The day I
found myself on my building site chasing one of my subcontractors through the
half built house with a brick, with my eyeballs on fire, WITH EVERY INTENT TO
KILL HIM. That was the day I realised I have to write a BLOG to prevent other
potential home Builders/owners from getting violent.
I am Jacques and I have a problem. Just
kidding. I have been involved in the home building industry for 14 years and a
lot longer in Corporate project management. I got in involved in building spec
houses in 2001 for myself and very quickly realise that dealing with anyone to
do with building, and I mean 99% of them was a nightmare. I also realise that
if being done correctly and it is nothing more than a simple project management
process, it can be a great and enjoyable experience. I developed a great
project management system for home building that took most of the risk, stress
and aggravation out of building a home.
I would love to share it with you.
Everybody has
a building horror story and after
anything Government, the economy, rugby
and their spouse, is the most common conversation complaint around. It is 100%
guaranteed to be a very negative conversation, involving quite a few nasty
four, five and more letter words. I
think the building industry has a reputation that can only be challenged by the
second-hand car trade or maybe lawyers. BAD.
Having been
involved in the building industry for a long time and coming from a business
consultancy and project management background, I made it my business to
understand why this negative/ even hate
perception exists around the building industry. I believe me it is not a urban
myth, it is scary business. With this blog I want to roll this rock over and
get some light on this.
Building your own home should be a fun and great experience. It is your dream, your creativity, your
time and a sh.t load of your money that goes into it. If you follow this
blog hopefully you can achieve that experience.
The key things that
should be in place and that seldom exist in the building industry is
transparency, relationships and communication (lot of that and honesty as
well). There is a lot of other important stuff as well and I will get to that. It can be complicated, but do realise builders
made the process complicated, it is easy to rip of a confused person.
Knowledge and
understanding is key..... but more later.
Today on the site:
“My crew reached their job-site
and realized they had forgotten all their shovels. The foreman phoned
the office and told his supervisor of the situation. The supervisor phoned back and said,
"Don't worry, we'll send some shovels ... just lean on each other until they arrive."
and realized they had forgotten all their shovels. The foreman phoned
the office and told his supervisor of the situation. The supervisor phoned back and said,
"Don't worry, we'll send some shovels ... just lean on each other until they arrive."
26 comments:
As a houseowner i`m glad i`m not building a new house. Its hard work and a lot of surprises along the way.
Good luck to those tackling this adventure.
I nearly fell of my chair laughing, reading this. Just started a building a house and wish I have seen this earlier. Sure sounds like a fun and clever way to approach this.
Although I am not building with MHPA, I contacted them, Jacques give me fantastic advice . What a nice guy.
I previously build with MHP and I can tell you this is a very accurate and funny description of the building process. I really had a good experience, but then I had a great project manager in Jacques. We came in way within budget and the best part, my 460m house was done within four months.
LOL, I have heard of bakkie builders, bicycle builder is a first. HVM
Interesting blog and funny. Looking forward to more. Pete
Glad you like the blog, please refer your friends to the blog and even better to me to build houses for them.
Yes, it was a great project!
Not if you build with me. That is the whole purpose of the blog and our system.
I am glad they are now also oporational in the Western Cape, spesifically Somerset west and Stellenbosch . At last a builder that makes sense. Pieter J
Just had an intitial project introduction with Jacques and well, it pretty much went as described in the blog. Looking forward to this experience. Will report in as the project progesses.Pvl
Thinks are just working great on my project. I wish more people would interact on this blog and exchange information and ask questions. I think it can become a wonderfull tool. Pvl
This a great blog to follow enen if you are not building a house. FUNNY.
It has been quiet on the blog? Have you been on the builders break LOL?
You are right, thanx for asking. I had to catch my breath, with the "Builders Break" , but I came across the most amazing life style estate, just outside the lovely Hermanus, called BenguelaCove. I thought I was on the east coast of the US.
Just stumble across this. I am from the USA and found this very informative. I would think people in South Africa would pursue this. Jim
I am the admin manager and I can guarantee you this is the best and most transparent administrative system, backing-up ANY construction program.
I went to see Benguala Cove and it is very nice. So is Hermanus. P.
Definitively an alternative approach to home building. The value for money and transparency of the project appeals to me. Unfortunately I am am finished with building houses, but the blog made for an interesting read. Gerald, Gordonsbay.
I have just finished building my house and it was not a funny experience. The builders were a nightmare. At least this brought a smile to my face.
I have become a regular reader of this blog and bookmarked it. Not because of the building aspect, It is just funny.
Having followed the blog, I have a question. Do you get any business out of the blog? Pete
Hi Pete. We do, but as much as we expected. Especially from our target market in Stellenbosch and Somerset West. Jacques
Nice blog, got some good information on building from it. Will definitely follow it.
I am wondering if a blog is an effective marketing tool for the home building industry. Do people actually find this worth following? Tom
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