More delays...

Im making good progress on the final trim work, but am running tight on the inspection deadline. As such, I decided to hire out the dirt re-grade around the garage. The guy who dug the dry well hole noted his son had a skid steer business and could easily take care of it when I was ready for X dollars.

I call him up and the son comes out to quote. I explain what needs to be done and he claims to understand. Says it'll be X + 30% as he needs to bring 2 machines and 3 people. He also cant do any other lot re-grade work at that time - he only has enough time for the garage slope as it'll take all day. Spends 99% of the time trying to sell me other work down the road - more grading, concrete work, etc etc.

So they show up Tuesday morning - the son with his skid steer, the dad with the mini digger he used for the dry well hole, and a helper with shovels. The dad is clearly running the show and starts laying out stakes and string lines, the son seems to just be the go-for.

Im working from home / on meetings and see the dad and his digger is gone maybe 30 mins later. 2 hours in I get a text that theyre packing up / ready for payment. Odd - they'd said the price I paid was for a full day of work - that they couldnt do other grading projects because the garage would take all day.

I went out to look, but had limited time with a customer call approaching. I noted some areas looked awful flat. The son was adamant it was good and the "string doesnt lie", we'd have no problem passing. So I paid him and went back to work.

Went out that night after work to verify measurements. There were only 3 numbers involved:

• Dirt at the foundation must be at least 4" below the stucco weep screed bottom (an easy target given it was all 4" or more to start with)
• Dirt must slope down 6 (mininum) more inches by 10 feet from the point of contact with the foundation all the way around. This was basically the entire point of the job as it was nowhere close to start.

So I pick 7 random points - 2 on each short side amd 3 along the back. I set up my auto level laser and grab a tape measure. I find out the slope at 10 foot is 100% non-compliant. Ranges anywhere from 5" of drop in a single spot to as low as a quarter inch of drop for the whole NE corner. Average of the 7 spots is a bit under half the requirement.

This is an example of one of the worst: 5.75" below laser at the foundation, 5" below laser at the midpoint, 6" below laser at 10 feet. So total drop is only 0.25" total, but functionally it's even worse as the mid point is 3/4" higher than the foundation is - so water will naturally pool at the foundation until it builds so much that it can go over the hump.




I end up grabbing my 6 foot framing level as I know the inspector brings a level with / that is the tool he's likely to use to verify there is some slopw present. I calibrate myself to the minimum bubble position by propping one end 3.6" off the ground (as its only 6 foot long) - bubble is totally buried in the black at that point.

I went around numerous spots and confirmed what the laser showed- lots and lots of spots with 0 slope, no spots sloped enough, a few areas of slightly negative slope from the mid point to the foundation like this:



Fortunately they agreed to come fix it (as they're after a bunch more work that I'll never give them at this point). But now of course we've got a storm cell moving in that'll cost us a day or two. Super frustrated as its down to the wire for inspection timing with the city.

 

Wow!! That is really a nice Garage you are going to have there, you will enjoy that. I wish I had something like that. But then I would just buy more Cars and make Mrs. Bickerson mad . Lol
They had some huge plates on them Trusses. I have a Clopay Door too and they are really well done.

A few years ago my daughter dumped her stupid husband and moved to my house and I had her and 2 grand-kids here for almost 2 years.
My grandson is off to college and she offered to let me store my Monte Carlo in her garage now. Should save me a few dollars.

 

I love the doors - super easy to put up, great instructions, great quality parts. I was skeptical of the claimed R value for insulation in such a thin spot (2" thick), but it's impressive how cool the inside of the doors stay despite the exterior baking in direct sunlight all day.

The bad thing for me about Clopay is their local distribution. The way I understand their process is that the door panels are made at the factory and shipped to the regional distributor. That regional distributor adds the boxes of the small common parts (brackets, screws, etc). Then it gets sent to the local distributor for your metro who adds the tracks, springs, and spring rods.

The issue I had is the local place temporarily shut down and seemed to be in a very precarious position to stay in business. It was incredibly hard to get in touch with the local place and they suddenly amassed a bunch of 1 star google reviews as it appears a couple folks (including the owner) were in jail for something big. Lots of reports of the physical business being closed and no response on the phone (which I ran into several times).

Fortunately they did call one day out of the blue to deliver, so I was happy it got resolved. I was very worried for a while that I was going to have to file a claim with HD / Clopay.

 

Not a great weekend...

The dirt grading place sent a text to push from Thurs to Fri or Sat due to wetness from rain Weds. Ok, no big deal. All of the days were beautiful and sunny outside. Then they push again to Sunday. OK, whatever (my bet is they landed more jobs for pay in the meantime as Id stupidly paid them in full before measuring).

They come out and are immediately hyper defensive - especially the dad who is clearly leading this mess. They dont trust my measurements (including a framing level showing it as 100% flat in some 6 foot spots) and are adamant about setting up their laser - fine. But then they go to start cherry picking measurement locations and measuring well past the 10 foot requirement to show its fairly close (but never were able to show a spot that was in spec). They finally agree several spots are a bit out - but try to blame it entirely on settling from the rain (which is garbage as the measurements I sent were before). They also kept going on and on about how the inspector won't check for that much drop, "they really only check to make sure you've got an inch or two" - like I care; the thing sits in a flood irrigation zone, so I truly want 100% of the drop I paid for to keep the flood water off the foundation.

Then I show them the mess they made around our flood irrigation port. They cut down the dirt very low on one side and completely filled in the trough in front of it flush. They clearly dont understand how flood irrigation works at all. In doing the former, they also broke off about a 12" tall chunk of the concrete around the port on the side they cut down. All of this in the area I specifically told them not to touch last time.

They started saying they were going to start working on this broken concrete when I told them to stop and forget it for now - finish the garage first. But stay away from this whole area like Id asked the first time - its 25 feet from the garage, so there's absolutely no reason to be moving dirt back there. It's the same issue we ran into the first time they came out - they get so distracted with other stuff that they dont even do the actual job correctly.

So, they get off and running and I go back to work on other house projects to stay out of their way. A few hours in, the dad waves me over to show me progress. He said he has good news and bad news - great...

He babbles through what theyre working on with the grading and how little they were having to move (making sure to never take an ounce of responsibility for not doing the job right tbe first time). Then he drops the bomb - they hit the back of the garage with the skid steer.


I went quiet for a minute while the dad continue to run his mouth (as I was past the point of can't speak angry) - until I finally got the words out to stop work and get off my property, although not worded quite that nicely as you can imagine. The dad starts going off about how he can go get some concrete patch to try to fill the hole, but I repeated my statement a couple more times with increasing anger until it sunk in to him. As he was packing up, he told my wife he wishes I was more reasonable to work with (although Id say probably not as much as I wish a profesional earth moving company knew how to properly do basic skid steer work...).



The even more frustrating part - they never even mentioned the other crash from the area they started on. They mustve hit it almost right out of the gate as this is the area they started on. My daughter found it when she came to look at the damage in the back.



The worst part is, as with any stucco, the obvious damage is only about half of the issue. Several chunks around were also loose due to the radiating cracks coming off the area.

I spent most of yesterday getting the sheet metal weep screed sectioned and replaced as it was mangled beyond use, the loose stucco cut out, and the fresh stucco reinstalled. Hoping to do a first coat of paint today to see how it came out.

Just beyond livid - Id hired a professional company specifically to avoid this kind of stuff. This place was just obviously a very bad choice on my part. I really should've just called a day off work to do it myself. Im normally an overly calm person, but between the bad attitude, lack of taking responsibility, and flat out tearing up stuff I worked so hard on due to pure carelessness - I just lost it.

Im still hoping for inspection this Friday before I need an extension. Ive got all trim done at this point except for the long rear fascia board / gutter mount. Thats primed, just needs white trim paint and I need to cut the gray paint back in where I caulked around it to clean things up.

I haven't even looked at the grading yet, but at this point its all loose dirt, so I can probably do it by hand assuming its not too far off.

 

The dirt grading saga gets worse. I knew they'd bumped the flood irrigation outlet port / broke the top chunk of concrete off, but I didnt inspect any closer than that.

Came out tonight to keep pushing on garage prep to try to final inspect Friday, and to my surprise - the backyard is flooding.

We haven't used flood irrigation in more than a year at this point. I didnt want to risk it until the garage was done and the whole yard was properly regraded. There's a 12" metal stopper to plug the port on the canal side when Im not actively taking water on my lot (I get 90 minutes every 2 weeks in the summer). After our last run, I sealed the stopper in with underwater rated caulk to keep leakage to a mininum.

It's always leaked a little bit - the canal fills with water for about 2-3 days while the last part of the subdivision takes their water / the water company closes the master valve. But at most Id get maybe a 3-4 foot diameter puddle around the port. That's why I was so surprised to see it coming around the side of the garage today.

I checked the metal stopper and it's still caulked in, so my only guess is they cracked the concrete through when they hit the port outlet. I wont be able to inspect for sure until the canal drains in a couple more days.

To make things worse, their hapazard grading of around the port (the area I told them to avoid) is making the flow pattern worse. Some of it is pooling up by the block wall where they cut the grade down, and the outlet flow isnt going the proper route since they filled the natural trough to turn the water 90 degrees almost completely with dirt.

Fortunately it's staying away from the garage foundation somewhat, it's about 6 feet away at the moment, so their re-grading helped somewhat. Im really crossing my fingers it starts going more out into the yard and doesnt keep rising by the garage, especially over the next few days. If it gets much closer, Ill probably pack the port hole full of mud to cut the flow.


It's a bit hard to see, but the irrigation port is about 2 feet to the right of the rightmost main block wall column in the picture.

 

WOW! JUST WOW! I cannot believe the problems you had with this company. And the way the guy talked about you to your WIFE is super unprofessional. They literally cost you more than they did because it sounds like they did nothing but damage things and raise your blood pressure. Sorry to hear it!
I hope you are able to resolve things. I would want to consider requesting compensation for damages and if they decline file a small claims lawsuit.

Long ago, before my home was built, I loaned out the vacant land to a company my city hired to redo the street. Before starting, they agreed to restore the property and in exchange, they would use their equipment to take care of a couple small things I needed. I got nothing but a trashed property! Ground with all types of altered elevation, rebar, asphalt, old clay pipe and debris that prevented me from maintaining the yard. My city even sent me a notice for tall grass and when I explained they claimed I was out of luck as they were not involved in that use of my property with the company THEY hired. When the owner refused to meet with me on my property to see the issues first hand, I had to file a small claims law suit. The guy settled out of court. Best part, I had the fun of contacting HIS attorney and asking why HIS office sent me a threat from his client. I digitally cashed the check so I could keep the original in my files. In the memo field of the check (the check that arrived with the attorney's return address on the envelope), it read "Karma is a B****. Be ready for it.". To make matters more interesting, I his attorney must have talked to him, as I received an email with some vulgar insults. All this is in a police report in the event anything were to happen in the future, his behavior is on file.
The good news, he's not welcome in my city. Heck they could not even get him onsite for any warranty work.....

 

Got the 2nd coat of paint on the repairs; they came out OK. Not totally invisible, but as close as I can get it as a complete amateur. Maybe once the dust settles with the build, I'll come back and float the repair out over a larger area to hide the transition better (like drywall repairs). I didnt sponge it enough so the repair area is a hair proud of the original stuff - just enough you can faintly make out the outline of it.

Unfortunately that part alone isnt worth small claims as I did the work myself. Im into it about $40 between a chunk of weep screed and a bag of stucco pre blend powder. Already had the paint on hand.

We'll have to see about the irrigation port - that damage could be beyond a DIY repair, especially if it's cracked underground. Will find out once the canal dries up. That may be worth a claim. Personally, Im hoping it's an easy fix as I want absolutely nothing to do with those people ever again.


I did also find they were still non compliant on the job Id hired them to do. It's got a lot more slope now - although I really doubt any of the north side is truly 6" of drop. It at least looks like its NOT flat now, so Ill run with that as is. I need to rent a skid steer to re grade the whole yard at some point soon anyways, so Ill measure it exactly then / fix if needed.

I did find that to try to hit their slope numbers, they violated the first requirement - dirt at the foundation at least 4" below the weep screed. They built this area up as its an easy way to increase the 10 foot drop number with very little dirt moved, but they way over did it. They had the dirt anywhere from 3.5" below to as close as 1.75" below. Since this is super easy to verify / fail inspection for, I went around and hand dug it all down to 4", then came back and scraped a few more rows out from the foundation with a flat shovel to blend it back in to the slope.

To be fair, I kicked them out as soon as I saw the damage, so who knows if they'd planned to come back and fix this part at the end.


I also went ahead and scheduled final inspection for Friday. Best I can tell, everything is done at this point, so it's now or never. I am going to spend the next few nights cleaning the place up so it's not a total war zone. Ill get the outside hosed off of sand and all the tools and garbage out of the inside. Super nervous, but fingers crossed...


Wow, that's absurd! Hard to find any strangers you can trust to keep their word. Certainly makes you more thankful for having good people in your life.

Dang - thats bold!

 

Well, that's officially a wrap. Final inspection done, completion certificate issued. Ended up just about 1 month short of 2 years (not including the covered patio stuff they made me do first).

Going to take a little break and enjoy some time away from working on it. Then I'll get on to epoxy and an electrical permit when things start to cool off a bit.

 

I bet thats a feeling, standing back, looking at what youve built. Congrats man!

 

Thank you! It is very surreal.

It's already a bit bizarre doing things this weekend and not having to feel bad about not putting time into the garage. We worked on it for so long that it had always become the default plans for stuff to do.

I will say, Im already get antsy for the next project on it. Frankly it's a bit useless at the moment. I cant really move stuff in until the floors are coated (as I dont want the hassle of working around stuff / having to cover stuff for that project). It's also unusably dark inside all closed up. I did put in a couple 1000 lumen overhead battery lights just so I dont have to drag a flashlight out there with me, but they're nowhere near enough to do anything useful.

I think Im going to get the epoxy crack filler solution on order so I can start working on filling cracks in my spare time. The slab itself got a few stray cracks while initially curing, but Im also going to fill all of the saw cuts. Always hated car fluids running into the joints on my previous garage as it was such a pain to clean. Ive found some stuff supposedly as strong as concrete, but flexible enough to move a bit if needed too (and also accepts epoxy coating as well as concrete does).

I will admit though, it's nice to step away for a minute and take a breather though...