Dan Dwyer, Dwyer Contracting Inc
Saugerties, New York
Dwyer Contracting - Saugerties, New York
Dan’s a master at renovation and custom home building in the Woodstock, New York area.
Check out one of Dan’s most recent renovations.
“The biggest part of this job is managing expectations I would say. And producing a product that you can be happy with, and [the clients are] happy with. And that they got value. ”
Randy: Dan, tell us about this house and the renovation you just completed here this past spring.
Dan: Well I believe this house was probably built in what probably was the IBM boom around here, so things were made fast. Often not quite up to today's standards. And this house actually had some previous renovation done I think by the old homeowner.
Walls were taken out where they were load bearing and not properly supported. Some of the framing just wasn't done in the manner to put all of your load points in the right spot.
And once we opened everything [the floors and walls] up, we realized how far things were off. And they were actually fixed with shims and different ways to make it look like it wasn't as far off as it was.
…we realized we had to support the floor, and jack up the second floor. We put in beams which you can see in the kitchen.
And they're exposed because the framing isn't strong enough to have a flush beam because the framing's too undersized. So, we had to think a little bit outside of the box to get the look that they [the client] wanted and to make the house structurally sound.
Randy: Outside of the structural complications, which rooms did you renovate?
Dan: In this house we did all the floors, we renovated the kitchen, and we renovated both bathrooms upstairs.
We changed the layout of the bathrooms. We changed the layout of the kitchen. We opened up walls. We moved walls that were [separating the dining room, kitchen and living room] here.
There were two dividing walls, there was one between the kitchen and the dining room, and the dining room and the living room.
We added built-ins which we custom made. And in the entrance, we added the built-in there as well.
We replaced the doors and windows over in the kitchen section of the house.
“I actually lose sleep at night in this business because I want my clients to be happy. I want my employees to do well. ”
Randy: Dan, what's the best part of being a contractor?
Dan: I like the sense of accomplishment you get. I like to see the people pleased with the work we do.
I like meeting the people. I like going back and forth with the clients.
I like the challenge of it.
Randy: What’s the most challenging part of being a contractor?
Dan: The biggest part of this job is managing expectations I would say. And producing a product that you can be happy with, and [the client is] happy with. And that they got value.
I actually lose sleep at night in this business because I want my clients to be happy. I want my employees to do well. And that's another thing that's tough in this business is if you do let somebody down, or they perceive you've let them down — it wears on you, pretty good.
“...Lumber’s not as strong as the first growth trees we had years ago. So things move, crack, and it’s out of our control. So things like that are difficult because you have to manage the line between keeping the client happy and staying in business. ”
Randy: Did you always know you wanted to be a contractor?
Dan: Into my High School years, I didn't really know what I wanted to be and that's when my parents geared me more toward going to college and pushed for education.
I was the youngest of four siblings and they all went to college. They all became doctors, lawyers, and the other sister is a speech pathologist. And I became the contractor!
Randy: What was your first job?
Dan: The first job I had was for a guy our of Poughkeepsie, building trucks and fabricating. And during that point [the recession of 2008], all of the municipalities cut back on having their trucks being built. So he continued to pay people to work there even though there wasn't much work going on.
So I kinda laid myself off and found my own work, and promised him I'd come back when he got busy and needed me.
Randy: What was the first job that brought you to contracting?
Dan: Immediately after leaving the municipal job, I was hired by [my old boss] to do a project at the facility, rehabbing the office.
So it was a fairly large job to start off with, putting windows in to an area where there were no windows.
We did the roof on the building, installed doors in new places.
It was a pretty good start which eventually a couple of years later led to a very large, full renovation and addition to his personal home.
Randy: What renovation put you on the map?
Dan: Well, we did a large construction project - The exterior of a very well known house in Rhinebeck, a Victorian style home.
We were hired by another larger contractor who did the Rhinebeck Hospital and projects, and they asked us to do the outside of this house.
It was probably the one where we got the most notoriety.
We rebuilt all of the old core holes, and all the trims. We did them all in my shop.
Did You Know? Core holes are round holes drilled in walls, floors, ceilings, and other parts of the home or building structure. The holes give access to the interior of the home for mechanical duct work, wiring, cable, and plumbing.
There was a lot of talk about it while we were doing it in the town, so it was kinda neat.
Randy: What issues do you commonly run into with some of these older homes up in the Woodstock, New York area and clients in general?
Dan: You do have to think outside of the box on some of these older houses.
For example the insulation codes around here, you need a very high R-value. But the old framing, the timbers don't allow for that and traditional bat insulation, so you have to use closed cell spray foam.
You're not dealing in a world where everything is perfect. Lumber's not perfectly straight. We have a lot of second growth trees we use for cutting trees young, so we have moisture content issues.
Lumber's not as strong as the first growth trees we had years ago. So things move, crack, and it's out of our control.
So things like that are difficult because you have to manage the line between keeping the client happy and staying in business.
Renovations are challenging, I think a lot more challenging than new construction. You get a set of prints, but that’s not always what the case is when you start opening things up.
I think that goes back to my career before, problem solving and figuring out how we're going to get this to the finished product people are going to be happy with.
Have a project for Dan? Check out his website below or call for an estimate.
Dan Dwyer, Dwyer Contacting, Inc
4037 Route 9W
Saugerties, New York
845-546-8233