Way back when I was involved in That industry the smart money took all standard items and lived with them then had them redone in a few years. The pricing for upgrades was more than just getting the house finished and doing them on your own later.
Smart buyers limit upgrades at purchase to things that are impossible to do later. Higher ceiling heights, deeper basement, etc.
It was a small builder, 3 houses at a time. He was very reasonable, likely because the new house market was not on fire at the time. The upgrades I purchased were priced at his cost, he even let us work with and pay Canac kitchens directly on the cabinet upgrades.
I knew a guy in Ohio that bought a house where a builder did the same thing, using the free wood on site. Twenty years later he needed a new roof and the roofer found out the hard way the roof deck was solid oak and they couldn't drive nails into it without pre-drilling.
toronto.citynews.ca
That’s not uncommon in rural builds. Way back that’s how houses were built. I once owned a house in Sharon that had 2x10 black walnut joists and 2x20x16 floor planking. Those were the trees they cleared to build the house.
When my buddy was building a 2000sqft garage at his cottage, he used all of the wood he cut to clear the land and made siding out of it. There was enough wood to install the siding on both the cottage, and the garage at the same time.
If I was building a new house, there would definitely be some large conduits running between strategic locations (with pre-installed strings). Terminations near electrical panel, in a closet on each floor, in attic, etc. Turns tasks that are a nightmare now to trivially easy.
My brother was considering buying a mill to make his own lumber for projects. As almost everything needs permits and permits need graded lumber and rough sawn can't be graded, the project was dead in the water. He could make siding and wood for things that don't need a permit but it's hard to justify the cost of a mill for those tasks. Underwater forever.
My dad had the bright idea of taking our old 100ft tree that was cut down at the cottage...and use a DIY 'mill' with a long chainsaw blade/chain...
Make some rustic outdoor furniture. If it's awesome, sell it. If it's marginal, use it. Things like benches around fire pit, picnic tables, etc.
When I do renos I always run 3 or 4” conduit from the main panel along side ductwork the up along the stack into the attic. Same when running to accessory buildings.
Rough sawn and green lumber can absolutely be graded - I use tons of it up north -
I was doing a job at a kiln one time and they said that they only graded after drying and planing. That must have been company policy. The point stands for a backyard mill though. Building departments don't use brains, they look for stamps. Getting someone in to grade your lumber to build your project is a financial disaster.
Large commercial mills grade after planing and drying. Small mills that serve remote areas or do custom milling will grade and stamp green, rough sawn lumber for local markets.
Yup. I don’t think there are graders that freelance backyard milling.
They do. Stamped rough cut might confound a Toronto building inspector because they never see it. An inspector in Huntsville, Sudbury or Cochrane … not so much.
3" EMT........Christ are you planning on putting in a new 350A service in your house? You can run 96 x #14 wires in a 3" conduit (before de-rating). Just make sure you use EMT and not PVC in your house as an inspector will fail your inspection (if you have an open permit).
The vast majority of my security stuff is hardwired. Too easy to jam wifi if you are up to no good.
