So...my home is basically ruined.

A little dilemma tonight that I could use some opinions on. Before the house moving guy came over, I already had an appointment scheduled for this afternoon with some basement specialists who have a lot of tv commercials around here. I get the impression that they are a bigger company and assumed they would be very expensive but, at the time I called them I was really under the gun to find someone. So I called to cancel the appointment this morning but the person said the guy would already be in my city today anyway and reminded me that it was a free estimate. I agreed to meet them. He came up with a plan that I think will be just as good as the engineers plan. In fact, I think it will be even better in some ways. For instance, the engineers plan calls for new joists in two places and a new 4x6 spanning across a 25 ft. section of the house (held up with 3 adjustable steel posts on concrete footings). These other guys think about 4 or 5 more joists should be replaced just to be safe and that it would be better to use a 15 ft steel beam with 3 footings (or 25 ft beam with 5 footings if I want to span the whole thing). I'm sure that would be a better fix but I was waiting for price because I figured it would be super expensive. These guys don't have to say they aren't sure about the price. The prices are set per linear foot of steel beam and per jack/footing...including labor. They say they can do the job their way for about 40% cheaper than the other guys top end price. And their materials and work have a lifetime transferable warranty.

The problem? I think the other guy really wants to do a good job and I question whether the bigger guys will just want to get it done asap and get down the road. Also, their plan isn't exactly the same as the structural engineers drawing so I'd have to find out it that would still be acceptable to the city inspector and my insurance company.

 

Usually, not always, but usually the big guys, "as seen on TV", cut as many corners as possible... They make more money than the other guys, even if the estimate is lower or the plan seems better, that's why they are on TV. They can afford it. The little guys tend to care about quality. (again, not always) Seemed the house mover guy would be a better working relationship also.

 

That's kind of what I was thinking too. And I could always have the house mover put in steel beams if they will be better. But a 40% savings would be substantial. The other kind of red flag for me was that they said they could do all of the work in 2 days and be done. How do you dig and pour footings on one day and lift a house completely by the next day? I've always heard that they should be lifted gradually and I don't know if 24 hrs or less is sufficient time for the footings to set properly.

 

I wouldn't trust it... Yeah, there is quick setting additives but they weaken the concrete in the long haul.

 

I was in touch with the house mover today. I got his proposal and told him to plan on starting this week. He said he would be ready on Friday or possibly even Thursday. I made sure that I told him why we wanted him. I told him we had a bid that was much cheaper but that we thought he was the person who seemed to care about doing the job the correct way and the person who I thought knew the most about doing this job. He strikes me as a humble person but I told him that the benefit of things moving so slow is that I've been able to talk to a lot of people and feel like, so far, I have the people I want working on this. So...maybe play a little to the ego but at the same time...be able to say that we're paying you a lot of money, we expect your best work. I think he may be expensive but I think he'll do a great job and I can live with that.

 

Sounds good.

 

The house movers started today. I had to leave work this morning and take the rest of the day off (bummer, right?) to come home and advise on a few things. I was told I need to have the furnace moved. Had to talk to the window guy while waiting on the heating guy to show up for an estimate. Removed a counter and a row of cabinets to access and install a couple of windows properly. Had to discuss sub-flooring with our contractor. Found out maybe we don't have to move the furnace. Waiting on another appointment for this afternoon....

It's pretty much just been managed chaos. Perfect! I thrive in chaos.

And the price to move and furnace and then re-install it is freaking insane! I'll shop around. $1700 to unhook it, move it 10 feet and then come put it back later. They said to install a new one would be $2800. You damn near might as well put a new one in. I asked how much it would cost to just drain the refrigerant and fill it back up later (from the AC unit which is connected) so I could move the furnace myself....$600! Seriously?

And I found out that there is an older foundation underneath the existing one. That was kind of cool. Those guys aren't playing games down there. They dug some large, deep footings today and are in the process of pouring concrete right now.

 

Please.... think nothing of it!!

I am so sorry this happend and I hope you can make good things happen again soon!!!

Peace and love to you my friend!

 

I finally got all the ducks in a row today. I have contractors for all facets of the work now. I feel pretty good (and lucky) to have the people we have even if it did take a long time to find them. Not one of them was someone who jerked me around or didn't show up for estimates, etc. They haven't been the cheapest but cheaper isn't always better. I have solid "not to exceed" figures for all of the work except one relatively minor part. I must say...I'm feeling pretty good about my management of this at this point. I think a lot of people would have been pulling their hair out (I've had my moments) but so far we have a good team and I'm estimating that we will run roughly 20% under our overall budget. Now I have some decisions to make about how much more I want to do. Almost the whole house will be new....I might just pull the trigger and tell them to do it all. This far in and this far under budget...I have to think about this.

 

I have no idea if anyone is still reading this thread but I might as well keep updating it as things progress so I can go back in 6 months and read it and remember all the stuff that we had to deal with to get this done.

Today was a good day for progress. The house movers finally got around to actually lifting and straightening the structure. They warned me that they didn't think they could get it perfect so I had lowered expectations. I talked to my other contractor by phone before I got there and he told me he thought it looked about the same upstairs. I didn't realize he was joking so I was kind of worried. It isn't as true as new construction but those guys exceeded even my "best case" expectations. They think they will still be able to make a few improvements but damn....they did such an awesome job already. The whole thing, both floors, will be covered with 3/4 in. sub-flooring anyway but they made it so no major work needs to be done to make the sub-flooring level. I think it will look pretty perfect in the end. There was minimal cracking on whats left of the drywall in the house but nothing too bad.

I'm pretty damn happy about this right now. It may be going a little slow but all of these guys are doing outstanding work. They aren't the cheapest fly-by-night guys but they aren't cutting corners. They are doing it correctly and it's starting to show.

 

Its a slow process if you want it all back to as close to OG as possible. Lots of manipulation and small tedious work. It will pick up and then you will wonder if the 'are' cutting corners. At least you're more than happy so far and don't get too excited so you won be too disappointed 'if' a problem pops up.
They wouldn't have taken the job if they couldn't come through IMO.

 

Right on...

 

I'm a pretty good manager and I have a pretty firm grasp on how this should go. But I can only be as good of a manager as what I have to work with and the contractors I have are making my life easy. I was a little worried but these guys are doing great. I knew early that I'm not the one who makes this perfect. I'm the one who has to pick the people who can make this perfect. Then I have to trust them just like I ask my customers to trust me.

 

Im so sorry buddy....... Of course we are reading your thread!!

We are worried about you.....

 

Thanks but no need to worry. Everything will work out just fine.

 

be fine as you are

 

Agreed. I used to worry about things more when I was younger until I realized that everything truly will be ok....even if things seem really bad. Some of the greatest things that have ever happened to me have rose from the ashes of things that I thought were some of the worst things to happen. So for a lot of years now...I've had a phrase..."all things will be as they should be". So when I get bad news, I think that to myself.

 

Think things are as they should be i will, no more bad news from me look at what you love and no you are not without a clue

 

Talked to the house mover again today. He's done but still has a house jack holding up some joists until the bricklayer gets done. That guy should probably be done tomorrow or Wednesday, I bet. The best news of the day is that...if anyone remembers....the house mover told me his top dollar would be what I was hoping would be the cheapest price I could get. His final bill is going to be about 20% less than that. So that's money I can use in other places and we should be moving much faster pretty soon. By the end of this week, we can say the house is as straightened as possible and the foundation has been gone over, re-mortared and back-plastered. Outside of lifting the house, tearing out the basement and building a new one....this is about as good as you can get. It looks great so far.

 

An update....up to this point, I've been very happy with my contractors. The basement is done but we are now way behind schedule. My wife expects the house to be done by the end of February. I can tell you for a fact that it won't be done by then. I am starting to have an issue with our general contractor. He said that once the basement was done, he could finish lifting the upper floors. I think he's good but I'm starting to question his faith in himself. He doesn't sound confident with this phase of the work. As someone who stares down some seriously scary shit almost everyday, I can tell you that you just have to do it. You have to make that first move. What I do is much scarier and I'm starting to feel like I may have to take this over and come up with my own plan. I'm not an expert but I've listened to all people involved and have already come up with three different ways that this can go. Just fucking do it already!!