Quote from: Torque on Today at 01:46:41 PM

Quote from: BobLawblaw on Today at 12:03:34 PM

Chicken/Egg problem: This ranch is where we want to get away to. The barn isn't even up yet a year into this project. Still unresolved drainage issues due to 100 year flood-plain area (and these guys are top-notch engineers?). Barn slated to go up in the next couple weeks - finally...

Had to fire the main subcontractor overseeing the project. Very frustrating times. Set us back a bit further.

Just gotta do what I can to shamble from one day to the next without blowing my brains out at this point.

I completely get it. We're in the same boat, trying to get a second building put up on the property, and my builder has been pushing me off for six months now. Says his other builds are dragging due to material availability issues. If he doesn't commit soon, I'm going to have to look for another builder.

It'll probably take 12 months just to get it built. Then after that, we've still got a shit ton of landscaping and hardscaping that I know will take forever to get done.

I swear, if anyone out there thinks that they can get new home construction done in 6-8 months, or even within 12 months like you could 15-20 years ago.

Well I got news for you: it'll take 2-3 years now. Years.

We also have huge availability issues over here in europe, and also pricing got a big issue. More and more projects are put on hold or are delayed, no builder can give any price guarantee anymore, which scares off future private home owners. I see piles of processed steel and parts at various companies, as well as processed wood, which are both short on order since months now. The builders that were able to hold/put material on stock will be the ones that survive on the local market, if the situation won't ease soon.

If i were you, i'd divide the project into subprojects, give priorities to each and define smaller steps from start to finish. Then try to realize them / get them build by priority, step by step, if possible some parallel in time. This should deliver constant results that don't give you the impression the whole thing "just stops".
It would be good if you have somebody you can trust, who has some expertise, to look over and manage the process constantly.

If possible, let the builder give you a list of needed material. You (or the "manager") can check where you can buy the material from at a good price in time, so the builder can start when you have most important stuff available at site.
Where i live, workers and building companies have started to let the customer buy and organize needed materials, so nobody can blame them for "overpriced" services. This reduced the number of customers not willing to pay on time. Better for the companies to get work done faster, and also a reality check for customers pricing assumptions.