There is a ton of collective wisdom in the responses you've received regarding the way you plan to work with your contractor on your own house. An awful lot of us have tried it over the years, and we all have tales to tell. I'm sure you are aware that the word "wholesale" applies only to building materials, not to the cost of the labor to put those materials in place. We all have clients who are fixated on the cost of something they have seen in a showroom and can't grasp the notion that that shelf price is not all that needs to be paid to have that something in their house. I once had a retired client who went to work part-time at Lowe's so he could take advantage of Lowe's 10% discount to employees for anything from refrigerators to 2x4's. He was convinced he'd found gold. Once he had a contractor, it didn't take long for him to abandon that "discount" when he learned his contractor with long-standing relationships with suppliers could do better. In over 40 years of practice, I've never seen that business of a mutual "showcase of our work" actually play out. Obviously, I haven't seen everything, and it's a point that keeps recurring in our profession. On the other hand, I have seen (and experienced) mutual benefits between architects and builders who simply treat each other decently and fairly, beginning with a clear contract and clear communications. There's something about respecting the other party that creates a will work join up in the next opportunity. At the risk of sounding old and shrivelled (which I am), the "showcasing our work" sounds like a piece of wisdom oozing under the door from architecture school. Nevertheless, I'd like to see it work.
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Robert George FAIA
Robert S. George, FAIA, Architect
San Bruno CA
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