Holmes on Homes site up again (NF)

[forrest]

For those that kept getting the down for repairs webpage the site is back up now.

 

Its server crashed on December 28th and came back up today. Seems that the guys being paid to do the back up jobs were not doing them as they were supposed to.

 

Let the "build it right" jabs begin

 

fprrest

[jonnybass]

That guy irritates me.

 

I wouldn't let him near my house with a 10 ft pole - I'd be too afraid to find out that absolutely nothing in my entire home is built to code and the whole darn house needs to be leveled and rebuilt.

 

He needs to get off his high horse.

[Abraxus]

No....you need to have higher standards for your builder! The construction work thats going on Ontario right now is absolutely atrocious! I am glad that there is someone out there that is exposing the crappy builders for the hacks they are! Most of the guys who call themselves tradesmen these days, should not be aloud to build Dog Houses, let alone residential or commercial properties! I have purchased a home that was a complete disaster! All I have to say is stay the hell away for Sierra Homes! They are absolutely brutal! I wish the guy from Holmes on Holmes could have given me some help before we bought our horror story of a house!

 

Ab

[jonnybass]

I am glad that there is someone out there that is exposing the crappy builders for the hacks they are! Most of the guys who call themselves tradesmen these days, should not be aloud to build Dog Houses, let alone residential or commercial properties!

 

Those there are some pretty harsh words. You know we have some members here who are tradesmen.

 

To say that most of them shouldn't be allowed to build dog houses -

Edited January 12, 2009 by jonnybass

[pike slayer]

im not a fan of holmes at all! this man has put complete fear into the eyes of home buyers. working as a carpenter in residential has made things terrible. ppl are now breathing down your back and showing up to job sites without hardhats, steel toe boots, etc. and by law they arent suppose to be there and you ask them to leave and go to the office and make an appointment to go into the house to see how things are doing and they get totally insulted and feel that we are trying to hide something. theres ppl they show up everyday. even home owners have tried to break into their new house thats not complete yet. it makes things very hard for construction businesses and their employers. i feel that mike should stop bashing guys even if they did a totally poor job. that man has changed the construction world in good and bad ways. he has now pretty well got rid of the poor guys around here and now the actual good companys are suffering.

[forrest]

Wow, I did not think this would end up as don't like MH theme. I was just thinking that even something under the MH banner can run into trouble.

 

I like the show, the web forum and MH; they are a positive influence. It is too bad that some end up feeling negative aspects like people showing up all the time in an unhandled way and interfering with the labour, but, there are ways to handle such things in a positive way that has minimal interference and increases consumer confidence. The option to that is keeping the consumer in the dark, the bad guys like to hide in the dark.

 

Yes, he does go to extremes when redoing things, but, that is what is required in order to demonstrate how something should have been done. It also shows what a total pain taking shortcuts can end up being.

 

As for all the bad guys being driven out? They are still around and more are ready to jump right back in. Marketplace did a bit on a home builder (and a city) that is still causing homeowners huge misery: http://www.cbc.ca/marketplace/2009/new_hom...mares/main.html and I have come across some bad work that I fixed myself after paying someone to do it.

 

I agree that most tradesmen are honest and competent and it is always a good feeling in having confidence the job was done right. I am glad MH does what he does.

 

forrest

[danbouck]

I know from some friends that he has made their job tougher because of clients breathing down their necks. However, I have personally worked with Mike on his Lein on Me special last year doing his elevator. He is right when it comes to "MOST" new homes being built. They are crap!

[pike slayer]

mike is right when it comes to new homes being build are crap. i see what goes into houses these days. the problem is that material is sooo expensive and if we were to build a good solid house like back in the old days you might as well just double the cost of the house. i personally have not worked on a house that was under 2000sq ft. i dont see why ppl have to build massive houses made with the cheapest crap. i dont see anyone building 1000-2000sq foot houses with high quality stuff. i just dont understand it. and ppl spend a pile of money heating these places. totally confuses me.

[Vtucciarone]

I also work in the construction industry (painter) alot of what i see is production not quality. These builders want things built so fast that corners are cut and cheaper materials used.It is sad because the home owners get stuck with a lemon.We need more guys like Mark Holmes to bring attention to what is going on in this industry.

[Sinker]

I wouldn't buy a subdivision home.......even if I built it myself.

 

After 12 years of building custom homes, going to a subdivision was enough to get me to rethink my trade!!

 

Some of the stuff guys will do blow my mind. I couldn't walk away from a job doing the work they do.

 

What we need are carpenters that are required to be licensed. That would get rid of a lot of weekend warriors out there, who think they can build a house!!! Those guys should stick to thier sheds and decks!!!! Any joe blow off the street can be a carpenter these days, its brutal!!! Every other trade requires a licensed trades man to do the work.......anyone can be a carpenter!

 

 

 

Sinker

[BassAsin]

I wouldn't buy a subdivision home.......even if I built it myself.

 

After 12 years of building custom homes, going to a subdivision was enough to get me to rethink my trade!!

 

Some of the stuff guys will do blow my mind. I couldn't walk away from a job doing the work they do.

 

What we need are carpenters that are required to be licensed. That would get rid of a lot of weekend warriors out there, who think they can build a house!!! Those guys should stick to thier sheds and decks!!!! Any joe blow off the street can be a carpenter these days, its brutal!!! Every other trade requires a licensed trades man to do the work.......anyone can be a carpenter!

Sinker

you raise a good point that i think a lot of people dont realize.!

[SlowPoke]

The person building your house doesn't need a license but the person that cuts your hair does? Good on Mike for exposing some of the workmanship out there.

It's unfortunate that his efforts have made the job harder for the trades but think of it this way; if you're good at what you do, your stock is rising. You are a commodity.

With new home starts dwindling and reno's on the slide, the cream will rise to the top and eventual newcomers to the trades will learn from the best.

 

I agree with pike slayer; we need smaller, more efficient homes with two-storey double garages. Okay, I added the last part.

-Brian

[Gerritt]

I have personally worked on the show.... I have also had my hand in building the producers house in Oakville. (Built of straw)

 

Mike is good for homeowner..... but bad for bad builders.... simple as that...

 

That said.... he is arrogant as all hell.... I would take Jim Curyak over Holmes any day... (they have the same producer)

 

 

G

[rhare]

I wouldn't buy a subdivision home.......even if I built it myself.

 

After 12 years of building custom homes, going to a subdivision was enough to get me to rethink my trade!!

 

Some of the stuff guys will do blow my mind. I couldn't walk away from a job doing the work they do.

 

What we need are carpenters that are required to be licensed. That would get rid of a lot of weekend warriors out there, who think they can build a house!!! Those guys should stick to thier sheds and decks!!!! Any joe blow off the street can be a carpenter these days, its brutal!!! Every other trade requires a licensed trades man to do the work.......anyone can be a carpenter!

Sinker

 

 

 

 

This is exactly what people dont know, just how badly sub-division homes are built.

 

I have been in the trade for as long as Ive worked. Ive built both customs and subdivision homes. The difference is night and day!!!!

 

Most subdivision homes are as entry level as a house can be. Everything is done to a minimum so the builders can save money.

Even high end subdivisions are questionable. I know when I was 17 I was heading a framing crew in homes that sold for over $300 000

As long as they are built that seems to be all that matters.

 

Im currently working on a nice custom home. Every 2x6 in the house is a strightened 2x8. We work to 1/32 tolerence on outside detail!

mind you the budget is in the millions.

 

I also do a lot of reno work on older farm houses. The problem with these is that nothing is ever how it should be. a square corner or plumb wall almost never exists. Lots of time the home owners dont have endless budgets to fix every little thing going wrong in their 150 yr old house.

So what do you do?

 

somethings cant be fixed the way mike fixes everything, so you do your best. You make it functional, you make it look good and you make it last.

 

 

I am NOT a licensed carpenter but I do just as high quality of work, and Ive worked with many licensed guys that I wouldnt hire on my crew

 

 

Ryan

[bigugli]

After my last contract as a site super I got out of house construction. We started the first year's construction using prime product and materials, and staying above code minimums. Once we built our feature units the builder went bare bones the next spring and we skimped and cut every where possible.

Some changes to code have allowed the use of all sorts of questionable new materials I would never have in my own house. Beyond that the builder decides the grade and quality of materials to be used. No contractor is going to use superior product when a builder will only pay for low grade.

It is good to see the shabby stuff being exposed by Holmes, but you won't see him take aim at the builders, just the contractors.

Edited January 13, 2009 by bigugli

[forrest]

After my last contract as a site super I got out of house construction. We started the first year's construction using prime product and materials, and staying above code minimums. Once we built our feature units the builder went bare bones the next spring and we skimped and cut every where possible.

Some changes to code have allowed the use of all sorts of questionable new materials I would never have in my own house. Beyond that the builder decides the grade and quality of materials to be used. No contractor is going to use superior product when a builder will only pay for low grade.

It is good to see the shabby stuff being exposed by Holmes, but you won't see him take aim at the builders, just the contractors.

 

I recall a few shows few shows where is blaming the builder for the bad workmanship. I also recall that MH had interest in being a builder, I don't know what happened to those plans. Anyone else?

[Governator]

I totally agree that carpenters need to be licensed and the builders need some brains - Here's my story I have to get off my chest incase anyone is in the market for buying a new home. Buyer Beware:

 

I bought my new subdivision house in 2007 (2050 sq ft, 4br, 2.5bath). Get this, the upstairs main bathroom's exterior wall that was tiled over for the bathub was totally warped. Somehow I did not notice this when I bought the house, but regardless it's something that had to be fixed obviously.

 

The builder sends over their repair guy to assess the situation. The guy was awesome, he knew what he was doing and told me flat out the builder doesn't seem to do anything by code. He didn't realize the job would be that big, so he had to book a time to come back and fix it. Well, I guess word got around that he was spreading bad things about the builder and they fired him. (He later came door to door signing a petition about it).

 

Anyway, after a week or two of complaining they sent over another guy who comes in and rips apart the wall. The 2x4 they had in there was literrally a scrap piece of wood that had chissle marks all over it, and completely warped. It was ridiculous, something that came from the scrap pile.

 

After ripping up the wall he leaves and said he'd finish tomorrow as he had another job to go to (I never bothered him once during his work, infact I gave him coffee). What happens? He freaking "quit the job" so the builder says. They give me a bunch crap that they don't have another guy and are interviewing people to replace him. They said they would call me when they do to finish the job. I called and called and went to their office every couple days. It took them 4 months.. yes 4 MONTHS before they sent a guy over to fix the thing. The bathroom was practically useless for that time period. The only reason why they sent someone is because I had called Tarion and complained (note to all, Tarion is your only friend).

 

So wouldn't you know it, they sent over THE SAME GUY who started the job to finish it. Yes, he didn't quit at all, they used that as an excuse to hold off paying a few extra bucks to finish the house. They put him back on building and I could tell the guy felt genuinely bad about the whole situation because there was nothing he could do about it.

 

I finally got a flat, newly tiled wall, that I would've gladly paid a licensed contractor instead to finish the job. Too bad they keep throwing words around like "Doing so will void your warrenty". Builders are scammers and don't care at all about you after they got your $.

 

If I ever move, a custom house is in order.

[joonmoon]

I recall a few shows few shows where is blaming the builder for the bad workmanship. I also recall that MH had interest in being a builder, I don't know what happened to those plans. Anyone else?

 

Check his web site, I thought he was building homes out west...Calgary I believe. Anyway if you are a good builder/contractor and MH is exposing a lot of bad ones then you have nothing to worry about. As a matter of fact why not use him to exhibit yourselves...Look at us we build better homes...We use above code products and know how....If you build a superior home then you can charge accordingly for your product. Maybe builders should take a profit hit like the rest of the world and lower their profit margins a little so they can sell quality homes and not have to make the consumer pay thru the nose. After all this isn't China...typically most products coming from overseas is junk and won't last. What happened to making products that will last and providing a warranty/service that is second to none. Maybe we in North America should think twice about quality instead of the mighty dollar for a change. Maybe we should become leaders in the world economy instead of followers....just my two cents.

Edited January 13, 2009 by joonmoon

[Zebco]

Lots of Jealous people on this board. How can you be mad at a guy for doing his job right? Cause it is screwing up your little side jobs? You have to actually do the job right the first time now, cause of a tv show. Boo hoo hoo, stop ripping off people do your job right and you have nothing to hide. All I gotta say is thank God you guys aint Doctors!

[bigugli]

I totally agree that carpenters need to be licensed and the builders need some brains - Here's my story I have to get off my chest incase anyone is in the market for buying a new home. Buyer Beware:

 

I bought my new subdivision house in 2007 (2050 sq ft, 4br, 2.5bath). Get this, the upstairs main bathroom's exterior wall that was tiled over for the bathub was totally warped. Somehow I did not notice this when I bought the house, but regardless it's something that had to be fixed obviously.

 

The builder sends over their repair guy to assess the situation. The guy was awesome, he knew what he was doing and told me flat out the builder doesn't seem to do anything by code. He didn't realize the job would be that big, so he had to book a time to come back and fix it. Well, I guess word got around that he was spreading bad things about the builder and they fired him. (He later came door to door signing a petition about it).

 

Anyway, after a week or two of complaining they sent over another guy who comes in and rips apart the wall. The 2x4 they had in there was literrally a scrap piece of wood that had chissle marks all over it, and completely warped. It was ridiculous, something that came from the scrap pile.

 

After ripping up the wall he leaves and said he'd finish tomorrow as he had another job to go to (I never bothered him once during his work, infact I gave him coffee). What happens? He freaking "quit the job" so the builder says. They give me a bunch crap that they don't have another guy and are interviewing people to replace him. They said they would call me when they do to finish the job. I called and called and went to their office every couple days. It took them 4 months.. yes 4 MONTHS before they sent a guy over to fix the thing. The bathroom was practically useless for that time period. The only reason why they sent someone is because I had called Tarion and complained (note to all, Tarion is your only friend).

 

So wouldn't you know it, they sent over THE SAME GUY who started the job to finish it. Yes, he didn't quit at all, they used that as an excuse to hold off paying a few extra bucks to finish the house. They put him back on building and I could tell the guy felt genuinely bad about the whole situation because there was nothing he could do about it.

 

I finally got a flat, newly tiled wall, that I would've gladly paid a licensed contractor instead to finish the job. Too bad they keep throwing words around like "Doing so will void your warrenty". Builders are scammers and don't care at all about you after they got your $.

 

If I ever move, a custom house is in order.

 

I saw this many times and was, in part, responsible for similar behaviour. Builders will not tolerate trades badmouthing the paycheque. They pull them off jobs or move them to another job. Then I, as the super, would have to come up with the smokescreen, etc..., to keep the homeowner quiet. You really can't tell the customer that your boss is an . It's just the way business works.

I've also let a homeowner stew for 6 months waiting to get his deficiency list work done. We were prompt with his neighbours. Thats what you get when you publicly badmouth the builder's character. You don't get service when you call someone a liar, cheat, scumbag, etc...

 

Unfortunately there are bad eggs on both sides of the fence.

[Governator]

I saw this many times and was, in part, responsible for similar behaviour. Builders will not tolerate trades badmouthing the paycheque. They pull them off jobs or move them to another job. Then I, as the super, would have to come up with the smokescreen, etc..., to keep the homeowner quiet. You really can't tell the customer that your boss is an . It's just the way business works.

I've also let a homeowner stew for 6 months waiting to get his deficiency list work done. We were prompt with his neighbours. Thats what you get when you publicly badmouth the builder's character. You don't get service when you call someone a liar, cheat, scumbag, etc...

 

Unfortunately there are bad eggs on both sides of the fence.

 

But just because the tradesman says some HONESTY and gets canned from the job, the homeowner shouldn't have to be treated like scum for his faults? We didn't build the warped wall, yet we shovelled out $300,000 for the house. I never badmouthed them, I only got upset after they left the job and left my bathroom in a complete mess for months. Worst service ever.

 

I've learned not to be bossed by the builders and I'm just happy I have no more fixes that I need them for, at least none that I'm bringing up.

Edited January 13, 2009 by Governator

[tinbanger]

I would take issue with the 'all' builders are your enemy.

do you homework , check previous subdivisions the buidler has bulit and see what pops up.

 

We bought an new entry level home from a medium sized builder in Barrie about 15 years ago. Only a couple of minor issues shortly after we moved in that were dealt with quickly.

None of my neighbours had any major issues except a leaking foundation that the builder fixed .

 

have since bought another house in the same subdivision ( same builder and age) . No issues here except wear and tear .

 

 

Custom home builders have there issues as well.

 

TB

[jonnybass]

I've also let a homeowner stew for 6 months waiting to get his deficiency list work done. We were prompt with his neighbours. Thats what you get when you publicly badmouth the builder's character. You don't get service when you call someone a liar, cheat, scumbag, etc...

 

That was nice of you. By doing that, you technically proved the homeowners point.

Edited January 13, 2009 by jonnybass

[diggyj]

I think Mike goes a bit overboard most of the time. Some of the jobs that he does can be done other ways, not by doing a crappy job but by doing a good job without going the extra mile.

 

He gets all his materials for free, so thats why he uses a few extra nails or a thicker layer of this or that on a house. I have a friend who is a contractor and has worked on a few jobs with him in the past and he tells me that he is an arrogant ass and that he has a huge chip on his shoulder and that his work is considered overkill.

 

Sure, seeing his show and seeing some of the crap that he has to redo is disgusting but he seems to make every effort to make his builds "hurricane proof".

 

If he was paying for stuff out of his own pocket it would be a different story.

 

All builders have problems and can be difficult to work with.

[pikehunter]

Holmes has done a lot of good by making a public statement on how much shoddy workmanship is going on. Some by builders, some by contractors and renovators, some by unlicensed people, some also by "handymen." One thing he seldom comments on is how some of these homeowners got stuck in these bad situations in the first place. And that is quite simply that there are a lot of tightwads out there that are only interested in getting the cheapest price.

 

People have to do their homework! Don't go cheap, don't buy cheap materials and quit looking for a bargain! You only get what you pay for, nothing is free. I encounter cheap people everyday at work and do my best to explain why something costs a few bucks more and generally succeed with getting the point across. Sometimes though I can't and just have to sell them the cheap stuff and let it go at that.

 

With that said, yes there are too many shoddy repairs and renos done everyday even when homeowners have paid a premium, that is why you have to do your homework.

 

he is arrogant as all hell.... I would take Jim Curyak over Holmes any day.

And yes Holmes is arrogant so is Curyak, do you ever listen how he talks down about his customers, every show of his I have seen (haven't seen him recently though) he talks about how unreasonable, clueless, unmovable or demanding the client is. It irritates me to listen to that, he should keep it to himself or keep it off camera.