Homeowner Forum / Construction / August 2006

Here are a few things for you to start with:

Most tract builders (production builders) promise a home will be
completed in anywhere from four to six months.  In reality, if
everything goes alright, it takes about 6, maybe longer.  Custom homes
take longer.  Many factors will slow down the process such as builder
cash flow problems, weather, etc.

How many they build at once depends on the size of the builder, and the
market in each location.  Check the home builder's own sites and that
of the National Association of Home Builders http://www.nahb.org for
statistics.  Be sure to look at the NAHB's list of local builders
associations which may also keep their own figures.

It's hard to say how many workers they really use because most of the
work is subcontracted out.  The builders themselves don't employ most
of the actual workers.  Also, many of the actual workers are "day
labor," sometimes undocumented, and no one's keeping accurate
statistics on that because the builders and/or sub's may be skirting
the law to hire them.  It's been estimated that about 30 different
types of subcontracting companies are involved in the construcion of a
house.  You might try asking some builders for a list of their
subcontractors in a particular subdivision if you just want a list of
what goes into it.  Many builders won't give out the list, even to
their home buyers though.

If you are doing a study on home construction it wouldn't be complete
without a trip to these sites:

http://www.buildingscience.com better construction methods
http://www.hadd.com problems with new home construction
http://www.google.com search here for specific terms, statistics, etc.

track houses usually take about 4-6 weeks to build from foundation to
finish

how many they

most tracts  I have been on have about 30-50 houses going at once in
active construction

how many workers they use etc
this number varies greatly but if you run the list of trades most crews
theses days are between 5-10 guys and figure each house is a step
progressed
above the next one. For example if the first 5 houses slabs are poured
the next 5 houses are in framing ect,ect... some trades over lap but
not many.

As to how many homes they will build at once... With large developers and
developments, they will do marketing studies of an area in advance. Find out
what people want, how much they can pay, what the potential market is, etc.

Then they will acquire land. Some areas have plenty of land available.
Others have limited open space available.

With the limited land areas, then number of homes would be determined by
local codes and what the buyers want and can pay for, then how many homes
can fit on the space available.

With the unlimited land available areas, the number of homes would be
determined by what the market will bear and how big a community should be or
should not be. Don't want it too big! Here is an example of a "master
planned community"...
http://www.suncityvistoso.com/facts.html

Might want to get it straight from the horse...
http://www.delwebb.com/ContactUs.aspx
http://www.kbhome.com/Page~PageID~271.aspx

<designstudent06@gmail.com> wrote in message

you should do well as a contractor.
One of the first things to learn is how to get someone to do the work for
you.
I can see you know how to do that.
Butt the most important thing to learn is how to find someone competent to
do that job, Therein lies your next task

Good luck
kickstart