Shop in a small Texas town

DEEDDUDE · Jun 24, 2012

I finally broke ground on my workshop build. After years of planning and waiting(because life throws stuff at you that you would other wise avoid) we started the dirt wok on 6/18/12. The shop will be used for working on racecars and repairing just about anything. I have more plans for the shop than I have money, don't we all, so the finishing will come at a much later date. It'll one day have a bathroom with a shower, small gym, two post lift and a 20 x 40 mezzanine for storage. I went with a Mueller building and I subbed the concrete and erection out to two different contractors. I'll be doing the plumbing and electrical. The building size is 40 x 80 x 18, with 3-12 x 12 roll-ups and two walk doors. Here are just a few pics. I am also having a couple small pads, front and side, a sidewalk and patio poured at the same time; might as well have the concrete trucks tear your yard up once. The job started two weeks later than planned, but that is another story.

day one, getting started

patio and one of the inspectors

end of day two

starting the foundation forms

sidewalk from patio to the shop

Footers being dug by hand? These guys are working hard. They got 2/3 finished and called it a day. Jefe "thought" they could cut these by hand in one day to save time. 12" x 24" x 240'. Hmm.

This is what they got done in one week with two days of "weather" related set backs. Hmm again. No fault of the crew. Jefe "thought" it rainned and lost those two days, so they came out Saturday. This is Texas, it can rain in your front yard and be dry in the back yard; don't know what he was thinking.

Hope you enjoy, I'll update with pictures as we go. The erection crew will start some time during the week of the 4th. My hope is to have the contractors complete by the 3rd week of July.

NUTTSGT · Jun 24, 2012

They didn't scrape the top soil and grass off ?

DEEDDUDE · Jun 24, 2012

NUTTSGT said:
They didn't scrape the top soil and grass off ?

NUTTSGT, I really don't know. I do know they did at the patio. They may have burned what grass I had at the building pad, I saw a few burn spots before all the fill dirt was layed. Is this important and why? I will ask the concrete guy, we've already discussed a few issues already.

Nighttrain · Jun 24, 2012

Congrats on the build. I would ask also if they at least used took out the grass and top layer of soil before the brought in the sand. That top layer could cause it to settle a bit. At least they are compacting it with the roller. Are they planning on putting beams across the slab? Trench across the slab where your main columns will be? I have a 40x60 mueller and am very happy with it. Hope this approaching storm does not do any damge to your home.

DEEDDUDE · Jun 24, 2012

Nighttrain, Thanks for the concern. It looks like we're safe from this one. Funny thing we moved in this new house August of 2008 and less than month later we had that big hurricane, I don't remember their names; been so many growing up in south Texas. I don't have the greatest luck either; they are two weeks late starting, not all weather related but one of many excuses, and my building is suppose to be here last week. I need to make a few call Monday to get everyone scheduled for their part.

I've gotten a lot ideas from your build that I may incorporate into mine.

The only beams to speak of are the footers 12" x 24", I asked about the lack of and the contractor will put more than a ton of steel in the floor along with cut control joints every 150 square feet or so. We're using 3500 psi concrete. From what I've been told and read it should be more than adequate for the building.

I'll try to keep everyone updated.

Nighttrain · Jun 24, 2012

I lived in League City from 05-09 flew all over the Galveston bay (Coast Guard) probably flew over your house after one of those storms. I was the last helicopter out of bolivar peninsula before the storm hit rescuing some residents. First time I ever flew in 70 knot winds and hopefully the last.

Back to your garage, call and talk to Mueller and ask them about plans for the slab. All the ones I have seen up here have beams running across the floor where the main post go. There is a lot of pressure going into the floor where these tie in. Keep us posted. Glad you looked at mine and use any ideas that you can.

NUTTSGT · Jun 25, 2012

Nighttrain answered for me already about the grass. :thumbup:

DEEDDUDE · Jun 26, 2012

NUTTSGT said:
Nighttrain answered for me already about the grass.

Guys thanks for the concern. I asked about the grass and he said no problem. Where the shop is there was a ground cover unlike the grass at the sidewalk and patio. They did scrape it but not as deep as I guess it should have been, I found piles of grass when I mowed Sunday.

I made a little progress and so did they. I installed the sewer lines and that's all I could do. Their plan is to pour Wednesday, so they have a lot to do today. I'll get more pictures tonight.

ConstructionBoss · Jun 26, 2012

Looks like a great start! Can't wait to see pictures of the race cars in there some day. What kind of racing do you do?

Kevin54 · Jun 26, 2012

Grass almost always needs to be removed on top and also the roots. If not, it will end up decomposing and leave voids underneath your concrete. That should have been one of the very first things they did. Never seen anything prepped that sod wasn't removed first.

DEEDDUDE · Jun 26, 2012

ConstructionBoss said:
Looks like a great start! Can't wait to see pictures of the race cars in there some day. What kind of racing do you do?

Boss, I run/ran circle track cars on both asphalt and dirt. I say "ran" because I haven't "run" in a few years. New home, new job, no shop, no time...and my wife's health last year. Everything has settled down some so hopefully we'll be racing soon. A couple of pics. These are the only ones I have access to at work. The 54' is a project I picked up to have something to do and drive on the street legally and not just on Saturday night.

Street Stock

TSRS Late Model

Ole 54'

DEEDDUDE · Jun 26, 2012

Kevin54 said:
Grass almost always needs to be removed on top and also the roots. If not, it will end up decomposing and leave voids underneath your concrete. That should have been one of the very first things they did. Never seen anything prepped that sod wasn't removed first.

Kevin, I posted earlier that they did scrape the ground, but not as deep as it should be. I found piles of grass Sunday while mowing. I did however ask yesterday about that, the contractor told me where the shop was located it would be fine; it had a ground cover, not really grass. I hope it's ok. It wouldn't make sense to leave it if it would be a problem, they did however remove all the grass at the patio; so that leads me to believe he did take that into account for the shop. Unless he was trying to save time. I’ve ask him a bunch of questions so he knows I’m concerned about the concrete being done correctly. I’ve seen this guy’s work and it’s outstanding so hopefully he does just a good of job on my project as he’s done in the past, only time will tell.
Thanks to all with the concerns. I’m no concrete guy; I do appreciate all the input. This site and the contributors have taught me quite a bit and hopefully I’m more educated because of this.

ConstructionBoss · Jun 26, 2012

DEEDDUDE said:
Boss, I run/ran circle track cars on both asphalt and dirt. I say "ran" because I haven't "run" in a few years. New home, new job, no shop, no time...and my wife's health last year. Everything has settled down some so hopefully we'll be racing soon. A couple of pics. These are the only ones I have access to at work. The 54' is a project I picked up to have something to do and drive on the street legally and not just on Saturday night.

Street Stock

TSRS Late Model

Ole 54'

Nice. I used to pit crew for Destroyer Chassis up here in the DFW area. They ran Dirt Modified and Limited Mod at Boyd, Kennedale, Stephenville, and occasionally Grand Prairie and Heart O' Texas in Waco. I grew up going to asphalt late model racing in Rockford, IL. Used to watch Chad Knaus's dad race. Now I am hoping to eventually get my son into Mini Sprints, Go-Carts, or Bandaleros in a few years when he gets old enough. Texas Motor Speedway has started running limited mods on the short track inside the front stretch of the big track on Thursday nights. It have peaked my interest into getting into racing myself. I liked pit crewing on the dirt team, but I miss the asphalt racing. My wife and I are Nascar fans and part of my job is to put together estimates for repaving Nascar tracks. Right now we are repaving Kansas Speedway, and a couple years ago we did Daytona. Our office sits just outside Texas Motor Speedway so I pass the track every day I come to work! Hard not to want to race when you see the track every day!!!

DEEDDUDE · Jun 27, 2012

Guys my shop concrete pad is gonna be at least another day late. They were supposed to start pouring today at 5:30am. I went out with my trusty tape measure yesterday after work and checked some measurements and I found that the slab was going to be a little shallow in spots and the footers were a little short also. I called the contractor yesterday evening and told him of the discrepancies; he assured me that they would be fixed.

There was a tread awhile back about contractors in the Houston area and their work ethics, seems you can’t trust anyone any more. I shouldn’t have to go out and verify that my job is being done correctly. I’m now questioning everything this guy does. It’s funny that this guy comes highly recommended. Did the previous customers not know any better or is this the job he decided to start taking short cuts?

Hopefully I’ll have some pictures of laid concrete in a day or two. Wish me luck.

shovel · Jun 27, 2012

Nice looking place you have D! To keep my sanity when dealing with contractors, I adopted the philosophy that all contractors are liars. I had to have everything written down and verified. The honest contractors didn't mind and the shady ones fell in line or moved along. There are a couple of contractors I still give references for and a couple that I never want to see again, and they don't want to see me either. Good luck with your shop and thanks for sharing.

DEEDDUDE · Jun 27, 2012

shovel said:
Nice looking place you have D! To keep my sanity when dealing with contractors, I adopted the philosophy that all contractors are liars. I had to have everything written down and verified. The honest contractors didn't mind and the shady ones fell in line or moved along. There are a couple of contractors I still give references for and a couple that I never want to see again, and they don't want to see me either. Good luck with your shop and thanks for sharing.

Shovel, I don't know if that's funny or ironic. I feel the same way. When my house was being built I told the stupidintendant that we would either be best of friends or worst enemies. I went through three before the house was complete. I filled complaints with the BBB and the TRCC, both are jokes. The TRCC found that I was correct in my findings, but could do nothing about the issues; they could only give recommendations on how to fix them. I never ask a contractor to do anything elaborate or anything I can’t do; I don’t have time because of my real job.

ConstructionBoss · Jun 27, 2012

DEEDDUDE said:
Guys my shop concrete pad is gonna be at least another day late. They were supposed to start pouring today at 5:30am. I went out with my trusty tape measure yesterday after work and checked some measurements and I found that the slab was going to be a little shallow in spots and the footers were a little short also. I called the contractor yesterday evening and told him of the discrepancies; he assured me that they would be fixed.

There was a tread awhile back about contractors in the Houston area and their work ethics, seems you can’t trust anyone any more. I shouldn’t have to go out and verify that my job is being done correctly. I’m now questioning everything this guy does. It’s funny that this guy comes highly recommended. Did the previous customers not know any better or is this the job he decided to start taking short cuts?

Hopefully I’ll have some pictures of laid concrete in a day or two. Wish me luck.

I'm in the highway construction business, and we live and die by contracts, inclusions and exclusion, plans and specs, and finally, inspections.

When we bid work or receive bids from subs, we usually will have a list of inclusions and exclusions that get incorporated into the contract. These are items we tell our supervisors to refer to often to make sure we get what we paid for, or to make sure we are not doing anything we didn't figure in our price.

We also treat the plans and specs like a bible for the job. It's kinda like a rule book in auto racing. If we are given a +/- tolerance, we try to push to the limit of that tolerance to give the client what is within specs, but what will also make us money. We also make sure we hold our subs accountable and follow the spec's and plans as well so we aren't open to liability to being out of spec on the job.

Finally, there are the inspections. We regularly have inspections on our work, by the owner, by third parties, and by ourselves. I would suggest the same to you as a client. If you have building inspection, they are going to make sure it falls within the code requirements, or specs. They are not always going to say the quality is where it should be. That is something I would suggest you so regularly to make sure you get the quality you expect, and all the work you have paid for.

When I moved to Texas, I had a house built for me while I was still in Arizona. I made my sales agent send me regular pictures of the progress in high resolution, as well as a friend of mine that lived nearby, and would send back marked up pictures of things they needed to fix. I would travel out about every other month to check on the progress, and during the final month I was moved out here and able to visit the jobsite every evening. It was the first time my builder had that much involvement from an owner, but when it was all said and done, out punch list was very minimal and in the end he was grateful we caught many problems before they became alot of work to fix.

Having grown up in the homebuilding industry, I can say my day never had a house that the owner didn't want to change somethign, complain about something, or question his means and methods. He was regarded as one of the best contractors in town, and he would turn down work and only take the work he felt fit within his standards. So, even if your contractor is highly regarded, don't feel bad checking and questioning his work. If he really is a good contractor, he will fix it because he knows he needs to get it right, and doesn't want to redo any big ticket items. If he isn't any good, I'd threaten to replace him and stop pay on any unsatisfactory work. We usually have language in our contracts that states if we have to replace a subcontractor or if we have to be replaced as a general contractor, the party being replaced is responsible for the difference in cost. It usually never happens, but it is a good backstop to have should you run into trouble with them.

bluejeep · Jun 27, 2012

I used Mueller for my 40X50 barn in Coleman county. The construction guys just finished up yesterday. I am really please with Mueller. They were always double checking with me for which i really appreciate. Looks like you will have a nice build when it is all done. There are frustrations along the way but you will forget about all that when it is done I will be following your build. Hope the pour goes off without anymore hitches

Need4racin · Jun 27, 2012

Marketing is what sells, not quality of work.

DEEDDUDE · Jun 27, 2012

Boss, I'm an inspector and he knows that. Maybe next time he listens better. He ask, "what do you do"? my reply, "I'm an inspector and I'll be double checking everything" his face, :scared:

Jeep, my wife tells me that I'll forget once it's done also.

Need4racin said:
Marketing is what sells, not quality of work.

Racin, so true.

I tell everyone before they do work for me, " If you do a good job I'll let a few people know, but of you do a bad job I will let everyone know"

ConstructionBoss · Jun 27, 2012

DEEDDUDE said:
Boss, I'm an inspector and he knows that. Maybe next time he listens better. He ask, "what do you do"? my reply, "I'm an inspector and I'll be double checking everything" his face,

Well there you go. Sorry about that. Didn't mean to tell you what you already know!!! Good luck with the build, I'll be watching with enthusiasm!

Nighttrain · Jun 27, 2012

DEEDDUDE,

Keep on them! May delay you a week but in the long run it will be worth it.

DEEDDUDE · Jun 28, 2012

Small update. I got home yesterday while the contractor was still there correcting the issues of the depth of the concrete. We walked thru and checked several places, seemed like 100. Looks like everything is ok. They started pouring at 5:30am and are smoothing it out as we speak. I’ll try to update with more photos tonight.

I just got off the phone with Mueller and they just finished in the fab shop and I should know the delivery date pretty soon.

DEEDDUDE · Jun 29, 2012

Sorry guys for not having my picturess ready for the update, been real busy. Not really much to add the pictures speak for themselves. Thanks for looking.

DFW-LSX · Jun 29, 2012

Very nice! Its coming slong slowly but surely! Keep after them!

shovel · Jun 29, 2012

Looks great! Life is getting good in the Beach City!

DEEDDUDE · Jul 1, 2012

Thanks guys for the encouragement. Got a few more pictures. The concrete people got the forms off and the concrete cut for the crack reliefs. After seeing what they can do think I think cracks may have looked better. Example below. To me it looks like a drunkin monkey scored the concrete. Me not to happy.

They finished forming up the pads, patio and sidewalks. They seem to be ok. I went out this am and checked the depth and grade/slope. Here are a few pics for your viewing pleasure.

The two inspectors.

AFSilverado · Jul 1, 2012

I'd definitely be having words with the guy running that concrete saw. Then I'd have words with his boss! That looks horrible! I think I could have done better with a skil-saw!

Shoottx · Jul 1, 2012

AFSilverado said:
I'd definitely be having words with the guy running that concrete saw. Then I'd have words with his boss! That looks horrible! I think I could have done better with a skil-saw!

Yup

Looks like they did it with a Skill saw and no guides.

Real shame to mess up a decent job with lousy finish work, although that seems to be my specialty lately.

DEEDDUDE · Jul 4, 2012

AFSilverado said:
I'd definitely be having words with the guy running that concrete saw. Then I'd have words with his boss! That looks horrible! I think I could have done better with a skil-saw!

I did and he has been gone before I've gotten home each day. My wife says I have a "way" with words that cuts to the bone. I just state the facts.

DEEDDUDE · Jul 4, 2012

Shoottx said:
Yup

Looks like they did it with a Skill saw and no guides.

Real shame to mess up a decent job with lousy finish work, although that seems to be my specialty lately.

They did the cuts with a concrete saw and chalk lines, but apparently the guide was left at home.

DEEDDUDE · Jul 4, 2012

As promised more pics and more rant. Overall I'm highly unsatisfied with the job. The bid for the work was in the middle of all the bids so I assumed I was paying a little more for quality. I've seen what I was told was this guys work and it was of better quality than this by a long shot. Well that's Houston for you, the capital for unskilled labor. I could go on, but that could take all day.

The building is still MIA. I called Mueller again and it has finished in the fab shop, but has yet to arrive at the yard that sends it. The erector is ready to go. Hopefully the building will be complete soon. I still have a ton of work to do once the building is erect.

Thanks to all who have been following this build and for the words of encouragement. A few more pics.

Sidewalk from the patio to the shop

Northeast corner

Garage looking back, this is where I ran out of money. I will pour a driveway from the road to here one day.

Patio

NUTTSGT · Jul 4, 2012

DEEDDUDE said:
The two inspectors.

Looks like you going to out build the neighbors.

You have an awesome set of inspectors.

I hope your sidewalk fairs ok as the construction starts. Make sure nobody tries to drive any equipment over it.

westray · Jul 14, 2012

Looking forward to seeing updates

Bronson · Jul 14, 2012

thanks for posting Your project. Your concrete crew need to be ***** slapped.....I would be very unhappy, also. I hired a concrete guy to do a new driveway, and some stamped and colored concrete. I fired Him 3 times before He was finished. He actually did a good job. He used My place as a example of His work and sold several jobs, locally, after mine. The jobs He did after mine all ended up in lawsuits, and he is now in jail on fraud charges.

DEEDDUDE · Jul 17, 2012

Sorry for the delay in updating. We've had a lot of rain the last couple of weeks and it’s stopped all progress. We got close to 18" of rain in the Houston area in a short period of time.

I have standing water in my yard and that has delayed the delivery of the building. I called the building people yesterday and we are just waiting for the area to dry up, so hopefully they can deliver by the end of the week or early next week. Stay tuned and thanks for the patients.

DEEDDUDE · Jul 17, 2012

Bronson said:
thanks for posting Your project. Your concrete crew need to be ***** slapped.....I would be very unhappy, also. I hired a concrete guy to do a new driveway, and some stamped and colored concrete. I fired Him 3 times before He was finished. He actually did a good job. He used My place as a example of His work and sold several jobs, locally, after mine. The jobs He did after mine all ended up in lawsuits, and he is now in jail on fraud charges.

I thought about the ***** slap thing. We might have had the same guy. I was going to have him stamp and stain my patio, but decided against it. I think he wanted to do the stamp thing to hide the ugly. We even talked about doing the kool deck, but I will not let him on my property again. I'm looking for someone else to do the rest of the driveway.

dandan111 · Jul 17, 2012

Looks nice so far but I don't think the concrete guy is a real artistic type. Better keep the stamp and stain away from him!

kald · Jul 17, 2012

Sorry your concrete didn't turn out to your expectations. I see Houston has the same problem as Orlando/Central Florida. I think all of the washouts and hacks in every industry end up here.

abstamaria · Jul 17, 2012

I have a problem saying "small" and "Texas" in one breath. Like everything in that state, that is a huge garage.

Looking forward to seeing your progress,

Andy

Shop in a small Texas town

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