How hard is it to put in dormers, and would you trust this guy to do it?
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Anonymous
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For a year now we have struggled to even get bids for dormers on our third floor. We have architect’s plans. It’s two dormers, a small and a large that form an L shape. There is a large wooden beam that must be installed.
The major construction companies have passed over this project, either because it is too small and/or because it is on the third floor. We have tried seven of them. Meanwhile, our Ecuadorian nanny asks why we don’t have her boyfriend do it. He has a new construction company and builds dormers. He worked in other peoples construction companies doing framing, roofing and drywall before starting his own gig. He is insured and apparently knows how to do permitting using a notary, but he doesn’t speak much English. My question is: can this guy handle our project? On the one hand, if seems sketchy. On the other, he is the only interested party. When my husband was growing up and his parents wanted dormers, his dad and uncle just …. built them. Themselves. It wasn’t seen as this insane ordeal that we literally cannot pay professionals to undertake. |
Anonymous
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Will the former install pass code requirements? Do you live under an HOA who can approve or disapprove such changes to your house? Would the nanny’s BF work under
/pull a building permit? Is he insured? I’d have to have the answers to these questions before proceeding. |
Anonymous
We aren’t in an hoa and he says he in insured. I do not have any clue about permitting. |
Anonymous
Me again: I would gladly hire somebody to oversee the permits but I have not the foggiest idea who this would be. |
Anonymous
| Where do you live? In dc you can hire an expeditor to do the permits or you can go to the homeowner service center at dcra yourself and pull them. If you have engineering drawings and will use city inspectors (not third party) and all of the subs are licensed, I’d go for it |
Anonymous
Oh, I like the sound of an expeditor!!! I live in new haven, ct. we have drawings from an architect but no structural engineering info. Is that needed for dormers? I’m pretty far out of my depth here. How would I know what permits I need so I can be sure he pulled them (or whatever you do)? Nanny seemed to think a notary she knows could be hired for this purpose. |
Anonymous
You don’t need a notary to file permits. Just research the permit process in your county and have an initial meeting with them. |
Anonymous
| If you speak good Spanish, I would talk to him and get a quote. If you don’t it will be much harder. |
Anonymous
| Dormers means that you are messing with your roofline. There is so much that can go wrong, that I wouldn't trust a random guy. It's not a small project, it's at least 100k assuming no bathrooms are being added, so I'm surprised the bigger remodeling contractors won't touch it. |
Anonymous
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Dormers are a concussion waiting to happen. Attic spaces get extremely hot in summer, and if you want to keep them at a non-stifling temp, you have to put them in their own A/C zone, otherwise you're going to freeze the downstairs when trying to cool the upstairs. So I wouldn't do this reno, OP. If you want more space, look into moving or building an addition. It will be more expensive, but ultimately more useful and pleasant. |
Anonymous
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Any time you put a hole in your roof you have to worry about weakening the structure of the roof or introducing leaks. Doing it right isn't hard per se -- it's no harder than doing it wrong -- but there are lots of wrong ways of doing it.
In particular, sometimes when you change the structure of the roof you have to change it all the way back to where the structural members start -- the top and bottom of the roof face. If the interior is finished, this can mean stripping the drywall on the interior. Similarly, to waterproof properly an opening you usually have to go up three or more courses of shingles and replace everything below. With an angled penetration like a dormer this can effectively mean replacing an entire section of roof. It can be very tempting to skip all that, make the minimal opening and close it up. That will look fine until you get a snowfall, when the roof will sag and leak. If you aren't qualified to judge the quality of the work, you need a person independent of the person doing the work to specify what needs to be done, and to inspect what was done and make sure it follows the specification. |
Anonymous
| The dormers would need stamped plans; presumably your architect provided those? If not, are they coordinating a structural set of plans (architectural is one thing, engineered plans are another, although some architects can and will provide both). If your nanny's guy can read those plans, file for permits, do the work according to the plan (to the letter), get it inspected, finalize any issues, then sure. There are also a bunch of details related to venting and insulation (or creating an unvented roof assembly), as well as HVAC, that will require detailed knowledge. Someone who ran a framing crew may have no clue how to handle the whole assembly (for that matter, some of the "big companies" don't get this right, either!) |
Anonymous
You need to go back to your architect and find out if the drawings you have are ready for permitting and ready to be signed and sealed by them and / or the structural engineer of record. Your architect might even be able to help you with applying for the building permit. |
Anonymous
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What’s your purpose for doing this? Is it to create a usable third floor?
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Anonymous
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If guy is insured his company should send you the proof of insurance. If a contractor’s license required in your area you should easily be able to see if he has one.
If he’s done in past - ask him to provide contact information for those clients and talk to them and see work if possible. We’re about to do a large dormer on our property’s third floor and had engineer do drawings from my design. Getting permit for. |