I received a rather rude email from our GC today, his response to me asking that the carport slab be pulled up and poured correctly and re-poured as according to the plan. Basically his feeling is that I’m being unreasonable for asking this and we should be satisfied with it. The slab was poured incorrectly and can definitely present a water issue with the house, it’s not our fault that he did it wrong.
I also asked about the repeated delays, his crew has yet to work more than 3 days in a row, of course he wouldn’t address that question. The carrying cost is costing us a lot of money, we were originally supposed to be in the house in May however now we are at least 4 1/2 months away if they hustled. He also chose not to respond to my request for a meeting to discuss how we can prevent further problems and delays – a lot of the issues that have arisen had already been discussed numerous times and should not have occurred. Really makes me wonder if there is a lack of communication between our GC and his subs or if it is just simple incompetence?
Today I sent an email to our GC letting him know that we want to stick with the construction plans as drawn. Further, that I wasn’t comfortable with the way the carport slab was poured, being that it slopes to the house and that there isn’t an elevation change between it and the basement slab, both noted on the construction plans. I’m also wondering if the supports he put up for the existing structure are permanent or temporary – I hope temporary.
All of this is starting to make me curious if there are other issues with the work that he has already done and we just aren’t knowledgable enough to know about it? I would love to know all that Mike Holmes would discover – although I think even he would be overwhelmed.
I received an email today from our GC basically saying that he agreed that the current pour of the carport wasn’t correct and that they will figure something out. Possibly add a curb to it – I’ll need to find out more about it but hopefully this will achieve what was in the plans.
So I went by the house today after work and besides the fact that the retaining wall for the carport is in the wrong spot, I also noticed that the carport foundation is even(flush) with the basement foundation, plans call for it to be 1″ – 2″ lower with a gradual decline to aid with channeling water away from the house. If that wasn’t bad enough, the carport foundation slopes toward the basement, basically channeling any water towards the house. How does this happen and why am I the one catching it?
Our GC informed us today that tomorrow they will remove the carportretaining wall which was poured in the wrong location and then they will start excavating the area closer to the house as well as install pier pads and posts to support the existing structure. Hopefully this will help us achieve a footprint a little closer to what was shown on the plan. Not sure why this wasn’t done originally but I’m just happy that they’re finally doing it.
Our GC informed us today that because of the issues surrounding the pour they are going to dig closer to the existing house to try to gain more square footage and hopefully achieve what was written in our plans. He said that his engineer is working on the plans now so hopefully we’ll be able to come closer to achieving what we wanted.
First, it is hard to believe that we’re spending so much money with someone to construct our home and this is the first official meeting that we’ve had. We’ve tried but he has repeatedly told us that it wasn’t necessary yet and has basically made it feel as if we were being unreasonable and somewhat crazy for wanting to do so. Anyway, our first meeting and it is to discuss all of the issues created with the slab as well as the framing. Where do I start?
I let him know that I was pissed(politely), and that I couldn’t understand how any of this could happen. As for the footprint of the slab not being correct, he said that it had to do with the elevation in the plans (he ignored my comment about field verifying) and that they couldn’t dig closer to the house. Not sure why? They did the first time they excavated. Then he admitted that this was the first time that he had ever connected an existing structure with new construction. What? Why didn’t he tell us this when we first met with him and asked him if he had ever worked on similar jobs before and his response was that he was quite experienced and comfortable with it. Also, if he didn’t know what in the hell he was doing why didn’t he at least enlist someone’s help that does have the needed experience? What have we gotten into?
As for the carport wall and slab being incorrect, he said that he “honestly doesn’t know why it was done this way” but he did agree to remove the carport retention wall which now we might move further back to give us more carport area. We asked him about the ceiling height and he said that he had checked it and it was correct – good at least it was dug deep enough.
In regards to the plumbing he couldn’t explain how it ended up in the bedroom but he offered to have it moved into the correct location if we paid for it.Seriously? You or your subs screwed it up and you want us to pay for it? He then said that we could leave it where it is and just make the bedroom in the basement smaller by 2-3 feet – it’s already a pretty small bedroom – what is he thinking and the guts for him to even suggest that we pay and or make a heavy sacrifice for his mistake. This ultimately would affect the value of our home as well if we ever decided to sell it.
We said that we would get back with him shortly, I literally thought that I was going to go crazy because I was so mad. The carport retaining wall will be removed so we’ll decide on the rest and get back with him but my feeling is that I want the whole thing either ripped up or him off the job and he can refund us what we have paid that he hasn’t done correctly.
Last, I asked again for Lien Waivers and of course he said that he would get them to us. I’m not holding my breath.
We have a problem, after being framed I knew that it would look a little smaller but I decided to measure the room sizes anyway. Somehow we lost 2′ 6″ from the depth/length of our basement/flex room. Our downstairs bedroom is smaller and the stub for the plumbing is in the bedroom, not the bathroom. Just one huge mess. I sent our GC an email letting him know that it wasn’t acceptable and that we would like to meet with him ASAP. Also noticed that the carport is smaller than what was noted on the plans. GC wrote back that “we lost some space from the plans”. No Shit!! A lot of space and we’re having to bring it to your attention, I would think that you would have brought this up to us as soon as you discovered there might be an issue. Were you not going to tell us? Amazing!!! His reasoning is that the elevations in the plans are wrong. Ok, doesn’t make sense to me but I’m willing to listen, plus doesn’t it say on the plans to field verify all measurements and to notify the architect if the existing field conditions are different from what’s on the plan? We’re meeting him on Saturday and I am beyond pissed. This portion of the construction is new and we’re not constrained on any side for our footprint – we shouldn’t be that far off, a few inches I understand but 30″, no way!!
Update, just spoke with our architect, he said that our GC never called him with any questions or concerns. He said that is quite normal for our GC and that he keeps telling him that if something doesn’t make sense to call.
Morningside Renovation 