New construction in Houston, Tx ** Trying to complete punch list**

[Whiskeyfox]

dang that sucks and sounds like a big hassle for no reason! i didn't realize it at the time but my PB just had the gunite company do my pad the day of gunite. not sure if that is a bad thing or not being gunite vs regular concrete, but it was definitely very easy for them to do while they were there!

It was scheduled for today, but now I have been bumped to next Monday. I am not even really expecting it to happen then, so we will see. My builder seems to be unhappy that I am not willing to allow them to cut corners. He seems to think that clients should just be happy that they finally showed up and take what they are given, I am paying too much for that kind of service.

yes you are paying too much for someone to not meet expectations/agreements! i'm glad I've had to only prod a little on a few things. I'm betting that the attitude has shifted even more for the worse in an already sketchy business due to how busy all of the builders and contractors are at the moment.

 

[spd500]

I suggested they do it at the time of gunite and he didn't want to. The problem is I know from experience that 3 separate pads in my yard will settle unevenly. Because we are on the narrow side of my property I need a long narrow equipment pad instead of having it come out from the side of the house as far as a lot of them do. My equipment pad is supposed to be 30 inches by 10 feet, he had 3 36x36 pads delivered. If they put the 36 inch pads in I wouldn't even be able to get a mower into my back yard.

 

[Whiskeyfox]

random but I just realized you live in summerwood. I work by IAH and wanted to move to that neighborhood so bad when we were figuring out how to get closer to my work from pearland! there were a bunch of nice houses there that were options for us.

sounds like a weird decision from the PB as I can't imagine the gunite company would charge much for the pad after doing the pool. i bet he regrets it now that he is having to do it like you wanted in the first place!

 

[spd500]

We love Summerwoood! We were looking at lakefront places last year and just couldn't leave for a community with half as many amenities as we have here, so we decided to build our own lake.

I really am starting to feel like the builder thinks we should just be happy to have some movement on the pool after all of the delays. He had to have known that showing up with exactly what I told him was unacceptable from the beginning would not make us happy, but expected us to just deal with it. When I spoke with him yesterday he told me that doing a poured pad was going to add time into the project, I told him that I had already had so many delays that i would be swimming next spring and wasn't interested in cutting corners to have an unusable pool an sooner than it took to do it right, but that if he couldn't get the pad poured I would do it myself and take it off his bill. We have had to have a few uncomfortable conversations through all of this, which I really hate to do with contractors. But knowing that I will seek alternate solutions has led to him somehow having plumbers back out today to discuss getting the pad correct. Sad thing is if he had just told us upfront that it was more expensive we would have paid the difference. We have added over $15K in upgrades for anything we wanted to add, so not like we are getting a discount deal on this project

 

[gingrbredman]

Really hate to hear that this is what it comes down to. The PB has to be busy, yes, they all are. He is probably looking for anyway to move a project along so he can get to the next one, and the next one, and the next one. But I'm with you, they just shouldn't be allowed to commit to this job, and then cut corners in the end, at your expense, for what really amounts to something silly here.

My PB poured my equipment pad the second day he was on site. Mind you, I'm doing FB rather than gunnite, but the thought process should be the same. My PB knew the pad had to be concrete, brought in plenty of bags of concrete, and a mixer, and were done with the pad in a couple hours with his crew. It is really not that big of a job, all things considered in the scope of a pool, to dig out a 3' x 10' section, and pour the concrete in. Especially since you actually had a concrete truck at your house!

Sorry for my rant, this just sets me off, especially reading through your entire build. You aren't asking for anything extreme, you added a ton of extras, are holding up your end of the contract, and then are made to feel like YOU are the one being unreasonable here.?!? I like to hear you made it clear your position, and this is how things go. I really hope this is just a small bump and you move on to that awesome pool we saw you envisioned.

 

[spd500]

I really hope this is just a small bump and you move on to that awesome pool we saw you envisioned.

I am confident that it will all work out in the long run, I just hate that all of the contractors right now have taken more jobs than they can handle and the average consumer is paying the price. In my situation I feel we have made it clear that our expectations will not change based on the builder's schedule.

 

[kimkats]

When the builder told me that was just what I was going to get I asked him for a notarized statement that the 3 separate pads were being used against my wishes, now we are waiting to get a concrete crew to pour a pad.

PLEASE tell me you got to see his face when you said that!! I bet there was a VERY hard blink when he realized what you just said! WELL DONE! Sad you have to do it though

My builder seems to be unhappy that I am not willing to allow them to cut corners. He seems to think that clients should just be happy that they finally showed up and take what they are given, I am paying too much for that kind of service.

How much you want to be it works quite often??? Most do not even notice so.......

if he couldn't get the pad poured I would do it myself and take it off his bill.

Another Hard blink I bet!

But knowing that I will seek alternate solutions has led to him somehow having plumbers back out today to discuss getting the pad correct.

Amazing

Sad thing is if he had just told us upfront that it was more expensive we would have paid the difference.

The really sad thing is it would NOT have cost him more to have it done when the shell was done!!! GURRRRR

 

[spd500]

PLEASE tell me you got to see his face when you said that!! I bet there was a VERY hard blink when he realized what you just said! WELL DONE! Sad you have to do it though

Sadly, no it was a phone call. And he seems clueless when it comes to understanding what his clients want. He told me the other day that people shouldn't be expected to clean their trash when they leave because it's a "construction site" and I had to remind him that this is my home.

 

[spd500]

Guess who had surprise visitors at 6:45 am while sitting out back 8n their pajamas with the dogs? Yep, my wife. Two Saturdays in a row. But we are starting tile and coping! Nobody seems to have any idea how, but the internet into my office was cut. The guy standing next to the cut wire with a shovel seems to think the plumbers must have done it when they were here last week.

 

[kimkats]

He told me the other day that people shouldn't be expected to clean their trash when they leave because it's a "construction site"

Really??? OH MY he does not have a clue how to run a business or have happy clients at all!!

Yep, my wife. Two Saturdays in a row

Poor thing NOT a good way to start the day at all!

but the internet into my office was cut. The guy standing next to the cut wire with a shovel seems to think the plumbers must have done it when they were here last week.

sigh.............that is all I got........humm wonder why it worked before he showed up?????

 

[Sollace]

I hope your wife had her bathrobe over her PJ's. !! You almost need a doorbell on your fence.
I'm not looking forward to the no privacy and noise. When we start our build process we're getting chain link panels placed so the dogs have their own area. That way they're happy and I'm happy. Sort of. At least I won't be putting them on the leash and out front at all hours . . For two months. !!!

 

[spd500]

Been MIA for a little bit. Work has been insane and we have had some progress on the pool. Concrete crew showed up last weekend and poured the pool deck! We are planning for plaster cleanup tomorrow, and plaster Thursday! With any luck we might have water this weekend!

 

[Whiskeyfox]

Awesome! Hopefully we squeak out a couple of swim days before it gets too cold. My wife and I were ridiculous and sat in the hot tub for the 2-3 hours it took to fill so happy to be in the water lol

 

[kimkats]

Bet you are LOVING the deck being in!!! Let the mud/dirt END!!! for the most part that is LOL

 

[Travelguy73]

Been MIA for a little bit. Work has been insane and we have had some progress on the pool. Concrete crew showed up last weekend and poured the pool deck! We are planning for plaster cleanup tomorrow, and plaster Thursday! With any luck we might have water this weekend!

Would you mind showing some closer shots of your tile? I think that is the same we chose and I'm excited to see how it looks on something other than the PB's wall!

Thanks!

 

[spd500]

Bet you are LOVING the deck being in!!! Let the mud/dirt END!!! for the most part that is LOL

Yes! We are happy to have any kind of progress at this point! We have had so many delays on everything you can imagine!

 

[spd500]

Would you mind showing some closer shots of your tile? I think that is the same we chose and I'm excited to see how it looks on something other than the PB's wall!

Thanks!
View attachment 165768

We are very happy with the tile! We are using the same tile in a 1x2 for the trim around the spa, steps, and bench. They will be going in with plaster(hopefully tomorrow). I will post pics as we make progress on that part.

 

[spd500]

Awesome! Hopefully we squeak out a couple of swim days before it gets too cold. My wife and I were ridiculous and sat in the hot tub for the 2-3 hours it took to fill so happy to be in the water lol

We will be swimming when it finally gets finished! But since we have found more delays it will not be until at least the middle of the week before we can start adding water. I am looking forward to the time when we get to kick on the heater! Cold dont matter much when you are in the hot tub!

 

[kimkats]

So much movement and interesting places to look with that tile! Looks like they did a great job!

 

[spd500]

I feel like someone baked me a birthday cake and forgot the sugar. Something just seems to be missing.