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New construction and trade stacking

4K views 15 replies 5 participants last post by  johnthepainter 
#1 ·
How do you new construction guys deal with multiple trades on a job? Especially in high end work where there are multiple kinds of trim finishes in a home (lacquer and stain along with the regular painted trim.

I prefer to go through a house once the trim is finished and first get all the lacquer work done then bag everything off and started the painted trim work. What do you do when carpenters are still working on trim over here, do not have enough room to set up all the lacquer work at once, stairway builders do not want to smell spray stains (acetone solvent) or lacquer, after you finish completely an upper level the carpenters move up stairs and cut wood in the finished area for a month, etc?

When there is only one finish for trim work, I do not mind having one floor at a time (still prefer all complete though), but when there are a couple different kinds, I really like to have the house complete before I get there. It makes it difficult to keep work areas clean and dust free, and sometime progress can be tough because once you spray an area, there is nothing else to do while you wait for it to dry.

Am I the only one that has a hard time dealing with this? There was an article in this months PWC magazine about a house with a tight timeline and how the builder stacked the trades and micromanaged it to get it done in time and made it sound wonderful like it is how all new construction should be done, but I feel that operating that way may reduce the overall time span of a job, but it increases the total manhours since everyone's job takes longer as they cannot move through using their system.
 
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#2 ·
show up later in the day, and start arranging stuff,moving stuff,,,,,,setting yourself up

as 4:00 draws near, start cleaning, sweeping and pushing the carpenters out,,,,,,do your work after 5:00

youll have the house to yourself, less dust, and it will dry overnight without guys bumping into it

youll get a lot done without no one in your way, no one to talk to you and get you off track

i would get most tasks done when no one is there

one thing to watch out for>>>>>>if your not there or completely on top of everyones schedule, it can be easy to get run over

stay on top of every process other trades are doing that could possibly jam you

i would never work 8-5 in a new construction environment,,,,,,,it looses money.
 
#8 ·
Financially, not suffering. My time management (due to me needing to do more office/business work during normal working hours) does cause them to "suffer" a bit, but I am working on that. Once I add one more year round employee, it will be better.
 
#9 ·
You need to have a GC that has as much knowledge and respect for the paint finishes as he does for the carpentry. A plan needs to be drawn up to be able to work in phases with the carpenter so everyone can remain productive and profitable. If this is done and the carpenter falls behind its his ass working past 5pm...not yours. I dont care what anybody says ...you will not get the same productivity out of your crews from 2-10 pm as you will from 7-3 on a consistant basis.
 
#12 ·
What ever you would like them to be John? Would you like to work until 10pm? I would like to be home by 5pm everyday to have dinner with my family and put my kid to bed every night. I refuse to kicked around by other trades for fear of them trashing my work. If they do it...they pay for it. If they loose the schedule...they pay for it.

Your welcome.
 
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