to the business world has eroded and it is now applied to all walks of modern life.  In fact, a recent issue of Wired Magazine featured an entire article on the outsourcing of various domestic responsibilities (cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping etc.).  The article's gist was that it often makes more sense to hire (aka "outsource") daily tasks & chores in order to simplify one's life and give them more time to focus on important things like family, work, and various social obligations.  If you ask me, the term "outsourcing" has evolved into yuppie code for hiring someone to do the crap that you either don't want to do or are incapable of doing.  In the case of my outbuilding project, I suppose I fall into the latter definition.



Don't get me wrong...the prospect of constructing this building myself is tantalizing, but something tells me that if I tried to do this myself my wife would be filing for divorce citing "abandonment" as the primary reason for seeking separation.

Furthermore, with my work schedule and other obligations, it would probably take me the better half of a decade to complete a project of this magnitude.  With this in mind, I succumbed to "outsourcing" my project.

I began by soliciting competitive bids from 3 different contractors.  I provided each contractor a list of specifications (aka "specs") for the project along with copies of the association CC&Rs and Google Sketchup renderings I made.  As with most competitive bidding processes, there usually is a distinct winner and several losers.

 

In this case, the winner was Nevin O'Berg and the crew at C-N-R Construction.  Although it wasn't the cheapest, Nevin's bid was far and away the most thorough.

 
As anyone who has even built anything before will attest, it pays HUGE dividends to select the BEST (as opposed to the cheapest) contractor for the job.  Often times, the low bid ends up being the costliest because you end up getting hammered by "conditions" built into to the initial bid that allow the contractor to gouge you once the project has gotten underway.  Moreover, even if you avoid these "hidden" expenses, the old adage "you get what you pay for" often holds true and you wind up with a product riddled with shortcuts and shotty craftsmanship.

You get what you pay for

From the get go, Nevin and his team have been fantastic.  They are super detail-oriented and have bent over backwards to ensure our project turns out right.  Their detailed-oriented nature is even more important because this project is under the scrutiny of the neighborhood association--if it doesn't look right, you better believe I am going to hear about it (and will probably have to spend more money making it right).

They are watching!

Nevin is also awesome because he is "plugged-in" when it comes to technology...he has a great website and is easy to reach via email.  His accessibility to me during the project has really facilitated communication and allowed me to stay in touch regardless of my schedule.  Moreover, Nevin stops by the site routinely to ensure the subcontractors are executing the plans correctly.

Nevin & I shook on it in early October and he got busy converting my conceptual 3D design and specs into actual construction documents.  He also took care of all the building permits and site planning.  Unfortunately, our local permitting process moves at a glacial pace...

Consequently, we didn't get to break ground until November.  But once the permits were processed, Nevin and his team hit the ground running.  So stay tuned....the next post will have actual construction pictures!