Acting as your own contractor

[Sandcastle]

Sure, I could have a permit pulled by a GC and do the work

Why would you ask a GC to pull the permit, unless you plan on building more than one home every three years? We pulled our own and we had no problem at all. Granted, we didn't ask a lender to finance the place -- which was a good thing considering today's real estate market.

 

[Beach Runner]

We had a professional engineer sign off on every phase of the construction...

Correct me if I'm wrong (and I frequently am :funn: ), but I didn't think that being a PE automatically gives one a GC license in FL. Would be useful in my family, as my sister and my husband have PE's (both are UF engineering grads).

 

[Smiling JOe]

Why would you ask a GC to pull the permit, unless you plan on building more than one home every three years? We pulled our own and we had no problem at all. Granted, we didn't ask a lender to finance the place -- which was a good thing considering today's real estate market.

I think you discovered my answer. The lender requires a GC to build a home.

 

[Sandcastle]

Correct me if I'm wrong (and I frequently am :funn: ), but I didn't think that being a PE automatically gives one a GC license in FL. Would be useful in my family, as my sister and my husband have PE's (both are UF engineering grads).

The county required the sign-off because we're within 1500ft of the Gulf. It also made us feel a lot better. It's been almost six years and the house is still standing :clap_1: . I hope it's there in December .

 

[patticakes]

Smiling Joe - Not me doing the mechanicals - having my family do the mechanicals (licensed).

Any GC subs out this work and include markup for those items. Why not save money if you can?

My brother IS a dentist in Florida. Not what you're suggesting. Just because he's also licensed in the midwest doesn't make him a hack.

There needs to be affordable housing for not only the support industry that keeps these beaches going, but affordable housing for those trying to relocate (for the long haul) to the area and raise their families. I hate the cold winters in Kansas and I hate the narrow minded crap I'm surrounded by here. I want to raise my children in a fairly diverse environment where there are proactive, intelligent people. I've met several of them in SOWAL. Am I just kidding myself - taken in by the beauty? Does middle class exist in SOWAL?

 

[Smiling JOe]

...
There needs to be affordable housing for not only the support industry that keeps these beaches going, but affordable housing for those trying to relocate (for the long haul) to the area and raise their families. I hate the cold winters in Kansas and I hate the narrow minded crap I'm surrounded by here. I want to raise my children in a fairly diverse environment where there are proactive, intelligent people. I've met several of them in SOWAL. Am I just kidding myself - taken in by the beauty? Does middle class exist in SOWAL?

I think SoWal is about as diverse as a pen full of white sheep.

 

[Miss Kitty]

I think SoWal is about as diverse as a pen full of white sheep.

Bahhhhh Bahhhhh

 

[John]

and I hate the narrow minded crap I'm surrounded by here. I want to raise my children in a fairly diverse environment where there are proactive, intelligent people. I've met several of them in SOWAL.

There are several open-minded people here; I think I've met all eight of them. Have you ever read the "letters to the editor" in our local newspapers? Wow, they represent some VERY narrow minded views that are, to me, quite scary. I agree with SJ, about as diverse as a pen of white sheep. Nice place if one can afford to live here, but don't kid yourself about open-minded diversity in the Florida Panhandle.

 

[patticakes]

Sounds not much better than where I live. Tolerance level here is low. At least you don't have to see Fred Phelps on the corner every day, though I did see a sign in Freeport last summer.

Guess the divide there is much wider than I thought. Eight huh? I've already met that many - my social circle is pretty open though. I don't know of any place that is perfect. Not everyone has $$$ down there. I'm just as comfortable hanging out with a doctor as I am a housekeeper - and have never had a problem with who approves or disapproves of the company I keep. Not everyone loses sight of where there money came from or how lucky they are to have it. Many who regularly post on this board were 'middle class' not so many years ago.

 

[beachmouse]

On the other hand, the Panhandle's a bigger place than just SoWal alone, and for the most part, people tend to be pretty live and let live. Pensacola manages to be home to one of the most conservative Christian colleges in the country while at the same time, Pensacola Beach is one of the big gay beaches in the Southeast. The military towns near Eglin and Tyndall are pretty conservative on the surface, but those same conservatives have lived in a lot of different places in the world, and tend to be a lot more open-minded than you might first think. The military also seems to do a better job of squashing racism than the civilian world does a lot of the time. I seem like I know a lot more interracial military couples than interracial civilian couples. And then there are a ton of odd little high tech clusters in various places between Tallahassee and the state line.

As for the newspaper letters, I don't see them as particularly indicative of the average person here. They're pretty much the fringes on either side of any given issue.