Ronnie left just before 2pm. He said he would be unavailable next week because he was going to work in Houston, but would be returning the following weekend.
I asked him for estimate to do separate concrete ramp we talked about last week. He said he would get to that and cost of framing.
Current agreed slab costs, less engineering: $5210
Engineering cost already paid separately (includes soil sample & testing & insp) $570.81
That's one expensive 12.5x15 slab!!! Over $30/sqft. Of course it was engineered to support 15 tons of brick and mortar, not the usual stuff. And I wanted that kind of over-engineering anyway, just because of expansive clay soil.
I notice I agreed to pay $330 for the wire mesh and installation that he tried to switch with rusty old mesh today. The brand new mesh cost was $80. It took a few minutes to install.
High estimates (original 10x12 estimate was $3280) and even higher upgrades! I had previous 10x12 estimated at $1500. Note that some of final cost includes $700 or so for changed position to avoid easement encroachment...that part was well worth the money.
And despite over-engineered metal rebar and mesh, it has several already known defects. Foremost that the slab should have been at least 1 inch higher so as to be at least 6.5" above grade at the minimum height, Standard recomendation even is to use 2x12 forms. Ronnie just put 2x6 at the original ground level for 5.5" above grade, then added additonal 2x6 to handle slope from front to back. To aid with curing in hot weather Ronnie could have used sealant, or built canopy, which he didn't do. (I'm planning to give it a light watering every hour this afternoon, just finished one at 2:35.) The slab is only roughly 5-5.5 inches thick beyond the deep beams, could have been 6 inches or more. No base material or select fill (sandy loam) was used around the slab, instead just lightly compacted clay soil from the digging (which has been crumbling since inspection).
So top dollar price without all the top features that a perfectionist builder would actually do. But I wasn't going to get top features at the $1500 price either (or about $2500 after upsizing and post-dating), in fact I'd barely get wire mesh and no rebar and mixed-on-site concrete. So basically what I'm getting seems to be poor value, medium or slightly-sub-medium quality (by house standards), and way over-engineering for current task. That's better than poor quality at poor value. But I think I'd rather have high quality builder at good value. Same price, but better quality.
Actual deposits I've paid (not counting engineering) total $6200. Ronnie might well dispute that he still owes me about $1000 in deposits toward future material and labor. (And he ought to clean up site for slab cost, right now, it's a mess with one big pile of excess concrete.) This might be a good time to find new builder.
Anyway, it's been a huge day. Yesterday I had a hole, today I have a foundation.
Lyndhurst Garden House
Lyndhurst Garden House
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Finishing resumes
At 12:47 Ronnie and crew (one adult and one kid) were back to finishing slab. Temperature is 92 and sunny.
About 12:20 Ronnie had called and said he was missing a wheelbarrow. I said I hadn't seen a wheelbarrow when I was working on yard over the weekend. He asked if I knew neighbor on left side facing the house. I said it couldn't possibly be that neighbor.
About 12:20 Ronnie had called and said he was missing a wheelbarrow. I said I hadn't seen a wheelbarrow when I was working on yard over the weekend. He asked if I knew neighbor on left side facing the house. I said it couldn't possibly be that neighbor.
July 13: Can't help but chisel
Seeing what was going on, I immediately gave him a cell call. He said he had the rusty wire mesh was fine, that's exactly what you get from Home Depot. I asked why he wasn't installing the cleaner wire mesh he had dropped off the day before. He said he had sold that to his brother so he could pay for the concrete upgrade that I had requested from 3000 psi to 4000 psi. I told him I had promised to pay for the 4000 psi upgrade immediately after the concrete was delivered, and that I had paid for new wire mesh on June 22. He insisted the rusty wire mesh was fine. So I asked what it would cost to use the cleaner wire mesh. He said $100, and I agreed to pay that immediately.
I did see through the window that the clean wire mesh had been installed (but didn't take picture).
Later he called and asked if I had the cash for the upgrade to 4000 psi. I said I had only $15 in cash, but could write a check. He wasn't sure the concrete operator would take that. I called back and said if he needed cash I could go to HEB and cash a check. He said he didn't want me to make an unnecessary trip to the store, he would call me back if he needed the $100 in cash. He estimated the cost for the upgrade from 3000 psi to 4000 psi at $80, figuring 8 yards of concrete.
Around 11:25 Ronnie knocked on front door. He said they would be back to finish working concrete, right now it was actually too wet and there were going to take a break. I asked about shade he had promised to put up before, to keep the slab shaded. He said that wasn't necessary, but he could get plastic and put on top. He said that would be OK to put plastic on top to help retain moisture, though I would have to remove plastic daily to put more water on top. But he added it would leave dark stains, water marks, on the concrete, even if clear plastic was used. He reiterated it would be fine with no plastic. I asked if I could water several times a day and he said I could water as much as I wanted, it would not collapse now.
He then said upgrade to 4000 PSI cost $10 per cubic yard and there were more than 8 cubic yards. So he wanted a check for $100. He said not to worry about "the metal" (wire mesh). He gave me a copy of the cement .receipt and continued washing down equipment.
10 minutes later he knocked on door again. I showed him that receipt clearly said there were 7.5 cubic yards, it said that in several places on the receipt, and the "1" was for the gas surcharge. He said with tax it would be $100. So I gave him a check for $100. He said again not to worry about "the metal".
Looking online, it appears that a typical cost for upgrade from 3000psi to 4000psi is more like $3, not $10.
That is 2010 in Cincinnati, and those prices are all higher than what I paid, even the 3000psi is more than what I paid. I paid $76 per cubic yard (specified as 4000psi on receipt) whereas the Cincinnati prices were $85 for 3000 PSI and $88 for 4000 psi.
Here are some comments from 2003 where they say 4000psi costs only $1 more per cubic yard. Also interesting because there is a discussion of slump. My receipt shows 5 slump. (They must mean 5" slump.)
Total cost for the concrete as shown on the receipt was much less than I was thinking, only $582 for 7.5 cuyd, or $628.31 including tax. I had been thinking it was more like $1500. So why did Ronnie need an extra $1000 advance a few weeks ago so he could pour "soon"?
July 13: Excellent time to pour concrete
Bear ReadyMix concrete truck arrrived around 9am, and by 9:20 pour is well underway. Temperature at 9:20 is 81 degrees. Only a few scattered clounds now, however.
Ronnie is shuttling concrete from truck using Miller B-16 Concrete Bomber he rented beforehand. Two workers are raking the concrete. Well mainly one worker, the other is a kid who is mainly sitting down. Ronnie got off the bomber for a couple of minutes to fix some concrete that had oozed out of forms.
At 10:20, concrete surface is being leveled using a 2x4. The temperature is 84.5. Sky is partly cloudy casting no shadows.
By 10:30, concrete is being pushed down by worker. Clouds have burned off and temperature is 85.
By 10:50, concrete truck is gone. Not exactly sure when it left. Concrete is still being finished. Temperature is 86.
July 12: Threats and Deals
I took a good look at Angie's list website. It turns out they do have a complaint resolution process. They require you to file a "C" or worse report, then they send questions. In order to qualify for the complaint resolution process, you must have tried to work the matter out with contractor. Not yet actually having made ultimatum wrt delivery of concrete, I wouldn't qualify.
I sent message wrt my negative experiences around 10:30.
Maybe it was just coincidence, but then around 1pm Ronnie showed up for 5 minutes. He dropped new clean wire mesh on my patio, and then took off. I opened the door just as he was leaving. He called me back a few minutes later. He said he couldn't get concrete workers today, but would get them tomorrow. He said he didn't want to call because he didn't want to wake me up. I said in future he should call immediately if he couldn't show up. (I remember telling him something like that before.) I said that if he didn't show up or call tomorrow (July 13) I would start filing reports. He said not to worry, we will take care of you.
*****
Around 2pm I called Progressive Solutions, the San Antonio dealer for Fleetwood Windows who had emailed and called about my order. I told them I would be down at 3pm to put deposit on window. I was told I needed 50% deposit.
Around 3:30 I found the Progressive Solutions building. They were not part of larger building across the street as I had expected. They have their own building. The front door was locked, but the side door opened automatically. I asked for my salesperson.
I asked about the shipping charge and was shocked to hear it was going to be $300. I asked about time to delivery and they said 6 weeks. At that point, I was beginning to think I should call this deal off, but the salesman wanted to show me some Fleetwood products. He showed a 12 foot high pocket door which glides like magic. I saw a cutout of an impressive window frame and asked about whether the thermal break material could fail. He said that had never happened. I asked if it was polyethylene and he didn't know. There were no actual window samples. I asked about the lubrication of the mechanism, whether it had a lubrication hole. He went to his computer and printed out the Fleetwood care manual. It does not mention lubrication hole, it appears you may need to squirt lithium grease into an exposed mechanism. When I asked if mechanism could be replaced he said it could.
I told salesman the window was really important to this project because there would be no air conditioning, and that's why I wanted a casement window. I told him I wanted a very strong window because I didn't want it to break off in the wind. I mentioned that I had been originally planning to build shed with brick, but had to give that idea up. I didn't mention that I also wanted to keep luxury window for that reason, so shed still has some kind of luxury feature.
Back at the front desk, I said that I thought $300 was an excessive shipping charge (for a small window). He asked what I was thinking of, and I said $100. I also said that 6 weeks was too long, I was hoping for something more like 4 weeks. He went away for a couple minutes, and said he could reduce shipping charge to $150 by combining my order with another to save crating cost. He said that they would lean on Fleetwood to keep delivery time as close to 4 weeks as possible, being that they had told me 4 weeks originally, and that they did a lot of business with Fleetwood. He said they couldn't guarantee that because Fleetwood QC was very fussy and often rejected glass or other material at the last minute. I agreed to those terms and paid $600 deposit.
I sent message wrt my negative experiences around 10:30.
Maybe it was just coincidence, but then around 1pm Ronnie showed up for 5 minutes. He dropped new clean wire mesh on my patio, and then took off. I opened the door just as he was leaving. He called me back a few minutes later. He said he couldn't get concrete workers today, but would get them tomorrow. He said he didn't want to call because he didn't want to wake me up. I said in future he should call immediately if he couldn't show up. (I remember telling him something like that before.) I said that if he didn't show up or call tomorrow (July 13) I would start filing reports. He said not to worry, we will take care of you.
*****
Around 2pm I called Progressive Solutions, the San Antonio dealer for Fleetwood Windows who had emailed and called about my order. I told them I would be down at 3pm to put deposit on window. I was told I needed 50% deposit.
Around 3:30 I found the Progressive Solutions building. They were not part of larger building across the street as I had expected. They have their own building. The front door was locked, but the side door opened automatically. I asked for my salesperson.
I asked about the shipping charge and was shocked to hear it was going to be $300. I asked about time to delivery and they said 6 weeks. At that point, I was beginning to think I should call this deal off, but the salesman wanted to show me some Fleetwood products. He showed a 12 foot high pocket door which glides like magic. I saw a cutout of an impressive window frame and asked about whether the thermal break material could fail. He said that had never happened. I asked if it was polyethylene and he didn't know. There were no actual window samples. I asked about the lubrication of the mechanism, whether it had a lubrication hole. He went to his computer and printed out the Fleetwood care manual. It does not mention lubrication hole, it appears you may need to squirt lithium grease into an exposed mechanism. When I asked if mechanism could be replaced he said it could.
I told salesman the window was really important to this project because there would be no air conditioning, and that's why I wanted a casement window. I told him I wanted a very strong window because I didn't want it to break off in the wind. I mentioned that I had been originally planning to build shed with brick, but had to give that idea up. I didn't mention that I also wanted to keep luxury window for that reason, so shed still has some kind of luxury feature.
Back at the front desk, I said that I thought $300 was an excessive shipping charge (for a small window). He asked what I was thinking of, and I said $100. I also said that 6 weeks was too long, I was hoping for something more like 4 weeks. He went away for a couple minutes, and said he could reduce shipping charge to $150 by combining my order with another to save crating cost. He said that they would lean on Fleetwood to keep delivery time as close to 4 weeks as possible, being that they had told me 4 weeks originally, and that they did a lot of business with Fleetwood. He said they couldn't guarantee that because Fleetwood QC was very fussy and often rejected glass or other material at the last minute. I agreed to those terms and paid $600 deposit.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Good dream, nightmare reality
3 hours have passed since the 3rd promised delivery date for concrete. I have sent email to Angie's List asking for advice on what sort of ultimatum to give. I do not like to give ultimatums. Angies List says they respond within 2 days. I will be calling attorney friend this afternoon.
Somehow, I woke around 6:45am, waited a bit for Ronnie to call with another postponement, then slowly dozed back to sleep. Around 7:05 I heard some noises like a concrete truck. As I dozed further, I was sure I heard gate slam, then Ronnie having a talk with some workers in back yard, and concrete being wheeled into back yard. There was no doubt in my mind that all these things were happening. After quite awhile, I got up and looked out the window. The slab was poured nearly to the top, but there was still no wire mesh. A worker was sitting on the forms waiting for something. The concrete truck had taken off for awhile, I imagined it was running around the block to stir up the concrete some more.
Around 8:30 I actually woke up again. There was clearly a truck going around the street, but it was clearly the "bulky items collection" of the solid waste department, making occasional bangs that could be mistaken for my metal gate slamming. This time I opened up the window. Nothing but the hole and rebar, exactly as it looked last week.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Sandy Loam conditioning
Right now the soil that was dug up from the bottom of the beam trenches where the slab will be poured this morning and packed around the forms is sinking. Or worse than that, actually, parts of the sides have collapsed leaving a number of 6" gaps beneath the forms and some dirt above the compacted fill (but still below the supported rebar). The soil was compacted, but that does little good when it is very hot and the clay soil has high plasticity index. Ronnie has said it will not be a problem. But I think it would have been better not to do that at least. I'd feel much more worried about it if I were still planning to do brick, which has immense weight, and would need all the strength the engineer intended.
I just took another look with flashlight, and it still looks exactly like some photos I took last week. The dirt clumps are still appear at least 1.5 inches from rebar, and mostly just fractions of an inch above the base. The poured concrete will probably flatten the larger clumps. Over time, the base in the beams will probably get saturated with dirt anyway, so a little on top probably makes little difference.
I have similar problem with the ground all around my house. In spite of weekly watering sufficient to keep grass around the house growing pretty well, the soil sinks and cracks in the soil open up between the soil and the foundation beams around the perimeter of my house. I think I lay down as much or more water than anyone who uses soaker hoses. An underground watering system would probably be best.
I've obsessed about those cracks, and determined that it would be better not to have cracks. When there is an open crack going down 30 inches or more, that provides even more surface area for water to evaporate. The drying process then accelerates in a vicious circle, with far more cracking going on than you can see. You can see the effect of this hyper drying in dead grass, that gets as much water as other grass, but dies anyway because of the drying effect of runaway subsurface cracking.
My previous solution (and I don't recommend this anymore) was to pour sand in the cracks until they filled up. The sand is easy to pour and extremely stable with respect to drying. However sand may not be the best material to support a foundation.
Now I've found the perfect fill. It's sandy loam. Sandy loam is also called "select fill" because it has ideal properties for an earthen fill material. It remains stable in wet and dry states, It should not be used for base (limestone gravel mixed with sand is better for that) but fill along the sides of houses.
After I put a mere 100 lbs of sandy loam in the worst looking crack at the lowest point of my house on Saturday, then did a thorough soaking, it already seems that I'm hearing less snap crackle pop settling noises from my house.
Actually it isn't labeled sandy loam any more, it's now called "Lawn Conditioner" at Keller Materials. Maybe it's not exactly the same, but they say it's the closest thing they have. For lawns here, you would rake it around and fill in all the lawn cracks. Reduces subsurface drying.
I might try another dealer New Earth and see if they have actual sandy loam.
I just took another look with flashlight, and it still looks exactly like some photos I took last week. The dirt clumps are still appear at least 1.5 inches from rebar, and mostly just fractions of an inch above the base. The poured concrete will probably flatten the larger clumps. Over time, the base in the beams will probably get saturated with dirt anyway, so a little on top probably makes little difference.
I have similar problem with the ground all around my house. In spite of weekly watering sufficient to keep grass around the house growing pretty well, the soil sinks and cracks in the soil open up between the soil and the foundation beams around the perimeter of my house. I think I lay down as much or more water than anyone who uses soaker hoses. An underground watering system would probably be best.
I've obsessed about those cracks, and determined that it would be better not to have cracks. When there is an open crack going down 30 inches or more, that provides even more surface area for water to evaporate. The drying process then accelerates in a vicious circle, with far more cracking going on than you can see. You can see the effect of this hyper drying in dead grass, that gets as much water as other grass, but dies anyway because of the drying effect of runaway subsurface cracking.
My previous solution (and I don't recommend this anymore) was to pour sand in the cracks until they filled up. The sand is easy to pour and extremely stable with respect to drying. However sand may not be the best material to support a foundation.
Now I've found the perfect fill. It's sandy loam. Sandy loam is also called "select fill" because it has ideal properties for an earthen fill material. It remains stable in wet and dry states, It should not be used for base (limestone gravel mixed with sand is better for that) but fill along the sides of houses.
After I put a mere 100 lbs of sandy loam in the worst looking crack at the lowest point of my house on Saturday, then did a thorough soaking, it already seems that I'm hearing less snap crackle pop settling noises from my house.
Actually it isn't labeled sandy loam any more, it's now called "Lawn Conditioner" at Keller Materials. Maybe it's not exactly the same, but they say it's the closest thing they have. For lawns here, you would rake it around and fill in all the lawn cracks. Reduces subsurface drying.
I might try another dealer New Earth and see if they have actual sandy loam.
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