What Makes An Awesome Builder?

I've heard that when you build a custom home, the hardest thing to find is a good builder. In that regard we are extremely lucky to have found an AWESOME builder named Rick Vinyard.
Rick (the one in the ball cap, not the hard hat) is pictured here pouring concrete into one of his ICF homes under construction in Baton Rouge.

So What Makes an Awesome Builder?

1) True custom home builders only build homes to their client's specifications. Rick Vinyard is a custom builder. He doesn't start a house and then give the owner a couple of options toward the end. He starts from the beginning, owning his client's vision of their home and then directs the building of that home to their specifications and desires.

2) Rick actually has an office. A real office with desks and computers and chairs where you can sit down with him and really talk through things. I would compare Rick to going to see a very good doctor... anyone who has sat with a really good doctor in their office, not the exam room, sees a place with books and evidence of recent research and a real investment in their craft. That's Rick Vinyard, he's like a doctor of home building. Rick does research, he goes to manufacturers and understands how their products are made and installed for optimal quality. If there's some kind of special material his client wants, he goes out and becomes a distributor of the material so that he can get that material at a better cost and learn as much as he can about the application of that material. It's like buying a fine piece of art, the overhead for the creation may be a bit higher than if you bought a piece of pottery at the local discount store, but the quality, craftsmanship and art are unparalleled in a fine piece of art.

3) Rick is a great project manager. He has crews of people that have a proven track record of working with him and then he manages them well. If your builder picks up assorted labor from the home improvement store parking lot, this is a bad sign. You want a builder who people want to work for because those people are going to do quality work... and Rick accepts nothing less from his people.

4) Rick is a master communicator. It helps that he can be seen on his jobsites with his laptop in tow, sending e-mails and keeping track of information. Before we even had a contract signed with Rick, it was less than a day turn around on getting an e-mail response from him. Now that we have a contract, he still responds with the same swiftness. We also feel comfortable talking with Rick. If your builder gives you a greasy, used car salesman kind of vibe... RUN because there's a lot in building a house that can be hidden from the homeowner by a shoddy builder. Rick is very down to earth, very approachable and comes across as the honest broker you want giving you advice on choices you are going to live with for a very, very long time.

5) Rick always has mud on his boots. In fact, most times at his office, his boots are outside because he doesn't want to track dirt everywhere. Look for this sign with a good builder, a guy who's a little dirty from actually being at the jobsite means he'll actually be supervising the quality of your home. Rick takes that even a step further as a true craftsman, as seen in the picture above, he can't help getting his hands dirty by actually doing some of the work on his homes.

Bottom line, an awesome builder has an attention to detail, a commitment to quality and a focus on his individual clients. Everyone we've talked to and all other houses we've seen, people who have built with Rick are extremely pleased with his work. That's the hallmark of an awesome builder and we were extremely lucky to have found ours. If you'd like to check out other work that Rick's done, visit his Website at Precision Construction Group.

ICF: It's Actually Pretty Easy Being Green

The immortal Kermit the Frog sang about the challenges of being green more than 30 years ago. Today, it's a lot easier than most people think with innovations in building materials such as ICF or insulated concrete forms.

Our house is being built with the ECO-Block system (ECO-Block Website) that reduces waste in construction, but also reduces energy costs, improves indoor air quality and creates a quiet house free from the intrusions of ambient environmental noise (like trains and sirens). ECO-Block can withstand 250 mile-per-hour winds, making it extremely resistant to storm damage. Concrete breaks down at a much higher temperatures than average house fires can create, making the construction fire resistant as well. We wanted our dream home to last forever, a possibility with this innovative construction method.

The main element of ICF/ECO-Block that blew us away was that our home will require 1/2 the tonnage of HVAC of a comparable non-ICF home. In South Louisiana, that efficiency nets a significant energy savings and a much more comfortable home during the unbearable summers months. ICF construction also makes homeowners and builders eligible for energy efficiency tax savings and special energy efficient mortgages that can make the green building process more feasible.

How Does ICF Work?

ICF construction uses layers of Styrofoam and other recycled materials on either side of six inches of concrete. The result is very solid 12-inch thick walls that keep out noise and environmental pollutants while retaining an energy efficient temperature inside. Our builder is an advocate of envelope construction on this type of home, meaning that the entire house is sealed with a high-filtration HVAC system that keeps the indoor air clean and humidity regulated. The exterior can be treated with stone, brick, shingle or stucco finishing and the interior walls take sheetrock just like any other construction. Plumbing and electrical rough ins are done very similar to typical construction, only special knives are used to cut away the interior foam for pipe and wiring. Exterior walls do require extra hardware for hanging pictures or other items, but the bracket system used to hold the Eco-Blocks together allows for special hanging gear to be used.

As the walls go up, we'll be providing detailed pictures of the days leading up to the big concrete pour. For more pictures of ICF construction in progress, visit our builder's website at www.pcgbr.com.