Little did we realize when the delays started back in June while trying to get our foundations in that we would find ourselves in the middle of August before they actually got started.
The 22nd of June we had the footings scheduled to start. I wonder looking back now if the concrete contractor ever really intended to do the work. He showed up on site that day unhappy with the conditions of the excavating. We agreed to have the soil beneath the footings compacted and then tested, after all we wanted our footings on solid ground. He then let us know that we were getting moved down his list of projects and he would be back in probably two weeks. We had the ground compacted and tested and then we waited and the rain began. We fought to keep the excavation dry, we pumped it, we shoveled trenches, and the rain kept coming. The concrete contractor, after a longer delay than originally intended, was finally about ready to show up on site when he called and told me half of his crew quit on him and he was still trying to finish up another project. He put me out another week and said if I could find someone else that I should. We were shocked at this of course. The middle of summer, the busy building season, and we were going to be looking for a new concrete contractor? I tried all the contractors we had originally sent bids to, only one returned my call and said they might be able to fit it in if it were switched to a poured job, his crew better set up for poured work. He would get us a new bid. We tried one other new contractor that would bid it as block. By the end of the week we hadn’t heard back from the first and the second contractor’s bid was way over our original number. Feeling stuck, we told our originally hired contractor we needed him to stick with us and do the work. He showed up the beginning of the next week on site to meet with me and we walked around a very muddy site. Inches of sediment had run into the excavation over the last month and a half. He told me we needed the excavator back to clean it out, he was unable to clean it up himself. I scheduled the excavator for later that week. Half way through that week, my wife and I were having a conversation about how we were coming to terms with all of this delay, trusting God that he had our best. Literally minutes later, I received a text from the concrete contractor that he would be unable to do the work due to his schedule and the ongoing delays of our site. My wife and I sat there stunned. We felt betrayed by this contractor who had strung us along over the last month and a half. Our only current option was the new contractor that was way over the original cost. We began conversations with them while we thought about the cost and ways to reduce it. I kept the appointment for the excavator to come back, but we were feeling serious doubts, and then I got a text out of nowhere. The concrete contractor that had asked to bid the job as poured had sent me his updated bid numbers. They were just a little over our original numbers. I called him back and he committed to start right away. He was fitting us in. He even had someone meet us on site when the excavator came back, checking over the footing elevations and starting to layout string lines. So what was the date that this happened? It was July 30th. About 40 days after our original start date for footings. It was the 10th of August by the time our new concrete contractor had finished his last job and started ours. They poured footings on August 14th. Now they are in the process of getting the formwork for the foundation walls set up, we are starting to see leaves yellow on our property, and I am looking back on this summer and saying what happened?