Any barter experiences?
I’m working on a Bed-Stuy building that needs 6 months to a year of work; a gut renovation. I currently live in Stamford, Ct; and commute 2-3x a week, an added expense. The owner and I have discussed my staying in the building while the work is done – the building gets more attention, security,…
I’m working on a Bed-Stuy building that needs 6 months to a year of work; a gut renovation. I currently live in Stamford, Ct; and commute 2-3x a week, an added expense.
The owner and I have discussed my staying in the building while the work is done – the building gets more attention, security, etc; and I don’t need to travel.
Has anyone ever entered into a ‘lodging for construction’ arrangement? It seems that at first, when it’s more like camping out in the midst of a mess, the owner would get greater benefit from me staying there. Later, after the space is more habitable, the value of the rental would increase and I would get the greater benefit. So maybe after the first month or so I would begin bartering for a rental that increased in value each month?
Thanks for a great forum – any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks, all.
Eman, I believe I read you shooting from the hip all over these forums. Stick to what you can be sure of.
i bet that you do not even have the proper insurance for the job..god forbid that anything goes wrong..this truly sounds like a nightmare situaion
I wouldn’t do this.
You and the client are on good terms now, and probably will remain so. But renovating a house with a contractor is a stressful experience for your client, in which he/she feels out of control, and so it never goes completely smoothly. If/when things get unsteady (as things do as the stresses of renovating a home accumulate) you would be ensuring that you don’t have any distance. All your eggs would be in one basket.
Camping on a jobsite is a good way to increase the potential for feeling like you aren’t taking care of yourself, and might make you cranky. And working and living in the same place is a great way to increase the potential for feeling threatened, or unable to get away from a small problem that feels big in the moment.
People who hire contractors need their contractors to be steady in the face of the client’s inevitable doubts and anxieties. Clients pour tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars, and time, and their own discomfort, into a project, and are usually not great at managing people or communicating their needs. Who is, really? And who renovates more than a handful of houses in a lifetime?
The client-contractor relationship is already somewhat volatile. Why add to that volatility and put yourself at a disadvantage?
Thank you for your comments.
The rental barter we are considering would only be part of my overall compensation for the work. While the arrangement would benefit both of us, and even if the space is not rentable, I still would like some way to reflect the increasing value of my being able to stay in town (without having to pay a full rental out of pocket elsewhere).
I am considering moving back to NYC full-time, and I want to make sure this is done in a way that feels fair to all parties.
Get paid for your work. Don’t blur the lines between your scope of work and hours, and the fuzziness/expectations of barter in these particular circumstances. If security was a major concern for him he’d already be paying for it. Possibly more like he wants to reduce his costs in exchange for an “apartment” (known otherwise as a construction site). If the owner wants the security he’d achieve by you living on premises, and it also means you put in more hours/days of work each week, that’s all a plus for the owner. Also a bonus that the more hours you put in, the sooner he’ll have habitable units. In exchange for those, he should be offering the “apartment” free, while paying you for hours worked. You can put money on this: when the value of the rental increases (i.e., the unit is habitable), he’ll be looking for a paying tenant and you’ll be looking for a new home.
forget paying for sleeping on a construction sie…the idea is silly..there is no value to the site until the job is done
I’d just tell him you’ll be staying over some nights, and leave it at that.
I assume you’d be getting paid for your work on top of having the right to camp out in somebody’s reno. If the landlord wasn’t planning on renting the space out or living in it while the work is being done, he’s definitely getting the better deal if you work for rent alone. Look at it this way: will you beputting in more sweat equity than a rental would cost?