Construction

Day 30

September 20

The stem wall is starting to rise from the footers.

The stem wall for the house is now complete and we can begin backfilling for the foundation.

Construction

Day 29

September 19

Inspector was here before 9am.  Surprisingly, it was a different inspector than was here before, and he did not review the soil reports (only took a copy with him).  Either way...

we passed!!

After waiting all day, the masons, concrete pumpers and the concrete company final came together and poured the footers.

Finally... some concrete into which we can put our names!

Construction

Day 28

September 18

The footers have been re-dug and the inspection has been scheduled for tomorrow. 

Then, tomorrow afternoon the footers will be poured... of course, barring any more problems with Mr. Inspector.

The bobcat has been picked up.  The rental company was "nice" enough to pick it up 3 hours early and before the last truck of sand was delivered.

Construction

Day 26-27

September 13 & 17

Six more truckloads of sand/clay delivered.  We are using it to start bringing up the rest of the property to grade up to the house level.

September 12

Plenty of delays and excuses from the company doing the soil and compaction tests, but we finally got them on September 9th.  The building inspector refused to meet and go over the soil reports that he insisted on getting.  He just had me read it over the phone to him.  What a waste.  Irregardless, he approved the soil reports so now we can have the masons return and re-dig the footers.  It will be a few days to get back on their schedule as they have moved on to other jobs. 

In the meantime, below is an overhead view showing the site and the recent lack of progress.

Construction

Day 25

August 26

The ramp is completed, the footers filled in (damn), and the drilling rig is here.  After two 15' deep holes are drilled, soil samples are collected and sent to the lab for analysis.  Back to sitting on our ass, waiting for lab results.  Thank you Mr. Building Inspector.

Construction

Day 24

August 21

Brian is enjoying his new toy as he builds the ramp for the drilling rig.  Too bad we can't put the building inspector under the ramp first.  Add three more truckloads of sand to the total.

Day 23

August 19

Three steps forward

and two steps back.

The morning started off  at 7:00 waiting for the building inspector to show up.  He finally arrived in the afternoon.  He did not even look at the footers he was there to inspect.  He only wanted to see a soil report.  I explained there was NO soil report as one had never been requested, never been listed as a requirement in the building code, nor any mention of one during the permitting process.  Turns out after I took a trip to the building department to speak to the Chief Inspector, there is no permitting requirement or code requirement for a soil report, but it was told to me that an inspector has the authority to demand any additional test, additional documentation, additional engineering, additional whatever he wants.  So, the inspector would not even give me that courtesy of looking at the footers while he was there to see if there were any problems that could be corrected before he came out again.  In fact, the inspector made it quite clear that he does not like working with "owner builders" instead of professional licensed contractors.  So, we are off to a great start with an inspector (i.e. government-employed drone with no personality who thrives on the power of his approval or disapproval) that will be inspecting every aspect now through completion (if we go forward).

Well, we had scheduled the masons to pour the concrete in the footers that afternoon.  Instead, we have to get a soil report prepared.  To do that, we hired a geo-tech who has to bring a drilling rig onto the pad and drill 15' down, take samples, send them to the lab, and await the results.  To get the drilling rig onto the pad, we have to fill in the footers that have already been dug (and, of course, pay to have them re-dug [$$]).  In the meantime, the rain we had been scheduling around returned and since the concrete couldn't be poured since the inspection wasn't done, the footers have caved in and all of them have to be re-dug ($$$).  We are estimating a delay of two weeks and an unnecessary expense of over $2000 ($800 for the soil test, $300 for the fill to build a ramp for the rig to get on the pad, $500 to rent the bobcat to construct the ramp, $500+ for the crew to re-dig the damaged footers).

What had been real progress in getting the house going has turned into more expense, greater delay and a serious kick in our enthusiasm for the whole process.

Oh, and the rain we had been working so hard to stay ahead of... it came with almost 2" in just the first half hour.  Had the inspector worked with us instead of against us, we would have been done in time.

Construction

Day 22

August 18

The footers for the house are dug.  They begin digging the garage tomorrow, and the building inspector will be here for the first time tomorrow.

August 16

You've got to admire the work ethic.  We waited all day for the masons that were scheduled to dig the footers.  Mid-morning they said they were delayed on a previous job because of the recent rains.  By late afternoon, they said they would just come Saturday.  No sense in posting another picture because the picture below is still very accurate.  The building inspector is coming Monday, anyway.

Construction

Day 21

August 15

The block, mason mix,

rebar have been delivered and the masons arrive tomorrow to start the footers.

The dumpster has been emptied and we are ready to start filling it, again.

August 13