Lessons in patience to me

[sixtiesmuscle]

Wow !! What a great Garage Build.... I feel your pain on the "Bad Contractor" story...We had one on an addition 15 years back......We still find stuff that he did that was f'd up. We have a GREAT builder now, I'm doing the contracting But our actual Builder is fantastic !!
I'l start my own thread on my Garage build one day...I mean the thread. The Garage is well on its way !!!
All your work around the Place also looks great !!!!

 

[ckessel]

Thanks for the kind complements. The latest news we have on dirtbag is he just went through his 3rd shark hoping we'll just go away but we are sticking. We are doing this as low budget as possible but I'm wondering how much he's blown playing games. From what our guy told us, he'll file with a judge directly as dipstick needs to have representation for his side but it looks like he's on his own now. We'll most likely win since we have lots of documentation/photos/expert consultants etc but we will get nothing from him since he'll most likely roll over and do bankruptcy. News as it happens.

 

[ckessel]

We had correspondence from his latest shark wanting to lowball with his original settlement bid and saying we had an ADU unit built after he quit. Then we get a notice from the county last week about an un-permitted ADU. Wonder where the county got his tidbit from. My wife is sending the form back stating that there is no unit here. Most likely there will be an onsite inspection by them later to verify. Our main concern with this is if they decide to up our property taxes over what the last increase was. Sometimes you wish there were some bikers that owed you a favor or as Marcellus Wallace said, " Get Some Hard Pipe Hitting ----gers, A Blow Torch, Some Pliers and Get Medieval On His Azz". Or to broom a line from the Lincoln Lawyer movie, "Hospital, Not the Morgue" when Ryan Phillipe got tuned up at the end.

 

[ckessel]

I made up a dust collector for my blast cabinet today. Used an extra Chlorine bucket, nice hd bucket with a screw on lid unlike paint buckets, with some ABS pipe and fittings. I'll use my old Craftsman vac unit, which is a wall mount, to supply the suck. I received some red garnet media this week which I'll use to blast the remaining rust from the engine bay then collect it, putting a tarp under the car to contain most of the media, to put into the cabinet for further use.

 

[Nxcoupe]

Part of the delay was getting the lots married as one with the county. We had one skinny and one normal with different tax id's on them. We were able to get them put together as one lot since there would be no residence on the other which would have meant water and sewer hook ups. If that were the case, it would be empty like many others around here due to water moratoriums. Since its a garage, its a relative breeze. The lot change with the county took around 3 months I believe. We did not give them any information about the intended use as we thought it may not help us. The permit process was supposed to me 20 working days, ended up being 2 months. I would love to be in a position to give some payback to the county people when they need goods or service. "Your oil change will take me a month to do as I have to do studies on engineering and where your parts were sourced. Oh by the way, there will be further delays since I'll be going to a training session in Hawaii for two weeks." Dontcha wish?

You are a better man than I. I had a couple opportunities for jobs out there and I just couldn't do it. That state just shows I'm right in my beliefs. The weather is a draw, but I'd have to live out east in the desert. Good luck with your build. Mine is on the downslope and I thought I'd never get here. It is a test of patience.

 

[ckessel]

Thank you. This week we have to go over questions from the opposing side with our attorney. We have a date finally? set for mid December on the arbitration hearing. In the mean time, live life and pray for the best outcome.

 

[#41]

Wow, this is quite the saga. It reminds me why I left the construction industry..... too much unnecessary red tape, and too many unscrupulous people in the contracting world. Hang in there - you've got a great garage!

 

[ckessel]

I had access to a larger extension ladder today, so I was able to hang the D.C. sign I purchased at the MATSLV 2022 show. Now the south end of the garage has a sign. The north end has the oval sign. On the legal front, we are doing the pre deposition stuff. The latest we have on the arbitration hearing front is spring 2023. Our attorney is taking a job with a large firm down in San Diego, he'll be moving, that is ranked in the top 5 for construction law in the country. We will still use him as we are all vested in each other. Other than that, all is good here.

 

[Nxcoupe]

I had access to a larger extension ladder today, so I was able to hang the D.C. sign I purchased at the MATSLV 2022 show. Now the south end of the garage has a sign. The north end has the oval sign. On the legal front, we are doing the pre deposition stuff. The latest we have on the arbitration hearing front is spring 2023. Our attorney is taking a job with a large firm down in San Diego, he'll be moving, that is ranked in the top 5 for construction law in the country. We will still use him as we are all vested in each other. Other than that, all is good here.

View attachment 1346467

View attachment 1346468

Wow looks great. Reading your entire journey really put my problems into perspective. You seem like too good of a guy to be put through all this. But in the end, your garage and especially deck turned out amazing. I'd like to have some custom neon done like that, but I doubt anyone around here does that kind of work. Good luck with your case.

 

[ckessel]

Thank you. That sign is one of the ones you can get from MCG[ Mopar Collectors Guide]. I was death gripping the ladder rungs through my sandals on the up and down. Don't like heights. I stayed focused on the job at hand so that helped. I made sure I purchased extra screws since I figured at least one would get dropped. Dropped two. I was glad when my feet got back on the walkway. There are times when we get wrapped up about the contractor issues, how long it has been taking etc. He is now on his 4th shark but at least there is stuff going back and fourth. This project has been a huge "lesson in patience to me", therefore the title. Its a prime example of issues that pop up that test us all and how we need to just Let Go And Let God handle things. In the meantime since I'm feeling better after the surgery, I'm going to get things lined up so I can blast the engine bay in another week or so to take out the rest of the rust in that area. After that I'll squirt the area down with some Ospho then get it on the lift to continue the fit and fab work.
Updating the Super Street Mopar

 

[Nxcoupe]

Thank you. That sign is one of the ones you can get from MCG[ Mopar Collectors Guide]. I was death gripping the ladder rungs through my sandals on the up and down. Don't like heights. I stayed focused on the job at hand so that helped. I made sure I purchased extra screws since I figured at least one would get dropped. Dropped two. I was glad when my feet got back on the walkway. There are times when we get wrapped up about the contractor issues, how long it has been taking etc. He is now on his 4th shark but at least there is stuff going back and fourth. This project has been a huge "lesson in patience to me", therefore the title. Its a prime example of issues that pop up that test us all and how we need to just Let Go And Let God handle things. In the meantime since I'm feeling better after the surgery, I'm going to get things lined up so I can blast the engine bay in another week or so to take out the rest of the rust in that area. After that I'll squirt the area down with some Ospho then get it on the lift to continue the fit and fab work.
Updating the Super Street Mopar

I absolutely hate heights. When I first learned to drive, I'd get nauseated just driving on the bridge over the OH river, lol. I'm a ton better now, but still just didn't like being up on the scissor lift or ladder when we were putting stuff up, but it is what it is, not an alternative, so had to just adapt and overcome.
Hope you see some money at the end of this. Good luck.

 

[ckessel]

Tomorrow is deposition day for the dirtbag contractor. Our guy says it's going to take the majority of the day to do it. We'll be watching/listening on a Zoom link. The actual arbitration hearing is set in stone for April next year. Keeping our fingers crossed. His current sharks have already been on him about settling the dispute. Its going to be interesting to see how this goes since he hasn't been truthful with his latest bunch about screwups, discrepancies, code violations etc.

 

[Nxcoupe]

Tomorrow is deposition day for the dirtbag contractor. Our guy says it's going to take the majority of the day to do it. We'll be watching/listening on a Zoom link. The actual arbitration hearing is set in stone for April next year. Keeping our fingers crossed. His current sharks have already been on him about settling the dispute. Its going to be interesting to see how this goes since he hasn't been truthful with his latest bunch about screwups, discrepancies, code violations etc.

Good luck!

 

[ckessel]

Thank you.

 

[skicker]

My garage project was a PITA when having to deal with the county and engineers and such...

Fortunately the scale of the project was small enough that dad and myself along with help from a few friends for bigger tasks were able to do it without a "formal" contractor...

Differences between municipalities...counties and states is mind blowing as far as requirements and inspections...

The 3rd party inspector REQUIRED by the county charged for 6 separate inspections of different levels of completed work...foundation...framing...electrical etc...

He was here twice...There were no inspections of the structural requirements expressed in my structural drawings by the engineer for the elevated slab and the reinforced wall in my basement...

Oddly enough they did rigorously inspect my storm water management pond...God forbid it was more than 1/8" in 40' or I could not get an occupancy permit for the building...

Man were they pissed when it was within spec...

The further I went it just seemed the county made sure you paid a little money to everybody...

Your garage turned out very nice...I just don't think I could live in Cali...

 

[Brandy]

I built a 32x30 in SC once. Every city, county, state and nosy neighbor asshole was there daily, all with their hands out. What a racket. The plumbing inspector actually said, " What the hell makes you think having done a good job on yer plumbing makes any difference in whether you pass the inspection?" He wanted cash.

 

[ckessel]

Our county for sure has a corruption problem. We got lucky though with the building department and the inspectors that came out. Smooth sailing with no hands being held out. The only one we had an issue with was for the "Archaeological Survey". A separate entity has gotten themselves ingrained into the system looking for artifacts, bones etc. Unless you get this done, you go nowhere. Almost $1500 to have some wanker walk around the backyard then go back to the office and look a prior documents to see if anything was found when the streets go put in many years ago. I'm glad we are not closer to the water than we are otherwise the Coastal Commission would be demanding handouts.
The deposition seemed to go well yesterday, we were watching but with the camera covered up and the mic muted. Our "buddy" even embarrassed/surprised his lawyer several times since his client didn't give him the full rundown on what's happened. Our attorney is writing up a demand letter to him and his homie to either settle with us by the end of the year or we move on to the arbitration hearing. They wanted to do mediation in between, just another stall/burn up funds tactic. We said no.

 

[ckessel]

The deposition went well, for us at least. The contractor admitted several things. It was funny watching the reaction of his current attorney. They wanted to do mediation before the arbitration hearing, which is just a ploy to burn up more legal dollars, to which we said no. We are a little concerned he may try to roll over and file for bankruptcy to get out of it, but if he does the bankruptcy people go over his finances/holdings/assets etc with a fine tooth comb. If they find out he is trying to skip taking his lumps, then they can hit him for fraud which will add to our wanting to nail him on fraud. If he gets hit with fraud, he can't hide behind his corporation and we can go after all of his assets. We are holding the fraud part back so he doesn't get wind of that. Our guy sent the opposing side a letter with a figure to pay if he wants to settle out of court. The new year will be interesting.

 

[493 Mike]

The deposition went well, for us at least. The contractor admitted several things. It was funny watching the reaction of his current attorney. They wanted to do mediation before the arbitration hearing, which is just a ploy to burn up more legal dollars, to which we said no. We are a little concerned he may try to roll over and file for bankruptcy to get out of it, but if he does the bankruptcy people go over his finances/holdings/assets etc with a fine tooth comb. If they find out he is trying to skip taking his lumps, then they can hit him for fraud which will add to our wanting to nail him on fraud. If he gets hit with fraud, he can't hide behind his corporation and we can go after all of his assets. We are holding the fraud part back so he doesn't get wind of that. Our guy sent the opposing side a letter with a figure to pay if he wants to settle out of court. The new year will be interesting.

I wish you good luck brother! As well as a Merry Christmas.
Mike

 

[ckessel]

Back at you Mike plus all the rest of the FBBO homies.