The homestead has hit a snag. Well "another" snag.....

[RichnSteph]

Not to go into too much detail but my wife and I had planned to be actually living in our house already......


Land bought-Check
House bought-Check
House put in place-Check
Improvements done-Check

Land improvements cost $10,000 more than anticipated- Check... there goes the solar array.
Contractor didn't budget for the carport and now won't do it- Check... there goes the budgeted money for our barn.
Contractor threw in an extra load of topsoil- Check.
Contractor forgot the culvert- Check... most of the topsoil will wash away when it rains.
Final cost of the house is $25,000 more and instead of an itemized list it's coded as "closing costs"- Check... there goes the money we had set aside for the well because lawyer fees are now in the budget.


And now the big one. We went out to the house yesterday (40 mile drive one way) to set up some automatic sprinklers so that the grass that was planted doesn't die while we wait to close. There wasn't enough water pressure to run more than one sprinkler and while trying to find out why I found two things.

1) Something water related in the house got turned on and left on since I can hear water running through the septic line underneath the house.
2) What ever it is that is on has leaked into the sub flooring and there is a very large area of the insulation underneath the home that is "tight as a drum" with water.

I went out to turn the water off at the meter so that the damage would stop and the meter, which read 000000.0 upon install, now reads 001557.4. Yup that's run 1500++ gallons of water since Monday which means my septic is full, the leach fields are full and God knows how many gallons are in/under/soaked into the house. Someone else is paying this months water bill.


I can't believe it's this hard to get a little piece of land and a home for our family.


/rant over.

 

[sourland]

The joys of home ownership - eventually you will get things pulled together, but be aware that 'surprises' will arise periodically. In the end run it is all worth it - it's YOURS! The good news - the excessive water use is not on your bill.

Sourland and the Princess still living in the 'starter' home that we purchased 49 years ago. There's nothing like coming HOME.

 

[WVDoug]

Sounds like you should be doing OK after you win the lawsuit against the contractor (or settlement). That is what the lawyer fees are for, right?

 

[RichnSteph]

The lawyer fees right now are there just in case we need them. Things have started to come around in the last 24 hours and there has been some positive give on the opposing side.

 

[nayeli]

Wow, I would be furious. Hopefully the contractor wisens up and owns up to his mistakes and you don't need to get a lawyer.

 

[wyoDreamer]

Good luck on your troubles. I hope everything is settled to your satisfaction soon.
Make sure you are documenting everything. At least you haven't closed yet, so you have some leverage to make them do what needs to be done.

 

[RichnSteph]

Thanks for the support folks. We got the keys yesterday and began moving some things in. We also started the lengthy list of things that need to be fixed. I checked the water meter and the house, with no one in it, used 9,000 gallons of water. How you ask? Well the inspector that did the walkthrough decided not to check that the toilets were properly adjusted and they have been running the entire time. It took me all of 3 minutes to adjust them and stop the water waste. I could have screamed!

The water leak under the house has been fixed and we're now waiting on the warranty folks to come out and replace the insulation. While the underside is open I'm probably going to re-route the grey water from the showers and tub into a holding tank that we'll use to water the lawn and garden.


Still nothing back from the contractor. *sigh* I hate people.

 

[RichnSteph]

Update!

We're actually moved in! The water issues have been taken are of although I was told that rerouting my grey water into a holding tank (i.e. cutting the existing plumbing) would void my warranty so we had to nix that idea. Kind of pisses me off considering that I'd be making my home more efficient when it comes to water usage.

The contractor will not be doing our parking area since he went over budget on a few other areas but we've worked out a way to get some road base and 2" stone delivered and I'll spread it myself at a much lower cost. Once the parking area is done our carport will be delivered and set up.

The yard has been seeded with Bermuda and the darn little things are starting to sprout. YAY!!!

We have avocado trees that have sprouted from seeds all ready to go in the ground near the front of the property.

And the neatest thing so far is that we have several deer than hang out around the house! I've seen upwards of 50 in the neighborhood and one of the folks at the other end has a feeder up so we know they'll stay around. Last night I build a ground feeder with a hay basket from scrap lumber and today my wife is picking up 80lbs of feed corn and a few bails of hay so we can start feeding. The huge pile of brush on the place that I was going to cut up and burn is going to be repurposed into a few fence posts for the garden, natural wood raised garden beds and I'm going to use a wood chipper thingy to turn the rest into mulch that will go in between the beds as a weed barrier. I'm going to keep some of the larger more "leafy" bits and build a few places for the deer to bed down at night. We are also planting about a 40x40 area in corn that will give them forage and a place to hide.


We are still pretty upset over some of the things that have happened and are still fighting with some folks but all said and done we're in our home, we will be able to grow/harvest our own food, there are some great neighbors around us (most folks out here don't even lock their cars at night since there isn't any crime) and my 1 year old daughter will be able to watch wildlife from her tree house.

The Junker family is home.
RichnStephnOlivia

 

[WVDoug]

Awesome! Glad to hear you're in your home and things are looking up!

 

[jbtcajun]

Dealing with contractors takes experience, they have it on their side.
Everything in writing next time.
The draws should never equal material cost, keeps them caring.
A bid is a fixed price for a fixed scope of work.
Any overages have to be explained and agreed to in writing, prior to completion.
Over budget doesn't cut it.
If you allow overages you are the contractor and they are the sub.
You are paying them for their experience to avoid those things.
Thats on them unless you made changes.
Deer
Do you have experience with deer?.
Inviting them on your property is like asking the Devil to move in.
Fruit trees, flowers, forage for the livestock, crops all will be destroyed with a large population in the area.
Ya they taste good but are easy enough to harvest somewhere else.
Good luck as a retired farmer I know the joy of living off the land and the burden of dealing with uncaring craftsman and employees..