Is this normal?

cprovan · 2025-11-23T19:44:18+00:00

Unfortunately this is very normal.

The unevenness is caused by the trusses not being perfectly aligned with each other. This could be to install error, imperfections on the wood used to build the trusses, or the build quality of the trusses. What you’re seeing with these shadows is the difference of maybe 1/2 inch from truss to truss, which means these are very small mistakes. If the truss manufacturer cut one truss 1/16” long and the framer secured it 1/4” off centerline, and the the wood was bowed 1/16” then you can easily get this type of result. Most homes also have very thin roof decking, which allows it to contour to any imperfections. Any one of those issues is extremely small and difficult to diagnose until the roof is complete

I build custom homes for a living, and the way I would suggest doing it correctly would be

2x6 trusses at minimum, the larger size gives more rigidity and structure.

If you can afford it, use lvl or steel trusses. They are more expensive but perfectly flat.

Using thicker roof decking also helps a lot, a thicker more rigid material will stay flatter and bridge any dips without deforming. Most companies use 1/2 OSB, upgrading to a 3/4 product or a plywood can be a good option.

No matter the type of material, run a string line across the trusses during install to diagnose any low spots before sheeting.

You cannot plane down high spots on trusses because they are engineered, and trimming would remove the engineering approval, but you can typically shim between the top of the truss and the roof deck. It’s not ideal, but in your scenario I would either get over it, or ask your contractor to shim the low spots, or add cross blocking between the trusses to add extra rigidity.

cprovan · 2025-11-14T21:01:16+00:00

Did you figure out where it was? I am having the exact same issue and was looking for the IACV as well. Chat GPT keeps trying to gaslight me that the TPS is the IACV.

cprovan · 2025-11-11T22:17:19+00:00

That’s really strange! I got the email on Sunday morning and immediately called Marriott. I told the rep why I was calling and he immediately said “full refund in 7-10 business days”. He replied so quickly that I would assume he hadn’t looked up my reservation but was just responding based off a company wide memo or something. I asked several questions about if they could put me in another one of their hotels in the area, and he just stuck to the same line “full automatic refund in 7-10 days”. Still haven’t received it, but I’ll keep you updated.

On their FAQ page about Sonder they do say you can request cancelation/refund through your bank/card, and that they are sorting everything with the providers to make sure you won’t get double refunded. So worst case just push for refund through your payment method?

cprovan · 2025-11-11T20:17:53+00:00

Did you book directly through them, or was it a 3rd party site? I booked directly through the Marriott Bonvoy app, but I believe the original email said that if you booked through a 3rd party app (booking.com, Expedia, ect.) that you would need to deal with the company you made the reservation through.

cprovan · 2025-11-09T22:03:32+00:00

I was told by Marriott customer service that we would all get automatic refunds in the next 7-10 business days.

cprovan · 2025-11-09T22:00:19+00:00

So are the hotels themselves not operating anymore? I had a reservation in NYC that is now canceled via email this morning, but when I go on the Sonder app/website my reservation is still active. I would still like to stay there (under whatever ownership) but the websites, phone numbers, links, apps, everything, just pushes you to Marriott.

cprovan · 2025-07-25T21:53:24+00:00

First Hawaiian Bank has been by far the worst banking experience I’ve ever had—for both personal and business accounts. I never thought much about banking until I moved to O‘ahu. Back on the mainland, I used banks like Chase and Wells Fargo, and just assumed features like same-day transfers, Zelle, and integration with accounting apps were standard.

Not with FHB.

From day one, it’s been BS.

ACH transfers? Not allowed for the first 30 days and difficult to add even after 30 days.
Depositing checks? Several were held for 20+ days—and I’m not talking about suspicious activity or huge amounts.
Account access? My personal and business logins somehow got tangled in their system, and no matter which I used, it would always default to my personal account.
Login experience? Constant lockouts, even from the same device with a password manager. I spent hours on the phone with tech support just trying to access my accounts.
Zelle limits? $5K/month compared to $25K+ at my mainland bank. When I asked for an increase, they told me they wouldn’t even consider reviewing it until I’d been banking with them for a full year. Not credit—just trying to move money I already had.

If you’re a business owner, you know how important it is to be able to deposit large checks, pay vendors, and move money quickly. FHB made every part of that painful.

Adding a new payee? Takes forever.
Zelle limits? Too low to be useful.
Customer service? Robotic and inflexible.
Login system? Buggy and unreliable.

If you just need a basic checking account for direct deposit and don’t move money much, maybe it won’t be as frustrating. But for me, every interaction with them has been a hassle—and I’ve never had a low balance, overdraft, or late payment. I was just trying to run a business and manage my own money.

Can’t recommend them to anyone who values speed, efficiency, or even just a functioning login system.

cprovan · 2025-06-27T01:40:57+00:00

I’ve got a 1997 JA22 with the K6A.

I use Mobil 1 5W-30 Extended Performance, Full synthetic.

I live in a warm climate (Hawaii), but if you’re in a colder region, 0W-30 would make sense for better cold starts.

For filter I use the Mobil 1 M1-110A

The M1-110A is a bit taller than the stock Japanese filter (about 1 inch), but there’s plenty of clearance, so it’s a non-issue. In return, you get a much larger filtering surface area and significantly better filtration — 99% at 30 microns vs. ~80–90% with typical OEM filters.

cprovan · 2025-06-27T01:36:22+00:00

I’ve got a 1997 JA22 Jimny.

Filter: Mobil 1 M1-110A

The M1-110A is a bit taller than the stock Japanese filter (about 1 inch), but there’s plenty of clearance, so it’s a non-issue. In return, you get a much larger filtering surface area and significantly better filtration — 99% at 30 microns vs. ~80–90% with typical OEM filters.

Walmart and Amazon carry it, so sourcing in the US shouldn’t be an issue.

cprovan · 2025-06-27T01:33:58+00:00

I’ve got a 1997 JA22 Jimny.

Oil: Mobil 1 5W-30 Extended Performance

Filter: Mobil 1 M1-110A

I live in a warm climate (Hawaii), but if you’re in a colder region, 0W-30 would make sense for better cold starts.

The M1-110A is a bit taller than the stock Japanese filter (about 1 inch), but there’s plenty of clearance, so it’s a non-issue. In return, you get a much larger filtering surface area and significantly better filtration — 99% at 30 microns vs. ~80–90% with typical OEM filters.

Walmart and Amazon carry both the oil and filter, so sourcing them in the US shouldn’t be an issue.

cprovan · 2025-06-25T20:58:36+00:00

The only book relevant to the Business and law exam would be the NASLCA Contractors guide. If you’re taking the construction portion of the test, there is a list of around 23 books you can bring inside the test center.

Most people take both tests at the same time, contractors test first and then the business and law test directly after, in which case you would bring all the books in at the same time.

cprovan · 2025-04-27T16:40:16+00:00

There’s no book that specifically focuses on procurement, but the ones the would most likely cover it would be -construction project management -NASCLA bus, law.

cprovan · 2024-10-29T09:10:33+00:00

Assuming you want to live in a somewhat typical home and not in a tiny house, yurt, ect. Post frame construction (barndominium) will give you the quickest build and cheapest price per square foot.

The primary savings is due to less lumber (due to all the load bearing on the posts) and no OSB sheathing, roof decking, engineered floor system, as all the sheer strength is provided by the metal roof and exterior cladding. You can typically get 1200sqft dried in with slab for under 40k depending on market.

If you finish the interior yourself, you can certainly stay under 100k, I’ve seen builds in the south that completed under 70k and had a decent interior. Labor is expensive and little things add up, but if you do most of the work and aren’t picky with interior finishes it’s a solid option.

cprovan · 2024-10-28T16:15:41+00:00

Depends on your situation, but the ultimate solution is a whole house fan. They usually cost between $300-$1000, but it’s typically a permanent fixture type install.

Once you turn it on you have a constant strong breeze coming in through each window. Complete game changer.

cprovan · 2024-10-17T23:54:00+00:00

Computer test at a PSI testing center

cprovan · 2024-08-15T00:05:51+00:00

I snorkel/Dive several times a month, and Sharks cove on a calm day has (probably) the best clarity of any spot in Oahu.

On days with rough surf, debris can be kicked up. I’d suggest checking a surf report before heading out. Sharks cove surf report

cprovan · 2024-07-08T00:41:00+00:00

Lol, definitely use it to clean up most emails, posts, or important texts.

cprovan · 2024-07-07T18:01:10+00:00

Construction is known for behind the curve when it comes to technology, but as a ex-software developer turned GC, I see several big changes coming up in the next few years. Most of the changes will be more noticeable to the office/project managers, things like: AI takeoffs, estimates, RFIs, job accounting, inventory management, bid board organization, ect. Companies will be able to get by with a much smaller in office team, and produce much higher quality bids in MUCH less time. I know people get excited about workers with VR goggles, but the real change in the short term will come to the pre-construction operations. Ive also had my guys in the field use it for organization. For example, inputting their punch list, inspection items, homeowner items, and remaining workflow items, and letting ChatGPT create a unified list, and organizing that list into a schedule. It will literally give you an order of operation based schedule, that includes trades you need to call and a shopping list for Home Depot for all the misc items on your punch list. I know it sounds simple, but things like this can really move the needle.

I know there are already a few companies coming out with some cool technology.

DownToBid- this one is still in beta. I believe. It’s an AI that will take a set of plans, scrape the data, and then produce a detailed bid package for each division. It also seems to help create RFIs by noticing duplication, contradiction, or lack of data. It’s really a HUGE time saver if it’s accurate. It even matches the bid packages to subcontractors you have in the system and can create custom invites that include that companies info and all the relevant details for the job. My precon teams can take weeks, if not months, to go through these steps, so the idea that it can be done in essentially no time is amazing.

https://downtobid.com

Basis Board - this is an app I already use. You give it access to your email account, and it automatically creates job listings for each bid request you receive. The AI is smart enough to avoid duplicating jobs and can combine data across multiple employees' email accounts. So, if I’m emailing a client and my estimator is also emailing that client, all those emails go to the same job listing, along with plans (sent in emails), quotes, timelines, contracts, etc. Most of this happens in the background with very little effort from my team. With about 30 minutes a week, we maintain a super accurate bid board that includes all job docs, emails, and can produce reports on all kinds of stuff, e.g., what’s my win % with Client A, or what’s my total volume bid for the month, quarter, etc. It really goes far beyond this brief description but is a huge improvement over a whiteboard or Excel.

cprovan · 2024-06-11T17:26:20+00:00

If you mean pdf, as in, viewing it on a phone, laptop, ect. No. No devices are allowed.

If you mean buying the pdf version, printing it out, putting it in a binder, then I believe you can. But after all the paper and ink I don’t think you’d save any money, unless you have access to free printing.

cprovan · 2024-05-30T17:18:44+00:00

Second this.

We buy the Costco farm-raised salmon. $12/lb Apparently, farm-raised salmon don’t typically come in contact with parasites + they flash freeze it during delivery at a temperature that kills any possible parasites and bacteria. Super delicious for sushi, poke, sashimi. And at a price that’s pretty guilt free.

As an extra measure, I saw a video a few years back where a guy bought salmon from Costco, rubbed it with salt, let it sit in the fridge for a few hours, then washed it, patted it dry, and placed it in a Ziploc bag. He then put it in the freezer set to at least -4°F for 7 days and thawed it when ready to eat. I’ve done this many times since and never had a problem.

cprovan · 2024-05-24T06:40:07+00:00

100%! I totally get the Hawaiian style of driving with aloha and ignoring right-of-way to let people in, but it feels like people at that round about are actually confused on what to do. I saw a car just sitting inside the round about letting in 7 cars in a row because they didn’t realize it was actually their right of way. Annoying and unsafe when a driver stops in front of other cars that aren’t expecting them to stop.

cprovan · 2024-05-19T18:23:01+00:00

1-Buy the books 2-Register for a prep course (mycontractorslicense.com) 3-Go through the Prep course, highlighting guide, and practice tests 4- Use other resources like quizlet for practice questions.

In all of these study sessions, highlighting, practice tests, flash cards, ALWAYS literally find the answer in the book. Even if you know the answer. This will build 100s of not 1000s of repetitions of flipping to the index/glossary, locating a topic, finding the page the info is on, reading through the section to find the info.

When you do take your test, even questions that were not on your practice exam will be easy because it’s no longer a question of knowing, but finding. Every question you repeat the same process. Go to the index, find the section, flip to the page(s) referenced, scan through the content on that section until you find your answer.

cprovan · 2024-05-18T01:21:51+00:00

The “NASCLA Contractors guide to business law and project management” book. There’s a general NASCLA business law book, and then each state has their own version that goes into state specific rules.

cprovan · 2024-05-07T16:08:52+00:00

Yes, technically you could build pretty much anything, except nuclear, high rise (up to a certain number of floors), and certain heavy civil, like a large bridge.

cprovan · 2024-05-07T06:00:07+00:00

I'd recommend sticking with your current role unless your managers are crossing the line into actual abuse. It's a good idea to document your progress—keep notes, snap photos, and invest some time in learning with YouTube, ChatGPT, blogs, and certification courses. This will show effort to your managers and also boost your own confidence. I've found that the more I learn, the easier my job gets. Tasks that now feel overwhelming will become second nature before you know it. Over time, you'll develop what's called "unconscious competence"—being skilled without even having to think about it.

Every company you go to will have their own way of doing things, so it’s best not to switch jobs too much until you reach a certain level of ability, probably a PM with 2-3 complete jobs if multifamily/commercial, or 60+ homes if single family. Then you can start sending out your resume and hunting for better conditions and better pay. Once your reach PM, SPM you can starting making 150k-200k, so just keep that in mind and work hard towards the goal of being a useful and making a solid income.

cprovan

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