Quick Question - Morton Buildings and Date Timeline Penalties

bigbendmarine

5 year old buck +
So Morton began constructing a building for me earlier in 2018 and for MULTIPLE reasons outside my direct control (many WITHIN Morton's control) the build has been ongoing from around April through today. All is complete save a small front porch entry "wrapping" job that the Morton rep says should take no more than 2 work days.

Here's my rub. My initial goals shared with the sales lead were -- 1) ideally we start early enough to COMPLETELY BEAT the start of the June hurricane season, and 2) COME HELL OR HIGHWATER Morton be completely OFFSITE by our Nov deer gun season. With the sales lead saying actual build should take about a month he pushed hard they'd be done by late June.

That led to countless missteps on their end -- contractor identified BY MORTON to do foundation dirt work around the March timeframe didn't show for a month and then the 2nd guy they pushed delayed almost another month. That ended up delaying delivery of materials to the start of Hurricane season -- materials actually got dumped on my place during Tropical Storm Alberto flooding.

Once things dried enough to start, the original sales rep / site manager quit midway through build leading to ANOTHER LONG delay and with complete silence from Morton until I called asking why the heck build stopped midway through.

Finally got the build underway again, and the new Morton rep failed to think about identifying garage door style (I actually choose SIMPLEST plain door) and that led to another month delay for door fabrication / delivery time. And though God knows I don't understand why, supposedly the metal materials for the wrapping won't be available until January and Morton's asking to be given through the end of February for the job completion... AND.. though they'll identify a target finish date, they say they have no history of including cost penalties for missed deadline dates.

Thus my post... besides merely venting about LONG build time, I'm wanting to do a truth check on the current reps with whom I'm talking.

Anybody know if it's true that they never include penalties for missed deadline dates? I should clarify that one rep said he thought they have done so for commercial builds but NEVER with residential builds.

Shame is I like the work they do and like the barn we designed and that is now tantalizingly almost complete. But NO WAY I'd do it again WITHOUT penalties built in due to the project management mishandling on their part... not a snowballs chance in Hades.

MUCH appreciate hearing from ANYONE who's worked with Morton before.
 
I doubt they are going to take that risk with residential building. Perhaps try working it the other direction next time, get a price and then include an incentive clause in the contract paying them more to make certain dates. This lets them give you a competitive bit knowing they should not lose money on the deal. You'll need to provide the same kind of thing to other bidders.

Bottom line: Anything outside the contract is puffing. Don't count on anything the salesman says.
 
I often wonder how Morton stays in buisness. When they bid my building they were high as giraffe pussy. My folks built one 20 years ago. While it is nice, I don't see it as head and shoulders above other builders.
 
I too got a bid from them, and it was at least $30,000 higher then others, and the salesman was a jerk, and basically told me that he didnt care that they were that much higher, the name is worth the extra amount alone. I didnt agree!
 
I often wonder how Morton stays in buisness. When they bid my building they were high as giraffe pussy. My folks built one 20 years ago. While it is nice, I don't see it as head and shoulders above other builders.
Now that is high!! LOL
 
With about 20 years production experience having to kill production teams to try and meet unrealistic sales pitches made by sales reps, I went in knowing sales guys often lie.

Only reason I didn't push date deadlines was that I believed we were starting SOOOOO early that even if a month turned in to two or three we'd still be done midyear. And yes, the Morton giraffe analogy IS FITTING. But in our non-midwest / non-ag area they do offer a bit better quality build and more design flexibility than some other Florida alternatives. Wife actually did good bit of design so it wold fit in as well as possible with home (to which it's fairly close).

I shared earlier in the post on "lessons learned" the old saying about when it comes to projects and 1) low-cost, 2) quality, and 3) speed you're lucky if you can get two of them and should target the two you want carefully. For our project, quality / fit with home was my big priority and speed was my next focus, with a willingness to pay a premium for it.

Research I did generally pointed to Morton doing exactly that -- building a quality product relatively quickly but at a premium.

Turned out I was way wrong on trusting the speed reputation. All that said, have a deadline date in the latest quote but don't see it meaning much of anything without some firm penalty... thus my reason for asking if ANY one has successfully negotiated time line penalties with them before.
 
Well, this is in my near future. I have not yet found a barn builder. I'm planning on putting one up in 2019. I was hoping to start the process of building a retirement home by improving the lot with power, septic, and well. The house won't be built for a few years. After chatting with the county, I found I can't get permits for well and septic until I have a building permit for a dwelling and the power company will give me free cable only if I have a permit for a dwelling.

So, to get around the regulations, I decided to put the barn in first and put a small living area in the barn. This counts as a dwelling. We will live in the barn after selling our current home and while the new house is being built. Afterwards, it will become guest rooms for visitors.

Any lessons learned you (or others) can share would be great!

Thanks,

Jack
 
Yoderjac, despite having lived in six homes now (and darn near rebuilding the current one as it required a year worth of repairs) the Morton building is the first thing my wife and I have had constructed from scratch so painful lessons learned by me will be basic knowledge for others.

First, a good site doesn't guarantee a good approach. My wife and I both like the spot on which we put the building... BUT... record rains this year showed the most sensible driving approach to be a bit of a wet one and accordingly we ended up having to put millings down to have a base to drive on.

Next, in hindsight I wish I'd had a two or three feet of extra footspace built between the outer garage doors edges and the sidewalls to better allow me putting in racks for storage. The area inside the building is fairly spacious / plenty big enough for my use now, but as I'll be driving a boat in one side and tractor in the other just wish I'd built in a bit more space at the sidewall edge. Hopefully few pics will show what I mean...

20181003_123251.jpg

20181130_165931.jpg

On positive habitat note, build didn't nearly impact wildlife as much as I thought it would. Tons of track around build and nice rub just feet to the side of the building. Rub below is on small saplings growing at far right in above picture.

20181130_165811.jpg

Eager to have done so I can get my blood pressure back down, put a BBQ setup in the back, and enjoy the view from the front porch.

20181212_162842.jpg
 
Very nice! Love those pics!
 
Nice looking building. I see what you mean on the sidewalls. The first one I did was kinda like that. The second one has 3 feet of space.

You're in Florida, everything takes 3 times longer! That's my experience anyway...
 
I liked room, being an ex mechanic, I like room on all sides of me. I have 6 feet minimum on either side of my stalls.

Bigbend, I decided with mine to just build it myself, which was kinda the plan to begin with, my son being a framer. So basically I was the general contractor, I know all about delays, first Mother Nature decided a late winter would be a good idea, then Mother Nature laughed, and dropped about 30 inches of snow on top of the existing 24 inches in April. So I had to wait for the snow to melt, then for everything to dry out, in order to get a dozer in to knock down trees. , which ended up being July 1st. Then surprisingly the plumbing,and concrete work went better then planned, or at least as well as I hoped. Then the walls went up as planned, but then came the roof trusses, first they were 2 inches short, but we made them work, then we Were 3 trusses short, which actually sucked because I had rented a lift to install them that weekend. The 3 shorted trusses would not be in for 3 Weeks.

I decided rather then re renting a lift, and having to wait another month for the lift to be available, we would just manhandle them. That sucked!

Then came the steel roof, and steel siding, in hindsight, I really wish I would have hired that part of it out. The electric company came out, gave me an outraged quote to move the meter 30 yards, so I actually balked at that, not that I have an option, but I couldn’t just say ok, $6000 to move a meter 30 yards, do it! But long story, anyhow, it seemed they dropped the ball, and if you talk to the GM, I think if you explain the situation, they may give you a discount, or a credit towards your next building.
 
Having built a 50' x 88' shed and a pretty good sized house in the last 18 months, all I can recommend is getting a general you can trust. Be honest with him, don't be a jerk and don't take any crap. At the 1st sign of blowing smoke, call them out. They will respect you for it.

The other thing I will say is take a deep breath. Will a couple extra months make a big difference 10 years from now? Trust me, I'm speaking from experience.

I know this isn't answering your original question, just wanted to share my thoughts.

-John
 
If doing anything and there is a timeline that needs met then it should always be put in writing.I dang sure even did it when I had a logger come in.It said when he could start,when he had to be done,where logs went etc.I am getting ready to build a building also and I will be looking at 3 builders and none will be morton.I know there will likely be different companies than here in Kansas but I would drive around and see what buildings you see.Usually in the end peak alot of them put there company name,this can give you some ideas.
 
If doing anything and there is a timeline that needs met then it should always be put in writing.I dang sure even did it when I had a logger come in.It said when he could start,when he had to be done,where logs went etc.I am getting ready to build a building also and I will be looking at 3 builders and none will be morton.I know there will likely be different companies than here in Kansas but I would drive around and see what buildings you see.Usually in the end peak alot of them put there company name,this can give you some ideas.
If your in Kansas I have 2 recommendations
 
yes in Kansas
 
For you guys that have built buildings,did you go 4ft or 8ft on rafters,I have received 2 bids and it was 1 of each.I'm not worried about snow load here in southern Kansas much anymore.Is it worth 4 ,000.00 to go 4ft
 
For you guys that have built buildings,did you go 4ft or 8ft on rafters,I have received 2 bids and it was 1 of each.I'm not worried about snow load here in southern Kansas much anymore.Is it worth 4 ,000.00 to go 4ft

Mine are 4 ft on center. What gauge metal do the have spec'd on the roof?
 
one of them had 29 gauge on side and roof other didn't specify roof yet
 
2 of them all metal was 29 and one had 26 ga roof
 
For you guys that have built buildings,did you go 4ft or 8ft on rafters,I have received 2 bids and it was 1 of each.I'm not worried about snow load here in southern Kansas much anymore.Is it worth 4 ,000.00 to go 4ft
Going with a 4' spacing doesn't really give the extra loading that most people think it does. The 8' spaced trusses will be much beefier and most likely engineered for the same loading per zoning. The biggest advantage to 4' spacing is if you intend to finish the interior. 4' spacing gives you adequate spacing to screw ceiling tin to.
Some contractors prefer to go with 4' spacing because it allows them to lay the purlins on flat and use a nail gun to attach. 8' spacing requires purlins on edge either using joist hangers in-between or pounding 6" ring shanks through the purlin on edge into the top of the truss.
 
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