GoodFaith:


Don't forget houses around Roxbury community college was give away some year ago
The price today are way up
We can't compare MA real estate value to Texas two different market and income
The income in Texas has being go up but the pay is more in MA
I would like to take my income and live in Texas
Federal worker making 100k in DC area and federal worker make 100k in Texas
Texas is better

Around RCC and environs, the neighborhood is not stable. They were people who walked out of their houses about 6 years ago because they owed more than the house worth. Certain factors have not changed around there even till today. Assertion about income between the two states might be over generalized. There are people in Texas. in the same profession who make more money than their counterparts in MA. Remember also that Texas does not deduct state income taxes, only federal, so the comparison with DC is not justifiable.
The bottom line is that people move for different reasons, jobs, weather, family, school, retirement and social and health reasons.
Depending on priorities, decisions are made. The stage I am now in life, it’s about the best school system. And with that in mind, housing won’t come cheap anywhere.

gameboy55:




wall screed 2m, damn


there is a very very cheap way to achieve dat with less than 50k (depending on the size of your project) and to me its best, becos it does not peel off after sometime like that of top bond nd pop combination

in south here, its called plaster screeding, WHY because, its goes along with your plastering

as soon as the walls is plastered and allowed to dry (to the point if you apply force on it won't spoil the job) you mix few quantity of pop cement with water nd add a little quantity of black cement nd stir properly

use a screeding brush to apply the solution on your plastered walls and smooth with sand paper wen dry


its very beautiful (very smooth nd cellophane like walls)
its the cheapest method you can get
nd it last longer than top bond method which paints usually peels off on most occasions


I used just one bag of pop cement for both inside, outside, and parapet screeding for my 4bedroom bungalow with labour not up to 40k. It was done by those doing the plastering


the attacted fence including the four sides inside fence walls (100 by 50) was done with half bag of pop cement. labour was less than 30k.

Boss,

I sent an email to u.

U may share the contact of the guys who helped u with this or let's talk via e mail.

diordaves:


Let's break it down.

So for example, I engage the services of an architect. I will then engage the services of an independent consultant to check the work of the architect, right?

Now the question is: what is the qualification of the Independent Consultant (?) that qualifies them to check the work of the architect? In other words; what are you (the independent consultant) bringing to the table to assure me that you KNOW MORE than the architect in these matters? Are you also an architect? That is duplication and overlaying the process. Are you a Professor of Rocket Science? How relevant are your skills in this situation?

In my opinion, a seasoned architect will deliver either as a team or even as self-employed. As a client, any architect I think will need an independent consultant to . That na akoko (baby) architect.

It is convient for the client to assume that the contractor is building to specifications..but we all know that this is not always true. How then do you get value for your money. This is where the consultants comes in,

Unless the client wants to keep supervising the job himself even at that, does the client understand and can interprete the drawings. Can he confirm that the standards and specifications required and stated in the drawings/ designs are meet.. Or does he just want to build and recoup his money. .

The presence of the design architect & engineers will provide the needed checks. Even in a design and build projects, consultants help the client to monitor the project for quality, time and cost.

It's will be a herculean task for the client to supervise all the workmen on site hence the need for a projectmanager.

diordaves:



In a normal situation, the local authority should be the 'site checker' to make sure you're building according to the building code. If you engaged a tested team of builders with integrity, I do not think you need any consultant. To do what? If you need a consultant to close mark the builders to make sure they use the right mix-ration (for example), you should not be engaging such builders in the first place. They lack integrity.

What assurances do you have that the consultant does have integrity? Where does the checkmate end? Who takes final responsibility? Where does the bulk stop?

What if the builder decided to do the concrete cube test without the instruction of an external consultant? Does it still mean he lacks integrity even though many other builders do not have such to show ?

I won’t go to sleep after obtaining govt approvals in a country where people build 10 floors while holding approval for just two floors.

Neither will I go to sleep in a country where reinforcement are sold in midi, maxi and solo sizes.

Well that’s just me by the way.

Aforxzy:
[/b]

It is convient for the client to assume that the contractor is building to specifications..but we all know that this is not always true. How then do you get value for your money. This is where the consultants comes in,

Unless the client wants to keep supervising the job himself even at that, does the client understand and can interprete the drawings. Can he confirm that the standards and specifications required and stated in the drawings/ designs are meet.. Or does he just want to build and recoup his money. .

The presence of the design architect & engineers will provide the needed checks. Even in a design and build projects, consultants help the client to monitor the project for quality, time and cost.

It's will be a herculean task for the client to supervise all the workmen on site hence the need for a projectmanager.

From your take, my understanding is that the Project Manager is the independent consultant right or wrong?

I have earlier stated there is a role for a Project Manager. The project manager's role is even more pronounced if you engaged the services of a builder. The project manager should have the relevant qualification and experience.

However, if I employ the same (team) of architect or the structural engineer (for example) that conceptualised and signed the drawings to now deliver the project, at this stage, I trust them to bring the project to fruition without close marking. I will not engage further any clerical professional.

@diordaves I understand from your point of view but it does not work like that in Engineering and construction.. But limited to kobokobo though.

You will not invest over 12bn in a project and think what are this professional doing here..

I state it clearly each of this checker will ensure you did not forget and question your basics of design because no two design are equal, big contractor for the fear of spoiling their name will redesign with their own consultant to check if everything I equally right and when they sense something you send calculations sheet and valid assumption of this..

Most foreign multinational will send your drawing to their parent company abroad consultant to check with their code and see how workable and where optimization may come in..

For new concept design this drawing will also be send to season construction engineer to see how workable the design drawing is..

Sir Engineering is diverse and some specialize solely on a niche while others knows all and will send to those that specialize to look deeper..

On issue of getting a good company that wont compromise such company will still ask for your consultant on site

diordaves:


There is also a case of too many cooks spoil the broth.

So where will it end? Should I also employ a checker to check the consultant? Should I also employ a checker to check the checker who checks the consultant? Where will the chain end? Who is the almighty; the final arbiter?

If you're an architect, you draw well. The bulk stops at your desk.

If you're a structural engineer, you structure well.

If you're an interior designer, you design well.

It is not good advice to over layer a project with too many unnecessary and overlapping processes. This will cause a delay. Each segment should take responsibility for their work and the client should hold responsible the respective segment for any poor outcome.

It is the client fault because the client didn't employ a marauding overseer. This is not on in the grand scheme of things. This is just spending money but not in the right places.

However, there is a place for a Project Manager whose duty it is to deliver the project.

You didn't get me right.

EgunMogaji2:


I think you missed the point.

Specifically at the names I used, if I have to monitor them then why hire them.

Maybe I missed it.
Monitoring is a no thing.

Amastermovic:
@diordaves I understand from your point of view but it does not work like that in Engineering and construction.. But limited to kobokobo though.

You will not invest over 12bn in a project and think what are this professional doing here..

I state it clearly each of this checker will ensure you did not forget and question your basics of design because no two design are equal, big contractor for the fear of spoiling their name will redesign with their own consultant to check if everything I equally right and when they sense something you send calculations sheet and valid assumption of this..

Most foreign multinational will send your drawing to their parent company abroad consultant to check with their code and see how workable and where optimization may come in..

For new concept design this drawing will also be send to season construction engineer to see how workable the design drawing is..

Sir Engineering is diverse and some specialize solely on a niche while others knows all and will send to those that specialize to look deeper..

On issue of getting a good company that wont compromise such company will still ask for your consultant on site

Yes. I understand all these.

What you've described is at the conceptualization stage. Check, check and re-check by the relevant professionals. Again what you've described is for a big and maybe complex project of 12b. You will need the relevant professional to deliver every node and segment of the project. Shell does it. Cappa, Julius Beger, Bouygues etc all do it. You don't engage a builder to deliver a 12b project.

We are talking of a duplex, a four-flats, a bungalow. It is not advisable to over layer such 'small' projects with consultants here and there. We have this problem in the UK with the National Health Services (NHS) and Transport for London (TfL) and more recently the Covid-19 pandemic. Consultants, consultants and more consultants everywhere and collecting outrageous salaries with nothing to show for it. Parliamentary committees after parliamentary committee have documented that most of these consultants are poor value for money, duplicating and overlaying the process. I think engaging an almighty consultant for a 'simple' project like a duplex is not good value for money.

sonnie10:

Around RCC and environs, the neighborhood is not stable. They were people who walked out of their houses about 6 years ago because they owed more than the house worth. Certain factors have not changed around there even till today. Assertion about income between the two states might be over generalized. There are people in Texas. in the same profession who make more money than their counterparts in MA. Remember also that Texas does not deduct state income taxes, only federal, so the comparison with DC is not justifiable.
The bottom line is that people move for different reasons, jobs, weather, family, school, retirement and social and health reasons.
Depending on priorities, decisions are made. The stage I am now in life, it’s about the best school system. And with that in mind, housing won’t come cheap anywhere.

Average in each state and city
Texas is cheaper to live in
Forget the state tax, the average cost of living in (DC or the beltway area) is very high
Compare Mid west to Boston area mid west is cheaper

Hi All,

is it easy to transistion from old septic tank to biodigester?

diordaves:


Yes. I understand all these.

What you've described is at the conceptualization stage. Check, check and re-check by the relevant professionals. Again what you've described is for a big and maybe complex project of 12b. You will need the relevant professional to deliver every node and segment of the project. Shell does it. Cappa, Julius Beger, Bouygues etc all do it. You don't engage a builder to deliver a 12b project.

We are talking of a duplex, a four-flats, a bungalow. It is not advisable to over layer such 'small' projects with consultants here and there. We have this problem in the UK with the National Health Services (NHS) and Transport for London (TfL) and more recently the Covid-19 pandemic. Consultants, consultants and more consultants everywhere and collecting outrageous salaries with nothing to show for it. Parliamentary committees after parliamentary committee have documented that most of these consultants are poor value for money, duplicating and overlaying the process. I think engaging an almighty consultant for a 'simple' project like a duplex is not good value for money.

FACT its not a good value for money for simple project. A good builder will deliver well for this kind of job ..your argument is correct sir

sonnie10:

Around RCC and environs, the neighborhood is not stable. They were people who walked out of their houses about 6 years ago because they owed more than the house worth. Certain factors have not changed around there even till today. Assertion about income between the two states might be over generalized. There are people in Texas. in the same profession who make more money than their counterparts in MA. Remember also that Texas does not deduct state income taxes, only federal, so the comparison with DC is not justifiable.
The bottom line is that people move for different reasons, jobs, weather, family, school, retirement and social and health reasons.
Depending on priorities, decisions are made. The stage I am now in life, it’s about the best school system. And with that in mind, housing won’t come cheap anywhere.

Texas does not take income tax but they make up for it. Trust me.

One is the toll roads. I paid $0 in toll in California over 29 years but thousands in Texas in four years.

GoodFaith:


Average in each state and city
Texas is cheaper to live in
Forget the state tax, the average cost of living in (DC or the beltway area) is very high
Compare Mid west to Boston area mid west is cheaper

Living in Texas is not cheap when you actually do Maths. I will give you a list on where money is spent unlike Boston
Averagely per year:
HOA fees yealy $1000
Toll @$100 a month = $1200 a year
Gas for car $30 weekly while in Boston it is biweekly because of shorter travels. That is additional $1200 yearly
Property tax is 3% , So on a mid size family house you pay almost $5000 yearly more than you would have paid in Boston
Children school lunch. In most schools in Texas you pay about $2.5 per meal. If you have two kids that is $5 everyday so that is about $1200 yearly. Boston school have free lunch.

You see, so far we have calculated more than $10k additional expenditure which you would not have to deal with in Boston. I do not even want to dive into healthcare and health insurance expenses. Living in Texas compared with living up North might seem cheap but it is not.

EgunMogaji2:


Texas does not take income tax but they make up for it. Trust me.

One is the toll roads. I paid $0 in toll in California over 29 years but thousands in Texas in four years.

You are very correct, You understand the system well

bixton:

Hmmmm...
Can you most likely upload some of the crap here or you've changed the interiors she did for you over the years.......

I did post some feedback on her thread awhile back with pictures, but deleted it since I'm not really looking for adjudication. It can go in many directions when you bring stuff on here and people 'chook mouth', as we've seen recently, even with reputable clients and service providers involved. I value my privacy and sanity lol.

So thanks, I've moved on but will provide truthful negative feedback to anyone specifically checking up on her. Good day.

sonnie10:


Living in Texas is not cheap when you actually do Maths. I will give you a list on where money is spent unlike Boston
Averagely per year:
HOA fees yealy $1000
Toll @$100 a month = $1200 a year
Gas for car $30 weekly while in Boston it is biweekly because of shorter travels. That is additional $1200 yearly
Property tax is 3% , So on a mid size family house you pay almost $5000 yearly more than you would have paid in Boston
Children school lunch. In most schools in Texas you pay about $2.5 per meal. If you have two kids that is $5 everyday so that is about $1200 yearly. Boston school have free lunch.

You see, so far we have calculated more than $10k additional expenditure which you would not have to deal with in Boston. I do not even want to dive into healthcare and health insurance expenses. Living in Texas compared with living up North might seem cheap but it is not.

Texas is most definitely not cheaper. I say this from direct hands on experience.

jabolo:


I did post some feedback on her thread awhile back with pictures, but deleted it since I'm not really looking for adjudication. It can go in many directions when you bring stuff on here and people 'chook mouth', as we've seen on here recently, even with reputable clients and service providers involved. I value my privacy and sanity lol.

So thanks but I've moved on but will provide truthful negative feedback to anyone specifically checking up on here. Good day.

I saw them and aware of the issue.

EgunMogaji2:


Texas is most definitely not cheaper. I say this from direct hands on experience.

My friend's kids were all born in Boston. The hospital is regarded as one of the best in the world, he never paid a dime as hospital bill. Another friend had his child in area hospital in Texas, hospital bill came in tens of thousands dollars.

bixton:



The first step is to get a detailed drawing and get a quotation based on milestone/stages..........your land type, site location and labour can upscale the cost in many instances.

Also your timeline to build to completion is a factor to availability of funds.
A lot of people want a modern and standard build with average finishing and this means different things to different professionals in the trade given their field experience and exposure.

Given that let's say #25M.

Thank you for taking out your time to explain this to me.

sonnie10:


Living in Texas is not cheap when you actually do Maths. I will give you a list on where money is spent unlike Boston
Averagely per year:
HOA fees yealy $1000
Toll @$100 a month = $1200 a year
Gas for car $30 weekly while in Boston it is biweekly because of shorter travels. That is additional $1200 yearly
Property tax is 3% , So on a mid size family house you pay almost $5000 yearly more than you would have paid in Boston
Children school lunch. In most schools in Texas you pay about $2.5 per meal. If you have two kids that is $5 everyday so that is about $1200 yearly. Boston school have free lunch.

You see, so far we have calculated more than $10k additional expenditure which you would not have to deal with in Boston. I do not even want to dive into healthcare and health insurance expenses. Living in Texas compared with living up North might seem cheap but it is not.

I don't live in Boston
I drive 85 mile one way to work total about 170 daily Mon -thur
I have being working from home for 14 month now thankful
my plan was to move to the beltway in four year after taking that job
The opportunity came for to move to the beltway after extensive ground check
My father passed away at that time
I didn't travel home with my Nigeria PP because i was still being in the clearance process
This people was knocking on my neighbors door
it was P13
I looked at my present position I was making 15k less money 15k
I have 12 stuff i need to pay somebody to help me take care off if i leave town paying average of $1,200.00 monthly
I looked at the cost of house in the beltway area and cost of living, I said NO thanks
healthcare and health insurance expenses is not cheap in any part of the country
Car insurance and house insurance is a different game 10 mile away from me people are paying through their nose
After 17 year with my house insurance company, I got a call from an Agent
Change my house insurance presently pay $100 less monthly on mortgage
Texas is still cheaper than mid west
A dude that moved from Boston to Mid west stated Mid west was cheap than Boston

GoodFaith:


I don't live in Boston
I drive 85 mile one way to work total about 170 daily Mon -thur
I have being working from home for 14 month now thankful
my plan was to move to the beltway in four year after taking that job
The opportunity came for to move to the beltway after extensive ground check
My father passed away at that time
I didn't travel home with my Nigeria PP because i was still being in the clearance process
This people was knocking on my neighbors door
it was P13
I looked at my present position I was making 15k less money 15k
I have 12 stuff i need to pay somebody to help me take care off if i leave town paying average of $1,200.00 monthly
I looked at the cost of house in the beltway area and cost of living, I said NO thanks
healthcare and health insurance expenses is not cheap in any part of the country
Car insurance and house insurance is a different game 10 mile away from me people are paying through their nose
After 17 year with my house insurance company, I got a call from an Agent
Change my house insurance presently pay $100 less monthly on mortgage
Texas is still cheaper than mid west
A dude that moved from Boston to Mid west stated Mid west was cheap than Boston

You could use travel cert next time without the PP as long as you have your US one. Home insurance could be changed at anytime but remember, coverage is never the same. Some cheap ones will not honor their part in terms of genuine claims. Too much run around, leaving the home owner with huge out of pocket expenses. So cheap is not always good. In terms of healthcare, MA has a lot of standard community primary care facilities that will never turn anybody back because of inability to pay. This is what stands them out from the deep south states. In South, its a business model, but in MA population well being takes priority. Things like dental, routine lab work, physical etc is not a big deal in MA even if you don't have insurance. All these things add up to the cost of living and not just paycheck differences.

sonnie10:


My friend's kids were all born in Boston. The hospital is regarded as one of the best in the world, he never paid a dime as hospital bill. Another friend had his child in area hospital in Texas, hospital bill came in tens of thousands dollars.

I worked for Baylor Hospital in Dallas. I was afraid to go to the hospital because of bills

uncleteeh:

Maybe I missed it.
Monitoring is a no thing.

My point is if I hired Baba Lati, which I do, then I monitor, which I do, to make sure they tie a line for every block course.

I’ll hire Spyder880 and co because I assume that they’ll do all that for me. Why would I hire AbdulWastecx and then start monitoring him, even though I can?

I write from a layman’s kobo kobo project standpoint, not building Dodan barracks with Solel Boneh or Capa DilBerto

sonnie10:


You could use travel cert next time without the PP as long as you have your US one. Home insurance could be changed at anytime but remember, coverage is never the same. Some cheap ones will not honor their part in terms of genuine claims. Too much run around, leaving the home owner with huge out of pocket expenses. So cheap is not always good. In terms of healthcare, MA has a lot of standard community primary care facilities that will never turn anybody back because of inability to pay. This is what stands them out from the deep south states. In South, its a business model, but in MA population well being takes priority. Things like dental, routine lab work, physical etc is not a big deal in MA even if you don't have insurance. All these things add up to the cost of living and not just paycheck differences.

Disclaimer: I’m comparing suburb of Dallas to a suburb of Los Angeles.

EgunMogaji2:


My point is if I hired Baba Lati, which I do, then I monitor, which I do, to make sure they tie a line for every block course.

I’ll hire Spyder880 and co because I assume that they’ll do all that for me. Why would I hire AbdulWastecx and then start monitoring him, even though I can?

I write from a layman’s kobo kobo project standpoint, not building Dodan barracks with Solel Boneh or Capa DilBerto

From experience, your physical presence on the site cannot be over emphasize. you will be surprised what the architect will overlook because you are not present. things like monitoring the mix ratio, proper watering and compaction of the DPC, DPM laying etc. most of them have different projects so they leave the site and appoint a baba lati to take over

@ Egunmogaji2, n3xt, diordaves, and all my people,

Good evening to you all, I wished I would have contributed to the discussion about supervision this afternoon, but I was on the road for most of the daytime.

My position on the supervision aspect of a building project is to get it right from the get go. It will be nice if the client will have an exhaustive session with the architects, the structural, the electrical and mechanical people to produce a drawing which will represent exactly what they have in mind, because him/her alone knows what their motivation is for planning the house. I try to take a back seat in the planning of most of my projects, chipping in occasional inputs when I see something wrong.

At the execution stage, I try as much as possible to build exactly what is drawn, and to change anything I see that will make the building less functional, I will advice to, for instance, change window orientation and sizes, alter door positions or sizes, raise room heights, add or remove columns (in agreement with my structural guys who are always around) i make sure my workers are very knowledgeable professionals.

I have not had so much experience of another professional paid by the clients supervising my projects, and I have not been called to supervise others in other sites. But every client should do what puts their mind at rest, hiring of independent professionals to supervise the team building a small building like a single family house looks an overkill to me, but what do I know.

How I wish that the government agencies who are supposed to be overseeing the processes of building construction are even interested in knowing what every builder does, we would have had a better building sector, but they are content in collecting approval levies and enforcement of payment, not on watching out for bad practices.

Have a good night rest my people.

fabulous85:
From experience, your physical presence on the site cannot be over emphasize. you will be surprised what the architect will overlook because you are not present. things like monitoring the mix ratio, proper watering and compaction of the DPC, DPM laying etc. most of them have different projects so they leave the site and appoint a baba lati to take over

You might be right, but that's not how its supposed to work, a good project manager/builder/contractor will ensure that their absence is never felt. They do this by ensuring that only competent people handle important aspects of the jobs and not just anyone. In my projects, there are tested hands who knows how we do everything, so, if I say for instance, 1:3:4, they will understand me and mix exactly according to the ratios, while a young foreman is watching and counting on my behalf. In my own team, some of my workers has been with me for 8-10 years and therefore understands how we do most of what we do. They wont be in the team if they are people I will be teaching how to do what they do daily.

jabolo:


I did post some feedback on her thread awhile back with pictures, but deleted it since I'm not really looking for adjudication. It can go in many directions when you bring stuff on here and people 'chook mouth', as we've seen recently, even with reputable clients and service providers involved. I value my privacy and sanity lol.

So thanks, I've moved on but will provide truthful negative feedback to anyone specifically checking up on her. Good day.

Thanks for the feedback sir. It's not by degree after all.

EgunMogaji2:


I worked for Baylor Hospital in Dallas. I was afraid to go to the hospital because of bills

Oga mi abeg you, no make me laff. Na who no go, no know. Any time I hear that word “bills” I remember my primary school popular song

Home again, home again x2
When shall I see my home
Papa let me go . . .

I will never forget my home.

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