How many jobs does it take to build a house?

As the housing industry reels from lagging sales, excess inventory and tight lending, how has the ensuing construction downturn affected people who live and work on the Outer Banks?

To help answer that question, we went to long-time Dare County builder and Nags Head resident Carl “Pogie” Worsley.

Our goal: Try to nail down how many local tradesmen and vendors actually “touch” a modest-sized home from the time a construction contract is signed to the point the buyers move in.

Worsley spent a lot of time going through invoices and re-constructing a house on paper to help determine the number. He chose a 1,600-square-foot, three-bedroom, three-bath home he recently completed on Hatteras Island for a permanent resident.

We’ll trace the flow of local workers and feature some of them over the next five or six weeks, covering a phase each week. So let’s get started.

A house is “born”

Worsley runs a small office that includes himself, a job supervisor and an office manager/bookkeeper. These three jobs will remain with us throughout the story. To keep the numbers accurate, individuals in any phase of the job are counted only once, even if they appear on the job site multiple times. The county building inspector, for example, would be involved at many stages of construction, but for our purposes, he counts as one person and one job.

A buyer meeting with the builder will outline the desired size, style and other features. Typically, a builder has several plans and exterior views of homes, and together they settle on a concept. Once a template-plan is selected, the builder gives the rough plans to a blueprint specialist. Locally, most blueprint “shops” are sole practitioners who work with a select number of contractors.

The blueprints are several pages and include all aspects of the home—floor plans, roof style and pitch, exterior elevations and electrical, plumbing and heating/cooling work. The builder then takes the blueprints to an engineer.

Some engineering offices are single-person operations; larger companies employ several professionals and support staff. The engineer checks the blueprints against building, fire, electrical, hurricane and other codes to make sure it will be legal. He also evaluates the structural integrity. Before the builder can apply for a permit from local government, the engineer must certify the plans.

The new plans then go to a surveyor, who lays out the boundaries of the property, noting all easements and setbacks, and “sites” the proposed house, decks, driveways and other structures on the lot.

Usually, it takes three people to conduct the physical survey, lay out the boundary markers and foundation pins and draft the entire lot survey onto a sheet of paper that is submitted for the building permit.

In some, but not all cases, local ordinances would also require an architect to review and sign off on the planned home. This is more common on larger structures.

So far, counting the contractor’s company, our averaged-sized dwelling has required at least nine local jobs.

Permission, please

No new house escapes the oversight of government. And every new house requires the contractor to obtain a building permit from some local government authority. In our example, it was Dare County.

The contractor completes an application for a building permit, submitting it with his plans, engineering certifications and surveys. Building permits aren’t free, so Worsley must hand over a check to a clerk in that department who also accepts the permit application. Usually, the same employee will oversee the application as it makes the bureaucratic rounds through the approval process.

A zoning administrator will review the paperwork for compliance with county codes and regulations. A building inspector will look over the application, as well as someone from public works.

Virtually all homes in Dare County use septic systems, and the county Department of Health is next in line to review the plans and issue permits. Once more, a department clerk gets involved, and similar to zoning, a department administrator reviews the plans. Another employee visits the building site for an inspection. Finally, yet another employee issues the septic permit.

Our house still requires running water, and if it is to be connected to the county water system, arrangements must be made. Another clerk handles this application and takes another check from the contractor to obtain a “water tap.” If the application is approved, the county will send out a three-person crew to install the water meter and make the “tap” connection from the meter to the county water line.

For now, our work with the government is done, and if the plans pass through all of these hurdles, a building permit is issued, along with septic authority and a water tap permit. Twelve government employees were involved in the process.

The grand total so far: 21 people.

A lot happens next . . .

As we all know, Dare is mostly flat and near or at at sea level. Septic systems require two geographic features. The buried tank and drain field need to be above the water table, and sufficient slope must exist for waste to flow downhill.

To sculpt most lots for a septic system to work, fill sand must be brought in to raise the level of the lot. Worsley will call one of many local suppliers of fill who takes his order and arranges delivery. One of this vendor’s employees will “mine” the sand and place it in a dump truck for delivery. The truck driver dumps the sand, while another employee is waiting with machinery to spread the sand and build up the septic field.

Four more jobs have been used, perhaps five if the sand company employs a billing clerk or office manager.

Our total has now reached 26 people.

A solid foundation

Out-of-town folks say our houses are built on “stilts,” but in reality, they are pilings bored deep into the ground.

Pilings serve dual purposes apart from providing a foundation. They offer elevated views while raising the first floor of a house above the reach of flood waters. Worsley will call a lumber yard to order his pilings.

Once again, we need an employee to take the order. A worker in the lumber yard selects and tags the lumber and probably also loads a flatbed truck to deliver our pilings. A truck driver makes delivery. Once deposited, the contractor hires another company to install the pilings, which typically involves the owner of the company, at least one office worker, and four laborers to actually install the pilings.

Nine more people rely on a continued flow of these orders to maintain their employment.

Since the owner first met with the builder, as many as 35 people have been involved in the process.

Let there be light . . . and porta-a-johns

At this point, our house is literally without form. It consists of a small jungle of limbless pilings revealing its basic footprint.

Before crews arrive to build our home, two more tasks must be completed. Workers need access to electricity to power their tools.

Worsley calls the local power company, where a clerk takes his order to install a “temporary pole” on the lot, along with a meter and, of course, a connection to the power grid. And someone from the power company will send our builder an invoice for the job as well as a monthly power bill. Two employees will install the pole and make the grid connections.

Health regulations also require installation of a port-a-john for the workers. Another call required, another order taken, as well as employees to load the truck, deliver the port-a-john and regularly visit the site to clean and pump the stall.

That’s seven more jobs for the final phase of our first chapter.

Depending on the office and support staff at the various companies and government agencies involved to this point, anywhere from 36 to 42 local residents have worked on this one house.

We have now spent about 10 percent of our construction budget.