Wildcat Construction

This obviously was a very stressful time for me. Glen Harman was patient and understanding. The insurance company was uncooperative and difficult to work with. The initial payoff amount was only enough to cover about half the total expenses! Glen delt withh them meet with the adjuster 3 times and spent countless hours on the phone dealing with the insurance and the bank. None of this time was charged to me. Glen did finally get the insurance to increase the amount. Since it was still not quite enough he worked with me on the price so it was affordable and still exactly what i wanted.

1. Glen told me he needed double the cement that was in the package.  He told me that the supplier was being cheap.  I agreed to pay for more cement for under the poles.  I found out later that it was because he wanted to use his 22" auger to dig the holes, instead of digging standard 8" holes. 

2. Installed the 4" x 6" poles in the wrong direction, wide side to the in/outside.  They were put in on Friday and I was not home.  I called him about this, leaving a message.  He did not respond, but when he came the next week, he told me they have to run them that way to have more to nail to.  I learned from the building inspector that I was correct (when he came for the final inspection). 

3. The morning they were to pour the concrete floor, I went out before the concrete came, noticed and told him that the floor drains looked higher than the sides.  He assured me that he used the transit and they were not.  He also ran the drain out the back of the building when I had asked him to run it out the left side because it was lower.  He told me they were identical in depth, because he had checked with his transit.  I know this to be untrue, because the site had to be filled from zero on the right, to about 18" on the left.  When the concrete was complete, he told me it wasn't perfect, but probably an A- or a B+.  When I went to look after they left that day, I couldn't believe how bad the concrete was.  The drains were, indeed, the highest spots on the concrete.  As it happened, it rained for a short time that evening, and while I know it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to have a perfectly shaped floor, there are pools everywhere.  I put rocks on the drains, so my pictures would show that the drains are not operable.  There are also footprints in the concrete and many, many rough areas.  It was very clear that he had not done 100 floors before.  I called him and asked him to tell me a good reason to not stop payment on the check for the concrete ($4750).  He told me it's NOT THAT BAD and no inspector is going to make him tear that out.  I asked him about his insurance.  He told me I'd have to go to court to get money from the insurance.  I do not know if that is true or not.  He offered to lower the amount due at the end of the project by $500 (the amount of the materials for the drains x 2).  I told him I would call him back because I had to think about it.  He called me back and I agreed to that because I felt I had no other option based on what he told me.

4. The OSB sheeting was put up vertically, with a horizontal pieces at the top on some walls, and at the bottom on others.  Again, I did not babysit, because I kept thinking they should know what they are doing.  Usually OSB is run horizontally and the sheets are staggered.  The inspector verified that I was correct on that, also.

5.  The windows are framed differently from one wall to the other, as if they weren't sure how to do it at first. 

6.  After they had the first wall of steel up, I went out to look at it.  I immediately noticed that the screws were not uniformly placed.  I drove to the supplier, looked at their sample wall, and got an installation booklet to take back to the worker.  The other three walls are done correctly per manufacturers instructions, but it could not be fixed on the first wall because the damage was done.  It happens to be the only flat wall (no doors or windows), so it is very obvious. 

Aside:  This two week project took 5 1/2 weeks to complete.  Every time I spoke with Glen he yelled at me about how he wasn't making any money on this job.  The fact was, he wasn't really  AT the job more than a few days over the entire project.  He would stop in for a short time every week or so to talk to his help and he was here to dig the post holes and to set up for and finish the concrete.  Every time there was a problem and I had to call him he complained that he wasn't making any money.  There was a glitch in that the steel for the roof and one wall were ordered incorrectly, but the guy(s) worked every day, so it didn't stop them from working.  I should let you know that there really was only one construction worker building this and one other person who came many days for at least part of the day to help, but he could only do as he was instructed, because (and he told me himself) he didn't really know what to do.  If Glen had shown up to work, he could have finished closer to deadline and maybe even stopped a few errors.  He told his worker that he didn't want to be at the worksite unless he had to be.

6.  Soffit material was cut short and didn't cover the framing lumber.  When I asked the worker about it, he told me he was afraid he was going to run short, and he figured that the trim would cover it.  Normally if you run short, you get another piece, you don't do sub-standard work.

7.  Glen told me where they were going to put the steel walls, showing me the lower left front corner, which is highest off the ground.  Then he asked me if that was ok.  Since that is where the OSB was, I said, yeah, you have to cover the OSB.  I wondered why he asked me, because he didn't ask me about anything else.  I would later learn that his help objected to the level, and why.   After three sides of steel were on, I was looking at the front of the building and noticed that the siding was going to end up below final grade on the right, front and back.  Actually, the driveway would be OVER the siding by about 5" in order to  go up to the level of the concrete to be able to drive in.  I spoke to the worker who told me about his earlier difference of opinion with Glen.   I referred to the manufacturer's manual, which shows the steel 4" above the concrete and I called Glen immediately and told him we have a major problem with the building (voice mail).   When he called me back and I told him how the level of the steel would not work out, his immediate response was, "YOU TOLD me I could put it there!"   I told him that he is the builder and he is the one who should be catching these mistakes, not me.  He drove out and told me he needed more money to keep working, again telling me he's not making any money on this job.  (Our contract was for $3750 up front and the balance on completion.)  When I told him he wasn't getting the rest until he was done, he shouted to his guys to wrap it up, they're leaving, then turned to me and threatened to put a lien on my house and that he can do that because he's licensed.  He yelled several things that they did that he claimed he wasn't getting paid for.   I just walked away and went into the house.  At this point, I had had way too much, and I was almost glad they would be leaving.  He eventually came up to the house and we discussed how to fix the problem.  I had to be the one to tell him that we needed to run another row of V-board and cut off the OSB.  I believe that if he had been reputable, he should have addressed the problem as soon as he knew it wasn't going to work out.  Another row of V-board could have been run much easier earlier in the build.  Now all the steel would have to be cut off on the bottom.  He showed me a few ways of cutting the steel and we agreed to use the shears.  He then went to town and added 3 cutting blades to my bill.  They were not used on the job and he kept them.