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chhe_gw

Blast from the Past

chhe
9 years ago

In the movie Blast from the Past, towards the end of the movie, the main character Adam played by Brendan Fraser has a house built for his parents in a day. In the movie the narrator says something to the effect that if you say to a contractor that it doesn't matter how much it costs that a house builder can build very quickly.

Is this actually true? That is if I wanted a 2500 sq ft house built in say a 4 days would a contractor say no or yes and simply demand more money. If so how much more would it cost?

Comments (8)

  • caben15
    9 years ago

    It's possible to spend many years building a home, and possible (in some areas, and some plans) to build one in just a few months.

    4 days seems unlikely, despite what HGTV might have you believe can be accomplished in 22 minutes.

    Even assuming the simplest plan and the most masterful coordination of trades, trades working around the clock etc you still have physics to deal with:

    Concrete in the foundation needs to set.
    Plaster needs to dry.
    Hardwood floors need to acclimate (~2 weeks).
    Paint needs to dry.

    Also, when some trades are working no one else can, e.g. painters spraying.
    Oh, and there are some bottlenecks in the process. e.g. until you've sheetrocked you can't (obviously) do any interior finish work.

    Let's not overlook city bureaucracy and delays for inspections, utilities, etc.

    Perhaps 4 days would be fine to assemble a modular house prepared off-site. There was a series on This Old House recently covering Hurricane Sandy recovery with a prefab house on the NJ seaside. Even that I think is probably too ambitious.

    I think maybe what you're looking for is a prefab garden shed. Those can be delivered and set up quickly.

  • lazy_gardens
    9 years ago

    If it were factory-built prefab, pre-finished interiors, and you were in an area where permits/inspections aren't needed, could you truck it in and plop it down and hook up electric and plumbing?

    Nope not even then ... because the foundation prep has some curing time for concrete you can't shorten.

  • thistlebird
    9 years ago

    In the movie he tells his parents to set the locks for 2 months and Eve says a house can be built in a matter of months if you tell them money is no object and then you have to mean it. It wasn't a day.

    Our house 5000 square feet with 3 car garage was built in 6 months however we had a very good, experienced builder with all his subs ready who didn't have another house going while ours was being built. We also had to make extremely fast decisions on finishes.

  • virgilcarter
    9 years ago

    Haste makes waste!

    Good luck on your project.

  • pprioroh
    9 years ago

    Fast, quality, cheap; pick any two.

    It could be done in 4 days- precast foundation walls, and enough people and tight management of trades. Probably not plaster walls and 3 coats stucco on the outside walls, but with the right products it could definitely be done.

    But again, see my first sentence

  • Annie Deighnaugh
    9 years ago

    Well there are the 2 hour house guys....

    Here is a link that might be useful: 2 hour house

  • rwiegand
    9 years ago

    We did a Habitat "blitz build" project in St. Louis where ~10 houses went up in a week. Foundation work had been done in advance, but everything else (framing to landscaping) happened in 7 days. This was all stick built, no pre-fab. It was a total zoo (albeit superbly organized), and probably not the highest quality work, but it was a lot of fun to see that much activity all happening at once. Watching 20 electricians completely wire a house in about an hour was pretty impressive.

  • lazy_gardens
    9 years ago

    I think they are NOT counting curing time for the concrete :)

    If you want a fast build you have to be TOTALLY planned out ahead of time, have your materials lined up, have alternate materials located on in case "the warehouse burns", and be able to make fast decisions.

    You also have to have a contractor who doesn't over-commit and a really skilled crew.

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