June 24, 2005 Transport Obstacle and Foundation Delays

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Foundation Contractor

I am absolutely FED UP with the foundation contractor's laziness and I have been struggling to hold my temper. He didn't show up all last week and I am unsure that the foundation will be done in time. David left several messages which the contractor didn't return. I finally got permission to call the contractor and left a very stern message which he returned within minutes. He promised David that the stem wall would be poured on Wednesday, so much for that.

This week he sent two totally incompetent workers to do the form work. They worked for about 4 hours a day and without any supervision. They incorrectly measured for the stem walls. Since the contractor didn't show up to check their work, David checked it and showed them how to do it properly with wire string (it doesn't stretch like nylon), a large carpenter's square, a plumb bob and the Pythagorean theorem. I can't believe that these guys, who are technically professional foundation contractors, had to be shown how to do it by someone who has never done it before. I am furious that my husband has to wake up in the at the crack of dawn to do a job that we're paying someone else to do. It is really a hardship since David works full-time and often drives into L.A. for rehearsals after work, only to return at midnight.

I think it would have been easier if we contracted the foundation ourselves. It will get done one way or the other. He has until July 6th to complete the job or he will be in breach of contract. We've scheduled the septic installation on the 7th of July and we have a really tight schedule to get everything ready for the set day. I feel bad that I am pessimistic and angry about the foundation work so far. We didn't allow ourselves much leeway for error in our time schedule so we've stuck with the contractor instead of firing him and I think it's more stressful this way.

Here's a photo of the form work so far:

Oak Tree Obstacle

I noticed that there is a California Oak whose limb grows over the main access road to the property about a quarter mile from our site. California Oaks are a protected species and beside the fact that the tree is on someone's personal property, it would be very difficult to get a permit to prune the tree. The limb is very inflexible and I would guess over a hundred years old by itself, so I don't think we could move it out of the way. We need 15' clearance in height and the limb is 12' over the road. Pruning the Oak would not be my first choice since I think it would be costly, difficult and possibly unethical.

Fortunately, there is a side street and we are investigating the possibility of using this road. The problem is that the road is narrow, continually littered with cars and there may not be a large enough space to turn the trucks at the intersections. The Road Department has promised to help by issuing a permit to clear the road and supplying us with "No Parking, Tow Away" signs. We'll have to spend more time investigating this option.

Kitchen Window Redo

The kitchen window redesign needed to be changed again. The design I sent to the factory required 4 mullions and the window installer indicated that three mullions was the maximum without comprimising the structural integrity of the window group.

This is what we ended up with: