We found we had to provide a lot of education for the contractors and subs. Most of them had heard of the new techniques and standards, but had not had an opportunity to get their hands on them. In some cases, we had to provide the materials; in others, provide the specifications for the materials. Pricing was fluid as the contractors' prices and labor were unknown.

We had to straddle the fine line between wanting to inspect to make sure things were done correctly and not making it look like we were checking up on the workers. We covered that by involving ourselves at the job site early. We'd come by to "see how things were going" and to take pictures "for the scrapbook" (both true, but not our entire motive). That gave us an opportunity to meet the workers. Sometimes we brought pop or coffee and donuts, etc. It gave us an opportunity to gauge their knowledge of what we wanted to do, and we tailored our comments to that (the electrician had never hung Cat 5 cable before; we had to give him some simple guidelines; ultimately, I decided to finish the connection panel myself, which I know was a relief for both of us).

We didn't have any problems with the inspectors. We weren't building anything as "exotic" as an earth-berm or geodesic-dome house; what we were doing was an extension or upgrade to code they had inspected scores of times before and items for which there were few or no specific regulations. tsmith offers excellent advice. A collaborative approach with those who do the work and those who approve it will be the most successful, if our experience is any guide.

they didn't seem to care what the home looked like other than the structure was at the required stress levels, the plans where approved no worries.

len