Set Day Recap

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Thanks to Matt from Live Modern for the photos and the champagne.

Crane setting up 7:00 AM

The 70 ton crane that we reserved was unavailable so they brought a 165 ton crane instead. It was huge. The boom (arm of the crane) was 200 feet long!

Prep Work

The owners of the modular factory drove from Provo to watch the set. They brought some foam (I have no idea what to call it) for the top of the foundation wall.

Here's the set crew putting it on the foundation.

Truck Arrival 8:15AM

The trucks made it to our street from the truckstop without incident. I was worried about some low trees that line the main road to the property but it was okay.

These pictures are mostly taken from the vantage point of the street right in front of the property. The trucks had to turn right on the street and then back up to the property instead of taking a direct left.

The family room module arrives

The entry module arrives next.

Somehow there was a mix-up and this module, which was scheduled to be set last arrived second. Later on there was a problem at the truckstop, where the modules were waiting. The trucks just couldn't get out fast enough because it was really congested when modules number 2 and 3 were finally called.

Site Access

The pepper trees lining our street were too low and there wasn't enough room to maneuver on our frontage street so we had to cut some branches so the modules could pass through, the only trouble was that we didn't have a chainsaw! David quickly drove down the street to the local backhoe operator/handyman's house and he fortunately was home and had a working chainsaw. Whew! The crane was running $500 an hour.

The trees are too close.

Thanks one of the guys from the set crew the trees are quickly pruned. He did this on a very wobbly ladder and it looked a little scary.

Even with the trees trimmed it was still close:

Setting up the modules for the crane

Even after the trees were trimmed the truck driver just couldn't get the truck positioned right for the crane. The wheels of the trailer, that the modules were sitting on didn't have the capability to turn and there still wasn't enough room on the street for the driver to turn the truck to the right position. The improvised solution was to lift the rear of the trailer with the crane to orient the trailer so that the truck driver could then move it into position. Once the crane lifted the rear of the trailer, it took sheer manpower to nudge the trailer and the module.

Some photos:

For me, this was the most frightening aspect of the day. I trusted the strength of the crane and the rigging to hold the house safely but when they moved the end of the trailer, the modules tipped a little to the side. They were strapped tightly to the trailer but it sure looked precarious!

Family room module set 10:15AM

One the module was positioned, the rigging and setting was relatively quick.

Photos:

Shims have been placed under all of the modules. On Monday the set crew will return to remove the shims, lower the house with jacks and bolt everything together. The modules were set this way so the crane company could remove their very costly slings from underneath the modules.

Pantry module set 11:30

As I mentioned earlier, there was some delay in getting the second and third module on site. We waited with nothing to do and the crane running for almost an hour. We were very happy when we saw the pantry module finally arrive.

As before, the rear of the trailer bed was lifted with the crane.

The family room module was definitely the most difficult since it was the largest and because we were sorting out the access problem. The pantry module set went rather fast.

Photos of the set:

Bedroom module set approx12:30PM

This was really cool to watch since the bedroom module was lifted over the family room and pantry module.

The tried and true method of lifting the rear of the module's trailer bed was applied again.

Set photos:

Entry module set 2:00PM

Photos:

Interior shot the wood supports will be removed soon:

Misc.

We went overtime and ended up owing $1800 more to the crane company for a total of $6,800. I never thought it would be that high, but I'm glad that the house is here. We've had so many last minute expenses and we're finally learning to deal with surprises.