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Contractor walked off without completing foundation

5K views 28 replies 13 participants last post by  concretemasonry 
#1 ·
My contractor walked off, or should I say quit and we are now in legal war so I could get my money back. However, as of now he has excavated dirt right behind my home, put a footing, and set up the masonary blocks. However, we've had a terrible winter and so all the snow as melted into and around the trench as I call it and we are being hit with lots of rain. He refuses to pump out the water. What should I be concerned about? Will this affect the stability of the foundation,as it was done in temperatures of 26 degrees? Will I have to treat the land for termites? Will the water that has been sitting there affect my home?
 
#2 ·
This is an addition to your existing home? You're going to need to provide some more details, particularly pictures, in order to get some of the experts to be able to provide any advice, but, perosnally, it sounds like you need to engage the services of a local engineer. As an example, nobody here can be sure of the type of soil that you have, so while a first response may be that you need to rent a pump, it is conceivable that removing the water without adding some shoring could worsen the problem.
 
#3 ·
Post photos of the issue so we can see what you're talking about.
Short answer on the water pooling, get a sump pump and pump it out yourself.
Ron
 
#4 ·
Why the falling out with your contractor? Are you upset that he is not able to meet scheduling because of weather delays and/or not able to keep abreast of mother nature? Did you expect him to work in server conditions? Maybe I'm wrong and he's a schmuck, but it takes two to tango.

I think the water is the least of your problems.
 
#5 ·
Picture

LIHR- we signed a contract last july and the completion date was mid september. We stretched it till september because we wanted to give him time if weather may have been an issue. He didnt even start the project till November sighting permit issues which HE was supposed to take out himself and kept getting denied. Unfortunately, he wouldnt give back our money so we hoped he would do at least the work he was to complete with the money before the second phase.

Ron and Dexter- heres the picture
 

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#6 ·
LIHR-He didnt even start the project till November sighting permit issues which HE was supposed to take out himself and kept getting denied. Unfortunately, he wouldnt give back our money so we hoped he would do at least the work he was to complete with the money before the second phase.

Ron and Dexter- heres the picture

if licensing is required, is he? Why was the permit denied? Did you contact the building department to insure he is telling the truth?
 
#7 ·
Man this site can be brutal, almost like a woman being blamed for having caused her own rape.

Sorry to hear of the fallout with your contractor, and understandably, given the little bit of knowledge you have shared. Personally I would have looked for another before he got started.

That being said, how handy are you, what was comprised in Phase I of your project, is it basically the foundation?

Pump out the water and push the dirt into the hole.

More to discuss I am sure.

Mark
 
#12 ·
Man this site can be brutal, almost like a woman being blamed for having caused her own rape.
I don't know about that. I've read enough threads like this in the past week to determine there is just a lot of nasty homeowners out there that just can't be satisfied no matter what, and THAT is part of why contractors charge so much money.

Always two sides to a story, and very little information given here. Why was the permits initially denied? Design issue? Not possible to confirm customers specs within zoning or building codes? Not enough information.

-- Joe
 
#8 ·
Anid730 -

It sounds like you are attempting to take on the responsibility of being a General contractor.

Since he was able to get a permit, there must be some drawings that were done by someone. The foundation wall "looks" good and possibly overdone considering it may be grouted solid. It looks straight and the anchor bolts may have been placed according to a drawing and look to be in a complying location. From the photo, there is no way to determine the vertical accuracy.

The 26F temperatures would have no real effect. Pumping out the water is minimal if there is a place to drain it. It would be good to backfill and let it settle for a while before compacting it a bit and complete filling inside the foundation. It looks like you will have a bit of a drainage/elevation problems judging by the sliding door elevation and the adjacent driveway since the wood should be at least 6" above the finished grade..

What is the purpose of the foundation added on? I assume there will be a 2x4 wall and a slab bearing on the 4" of the foundation next to a partial height block and sill plate on top of the block or a slab poured over the area and the sill installed on top of the slab.

More details would help sorting out what is needed based on the plans, uses and responsibilities since you have a contract somewhere.

Dick
 
#9 ·
I don't see anything obviously wrong with it in the pictures either, other than the fat that the water should be finding it's way to your existing draintile, assuming the basement has them. Rather than pump the water, you "could" punch a small hole in the soil down to exterior tile & let the sump pump do the work.

Two questions though:

- What is the concrete riser (or what appears to be) against the soil bank?
- Why did they leave the soil inside what appears to be a crawlspace??
 
#11 ·
Sorry to hear you got dragged along by this so called "Contractor" He certainly was not forthcoming to say the least.
I don't know your locale and laws pertaining to contractors and I don't know the agreement between you both, but I would file a complaint nonetheless. Six months to complete what you show in your picture is totally unreasonable and you need to get some sort of satisfaction.

But with that said, you need to get your project completed. At least you're only out the money to get to that point. I would find a reputable contractor that can take you to finish. You probably will be spending more money than originally planned. As for the water pooling,,, it's not a problem.
 
#15 ·
To be honest, I'm not concerned about the contractor/HO situation, mostly because the OP didn't appear to be looking for help in that area, and this sight isn't geared to give legal/contract law advice. If I want drama, I can choose 200 channels of reality TV. I'd much rather just answer the questions asked directly, and maybe even warn of any possible unforseen issues that may arise that I've picked up along the way.

Now where's the OP???? :whistling2:
 
#20 ·
Reply...

Fireguy-The contractor never submitted the plans to the city when he said he did. It took over 4 months to finally have a completed set and was approved. Of course this was past our finish date as stated and signed in the contract. Then he took a month blaming the utility people for not having shown up to check for any live wires when at the end of the month I found out that they were never called to begin with. Then he took 3 weeks in between to pour concrete for the footings and another 3 weeks to put up the foundation walls/blocks. Then/now he refuses to finish the work because he no longer wants to work with us. We signed a contract in July, it is now mid March, for a job that should have taken at most 2 months to complete.

Anesthes-So although homeowners CAN be nasty, I believe Ive given him more then plenty of time to complete this project.

Concretemasonry/Ron-The grade is an issue and he had stated that once the blocks were up when the mason called him to inform him of this. I believe when another contractor is signed on, he will have to put some sort of drainage to make sure water doesnt leak within. Or we would have to rearrange the landscape which might pose an issue as I believe it might go beyond property lines.

Concretemasonry- its stated that he will install 5/8 rebar and pur 3500 psi concrete. Lay 8x8x816 concrete block and parge exterior. Install masonry vents, anchor bolts and lay 6 mill plastic, 4 inches of 3/4 gravel and 4 inches of 3000 PSI concrete for rat slab. Then back fill and grade. As far as framing he was supposed to install sil seal over the blocks, install 2x6 pressure treated plate, 2x10 floor joists 16 inches on center, install 3/4 osb ply board flooring, glue and screw. Frame exterior walls using 2x4 construction 16 inches on center, etc

Jomama- we are supposed to have a crawlspace. The city requires that before backfilling, that an inspection is done once the rat slab is done. The contractor stated that the soil within the foundation would be used for the backfilling as well as what was already excavated out which you cant see but is a huge almost 20ft mountain of soil.

Unfortunately, although I wish I could become my own general contractor and esp after losing a lot of money, I have no idea where to even begin or how costly it would be to higher each company ie, the mason, framers, etc individually by myself.

BTW-sorry for not replying back, Im not getting reply messages in my email!
 
#21 ·
Fireguy-The contractor never submitted the plans to the city when he said he did. It took over 4 months to finally have a completed set and was approved. Of course this was past our finish date as stated and signed in the contract. Then he took a month blaming the utility people for not having shown up to check for any live wires when at the end of the month I found out that they were never called to begin with.
What state is this?

Very odd. I've never had to wait more than 30 minutes for the building department to review my plans, and unless it's a 2 story or something crazy it's a matter of framing specs, foundation specs, and making sure spans are within the IRC. As far as utilities, calling digsafe 72 hours before starting the job is all that is needed.

What was the hold up with the plans? I know the new 2009 energy codes kind of took me by surprise as you need R21 in the walls now, and R49 or R38 in the ceiling depending on how it's framed up, which does change the plans unless you do expensive spray insulation. This is for MY region, what state are you in?

-- Joe
 
#22 ·
Anesthes- it took that long because after signing the contract, we waiting over a month waiting to hear back from the city. When we didnt get a reply I went over and they had never received any plans. When I called the contractor he said he was "working" on them and would submit them shortly. Of course this excuses continued and when finally plans were given, they lacked electrical, plumbing, proper variances, the 2008 energy codes as he had 2005 for some reason; you same it, it was missing. So the city denied it. So he then asked his friend/architect to sign and seal the initial copy and of course the architect never reviewed the work so the city denied it again stating that it was the same plans except now they were signed and sealed. I then had to go to the architect and was told that zoning denied it. So instead of reviewing ALL of the plans, the architect revised the zoning issues and of course after zoning approved it, electrical denied it stating there wasnt anything to review as electrical was omitted. This basically went on for weeks and thats why it took 4 months.

I live in New Jersey. NJdig was never given an order to come out to look for any wires all the while I was being told maybe the weather kept them away, or theres a 72hr waiting period, or that the order was in and he was just waiting for a reply. Unfortunately, depending on who you speak with at NJdig, they dont divulge information unless youre the person whos put the order in. Luckily I explained my situation to one of their reps who was kind enough to tell me nothing was ever called in for my location.

Dina
 
#27 ·
first thing i saw was no foundation vents in poured wall then all the dirt has to come out for ground clearance to floor framing in crawl. looks well made and standing water not a problem except where it may be entering existing house
 
#29 ·
Anid730 -

Make up your mind if you are forcing a solution or getting a quality addition built in the end.

Pump out the water and let everything settle and make sure you have short term plans to divert drainage away from the hole. Sites take time to dry out. Document all costs, but be reasonable/realistic. If you do not correct, the job will drag out much longer than you want.

Make plans for the future addition you want to fit into the site you already have considering the code requirement for keeping the wood and siding above the finished grade. This will undoubtedly include site grading that may have not been considered in determining the responsibility between you and the contractor you hired without a plan.

Dick
 
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