what in the hell this construction business is about
okay, so about 18 months ago, dave and i, under much duress from parental units, decided to add a jr master suite and elevator to the house. at the time, i was pregnant with quinn, his mom and my mom were visiting a lot and staying for weeks at a stretch, and everyone was complaining about the stairs. dave and i know that caring for our parents in the long term will be our responsibility, seeing as how his sister and my brother aren't likely to, and we thought, HEY, it's a recession and there are plenty of builders out of work. we could probably get this done now, and if our parents end up living with us permanently, it's already sorted! so we got some drawings done by an architect neighbor, hired a general contractor, and started construction in march of 2009. the basic idea is that we are adding a bedroom and bath in a part of the house that was just attic space, and we built an elevator shaft outside of what was the house. this is, duh, kind of a big deal, seeing as how it means the roof needed to be raised, extra load bearing whatever needed to be put in to support what had previously only been attic space, and we cut into the exterior of the house to build and connect this new elevator. we also are adding a new entrance/side porch with a ramp so that if a parent becomes wheelchair bound, there will be wheelchair access. and then guests don't always have to go through the garage or up the front porch, both of which have stairs.
but yeah, that's right. march of 2009, about 6 weeks before quinn was born. no, it's not done.
i'll spare you all the mishaps, because really, there are just too many to list, but here are the high notes:
* about 3 weeks into construction, when the major external framing was complete, the framing crew took the roof off in prep for the roofers to tar and whateverthefuck the new roof. those roofers never actually showed up because the general contractor never actually hired them, and a major tornado/thunderstorm blew into our house for 3 days, raining sideways into our house and ruining the ceiling in our kitchen and sunroom.
* the original contractor was a huge crook who not only never completed a bunch of the work for which he was paid, but the work that WAS done (by whatever low-rent subcontractors he hired) wasn't to code, and we've paid even more to have a lot ripped out and redone. also, some of the work that was done sat unprimed, unpainted, and/or unsheetrocked, so exposed wood/siding/insulation had to be replaced. in addition, he didn't pay at least 2 of the subcontractors he hired, so we've had liens put on the house for services received that went unpaid. i would also love to point out that this guy was recommended by some neighbors, he had done work on their previous house AND her mother's house, AND YOU'LL LOVE THIS PART, was their pastor who married them 5 years ago. fyi, they are no longer part of that church because of this.
* we've been living in the midst of shoddy, quarter-completed construction for going on 17 months. you can imagine i'm super stoked about this.
so, we're now contracting the building ourselves, which i suppose we should have done in the first place, but our thought at the time was, HEY, we're not architects/engineers/professional builders! how will we know if the people we hire are doing it right? lets hire a general contractor who is a subject matter expert to police the work and handle all the bids and inspections! har dee har.
anyway, that's what's happening. the business this past week was, turns out, we have "soft soil" on the side of the house where the new porch is going, and the inspector made them dig down 13 feet for the foundation of the porch. and THEN we still had to hire an engineer to sign off on it. so they brought in a gigantic tractor and spent 3 days digging the shit out of the yard, then filling the hole with cinder blocks. you know, IN BETWEEN THE TORRENTIAL DOWNPOURS. it's been awesome.
woo, seriously, you guys? if this thing ever gets done, i'll kiss every one of you full on the mouth. this "project" has decimated our house and our bank account, not to mention my patience and my trust in people.
disclaimer: yes, despite all my bitching, i fully understand and accept that my position in the world is extremely, profoundly lucky in that i not only own a home but also have the financial ability to be adding to it simply to make my parents and in laws comfortable. this is, in fact, why i've not really mentioned it up to now, and only now because several people have asked WTF is going on at your house?
but yeah, that's right. march of 2009, about 6 weeks before quinn was born. no, it's not done.
i'll spare you all the mishaps, because really, there are just too many to list, but here are the high notes:
* about 3 weeks into construction, when the major external framing was complete, the framing crew took the roof off in prep for the roofers to tar and whateverthefuck the new roof. those roofers never actually showed up because the general contractor never actually hired them, and a major tornado/thunderstorm blew into our house for 3 days, raining sideways into our house and ruining the ceiling in our kitchen and sunroom.
* the original contractor was a huge crook who not only never completed a bunch of the work for which he was paid, but the work that WAS done (by whatever low-rent subcontractors he hired) wasn't to code, and we've paid even more to have a lot ripped out and redone. also, some of the work that was done sat unprimed, unpainted, and/or unsheetrocked, so exposed wood/siding/insulation had to be replaced. in addition, he didn't pay at least 2 of the subcontractors he hired, so we've had liens put on the house for services received that went unpaid. i would also love to point out that this guy was recommended by some neighbors, he had done work on their previous house AND her mother's house, AND YOU'LL LOVE THIS PART, was their pastor who married them 5 years ago. fyi, they are no longer part of that church because of this.
* we've been living in the midst of shoddy, quarter-completed construction for going on 17 months. you can imagine i'm super stoked about this.
so, we're now contracting the building ourselves, which i suppose we should have done in the first place, but our thought at the time was, HEY, we're not architects/engineers/professional builders! how will we know if the people we hire are doing it right? lets hire a general contractor who is a subject matter expert to police the work and handle all the bids and inspections! har dee har.
anyway, that's what's happening. the business this past week was, turns out, we have "soft soil" on the side of the house where the new porch is going, and the inspector made them dig down 13 feet for the foundation of the porch. and THEN we still had to hire an engineer to sign off on it. so they brought in a gigantic tractor and spent 3 days digging the shit out of the yard, then filling the hole with cinder blocks. you know, IN BETWEEN THE TORRENTIAL DOWNPOURS. it's been awesome.
woo, seriously, you guys? if this thing ever gets done, i'll kiss every one of you full on the mouth. this "project" has decimated our house and our bank account, not to mention my patience and my trust in people.
disclaimer: yes, despite all my bitching, i fully understand and accept that my position in the world is extremely, profoundly lucky in that i not only own a home but also have the financial ability to be adding to it simply to make my parents and in laws comfortable. this is, in fact, why i've not really mentioned it up to now, and only now because several people have asked WTF is going on at your house?