Sooo (insert shame-face smiley here) we either heard wrong or assumed our own thing but some type of miscommunication occurred regarding this foundation and retaining wall.
After discussing the new version of the plan done by the draughtsman, we spoke about the retaining wall issue, only to find out that it is PART of the foundation structure. Yes, it will make the cost we averaged for the foundation a bit more but it will not be a huge and separate cost that we need to pay.
You would not believe how relieved I was but Samurai played it cool like 'oh, I knew that all along'... *roll eyes*... so why did you get a quote from that company eh? eh?
So anyways, the cost of the foundation that was quoted by the draughtsman INCLUDES the retaining wall but was still too much for us. After speaking with my new-homeowner-cousin and her boyfriend about all the costs and headaches attached to building your own house, they too were a bit doubtful about this $280,000.00 quotation. Even though they put us on to this draughtsman, they joked that maybe it was the contractor in him quoting us on that price.
Now, my cousin is a red 'oman. You know when I say "red 'oman" and not "red woman", she aint easy. She can tough it up like any other man and as her boyfriend admitted, is why she oversaw the entire construction process for their house and not him. He is too soft-spoken and patient, Samurai and I are their opposite. Anyways, she recommended a new guy for a quote. He actually did her foundation, which I am now learning about... jeez, explaining that even though the draughtsman was great at floor plans, this other guy had decades of experience with foundations and more specifically, retaining walls. She said he is very thorough and will quote his material down to the exact brick.
My cousin isn't afraid to really pull-up people when they're slacking off and she admitted that she didn't even have to do any of that with this guy. He actually did the retaining wall for a piece of land her sister purchased years ago. The back of the lot was several feet higher than the roadway and she wanted to address the structural issues as she planned on building soon when she returns from the States. Another person purchased the lot next to hers and did the same thing, built a retaining wall to the back but when the heavy rains came earlier in the year, and there was flooding and houses sliding down the hills, and roads crumbling like cookies, the neighbour's wall crumbled with it but her sister's wall remained strong.
Well you know, Samurai and I were sold! My cousin's boyfriend called the guy (now dubbed 'Foundation Guy') to brief him and to let him know to expect our call. I had Samurai call him the very next day, because well, I'm a socially challenged.
This guy was also very pleasant and friendly and we arranged to view the land the following Saturday.
On our way that Saturday, he called Samurai to say his car was down and wanted to know if we could pick him up in the East. When we pulled up, he did not seem like any man who did construction. He jumped in an I immediately felt very comfortable speaking with him as we discussed the house and showed him our floor plan (to date) along the drive.
When we arrived, our daughter was fast asleep so we initially stayed near the van while Samurai talked about random stuff like steel options and the issue with the retaining wall. I am so obsessed with learning everything I could about construction but the more Samurai and the Foundation Guy spoke the more they wandered further into the land preventing me from hearing what they were saying, ugh.
From afar, I saw Foundation Guy pound on the soil with his foot and stooped down for a bit for further inspection I assume. Sigh, I wish I could read his mind because according to sipreal.com, we should have gotten an engineer to do a soil analysis especially with this very thick clay soil, but crazy us, we just went with the fact that we know it's clay soil so we don't need someone to tell us that again.
On our way back, Foundation Guy explained he is really simple. He just wants to come in and do the work and we source the materials and have them ready for him. He said he will work out the item list and quote and get back to us in a week. We were happy to hear that because just the night before we discussed purchasing the materials and finding the labour as being the only cheaper option to this special foundation that we need.
We waited patiently and I kept thinking positive that he would give us a quote that was doable in order to complete our plans and finally submit them for approval.
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