The 10 or 12 Mexican workers who work for the company that was to put up the forms (to hold the concrete to be poured to form the basement walls) showed up at 7:45 am. They ate, rested, slept, talked and relaxed in the shade under the trees until at least 10:30. I finally found out (1 of them spoke a little English) that they couldn't work because their boss had not delivered the plastic forms that they use in the process! Finally, at 10:30 they began to work with the wire to hold together the iron rebar that the concrete is poured around. They could have started on that at 7:45! More on them later.
The man who sold us the logs (Roy Trucks) came at 8:00. He then about 5 minutes later left to see if he could drive around to see why the log trucks had not been there already.
The long truck with the lull on it came at about 8:10.
The builder came at about 8:15.
Tthe log trucks came at about 8:20 or so I think and the guy from CraneWorks/LoaderWorks began to unload various bundles of logs/beams/OSB, etc.
We paid what remained on the log package and the $2,400.00 delivery charge for a total today of $57,194.67. Largest one day total so far, but just by a nose.
I think it was shortly after 11:00 that Rose and Merrill came up for the event.
During the unloading process it rained hard and thundered a few times and work had to stop till it stopped.
Since work had to stop during the rain we went down the mountain to eat lunch with Rose and Merrill during the rain 'recess' and brought them back up to the land again after lunch. We ate at "The Smoking Grill" where they serve BBQ.
While driving through Springville we came upon a weather related scene at the town's main intersection (a 4-way stop). The power pole there had been hit by lightning and it broke it in two. The bottom and top half were completely severed and wires were hanging everywhere. The fire department and police department were there to route traffic through the gas station to get around the area. We ate and went back up the mountain.
Back to the Mexicans ... They left while we were away eating. They never returned today.
The guy on the lull loader (telescopic boom fork lift that has tires that can turn (front and back) that can all turn the same way or the front turn one way and the back turn another way) proceeded to pick up bundles of stuff up off the ground up near the highway and take them down the hill and up to the site where the builder wanted them to be stored. Scott had them stored so that the ones they'd need first would be on top and closest to the house.
Rose and Merrill left shortly after 2:30 since they had to be home by 4:00 to take cats to the vet.
We had been sitting in our Jeep talking with the builder, Scott, about various stuff. When Rose got out of the back seat of our Jeep and they went to get into their Jeep to go home I noticed that her window was down about 4 inches. I pressed the button to raise it and it didn't move! I knew what that meant since that is now the 4th window in the Jeep that has had the same problem over the last 3 or so years. It requires replacement of regulator motor assembly (the thing that moves the window up and down). The other 3 times it was mostly covered by our extended warranty. That is no longer the case. I called the Jeep place in B'ham within 2 minutes and told the builder that if they could fix before they closed then I was outta there! When this happens the window can be manually pulled up if you put one hand inside it and one hand outside, press them together and push up, but it will not stay up. It just slides down again. I could not go home and put the car in the garage like in Sebring (since we're living in an apartment till the house gets built), so it was critical that I get it fixed asap. The last time this happened we were just leaving Sebring, FL to drive back to Birmingham and had to delay our departure till the next day since it was later that day before we could get the Jeep fixed. We drove to the Jeep place in 45 minutes. They had the part and fixed it in about an hour and a half. For just over $417.00. Our 2nd highest check of the day.
We called our builder's wife while on the way to the Jeep place and found that although we lost a day getting the forms put up, they were supposed to come tomorrow (Saturday) and work on them and again on Monday morning to finish up the forms. They the concrete people are supposed to be there Monday afternoon to pour the basement walls. They normally don't work on Mondays, but they agreed when our builder's wife, Kathy, begged.
We got home and may never go back to the land again. (kidding)
Actually, although the Mexicans were the "face" of the delay, they were NOT the MAJOR cause of the delay since they would have been working had their boss provided the materials they needed for the major part of their job. I hope it's there today. I don't know if they are legal or not. It would be hard to know without asking for papers, but I know that only one of them yesterday could speak any English and it was also very difficult communicating with him.
During the unloading process it rained hard and thundered a few times and work had to stop till it stopped.
Since work had to stop during the rain we went down the mountain to eat lunch with Rose and Merrill during the rain 'recess' and brought them back up to the land again after lunch. We ate at "The Smoking Grill" where they serve BBQ.
While driving through Springville we came upon a weather related scene at the town's main intersection (a 4-way stop). The power pole there had been hit by lightning and it broke it in two. The bottom and top half were completely severed and wires were hanging everywhere. The fire department and police department were there to route traffic through the gas station to get around the area. We ate and went back up the mountain.
Back to the Mexicans ... They left while we were away eating. They never returned today.
The guy on the lull loader (telescopic boom fork lift that has tires that can turn (front and back) that can all turn the same way or the front turn one way and the back turn another way) proceeded to pick up bundles of stuff up off the ground up near the highway and take them down the hill and up to the site where the builder wanted them to be stored. Scott had them stored so that the ones they'd need first would be on top and closest to the house.
Rose and Merrill left shortly after 2:30 since they had to be home by 4:00 to take cats to the vet.
We had been sitting in our Jeep talking with the builder, Scott, about various stuff. When Rose got out of the back seat of our Jeep and they went to get into their Jeep to go home I noticed that her window was down about 4 inches. I pressed the button to raise it and it didn't move! I knew what that meant since that is now the 4th window in the Jeep that has had the same problem over the last 3 or so years. It requires replacement of regulator motor assembly (the thing that moves the window up and down). The other 3 times it was mostly covered by our extended warranty. That is no longer the case. I called the Jeep place in B'ham within 2 minutes and told the builder that if they could fix before they closed then I was outta there! When this happens the window can be manually pulled up if you put one hand inside it and one hand outside, press them together and push up, but it will not stay up. It just slides down again. I could not go home and put the car in the garage like in Sebring (since we're living in an apartment till the house gets built), so it was critical that I get it fixed asap. The last time this happened we were just leaving Sebring, FL to drive back to Birmingham and had to delay our departure till the next day since it was later that day before we could get the Jeep fixed. We drove to the Jeep place in 45 minutes. They had the part and fixed it in about an hour and a half. For just over $417.00. Our 2nd highest check of the day.
We called our builder's wife while on the way to the Jeep place and found that although we lost a day getting the forms put up, they were supposed to come tomorrow (Saturday) and work on them and again on Monday morning to finish up the forms. They the concrete people are supposed to be there Monday afternoon to pour the basement walls. They normally don't work on Mondays, but they agreed when our builder's wife, Kathy, begged.
We got home and may never go back to the land again. (kidding)
Actually, although the Mexicans were the "face" of the delay, they were NOT the MAJOR cause of the delay since they would have been working had their boss provided the materials they needed for the major part of their job. I hope it's there today. I don't know if they are legal or not. It would be hard to know without asking for papers, but I know that only one of them yesterday could speak any English and it was also very difficult communicating with him.
No comments:
Post a Comment