So Close

The wall has been completely built - all that's remaining is for it to pass building inspection, which is scheduled for Monday.

And yet, the drama continues. There is apparently a disagreement between our general contractor and the concrete subcontractor about whether or not the estimate for the work included the cost of permitting and inspection for the plumbing and electrical components of the wall. This is a sizable discrepancy, as the permits are several hundred dollars themselves and there are a number of hours of labor involved in waiting to acquire the permits and then receiving the inspectors at the job site. These permits have not yet been pulled, so we think it is unlikely that the wall will actually pass inspection this time around.

There are "legitimate" reasons why such a discrepancy could arise - we believe this to be the result of verbal agreements that were improperly communicated within their organization. Not all contractors spell out every little thing the estimate includes or doesn't include - this is one example of how that can be a big problem! Suffice it to say this is not the first issue we've had with the concrete subcontractor. There have been enough problems that the relationship between the general and sub has soured and so it's been difficult to broker some kind of agreement.

Ultimately we stand by our general contractor because we've found him to be very honest, communicative, and consistently concerned about the well-being of the project. And we've withheld enough payment that if the issue becomes irreconcilable, we can just have him take care of the final permitting and reimburse him instead.

The construction of the wall itself is great, and we're very happy with it (well - as happy as we can be about something we hope to never see again). Pictured are the finished wall and the well which houses the sump pump. This had its own little micro-drama: the plumbing inspector did not like that, while the well is 12" thick on a side, it's not a solid material (it's a mixture of poured and concrete block). He actually required that they build a well within the well by pouring another 4" of concrete inside of it. It's so ridiculously reinforced now I'm contemplating putting a few cans of soup down there and calling it a fallout shelter.

The plumbing inspector has made our lives miserable in more ways than this, but more on that later. For now, we're happy that the saga of the wall will soon be drawing to a close.