Being a fairly optimistic person I’m going to view the following as a positive step. They came back and re-graded today being that they were a little off in the needed depth of the foundation – 34 inches off!!! How in the world does this happen? Whoever is doing the measuring should be fired or find a new job. At least it was caught.
Received a funny call from our GC today, he wanted to know if we could let the plumber into the house, seems as if he can’t get his key to work (Julie at best is 104 lbs and has no problem, while he’s easily double her size). During the conversation he said that he’s only been inside when we were with him – that’s only twice and for whatever reason this seems concerning to me.
Good news, our revised plans were submitted to the city today (a day later than we were told) so hopefully this holdup won’t last too long. Still trying to get use to the residential construction world, it seems as if it’s more of a “it’ll get done when it gets done” mentality, a little different from what Julie and I are used to.
Get this, we were informed today that we’re already $2,000 over budget on cabinetry. We haven’t even picked out our cabinets nor have we added any additional linear feet. GC said that we will have to get creative on the kitchen cabinets; meaning get cheaper cabinets or we have to come out-of-pocket to get the quality of cabinets which were originally budgeted.
How could this happen? Oh, it seems our GC forgot to include the cabinetry in what is to be an office. But those were in the original drawings and we’ve talked about them 100 times and you even stated in an email that you included them? And didn’t we just talk about surprises? A big reason why I wish we had gone over the plans and budget in more detail a week ago instead of being rushed through it. Of course I asked him to double-check everything again to make sure that there are no additional surprises.
I just wonder if this extra expense should be our responsibility? I’m thinking no and Hell No!
Ok, by now you can probably tell that I’m getting a little antsy about how everything has gone up to this point… as well as us getting in on time. Originally we were supposed to be in our house by May, then June and now possibly July… so much for our July 4th party.
One problem, per the agreement with our bank it needs to be completed by mid-July. I’m sure they’ll be amenable to modifying the original agreement (more $$) but still… I mentioned it to our GC and he says that “we’re on schedule” and that we should be in before our deadline.
Trying really hard to have confidence, really really hard
Ok, I’m trying to put the developments from the last few days behind me and focus on the big picture; the revised plans have been resubmitted to the City Planning Department so my hope is that it won’t be another 4 week delay. We need to get this going, our GC hasn’t been very responsive and moving in by June is looking more doubtful – it kills me to see that nothing is happening at the house – it’s just sitting there with nothing be done.
Plans are to be submitted tomorrow, per our GC, so my focus needs to be on the overall objective and trying to keep Julie’s spirits up after all of the recent setbacks and delays.
We sent our revisions of the kitchen layout back to our designer; we nixed the farm sink and moved the sink, refrigerator as well as the range around a little. Julie likes the original plan, as does our designer (she thinks it will look good in pictures) and while I’ll quickly admit that I have no idea or experience in designing a kitchen it’s just that the current plan doesn’t make sense to me or seem practical when considering two young boys in the mix. I probably need to remain quiet on this… I wonder if there are any new kitchen mags or kitchen design sites? (I’m joking… sort of).
I met with our GC today at my office. I’m hopeful that something was accomplished and that we’re on the same page however he didn’t take any notes and said a few times that “we’ll figure it out when we get to it” and that he’ll “give us plenty of time” with regards to advance notice in making decisions/selections. He didn’t stay very long, he said that he had another commitment. He also couldn’t give me any sort of schedule or timeline, however I did give him a copy of the plans which Julie and I had marked up. We shall see but I’m not feeling too good about it, just skeptical and disappointed – really wish that I could have discussed everything in more detail and not felt like I was under a time constraint or that we were such a bother. Confused is probably also an accurate feeling, maybe I’m overreacting and this is how it’s handled with residential construction – but I sort of feel like we’re being held hostage.
As for my concerns with the depth of the grading, he said that it was fine, still doesn’t make sense to me but then again I’ve never built a house before. Guess that I’ll be doing some research on Renovator’s Place and Fine Homebuilding. And thankfully I have a lot of wood to split, great way to take out my frustrations.
Well our GC informed me today that the grading for the carport is correct and it is exactly as shown on the plans. Ok, he’s correct, however it isn’t what we discussed numerous times. I haven’t been educated in reading construction documents however I do know that numerous times we discussed our size requirements with him as well as the architect.
Tip: do not rely on anything verbal, make sure any changes are in writing and reflected on the plans – this “miscommunication” is now considered a change order (additional costs).
Also found out from our GC that the concrete guy is requiring that the foundation wall design be approved by the Permit Department before he will pour the walls. Delay!! Why was this not known or even drawn before now? Plus, I had to remind our GC about stubbing the basement for a future wet bar as well as the possibility of adding an outdoor room on part of the future deck.
Frustrated, Concerned, Scared and somewhat Mad are pretty accurate feelings that I’m currently experiencing. Our GC tells us that we can deal with the various issues and concerns “when we get to them” but that’s doing little to comfort me. We need to meet with him, we’ve yet to sit down with him and go over the plans in detail and have only walked through the property together twice for about 5-10 minutes each time. Email and phone conversations can accomplish a lot however I think it’s time we go through everything in more detail. This isn’t a little job and in my mind we’re spending a considerable amount of money – we’re overdue for a meeting.
UPDATE: I made the call and we’re scheduled to meet with our GC tomorrow, hopefully we’ll all leave on the same page and more importantly that this will reduce any further delays and/or miscommunications.
Tomorrow’s a new day and I’m looking forward to us getting back on track.
We were just informed today that we need to have our appliances selected within the next 30 days so that they can have the proper dimensions to be able to accurately layout the kitchen. That’s a lot to decide in such a short period of time. Julie traditionally goes for the aesthetics however I want something that’s going to last and standup to the rigors of 2 boys – my hope is that we’ll find a happy middle ground. So much to do; just subscribed to Consumer Reports and we’re planning to visit Builder Specialties as well as Ferguson‘s this weekend.
Morningside Renovation 