The blame game

This building process is going. as. slow. as. molasses. DH is about to blow a cork. The builder was told on 5/17 the shop slab was ready and 5/18 the garage slab was ready. He was actually told two days before that that it would be done by those days, so the builder could get the plumber scheduled in advance. Plumber didn't come out until the 25th. Then he told us last week that concrete would not be poured until today. (it should have gotten poured last week!) Then yesterday morning he texts DH and says concrete will not be poured until Monday 6/4. That pretty much did it for DH.

The builder told us it would take 60 days to build the shop. We signed the loan papers to have funds available to start work of March 20th. DH told builder it would be about one more week before rockery wall was done (that needed to be done before foundation could be dug), plus it was too muddy yet to start on foundations anyway. Rockery was done on March 28th and weather/ground was good to go. Builder was kept apprised during that week, so he actually knew a few days prior to that when the rock wall would be done. So, we are using that date 3/28 as the builder "start date" and not 3/20. The excavator could not start digging the foundation until the builder got out there and staked it all out for him. He didn't come and stake it for another 6 days, on 4/3. (after DH had to get on his case to get out there and get started on this!). The excavator got started and the foundations were finished being dug 4/6. Builder did not show back up to start setting foundation forms until 4/13. He said it would take 7 days to set up the forms and pour the concrete. It was May 3rd when they got it done and by then the excavator guy had to go onto another job, he couldn't keep waiting around. So, by the time our builder was ready for him, he was off on another job for a week and couldn't get back to us until May 8th and then he only came one day, with one guy, and pulled off for a flooding emergency. It was May 14th before he got back to us and finished up the backfilling and slab preps on 5/18.  Here it is 5/30 and nothing's been done since then except the plumber guy was here for a couple hours last Friday. 63 days and we still don't have the concrete work even finished. It will (supposedly) be poured on 6/4.  That will be 68 days into this and still a complete shop to frame, roof, side and finish inside. We should have been able to have our house listed (and most likely sold) by now, just waiting on it to close and move into the shop and be starting on the house soon. We'll be lucky if the shop is even done in another 60 days.

Our holes for the gate pier foundations have been sitting open since beginning of April, because the builder couldn't listen long enough to make sure enough concrete for them also got brought out for those to get poured at the same time as the foundations, so then the excavator could fill those back in same time he was backfilling every thing else. Now it won't get done until way down the road - when the excavator comes back to do electric and water lines dug.

I called the lender this morning to ask her what our options are if we decided to find another builder. Just so we know what our options are in advance. She said we certainly can do that (though, of course we are under contract with the builder and it would have to be a mutual "break up").  I explained it's been over 60 days and we haven't even finished with the concrete being poured and the shop was supposed to be done (or at least close to it) by now. She offered to call the builder and get on him to get going with this and stop putting us to the back of the bus because he's taking on other work and putting them before us (who he's known he was going to build our house since last year, for sure he's known 100% since end of December). She called him - of course he blamed it all on the excavator! The excavator delayed it 10 days. He's delayed it almost 5 weeks so far. 

DH ended up having a blow out with the builder yesterday. He tried to blame the excavator again and DH would have none of that. Sure, he was a small part of the problem, but if the builder had gotten the foundations done in the 7 (or even 9-10 days) days he said he'd have it done, the excavator would not have had to pull of his equipment and go to his next job. Plus he tried to say to DH "I'm working Saturdays and Sundays, too." DH said well, no one has worked on our place on any weekend, they don't even work WEEK DAYS most of the time! When we met with the builder last January he told us he had two houses to build this spring. Now his excuse is he has 10 houses he's trying to build. DH said he didn't give a crap about those other houses, that obviously came after we signed our contract to get ours built. Now he's saying slabs will be poured Monday, as well as the lumber for the shop will be delivered. Builder had the nerve to say to DH "you're not motivating me to want to build this". DH said "well, I wasn't aware it was my job to motivate you to do your job. I would assume getting paid for it and your business reputation are what motivate you".

We expect some delays, of course. Honestly, we were expecting about a 90 day build. We aren't naive, but this has gotten way off schedule. DH figured it out. So far there has been 15 days of actual work done in the last 63 days. At that rate it's going to take 6 months to build this shop. The plumber guy that was out last Friday told DH "the one that yells the loudest is going to get it done faster". I don't know if he was specifically referring to dealing with this builder in particular or just contractors in general, but from the whole conversation DH was having with him, it kind of sounded like he was referring to this builder, specifically. DH was like well, I hate having to be like that - especially when I'm the one paying them!