METALHEALTH: Construction of my 60' x 148' detached pole building.

[METALHEALTH]

Background:

I was fortunate enough to break ground on my own dream garage in mid July of 1999. I settled on a 148' x 60' steel building with an unobstructed open interior and concrete floor. My plans would include space for a 24x30 wood shop, a 24x30 metal shop, an 48x20 design room, a 48x20 enclosed preparation area, automobile restoration area, motorcycle and automobile lifts, plenty of shelf/cabinet storage, as well as a place to park a few vehicles that I didn’t even own yet. Not having the skill, knowhow, and unobstructed window in time to do this job myself, I hired the construction of this project out to a reasonably well established building contractor. If you follow this post, you may get the sense that this turned out to be one of the most frustrating and painful collaborative experiences of my life (and you would be correct). Had it not been for the vigilance, patience, and negotiation skills of my dad (who was on-site every single day), I am sure that this shop would have never made it past the Stonehenge stage of assembly.


This is the story of how this project went from concept to reality...

[METALHEALTH]

Begin:

Prior to breaking ground, I worked with the contractor back in January of 1999 to develop a basic design for this project. From this base design came a set of engineering blueprints. Over the next six months, the contractor worked with the county to jump through the requisite hurdles and obtain the necessary legal building permits. When I say worked with the county, I mean the contractor negotiated between myself and the county in order to figure out just how much money the county could extort from me before I cracked (or at least that is what it felt like). Bogus stream inspections, mandated native growth retention areas for 65% of my land, nonsensical site and occupational restrictions… all challenged my will to carry on with this project. The contractor had initially informed me of how this process was going to work... a process whereby I was just to keep writing checks to clear one hurdle after another until there were no more hurdles to clear. That was pretty much how I felt that it played out. It was ironic that at the same time the county was worried about my little hole in the forest, that same county did not seem to take issue with permitting the new full scale gravel mining operation/quarry/concrete mixing plant being built across the street from me slated to operate for the next 40 years. Lesson learned, in construction… money can make problems go away.



Apologies in advance for the poor image quality of the initial photos. Digital photography was still in its infancy back in 1999.

[METALHEALTH]

Schedule - July, 1999:
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07/12/99 Heavy equipment moves in to clear land
07/13/99 Land clearing continues
07/14/99 Remove brush and stump debris
07/15/99 Site clean-up continues with removal of usable timber
07/16/99 Apply six truck loads of crushed rock to level pad

[METALHEALTH]

Date: 07/12/1999


Send in the trackHoe to clear the building site.






Open a serious hole in a matter of hours.






All trees are dropped the first day.

[METALHEALTH]

Date: 07/13/1999


Strip limbs and stack timber.

[METALHEALTH]

Date: 07/15/1999


Last load of debris waiting to be removed.







Natural tree barrier remains to hide building.







Mountain view from what will be garage doors.







Major debris cleanup complete.







Customer Expectation:

The thought was that I would be able to burn the debris left over from clearing the land. However, the permit was issued two weeks too late (as a burn ban was imposed two weeks earlier).

Contractor Delivery:

Decker Enterprises, Inc. used seven trucks (capable of hauling 60yrds each) to haul off the brush and stump debris @ a cost of $400.00 per truck load.

Note(s):

Total bill to dispose of this debris, $3040.80 (which was chalked up as a cost overrun).

[METALHEALTH]

Date: 07/16/1999


Forest loam from building pad stacked in front yard.







Basic site is staked out.







Gravel is put down on building site and leveled (by dozer first, rake later).

[METALHEALTH]

Schedule - August, 1999:
------------------------------------------------
08/08/99 Sign loan papers
08/09/99 Layout basic location of shop
08/10/99 Mark and drill post-holes
08/11/99 Building supplies arrive, building inspector shows-up
08/12/99 More supplies arrive, building inspector fails sign-off due to excess debris in post-holes
08/13/99 Building inspector returns to see if any work has been done to satisfy sign-off criteria
08/14/99 Owner cleans out post-holes, forklift arrives
08/15/99 Owner continues post-hole clean-out
08/16/99 More supplies arrive, crew finds some post-holes are shallow, digger re-bores holes
08/17/99 Port-O-Let and loan check arrive, 6yrds of cement used for footings, inspector signs off on holes
08/18/99 Main building poles (6x12) are placed in post-holes, steel trusses arrive
08/19/99 Half of the main building poles are prop'd up, mailed half of construction loan to contractor
08/20/99 Remaining building poles are prop'd up, thirty six yrds of cement is used to fill post-holes
08/23/99 Bracing for main building poles is removed, one row of girts is installed, ends are installed
08/24/99 Dozer is brought in to re-level jobsite, six loads of crushed rock are used to re-level floor
08/25/99 Two more loads of crushed rock are used to level jobsite, insulation arrives, more materials arrive
08/26/99 Move trusses into jobsite and bolt together
08/27/99 Hang three trusses
08/28/99 Contractor shows up to see why crew needs a boom truck, owner clears trusses to side of jobsite
08/30/99 Trusses are installed without boom truck, scissor truck arrives, steel arrives
08/31/99 A quarter of the purlins are installed
------------------------------------------------


Date: 08/09/1999



Customer Expectation:

Progress and pace of construction continues...

Contractor Delivery:

After several weeks of inaction, finally the first steps are taken to construct the building.

Crew of 2 arrive to layout foundation of building. This was acomplished by using a tape measure, string, and four ground spikes (no lasers, transits, or any other high tech gear used here).

Note(s):

Layout took about 2 hours, then the crew went home (gee, things are not progressing as fast as I had hoped). As I was to find out later, this crew works as an independent entity (not full-time employees of my main contractor). This would expose many problems later on.

[METALHEALTH]

Date: 08/10/1999


Funny looking post-hole machine works on rocks.









Customer Expectation:

Adequate sized tool would be used to drill the required 30" x 5' holes. Holes would be produced that were up to the standards of the County building inspector. I was forewarned that the building site outside of the post holes would be a mess after this process was completed (and sure enough it was). I was also warned that significant rain fall could cause the holes to sluff (fall in on themselves). This would be an extra expense to fix (lucky for me, the rain held off).

Contractor Delivery:

Post hole digger (which was best suited for less rocky terrain and small diameter holes) arrived to dig the 34 holes needed for the main building supports. The main building post holes were supposed to be 30" in diameter and 5' deep.

The post hole digger was another independent contractor hired by my main contractor.

Note(s):

The ground was so rocky, that the little 20hp motor attached to the digger screamed in dissagreement with each new inch of progress. Often, the operator had to tilt the 30" bit and attack the hole at an angle. The end result was that some holes ended up to be 5' in diameter at the top (rather than the required 30" dia.). All but about 6 of the 34 holes were significantly larger by a number of feet than the specified 30". As no formal clean-out process was performed (other than just purging the machines bit outside of the hole), there turned out to be lots of softball sized rocks left in the bottom of each hole.

[ssleepingbeauty]

Nice build I see your local.

[METALHEALTH]

Date: 08/11/1999


Reverse, brakes, materials unload themselves.





Customer Expectation:

Delivery would not cause damage to building materials.

Contractor Delivery:

Chinook Lumber (not having a forklift on the truck or on-site to remove the materials), unloaded by unstrapping the loaded supplies, hitting hi-reverse, then hard on the brakes, and let the once secure load fly. Surprisingly, (to me at least) only a few boards were damaged in the process. During one botched material drop where the materials hung-up on the back of the truck, the truck was stuck with the front wheels clean off the ground.

Also, the building inspector showed-up to check on the adaquacy of the post holes. He approved the post hole inspection under the provision that the debris (rocks) in the bottom of each hole be cleaned out prior to the pouring of the cement footings.

Note(s):

Delivery exhibitions were avoidable if Chinook Lumber used a truck with an attached forklift, or if my contractor had a forklift on-site before initiating material delivery. Whatever the case, a lack of communication between the two resulted in another demonstration of overall ineptness.

[METALHEALTH]

Date: 08/12/1999


Enough materials delivered for crew to start.





Customer Expectation:

Delivery of materials would be announced in advance and there would be enough communication between the requestor and the delivery person to understand in advance where to place the materials as to not impede construction progress.

Contractor Delivery:

With zero warning, materials would just show up (this was to be a common theme throughout the project). When stuff did arrive, the homeowner was asked where the materials were to be placed (of course, we had no idea). This would usually irriate the delivery person (as they did not want to get blamed for dropping the stuff in the wrong location). The homeowner would then make a best guess, and the materials would go there.

Building inspector has second thoughts about decision to approve site. He recalls his previous decision and flat out fails the site due to excess debris in the post holes.

Note(s):

As, the above picture demonstrates, the material drop on the right did not fly off of the truck as planned by the driver (and it was not placed in location suitable to the crew). Had the crew actually been around long enough to tell the delivery person where to put it, some of this could have been avoided. Eventually, the 3 person crew would spend more than 3 total hours fixing this by hand. The crew did not appreciate the extra work at all (and I did not approve of the wasted time).

[METALHEALTH]

Date: 08/13/1999




Customer Expectation:

Communication is key to the success of a project like this. Everyone has the tools, its time they start using them.

Contractor Delivery:

Buiding inspector returns again to find that the footings were not cleaned out as he had mandated. At this point requests that he be contacted when the work is completed so he can re-inspect.

Note(s):

In this case, the crew had not really started yet - so there was no one around to clean out the post holes. Unfortunately, my contractor did not communicate this to the building inspector - to save him the trips back out to the site.

[METALHEALTH]

Date: 08/14/1999


I spent the whole weekend pitching debris out of all of the post holes.





Forklift arrives unexpectedly.







Customer Expectation:

I figured that my contractor would have someone available on the weekend to correct the problem with the dirty post holes so that the building did not fall further behind schedule. I was wrong.

Contractor Delivery:

My contractor did not provide assistance for post hole clean-out over the weekend.

In other random news... the forklift arrives. This could have been used to properly unload the trucks delivering the building supplies a week earlier. It also arrives a day earlier then expected (my contractor said it would arrive on Sunday - it arrived Saturday). Glad I was around to let them in my gate (dumb luck prevails again).

Note(s):

Homeowner scraps weekend plans and crawls into each of the 34 unsatisfactory post holes and bails out the rocks by hand (whatever it takes to keep the building from slipping further behind schedule).

[METALHEALTH]

Date: 08/15/1999




Customer Expectation:

I was hoping to find a more efficient method of removing rocks from the post holes - it didn't happen.

Contractor Delivery:

I continued to clean out remaining post holes by squeezing down into each hole with a plastic oil pan, placing the oil pan between my feet, and then kicking rocks into the pan with one foot or another. In some cases I could not bend over inside of the hole to pickup the pan full softball sized rocks. Patience was a definite requirement.

Email is sent to building inspector informing him of progress over the weekend and asking for an immediate inspection (so the crew can get to work as early on Monday as possible).

Note(s):

Email may possibly be the best tool ever devised for this type of project (documented, thought-out, and available almost anywhere). Due to this, the communication link between the building inspector and the homeowner far surpassed that of the homeowner and the building contractor (building contractor is wired, but has yet to figure out why the tool is useful).

This was the day the building was supposed to be completed (as discussed with my contractor back in January).

[METALHEALTH]

Date: 08/16/1999


Digger returns to re-dig shallow holes





Customer Expectation:

Anticipate that the building inspector will arrive early, sign-off on post holes, and crew would get to work asap.

Contractor Delivery:

My contractor shows up with a 5 person crew. Apparently, they figured on cleaning out the holes (which had already been done by the home owner - hey, is this communication or what?). Crew determins that a hand full (less than 5) of the holes are not the required 5' deep. Rather than getting a shovel and correct the problem right then and there, they choose to go home (and call for the digger once again).

Digger arrives (obviously not happy). He procedes to re-dig each and every hole. Now each hole is deeper (some holes may be 7' deep), but the bottom of each hole is filled with debris once again. All of the work the homeowner did over the past weekend was erased by the crew's unwillingness to work and a building contractor who chose not to get involved with the building process. This all lead to an irritated sub-contractor, who retaliated by touching each hole (meaning each one would have to be re-cleaned).

Man doors are delivered. They are found to be without dead-bolt holes, are framed in cotton-wood scraps, and to top-it-off.. one of them is damaged. These wont be going on any building of mine.

Note(s):

The building inspector was finally called and asked to cancel another visit to the site.

[METALHEALTH]

Date: 08/17/1999


Six yards of cement needed for post footings.





Crew pours 12" deep footings in each hole.





Customer Expectation:

Its about time to get this show on the road!

Contractor Delivery:

Two man crew assists with pouring cement footings. After footings are in, crew goes home (~4hrs of work).

Inspector stops by to inspect holes. He shows home owner why debris in the bottom of the hole is not acceptable. Holes are finally signed-off on and footings installed.

Port-O-Let arrives.

Note(s):

Real progress is starting to happen - but slowly. Crew only does one task at a time and then goes home for the day (even if before lunch).

[METALHEALTH]

Date: 08/18/1999


6x12-20 posts are just dropped into holes.





Steel trusses arrive.







Customer Expectation:

Posts should be placed in holes in such a manner as to prevent soil from contacting the posts. I thought the idea was to encase the posts totally in cement with zero possibility of direct contact with soil (which would allow water direct access to post).

Contractor Delivery:

Crew lifts 6"x12" posts one at a time with forklift and drops them into each hole.

Trusses arrive at jobsite from All Purpose Welding. Crew unloads the Gunter Brothers Inc. delivery truck with forklift.

Note(s):

I now have raised enough issuses with the contractor and crew to degrade/jepordize our working relationship. I am once again assured that things will go better from here. I demand that representative from my contractor show up at the jobsite a few times a week to check on sub-contractor progress.

[METALHEALTH]

Date: 08/19/1999




Customer Expectation:

Crew would start working full-time to get this project done.

Contractor Delivery:

Half of the posts are jockied into position. This process sluffs lots of dirt from the sides of each hole and deposits it all around the bottom of the posts. In some extreme cases, there is a foot of soil around the base of the posts. Home owner asks that the soil be prevented from touching the posts directly - but, contractor/crew make excuses and fabricate data to attempt to assure home owner that posts will be fine (after all.. this is how things have been done for 30 years).

Note(s):

Crew does not work full day again. Only half of the job is done and they leave. Cement is scheduled to arrive the next day, so if the slightest thing goes wrong, home owner will be hit with more unneccessary delays.

Main crew consists of 3 people (foreman, worker #1, and a highschool kid... son of worker #1).

Mailed check(s) totalling $37,500.00 to my contractor (per payment schedule).

[METALHEALTH]

Date: 08/20/1999


Multiple cement trucks fit inside jobsite at same time.




Cement is poured to a random height.




Post alignment structure is left for 72hrs for cement to set.







Customer Expectation:

Remaining posts get installed and cement is finally poured into the post holes.

Contractor Delivery:

As it turns out, remaining post go up fast. Crew is now faced with waiting three hours before cement arrives. They sit around for a while and then decide to work on straightening out some flopped over materials pile. After screwing around with the forklift (which involved dropping materials left and right), the crew decides to move the remaining materials by hand.

Cement arrives. 36yrds of cement go into the 34 holes. After all of the issues with the post holes, some of these holes take almost 2yrds of cement now. Many poles are not centered in their respective holes so the surrounding cement may be only 2" thick against one side of the post where the opposite side may be 3 full feet thick. Glad these guys dont build airplanes.

Note(s):

Rather than play around with the forklift, the crew should have created their story pole, so they had some idea how deep to pour the cement into each post hole. This lack of forsight would come back to bite the home owner (me) later when some of the cement pours set to high... meaning they had to be chipped down by hand, later.