Decoding Construction Gibberish: Terms You Never Knew You Needed!

Welcome to The Chicks in Construction, the podcast where your hosts decode construction jargon and share laughter-filled stories. In this episode, we take a break from homeowner horror stories to discuss essential construction terms like change orders, submittals, punch lists, allowances, scope of work, and much more. Mickey and Jess humorously navigate through these terms, share personal anecdotes, and emphasize the importance of clarity in construction contracts. Tune in to learn and laugh as they offer invaluable tips for making your renovation projects smoother and more informed.

00:00 Welcome to The Chicks in Construction
00:49 Decoding Construction Lingo
01:57 Dog Tales and Vet Visits
05:46 Beach House Updates
10:19 Special Trash and Marriage Tips
12:59 Understanding Construction Terms
25:55 The High Cost of Kitchen Appliances
27:23 Dishwasher Dilemma: To Trust or Not to Trust
28:41 Understanding Construction Allowances
29:04 The Importance of Schedule of Values
31:59 Drawing Money from Contracts
33:24 Lien Waivers: Protecting Your Property
35:49 Retainage: Ensuring Contractor Completion
39:30 Load-Bearing Walls and Structural Changes
43:06 R-Value: Measuring Insulation Effectiveness
44:41 Scope Creep: Managing Project Expansion
49:32 Conclusion and Call for Homeowner Horror Stories

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www.chicksinconstruction.com

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Creators and Guests

Host

Jessica Abreu

As a social media expert, Jessica has a knack for identifying what makes each business unique and translating that into powerful, engaging content that resonates with clients and customers. From crafting tailored strategies and managing accounts to recording on-site content and boosting engagement, Jessica and her team handle it all so their clients can focus on what they do best.

Host

Mikki Paradis

President & CEO at PDI Drywall Inc. Mikki founded her first construction company, PDI Drywall Inc, in 2005 while she was still a student at NC State. After growing PDI into a multimillion dollar company, she has become an accomplished entrepreneur, speaker, and advocate for innovation in business and leadership. With a passion for empowering others, she has built a reputation as a forward-thinking professional dedicated to driving growth and fostering meaningful connections. Known for her dynamic energy and ability to inspire, Mikki is deeply committed to creating positive change in her industry and beyond. Whether through her entrepreneurial ventures or speaking engagements, she consistently challenges the status quo and encourages others to reach their full potential.

What is Chicks in Construction?

You plan your renovation with excitement, trust your contractor, and hope for the best...until things start going sideways. That’s when most homeowners realize they didn’t know what they didn’t know.

From permits that were never pulled to “contractors” who ghost after demo day, the construction world can feel like a maze of hidden costs and shady shortcuts. Too many homeowners end up confused, overwhelmed, and out of a lot of money.

The Chicks in Construction Podcast is here to change that. Hosted by Mikki Paradis, a licensed general contractor with 20+ years of experience, and Jess Abreu, a homeowner turned construction content creator, this show breaks down real renovation horror stories and teaches you how to protect your time, money, and home.

After building a multimillion-dollar drywall business and helping countless homeowners recover from construction nightmares, Mikki is on a mission to make sure you go into your next project informed, not blindsided. And Jess brings the perspective of someone who’s been in your shoes and now knows exactly what questions to ask.

Submit Your Construction Horror Story: https://chicksinconstruction.com/

19 - Chicks in construction - Construction Terms
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Welcome to The Chicks in Construction, the podcast where the studs are in the walls, not the host chairs. We break down blueprints, bus construction myths, and explain those weird words your contractors throw around. We're taking a break from homeowner horror stories this week. The good, the bad, and the ones that made us wanna measure twice.

And cut the client once. Exactly. We'll decode the lingo, do some chitty chat and prove that learning the hard way is overrated because every story has two sides, just like drywall.

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Mikki: Hello and welcome back to another episode of Chicks in Construction. I'm your host, Mickey Paradise, and this is my co-host, Jessica Abram.

And today we're gonna [00:01:00] talk about construction terms, um, that homeowners don't know what they mean. And I only know this because every time I say them, Jess. Says what? Nobody knows what that means. You have to explain it. So we're gonna get into that. But first we must chitty chat as we are actively working on the Chitty Chat.

Yes, we're actually working on small talk, just we're working on small talk. We're not great small talkers. We're not. We're just like right to business. We've discussed this ad nauseum, I believe. Yeah. But we're terrible small talkers. We don't really talk on the phone unless there's some shena and some shenanigans happening.

Yep. Um, we're just like, I don't know. In person people. I don't know. He, we had to move stuff around in the studio and so I can actually see just your microphone. Nice. I can see. Not your face. One eye. Ew. And that's why we don't talk to each other folks. We don't even wanna look at each other.

No, we just do this podcast. All right. So tell me about your, uh, oh God, your dogs. My god, [00:02:00] today. So I think the last episode, optimist Prime had to go to the vet, uh, because he was limping. And that cost a thousand dollars arthritis everywhere, right? Yes. He's got arthritis everywhere. He is on the mend. So they gave us, um, an a, a medication for the arthritis, which you know.

I'm gonna have to sell a kidney eventually to, to start paying for it. Okay. Because, 'cause like because he's so big, he has to take so much of it. Uh, it's, I'm like, we can't ration it either. Like he really needs it. So there's that. But then my little dog, Otis, who is, I call him an urban polar bear. Mm-hmm.

Because he is like this gray-ish color. And he just, he blends into so many different surfaces, so he, he's like practicing his camouflage. I love it. He's also a little bit of a jerk, which endears him to me even more. Like he's the cutest thing you've ever seen, so you naturally [00:03:00] like want to pet him. Aw.

And he will lure you in. And then, and I just, it's funny, it's not funny for you. It's funny for me to watch. Mm-hmm. Um, sometimes it's embarrassing depending on who it is that he's doing it to, but he's pretty much my spirit animal. So homeboy got sick? Oh no. Yeah, we went to the doctor and he, he had pancreatitis, which I did not even know, was a thing that a dog could get.

I mean, I. Assumed they had a pancreas. Actually, I didn't assume. No, we didn't know. I didn't assume he had a pancreas. I didn't, I, I don't know what organs are in there. I know the, I know the basics. Yeah. Okay. He's got a heart, he's got a stomach, got some lungs. He's got some lungs and some intestines. That's pretty much the extent of my knowledge of what's going on in there.

He's got a brain. He's a smart dog. Apparently he also has a pancreas. And he got pancreatitis and they were like, listen, this is very serious. If he doesn't get better, like if he, if you [00:04:00] don't see this marker, he's ha gonna have to be hospitalized. Did he reach the marker? We did because home homegirl right here don't play.

Like, I may not be a mom of humans, but when I have to step into dog mom role, watch yourself. Like he had to be on this really restrictive diet that had like no fat in it. Mm. And Hector. Husband, you don't follow the rules He give, he gives these dogs treats, oh my God. All the treats at one point, right hand, God, this probably caused the pancreatitis.

He was adding bacon fat to their food, to otis's food in particular, because Otis didn't like his food. So he is like, oh, I just add his little bit. I'm like, Hector, what are you doing? My guy? Mm-hmm. We're not adding bacon fat to our dog's food. Do you want him to have a coronary? And he's just like, what do you mean?

What do you mean? So I'm just, so I got, I like e eagle eyed him. I was like, don't know, unauthorized treats. And in a week, man, he rebounded. We went in, got his blood [00:05:00] drawn. They're like, eh, great. He's, he's, he's ond, you know? Another thousand

Jess: dollars, like, but at least he doesn't have to be hospitalized now.

No, that would've been five to $7.

Mikki: I mean, this Jurassic Park, it's Jurassic, but spared at no expense. Mm-hmm. That's pretty much what my life is. It's just like, listen, wait. Whatever it costs, we're gonna pay that amount. Mm-hmm. Uh, so these dogs be living their best lives. Frankie, you went to the chiropractor.

Great. Per you. She, he's on a five week, he goes every five weeks to the chiropractor. This is the pit bull I found on the side of the road. So yeah. My dogs live better lives than most humans I know.

Jess: So

Mikki: that's, that's my update. What do you got? Um, so we have the beach house. Oh yeah. My townhouse. Mm-hmm. Um, and we have a long-term renter.

Yeah. Um, a, a traveling nurse, so Oh, love [00:06:00] that. 'cause you know, she gonna keep that house clean. You know it. Oh my God. She's already been texting me a couple of times. She's like, oh my God, I love it here. It's so peaceful. It's so nice and quiet. 'cause she's working at night and then has to sleep during the day.

So it's great because there's nobody around, dude. And long term renters, you're like, and it's off season, so it's not like you're even missing not going to the beach house, see anything. Oh. So, yep. Until November 15th. So. Dude, that's awesome. It's great. It's, you know, I bet your hubs is like, oh my God, because he was, he is the money person.

Yeah. I am the ideas person. I'm like, let's just jump and figure it out. And he's like, Jessica, yeah. Do we have money? I'm like, but are we poor? No. So like, let's just try it. Let's just see are we poor? What's the worst that can happen? We sell it. Then let's buy a beach house. I'm not poor, but I'm not beach house rich.

I'm, I'm not like, it's not, I'm in between of like, you can afford to go to the beach, but you can't live there. Listen, my house is not on the beach. Like [00:07:00] in about 30 years. When the ocean comes all the way, it will be

Jess: beachfront. It'll be beachfront, it'll be beachfront. But right now, which is honestly,

Mikki: you're playing the long game.

And I like that for you because I feel like it's gonna, it's gonna play out. Like I always tell Hector, I'm like, if we were ever to get a beach house, let's just get it on the sound side. Mm-hmm. And then eventually beachfront chef's kiss. Yeah. I don't know how, for those of you watching, I don't know how many.

Houses, we of North Carolinians have watched the ocean take. Mm-hmm. It's like a thing in some of the outer banks. Yeah. Like literally the ocean just, it takes like a house a year. Mm-hmm. Like it's coming for the homes. It's like you can't live here anymore. Goodbye. Your house is goodbye in the ocean. And yeah, the storms are getting worse.

That, I mean, there are some beaches you go to and there's hardly any beach when the tide comes in. Yeah. The sand. Yeah. There's no beach erosion. So, yeah, so we're not, we, we didn't have enough for like right on the beach, but I, I feel like in 30 years we'll be good. You'll be you. Yeah. [00:08:00] Yeah. Global warming.

Okay. Panning out for some people. Yeah. Not so much for other, I mean, it's not funny. It's not funny. We shouldn't have joke about that. I know. I feel bad for every, anybody who has lost their house in the ocean. Yeah. We're very sorry about your house in the ocean. Um, but someday I want my house to be oceanfront.

Yeah. I mean, I, I'm 100, 100%, a hundred percent. Anyway, EV even if it doesn't, I sell, I sell like my little Yeah. A long-term rental. That's a, that's a traveling nurse, is a chef's kiss. Like that could not have been, have worked out better, honestly. Yeah. Yep. And so it. Stress. I had a friend who was the traveling nurse.

Yeah. Yeah. For being only because it's, it wasn't even my stress, it was my husband's stress. Yeah. Yeah. He was off gassing was like, he's off gassing and stressed and you, you were like getting like secondary stress side effects. It's gonna be fine. Yeah. You're like, and now it's fine. So now we're all, we're, I'll say.

I will say, um, Hector is equally as irresponsible as I [00:09:00] am, so it's We're perfect together. Yeah. We're never retiring. Why? Because we're like, oh no, we definitely need to buy this. Fill in the blank item. Mm-hmm. Like, like, I don't know if we discuss this, Hector, you know, because you've seen my driveway.

Hector has a few cars. He's a car guy, and not in the sense of like, collectible cars. I don't have any Ferraris in my driveway. Y'all, I got busted. Whatever he bought at the auction is living in my, in my driveway. My neighbors love it. Let me tell you, I literally will not get on next. Store because I don't wanna know what they're saying about me because I know it's bad between my dogs and my husband.

Wow. So he's literally looking at a truck this morning. He's like, he goes, how far away is Iowa? And I was like, pretty far Iowa. It's pretty far. I'm not like, I don't have the, the GPS coordination like right in my brain right now, but it's pretty far. There's, it's, it's in the middle hours. My god. The middle.

[00:10:00] It's in the middle of the country. It's like, well, there's an auction. This truck, it's, it's a good truck. And I'm just like, babe. I'm equally as irresponsible as you. So do what you want. Yeah, buy that. Buy that truck at auction. Have it shipped here. Spend the money. We'll just have a busted truck in the car all Christmas, all all season.

And then eventually he'll fix it and he'll sell it. It'll be great. Listen, Nikita, happy Marriage is just let your, let your husband have his, his special trash. That's what I call it. His special trash. Special trash. Yeah. I love it. Hashtag special trash. It's gonna be a new thing. Trending. Yeah. And he and special trash friends, like there's a whole community, special trash friends, they like find special trash for each other.

They source, they help source. They're special trash. So like he'll go to his special trash besties and be like, Hey, here's what I'm looking for. I need this, that, and the other. And so Hector doesn't have Facebook because my God, today, if he had access to Facebook marketplace, I don't, I would have to just burn my house down and move, um, because it'd be full of things, but that's okay.

His special trash friends, they, they have [00:11:00] Facebook marketplace and they get it. So they're like, Hey, they literally set up the meat for him to go. He's like, he, they set it up and then Hector shows up to buy the special trash. So listen, at one point in my life, the special trash really it really got under my skin at this point in my life.

I'm like, listen, I won't make direct eye contact with your special trash. You don't make direct eye contact with my skincare or makeup collection. Mm-hmm. And everybody and everybody lives in peace. So life marriage tips from chicks in construction. You're welcome. There we go. Life hacks, special trash, hashtag special trash.

I'm gonna call that. Every time I come to your house now you're like, oh, look at your new special trash. You got some new special trash in your driveway? We do. We do. We have new special trash. I Every time Jess comes, yeah, every time I'm driving up the long driveway, she know who is at my house. I was like, do you have company or no?

Just new special trash. This new special trash. [00:12:00] I mean, I like the car that you couldn't open. Oh yeah. That, that was, uh, the door got hit. Mm-hmm. And so you had to get in from the other side? Yeah. Oh no, the one there. Didn't Hector lock the keys in? Oh yeah. Yeah. He locked the keys in car. The, the Lexus he bought, it's, it's actually a really nice car.

He fixed it up. 'cause he is good at that. He got that stuff. He got in finally. He did lock his keys in the car. It was not great. 'cause like, we didn't even have the title yet. It's a whole thing. But listen. With special trash comes special circumstances, special, special drama. So he gets into his special trash and, and the novellas that, that can be told about the special trash.

And I get into like literally every skincare product that Instagram tries to sell me. I am like, probably need it. Don't gonna have it to try it, don't add it, add it to the cart, gets me every time. So, you know, we. We live in our best life. Anyway, guys, we got an episode to get into here. So [00:13:00] we are gonna talk about construction terms because I.

It's my world, so I know what they mean and I have no idea. Just doesn't, so, nope. And I have compiled a list. She's gonna call 'em out and I'm gonna define 'em to the best of my ability. Mm-hmm. And I'm gonna make sure that we actually understand what all the words mean. Yeah. She's, she's gonna ask follow up questions like a good podcaster.

We're killing it today, guys. We're killing it. All right, so the first one is change order. Okay. We use that term a lot. We do use that term a lot, and so I, I am like, it's probably good we're defining it. So a change order is essentially you have a contract already written, it has a dollar amount associated to it, but then something happens whether it's something got missed in the, in the.

When you were deciding what you were, you know, gonna do, or you wanna [00:14:00] get you, you thought you were gonna get this kind of tile, but you wanted, you saw the fancier tile and you're like, Ooh, I need it. Uh, so a change order is whenever you have to change the terms of your contract, the contract value, by increasing or decreasing.

'cause sometimes, you know, you could say. Oh, I want, I thought I wanted that fancier tile, but I found one I like more and it costs less. So a change order can go both ways. Okay. So it can go, you know, positive to you. Or negative to you. Depends like plus or minus situation, but that change order just changes the contract value of the contract that you have with whomever you are in contract with.

Nice. Yeah, so I feel like that makes sense. That makes sense. Sense. That doesn't need a lot of like. Yeah. Now what is something called submittals. Okay, so submittals, I'm not gonna lie to you [00:15:00] guys in my industry or the bane of my existence, but for you, homeowners are very important, um, because essentially every person that's gonna work on your project.

It's gonna be bringing a product of some sort that they're gonna install, whether it's drywall or paint, these kinds of appliances and every single thing should have a submittal for it. So that what a submittal is, is this is the kind of paint we're gonna use.

This is the type of paint we're gonna use, the quality of paint we're gonna use. Um, this is the, the brand of appliances we're gonna use. So the submittals really are a great way for you as a homeowner when you're doing a renovation to see everything that the builder plans on actually installing in your house.

I'm gonna go out on a limb here. Little, it's ay limb, [00:16:00] I'm guessing. I don't think. Residential rehabbers or even new construction residential builders. Probably use submittals. It's a big thing in commercial construction, but we should be bringing it back. So like if you're a homeowner and you're doing a renovation, you tell your general contractor that you want the submittals of every product they're gonna use.

Because essentially that gives you the ability to make sure it's like holding them accountable. So if they say they're gonna use this $59 a gallon, Benjamin Moore paint. And as they're painting, you're looking at optimists from Sherwin Williams, which is like water with a little bit of pigment in it, you know?

And it's about $8 a gallon. Mm. You know, you're not getting what the quality you paid for. Mm-hmm. And so that's where. Submittals may not be a big thing in residential construction, [00:17:00] but when you're talking with your, your GC that is licensed because you checked and made sure that they were licensed, um, 'cause you're doing that.

We're doing that now. Mm-hmm. Um, tell 'em you want submittals. Like, make it a part of your contract. Yeah, build, build the requirement for submittals into your contract. 'cause it really helps you keep everybody accountable. So it could be like part of the contract that the GC gives them originally? Yeah. It could just be like listed out there.

Everything that they're going to be Yeah. Putting into the house. Yeah. The brands just make sure. Yeah. And it's, it's on the commercial side is like. It's so the architect can make sure that what we're, what we are doing is meeting like all of these like crazy requirements that we have to meet in commercial construction.

But I could really see the benefits of doing submittals. It helps you be more in control and not have more knowledge, about what you're getting in, in your Nice.

[00:18:00] Yeah. It's important. It is important. We wanna know what's being put into your house. Now let's talk about a punch list. And it's not people that you wanna punch in the face because there's a lot. I mean, that's a long list. That list is growing daily. Lemme just tell you, I, you know, it's not even really growing daily.

It's still just the same person, the same.

Jess: You know who you are.

Mikki: Subscribe. Subscribe. So you can watch us not talk about you, talk about you. Direct eye contact. Okay. Punch list. It's not about punching. It's not punching. Um, so a punch list is essentially a checklist that the general contractor is going through your house and they're making a, a list of imperfections or things that the other trades need to come back and fix.

So. They can be lengthy, but it's, it's a, the purpose of it is one, it means that your general contractor has done their job and is walking [00:19:00] your renovation or your new construction home and making sure that everything is the way that it's supposed to be. Um, and then if not, like, listen, everybody beats up the walls.

I don't know what they think they're made out of, but everybody beats up the wall. So the drywall and paint are always on the punch list. Like, it's always just like, they don't, they don't give you specific things. It's gonna be like little sc marks. It's just like drywall and paint. That's what's on the punch list.

Mm-hmm. Um, so, but like, you know, if the cabinets got scratched, if there's a scratch on the floor, if there's like all the little imperfections go on the punch list and he, you know, like if a light was hanging a little crooked Yes. Or something like that. And then, so depending on, you know, what you, what you have worked out with your general contractor.

There should be, they should do their own punch list. And then you should do a customer walk punch list where you walk it and you notice things where you're like, eh, that seems a little crooked. Mm-hmm. Like things that maybe the GC missed. Um, so punch lists are really [00:20:00] important, so make sure you do one.

But remember, it's not fishy cuffs. We're not punching anybody. We're just making a list. We're making a list, and it's not a list of people you wanna punch. It's a list of things that need to be fixed, and we call it punch work. I don't really know why somebody came up with the term and we all just rolled with it.

So that's how that happened. Now when we're talking about a contract and. You know what's going to be done in the house. I hear a lot of times that they say scope of work. Oh yeah. So what scope of work exactly does that mean? Okay. So again, really important for you to have a scope of work as a part of your contract when you're doing any kind of major renovation.

And it basically is a detailed description of all of the tasks that are gonna happen in your renovation. So I, as a trade, have to submit my scope of work. So I'm saying, Hey, here's all the things I'm going to do. Here's all the things I'm not gonna do. [00:21:00] So it clears. Up for the general contractor. Okay, Mickey's gonna do this, this, and this.

I've gotta find somebody else to do this, this, and this. And so having that scope of work helps you kind of mitigate gaps. Mm-hmm. Um, like, okay, I've covered, these are all covered here, but like, okay, this got, has to be picked up by somebody else. Um, and it also, again, for you as a homeowner helps you to understand, okay, this is what's gonna happen in my house.

You know, we're gonna change out the lights. This, this is all detailed in this scope of work. Like, and a good GC should be able to provide you with the scope of work. And it's almost like. A schedule, like mm-hmm. This happens and then this happens, and then this happens, and then this happens. And so ideally you're getting that and you should request that again, if, if, if they're not providing you with a scope of work, you should be requesting that your GC provide you with a scope of work because it creates clarity.

And, uh, we went to an event a couple months [00:22:00] ago where this lady was, she gave a little keynote and she was talking about how clarity is really kindness. Mm. I, I never, never stop thinking about that because like, the clearer you can be is really kind because you're not guessing. So tell your GC, I want, you know, a, a, a scope of work as a part of my contract so that you know everything that they're doing.

So that kind of goes along with the, um. It was like with the submittals too. Yeah, with the submittals. So they know what they're doing and what the materials are that they're going to be using. Exactly. I like that. Yeah. Now I hear a lot of times, and I'll see things, um, especially with like new construction homes or with people doing renovations, that they are given an allowance.

And now to me I am like, you're gonna gimme some money. Yeah, that's, yeah, that's, I could see. Allowances for, for a while for me, but I was like, what's I, 'cause we don't, we don't do allowances in commercial construction. Yeah. Um, but allowances are literally the basis [00:23:00] of remodels, especially, and new construction builds.

So essentially, right. If you're building a house from scratch or you're doing a renovation, when you're in that contract negotiation phase, when you're, you're getting a price. You may not know exactly what type of appliances you want. Mm-hmm. Or what type of tile you want, or you know, there's so many things that you have to choose mm-hmm.

In building a house that there's like no way you're gonna know exactly everything when you go to contract. So for the things that are like unknowns, okay, they give you a allowance and so it says, okay. We're giving you $10,000, like we are putting in the contract value that that $10,000 allowance for your tile.

Okay, so this goes again, both ways. [00:24:00] If it's the same, it is similar in in the, in the, I'm using my words. I'm gonna find 'em. You're doing a great job using your words. They're in here somewhere, my friends. Yeah. So it's similar to the change orders in a sense, because if you go over the allowance, you pay more.

If you go under the allowance, that can be used towards something else. So, okay. It kind of makes sense from that perspective. But, um. Where a lot of people get in trouble is they don't know how much stuff should cost, and so the, the GC will come in. You know that low number mm-hmm. That you're like, I love that price.

Yep. Uh, 'cause they, they put $2,500 in your allowance for tile, knowing it's easily gonna be 10 grand. And so that's gonna result in them coming back and say, oh, well, you know, you picked this tile that is, is $10,000 and you only [00:25:00] had $2,500 in your allowance. Mm-hmm. So now you owe us. The remaining balance plus a markup.

So yeah, it's not good. It's not great. You need to do your research on average cost of what you're into, and that's where it. It's hard for a general contractor to guess like what your style is in the very beginning. Right. Uh, also if you use an interior designer, you're gonna pay more.

My God, today you're gonna pay way more, uh, how double, triple, whatever the allowances are. 'cause like they don't, they don't listen. They go to their jobs. Mm-hmm. And they show you all the pretty stuff. Mm-hmm. And pretty stuff can be spicy priced. So it's the pretty tax. It's the pretty tax. And so we have talked about that on the past episode.

Mm-hmm. So, yeah, it's, it's, it's, those allowances can make you think you're getting a really good deal, but pay attention to those allowances. Mm-hmm. Like, like. If, if they have $5,000, if you're, if you're [00:26:00] replacing all of your, your appliances in your kitchen and they're the, they have $5,000 worth of wor um, no.

No. Mm-hmm. Have you seen the cost of refrigerators? It's crazy. It's nuts. Sauce, stove, also stoves. I, yeah, stoves. Stoves are, I haven't bought a stove in a while, but I did it have to replace my refrigerator, and I was like, wh why do I need a live feed? My refrigerator inside of my refrigerator. I don't want to see that.

It's a disaster. I can't stand the ones that have the glass front. Yeah. Where you can see in my refrigerator. Like I, I don't need you to see the hiding, organized mess. Of food. That's kind of like Jen. Good. Oh, 100%. You don't need to know how much leftovers are living in my fridge. It's, it's not a, it's not a good look.

That's never going to be eaten. That's also why I am not a glass cabinet kind of gal. Oh God, no. 0% do you've, you've don't open that. Mm-hmm. Don't, something might fall on you. Mm-hmm. [00:27:00] Don't, it's not safe unless you have your hard hat on. Yeah. Probably just shouldn't come in my house. Honestly, put your PPE on and do not turn the oven on if you come into my house without checking with me first.

Yes. Because I may or may not have put stuff that was on the counter into the oven to clarify a little bit of space. Hi. Oh, listen. Been there, uh, hilariously. Um, and I don't know if this is like a all Central American thing or if it's just my, my husband's family because hector's from El Salvador, um, they do not use their dishwasher.

So their dishwasher is storage. And I'm like, why? Why are you doing, why would you wanna do dishes? Why are you doing this by hand? You have a dishwasher? And they're like, no, don't trust it. I don't, no, it does. It is not really cleaning. I don't if my little hands, and they all have these tiny hands, if my hands don't clean it, it ain't clean.

And I'm like, well listen. I'm pretty sure my [00:28:00] dishwasher gets up to like 3000 degrees. I'm pretty sure whatever is on there mm-hmm. Is dead. I trust it, but not everybody does and I respect that. Anyway, we got off topic, but the point is we did chitchat.

Jess: We did, we did a small talk. Oh my God. We're getting so good at this, you guys.

So

Mikki: I love this for us. Um. We're making Joe laugh. Joe is, is our studio a guru? Our studio God. He's the one who makes all of the lights look so amazing, and he also does other things, a lot of things, but he's the studio God, so yes. That's a, that's an allowance. We check allowance. That's the allowance. If there's $5,000 in your allowance from your GC for all of your appliances, that ain't right.

So you gotta do your kind of research, get the allowance list, and then kinda look into what you're into. Mm-hmm. And be like, Hmm, I don't think that's gonna be enough. Right, because it's probably not so [00:29:00] allowances. Got it. Now this I haven't heard much. Okay. Um, but schedule of values. Oh yeah. This is the bane of my existence.

Also, there's a lot of construction terms I didn't know I didn't like until we got into this episode. So a schedule of values is, so I, let's say I have a contract for $3 million. Sounds great. Yeah, I mean that's, that's, it's amazing. When I go to Bill, my client mm-hmm. I have to first break down the exact cost of literally everything that I'm doing in that $3 million contract.

My God, today it is. So much. So I have, so is this done re for residential too? I think it should be okay. Again, I'm not 100% sure if they use [00:30:00] this in, in residential, but it should be because if you get to see the schedule of values, you're, you know how much they're anticipating, the drywall's gonna cost, you know how much they're anticipating the paint's gonna cost.

Mm-hmm. So when the, the GC comes to you and is ready for a draw, you can look at the schedule of values and be like, okay, they're billing for this. That's how much it was in the schedule of values.

They're billing for this. Mm-hmm. That's so it's like kind of how you keep everybody honest. And keep track of how much you're paying and keep track of how much you're paying. Making sure because the schedule of values is how you know how much they anticipate it's gonna cost. So while I'm not 100% sure if it is common in residential construction, guys, I think we should start a trend.

We're bringing sexy back in the form of documents that the trades contracts are going to be so [00:31:00] mad that they have to provide. Mm-hmm. However, information is key. So yes, we're bringing, we're bringing paperwork back. Mm-hmm. We're making it sexy again, schedule of values, you actually do need to know how much everything is roughly going to cost.

Mm-hmm. I mean, listen, it's a rough number, but you have that going into like every time they draw, knowing, 'cause that's the point of the schedule of values. Right. Or the architect mm-hmm. Looks at it and says, okay, you've got this much of the drywall completed, you've said you've allotted this much of money for drywall.

Mm-hmm. Okay. I'll pay that. Yeah, so that's what the purpose of it in the commercial world, I don't see why we're not doing it in the residential world. I think it would help a lot of people not get screwed by GCs. And again, if a GC doesn't is like, I'm not giving you a schedule of values. Why? Other than it being annoying and paperwork, but like, why?

Why not? Just let me, why not? Why not gimme that? So I think Okay. You know, anyway. Mm-hmm. That makes sense. Yeah, I'm, I'm with it. All right. So [00:32:00] now you said draw a few times, and I know that you don't mean physically drawing, I know that it means like drawing money from, from, I'm assuming Yes. A bank or like paying.

So, but what exactly does it mean? So when I'm drawing, I'm drawing money off my contract. So when a, when a builder is. It, they may say it's an like it. You could, you could say use invoice. Mm-hmm. But really when you go to contract with a builder, you have this value that, that what this, this whole contract is worth.

And so every time they're invoicing, they're drawing off that balance. Mm-hmm. Into the point until they get to zero. So we call it a draw. Okay. We're drawing, but we're not physically drawing. We're drawing, drawing. We're using the force to draw the money towards us. And that's then the homeowner holds the money until the draw is exactly you holding own is holding the money [00:33:00] until the GC provides you with all this paperwork and then you know that they're doing the right thing and then they can draw the money from you because you're holding onto the money.

'cause we've talked about that. Yes. It is very important to hold onto the money. Hold onto the money now. Liens are not a great. A great thing. Oh, they're not, but there's, there's a lien waiver that Yes. Can be signed, correct? Yes. So lien waivers are, a lot of times you'll see that when you're dealing with bank funding.

So if you're getting a loan from your bank, like a construction loan from your bank mm-hmm. Your bank doesn't, you know, want somebody to not get paid and put a lien on your house. Mm-hmm. So essentially that's how it works, right? Like, if I. I'm a gc. I am, I actually am a gc, so I say that hypothetically, but in actuality.

But if I were actually practicing and I was in a building, somebody's house, I hired [00:34:00] this plumber, I didn't pay this plumber, the plumber can turn around and put a lien on your house. Mm-hmm. Even though you paid the, the GC. If the plumber didn't get paid, they have the right, if they follow the, like the right steps.

'cause there are some steps you have to follow in North Carolina, but they have the right to put a lien on your property until they're paid. And so a lot of banks, because they are invested in nobody having liens on your property. We'll make sure that a lien waiver is signed, basically stating you as the GC or you as the subcontractor, whoever's signing the lien waiver, have paid all the parties involved like nobody's owed money.

And you know, you sign it, it gets turned in if it turns out that you lied. You in trouble, so don't do that. But yeah, that's the point of a lien waiver is really just to protect you as the homeowner from having somebody not get paid and then put a lien on your property. Seems important. Yeah, it's pretty.

It's pretty key. Mm-hmm. I didn't realize that, like this is not [00:35:00] stuff homeowners would know about. No, I had no idea. Like, I've had people work in my house and I was like A lean waiver. Nope. Yeah, did not hear of that. Yeah. But I have heard of people having liens put on their house for not paying a contract or they paid them what they felt they had done for their Yeah.

Job. Like it wasn't finished and then the contractor goes and, yeah. Yeah. Put a lien on their house. It's great. The very first homeowner horror story we did, which is our very first episode, they, that, that general contractor that screwed them over, turned around and put a lien on their property. And so they're in this legal battle now to have the lien removed.

It's a, it's kind of a nightmare. You really wanna avoid it. Mm-hmm. Like at all costs. So that's where that lien waiver is like. A chef's kiss. Yes. Now we talk about deposit, but it's also called retainage. Is that Oh, okay. Different. The same What are we, retainage is different from, from a deposit. So a retainage is, and I, again, not 100% sure how much this is used as in [00:36:00] residential, but it should be because you hold a percentage until the, the, the, the contractor is complete, so.

And I like in a separate account, like he knows that the money is there or she know, like the contractor knows that the money is there. So essentially, like I bill for how much I, you know, for, okay, let's, let's, let's say it's gonna cost $7,000 to drywall your house. I bill for $7,000. They pay me. Five, they pay me minus 10%.

'cause I think in North Carolina there's like laws at how much retainage can be held. Mm-hmm. But essentially it's to keep you from never coming back. Got it. So for those of us who've watched the home of our horror stories. That's a big thing. Like so many stor of these stories end in and they never came back, and the such and such never got finished.

Or I had to pay somebody else to come in and finish their work. [00:37:00] If you had retainage on them, that money, they're motivated to come back. So the, the, I think in North Carolina, the most you can hold is 10%, but every time they draw. They get money from you. Mm-hmm. Holding 10% until it's complete is at least a practice that I know happens in commercial construction.

It should absolutely be happening in a. In residential. Mm-hmm. Because again, it keeps everybody honest when there's money still to be paid. Mm-hmm. People are more likely to come back. And you are going to keep that money until, not just till the work is done, but if you need inspections and stuff Yeah.

You, you, it has to be like a hundred percent, a hundred done. You're happy with everything. Everything. Okay. Um, now don't abuse that because like if there's something that it's like. You know, this is not within that contractor's scope of work. Mm-hmm. Um, or it wasn't in your [00:38:00] contractor, it wasn't what you agreed to.

You can't hold their 10% on something that you know wasn't. This is why in the contract, this why everything in writing is very important, right. For both sides. Yeah. It, it really is like the, the stronger your contract is, like the better your experience is gonna be. Mm-hmm. When you do a renovation, when you build a new construction home, like whatever it is you're doing, the stronger that contract is, the more information that's in that contract.

Just the better for everybody. Like everybody's better off for a contract. My contracts are 95 pages. I don't suggest that. Listen, don't, you don't need 95 pages, but my just drywall alone contracts are 95 pages, so we don't have problems because we have a 95 page contract. It is on page 75, literal subsection B.

Listen, that has literally been a thing I. I'm sure. Yeah. Like here's a, here's a fun one. Um, I'll upload my contracts into Chad GBT, and then when somebody's [00:39:00] asking me about something, I'm like, Hey, Chad, GBT, where is this in the contract? And it's like, oh, this page subsection. So sometimes you can just send it right over.

Yeah. Like right away it's like, oh no, I excluded that. Here's where it is in the contract. Nice try. Nice. Dry, nice, Alex. Um, very, that's crazy. Contracts are key guys. Mm-hmm. Like the strength of your contract is the key. Is that all of our terms? No, we've got more.

We have something that, um, you might hear the. Contractors say something is a load-bearing wall, and therefore you cannot just take it out or put a sledgehammer to it. X, yeah. Yeah. So, and it can be very costly if you want that wall taken out. Yeah. Because other things have to happen. Somebody just reached out to me about this the other day and I was like, oh, it's my friend.

And she like, mm. I was like, no, that you can't. That's load bearing. So. I think [00:40:00] most people are clear that where your roof like ends mm-hmm. Those walls are bearing weight. They're bearing the weight of the roof and the roof structure. Mm-hmm. Those are all your outside walls. All your outside walls. Well, well, at least two times the sides.

Mm-hmm. Depending on your roof, what kind of crazy roof si situation you have, but. There's also a load-bearing wall that goes down the middle, like the spine of where, of whatever direction your roof runs. So that's picking up a load as well. So a lot of people are like, oh yeah, I know I can't, you know, remove that.

Mm-hmm. Wall because it's load-bearing, but they don't realize there's a ton of load-bearing walls on the inside of the house, depending on how your roof is structured. So whenever you wanna move something. Having, bringing a structural engineer, like, listen, I don't, I'm, I'm gonna guess roughly you're gonna spend between five and $700 to bring [00:41:00] a structural engineer in to determine, you know, what is load bearing.

What isn't load bearing. Mm-hmm. And how, if you really wanna open it up, like, 'cause we did, we, our, our house was like real chopped. Doors. Doors, doors, doors. And I was like, oh, that's too much. I wanted open concept, right? So we, we had to take out a wall that was load bearing. Mm-hmm. So they had us add a structural beam in the attic.

Um, but, but you know, they, they, that's what these structural engineers do. They're like, all right, here's how we, we change, we disperse the load differently using different things. Mm-hmm. And so it can get spicy priced. 'cause if you have a really. A heavy load on a wall. You might have to use structural steel and lesson structural steel through the roof right now through the roof.

And that's all something that has to be custom made. So there's a whole, there's a lot of different products that a structural engineer could suggest, suggest to use. [00:42:00] So that's always something you can go back to a structural engineer about and be like, Hey, is there anything, is there anything a little bit cheaper?

I really, I really wanna open this up. But I don't have 10 K for for structural steel. What else can we do? My guy. Yeah. And a lot of times they can find ways around it using words, words, words in some numbers. But yeah, load bearing is a really important thing when you remove a load bearing wall and you don't add.

You don't add something to pick up that load. That's when you'll see like sagging in the middle. Mm-hmm. You don't want that? Oh no. You don't want nothing. We don't want sagging. We don't want nothing really anywhere. Nothing sagging is ever good. Ever. Ever. Anything. Nothing on anything. Nope. So we, you'll see that a lot when like somebody removes something that shouldn't happen.

Like it just kind of like mm-hmm. It's like, yep. That's load bearing. Yep. So another term we have, and this one, um, I learned about when we were in Vegas. Oh, because everybody [00:43:00] was talking about it. It was all on the signs at the hydro block booth. And I was like, I have no idea what this means. And it is R value.

Yeah. Our, the good old R value. I was like, cool. Yeah. So our value measures insulation's effectiveness. The higher the R value, the better it resists heat loss.

I think the standard R value like required in a new construction house, even in multifamily is like R 19. So you have to have that R value of 19 in all of your walls. And R value comes in the it. Mostly insulation, but like with the hydro block boards mm-hmm. The way that they're made, they have their own r value, like drywall does not have an R value.

Um, but hydro block boards, the way that they're made, they actually help retain, like the heat or the cool in your home. Mm-hmm. Um, whatever, whatever the weather situation [00:44:00] is, it helps keep the cool air cool. You know, in mm-hmm. In the hot air. You know what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying? Yeah. So.

Certain products can bring their own R value to add to. So, so if you used a hydro block board, you may be able to use a different kind of insulation 'cause you don't need that much of an R value value to make, to meet code. But there's a minimum of R value that you have to meet when you're doing anything.

Mm-hmm. So that's a tricky one. I don't think homeowners would come across that, but it's important to know our value, our value. And the last one that we have. Is scoop creep. Oh, scope creep. And it's 'cause you're creeping. 'cause you be creeping. Um,

Jess: do I creep? So it's like, yeah, we're probably gonna get, like, YouTube's gonna be like, Nope.

Mikki: Can't do that. Nope.

Jess: Copywriting like,

Mikki: well, what if [00:45:00] we sung it ourselves? They're like, doesn't. Then ITT matter. You can't get away from that, ma'am. Um, we should not be singing anyway. We shouldn't. Oh God. I feel like I sound like a drowned cat. But listen, when I sing, I sing with my whole soul, so it's fine.

Like it or not, I'm singing with my whole soul. I'm sure you sound like Mariah Carey. 100%. Police in my head until Hector turns the radio off and I'm in the middle of like the high, the high note. Oh yeah. And then I hear myself and I'm ashamed, and then I get mad at him. He does this all the time. He has a thing.

Yeah. He can't stop push pushing buttons. It's like a, it's like a tick. I know we're going off on a tangent again, but he has a tick. So we'll be driving down the road and my favorite song is on and I'm belting. From my soul, from the depths of my soul singing mm-hmm. At the top of my lungs. And the, the volume is so high, nobody can hear Nope.

That it's a drowning cat until he just changes the channel. Or he'll just turn it off, can't he? He cannot stop himself. It's kind of hilarious, [00:46:00] uh, because this is a, a theme in our marriage. He just likes to push buttons. He can't

Jess: help himself. And I'm, I'm, I'm like, Hector, what is wrong with you? And he's like, babe, I'm sorry.

I just, I don't, I don't know. I can't stop it. And as he's like, filling with

Mikki: those buttons, I'm telling you, he's like, I can't stop. Which is why I love my rivian, because there are no buttons. Nothing for you to touch Hector, but, you know, um, okay. Scope creep. Sorry. Well, tangents. Tangents. Um, so scope creep is when you're, you're.

Okay, so you started out wanting just to have your kitchen redone, and then you're like, oh, but the powder room downstairs is so outdated once the kitchen's new. Oh, we should probably add the, the, the, the powder room to, to the, to the scope of work. Okay. It creep in. It'd be creeping. So it's like, oh, well, you know, now that the, the living room or whatever is done, the deck looks terrible.

We should [00:47:00] probably read you the deck. Okay. So it's like, so it's anytime that you're adding something. Yeah. You're, and it's adding the scope of work. You're adding to the scope, scope of work. And so what, what it creeping on is your budget. Mm. So every time you add something you're adding and that, that scope creep can turn into a, holy crap, how much did we spend?

Oops. So it's important to pay attention to that scope creep and, and to really, the, the way to avoid scope creep is to really think about, okay, if all of this stuff is new in my house. Is there anything else that then is going to look old and outdated that once we're done, I'm gonna regret not having done this.

Like a lot of times people will say, oh, we want, just want the walls painted. Because they think their trim looks fine and they think their ceiling looks fine. But then you get this fresh, delicious coat of new paint on the walls and it's like, mm. Chef's kiss. But all of a sudden your trim be [00:48:00] looking dingy.

Yes. 'cause you don't even realize. Yeah. How you. Dull Yeah. And stuff. It is until something is new that freshy paint is on there and you're like, Hmm. And then, so that's a great example of scope creep because then you're like, oh, well how much is it to paint the ceiling and the trim? And it's like five times more.

Mm-hmm. Five times more. 'cause we should have done it all at the same time. So it's important to like. Think past, like the, the thing that you want to like, Hmm. Is it gonna look weird if we only do this one thing? Mm-hmm. Because that avoids scope creep. It does, yeah. And you can always ask the contractor, like, if I'm going to, I'm going to paint the trim.

Yeah. Is the wall going to look weird? Or if I just do this one wall in accent color, is that Yeah. Going to like. Mess up the rest of the room and how everything else looks. Is it gonna throw the vibes off my guy? Yeah, it's gonna, it's gonna, it's gonna. And I don't know how many times I say to the homeowner, I'm like, listen, this is back in the day.[00:49:00]

I can paint this wall. We could paint just the walls, but I'm telling you, you're gonna come to me and you're gonna want the trim and the ceiling painted because it is going, it looks great now. 'cause it's all old, old. And then once the walls are new, the trim and the ceiling's gonna look real old. So. And they don't listen.

And then they're like, how much to paint? All of that. And I'm like, it's a lot. You're not gonna like the price, you're not gonna like it. So it, it's, that's, yeah. Yeah. It's. And that's it, that those are our terms. I hope this was helpful. I am, I'm fearful that it was a little bit more commercial than, than it residential, but I do think that these, that we should be bringing these into residential.

So schedule of values. Holding, retainage, all of that really, it's all, all of these terms are to help you better build your contract. Mm-hmm. And to make sure when you're negotiating your renovation, that you're like, Hey, I want a schedule of [00:50:00] schedule of values. I want a scope of work. I want uhs detailed, I want submittals, I want detailed, um.

On the allowances, I wanna know exactly what, how much for each allowance so that I can do my own research. Like putting all of that in your contract is how you avoid being on our show and having a homeowner horror story. Mm-hmm. But if you, if that ship has sailed for you, my friends, and you have a homeowner horror story, we want it.

We do, we want a real bad, you can go to chicks and construction.com and, and, there you, there's just a film. A film, a film. There's a film that you fill out. Mm-hmm. There's a form on our, on our main page. You just scroll down a little bit and you can just tell us everything that happened and give us the drama and give us the dets.

Don't have to give us your name, don't even have to give us a real email. I would suggest you do give us a real email. Give us a real email because if we have some follow up questions, we can ask you them. Mm-hmm. We can also let [00:51:00] you know. That we used your story. Mm-hmm. And it's gonna be on the show. So we'd love to be able to contact you back.

Even though see, not gonna tell [e-mail] is a funny email. It's not exactly helpful when we have questions, when we had questions. So please fill out and share your homeowner horror story so that other people can learn from, you know, the situation that you went through. And then just our socials.

Yeah, make sure that you're following us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram at Chicks Construction Podcast. We now have a TikTok at Chicks Construction talking it. Listen, we're gonna, we're going to a fancy event. We're dressing up in dresses. Ooh, yes. We're gonna film some tiktoks. Follow us on the talk. I don't know why I'm doing this, but I'm doing it.

It's almost as good. Don's took away at the camera, so I can't see myself, so I dunno what I look like. It's almost as good as when you did Oh yeah, the penguin. Penguin. Uh, so yeah, follow us on the talk. You'll see us in dresses. We we're actually, [00:52:00] we're pretty, we're pretty pretty. We're pretty pretty. We're gonna be real pretty.

We're gonna be extra pretty. 'cause we're gonna be in fancy dresses. Mm-hmm. So check us out on all the socials and we will see you next time. Bye. Bye.