Inside Third & Bond: Week 136

It’s punch-list time for the Hudson Companies bloggers today…
You’re in your new kitchen, placing your KitchenAid on the counter just so, flicking on the power to your Keurig, identifying drawers for your Dutch ovens and raclette pans, and then you see it…a scratch on the stainless steel of the dishwasher. As you frantically try to buff it out with a dishtowel you wonder…was it always like that?

Chances are: nope. How can we say that? Your home just made the transition from construction zone to residence in the last week and construction zones are dangerous places full of pointy stuff that scratches while homes are full of soft stuff like love and pillows. You certainly didn’t get up in the middle of the night to key your own dishwasher. But then again, you did have a moving company with a bunch of dollies running around the place. And there was that big crash when one of the kids was moving the fondue set and dropped it in the kitchen, fondue forks flying out like daggers. But maybe the Sponsor will just fix it…the Sponsor wants you to be happy, right?

Right. To that end…

…the Sponsor commits to a series of punch lists to eliminate issues like a scratched dishwasher before move-in day. Our best case scenario is you move in and we don’t hear from you ever again. Unless it’s to upgrade to our latest project.

A punch list is a written accounting of any physical issues that need to be repaired, touched up or replaced. The first punch list is done by the construction manager. In our case at Third + Bond, Kiska walked through completed units and made a list of items that subcontractors needed to come back to fix. They did this gradually as different trades completed their work and wanted to be paid.

Once Kiska felt a building was in order, Tina from Hudson and Eugene from Rogers Marvel Architects went through room-by-room to uncover issues. Tina compiled a list of issues and photos about 3 pages long for each building that included items like Unit 5 Kitchen: Gap between cabinet base and baseboard or Unit 2 Bedroom: Closet rod not installed. Eugene reviewed Tina’s list and made his own lists. At one point, using a pair of binoculars among other tools, he made a punch list for the metal panels on the façade. He noted where caulk had bubbled or screws were loose way up on the fourth floor.

The Hudson/Rogers Marvel lists were given to Kiska and Kiska is now responsible for pushing the trades to make the corrections that bring the units up to our level of quality completion. We want to make sure that if we’re paying a trade 100% of the contract, that they’ve done 100% of the work. We want closet rods in every closet that we’re paying for there to be closet rods. Until our punch list work is completed, we’ll continue to hold a portion of the trade’s payment as retainage.

Then, once we think the unit looks great and all of the sales stuff like contracts and TCOs are squared away such that we are ready to close on a unit, we send you a notice to close and request a punch list appointment. Not one but two punch lists are de rigueur for each buyer.

The first buyer punch list is a walk through to identify issues. You walk around the apartment and together we’ll write down any issues that you see—and that we are willing to fix. Oh, you didn’t like that, huh? Well, there are minor imperfections through the course of construction that you shouldn’t reasonably expect to be fixed. For example, we’ve had buyers select an apartment, make an offer, sign a contract and then at the punch list stage tell us they don’t like the veining of the marble in the kitchen countertop. Asking us to replace a fully functional countertop in excellent repair because you don’t like the veining is not going on the punch list. If you see a gouge or scratch in the counter top, that we’ll be happy to add.

The second punch list walk through is for us to show you that we made good on the list and for you to sign off that you are satisfied with the corrections. Normally that’s the extent of the walk through but for Third + Bond we are also going to take the time to make sure you understand the green aspects of the unit (e.g., how to work the heating/cooling systems) and some homeowner basics (e.g., what’s inside the breaker box).

So, after the construction crew (who is motivated to be paid in full), the architect (who is motivated by the insane perfectionism of all architects), the Sponsor (who is motivated to squeeze every last penny out of the construction crew before paying in full), and the buyer (who is motivated to have a perfect investment/home), have all punch listed the unit, the chances of us all missing such an obvious problem as a scratched dishwasher are well, wide open. C’mon, at the tail end of a project the Sponsor, construction manager, and architect have all started paying more attention to our next meal ticket than yesterday’s leftovers. Now there’s some motivation! Plus, if the buyer missed something, chances are we missed (or missed) it too. But one thing we know you won’t miss, our phone numbers. We know we’ll be hearing from you…

Facebook: Third + Bond Twitter: Thirdbond
www.thirdandbond.com

Inside Third & Bond: Weeks 1-134 [Brownstoner]

Our legal fine print: The complete offering terms are in an Offering Plan available from Sponsor. File No. CD080490. Sponsor: Hudson Third LLC, 826 Broadway, New York, NY 10003.