I get MAD!!! (want to KICK ASSES!!)

I have worked in construction (heavy) for 43 years! I've been a hard-assed superintendent. It's what I know! It's what I do!

I've whipped more "puppies" into shape than I could count! I'm not talking about simple stuff like framing a sissy window; I'm talking about pouring 2,000 yards of concrete on stepped walls in a single day! I'm not talking about 580 Case backhoes; I'm talking about Manitwok 4500 CRANES, twin boom!!! and two hundred cubic yards of concrete at a time! That's 400k pounds of mud!

I remember once I made a Civil Engineer from Perdue cry. Dammit, I'm a surveyor, and I know what it takes to balance land for concrete, I do!!

Now, tonight I got pissed! I got trapped in a game I already knew 35 years ago. My dear wife fell into the trap, and now I'm pissed off!! Bigly!!!

So, we built this building (150' x 50) and we want to get the floor poured. The F#'s built the building about 2" above grade. I told them not to, but they did. Do the math. Now I need like (7) truckloads of sand at about $300/load to fill in the the gaps, because my concrete guy is only quoting me 4".

So tonight I'm out there ripping frost (which isn't suitable fill). Broke my shear pin on the ripper the frost is so hard.

F#...I'm PISSED!!!! I came up with about 60 yards of dirt, but 10 of that is frozen and unusable. Now I have to have 200 yards of dirt trucked in just to do my floor...and I'm MAD!!!

I KNEW this was gonna' happen! I told the wife, and she didn't believe me! I am so MAD I can't even control myelf right now!!!

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Truly you are a warrior against the human plight. Kick those asses FCD, make em cry like some rando civil engineer

#FirstWorldAsses

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

I KNEW this was gonna' happen! I told the wife, and she didn't believe me! I am so MAD I can't even control myelf right now!!!

Do you know the guys that built it, or where they live?

You're out of bubble gum, then...?

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Did they oversell or break contract.

Take a step back, and get a look from the outside in. I've had things like this happen on job-sites all the time, but when it happens at home it's a whole new level of madness.

Don't make any big decisions when your pissed.

Good luck.

I get it.
But you know as well as I do it’s cheaper to pour concrete in the summer time. Either wait until June or pony up the difference. The key is you don’t want it to crack all to pieces later.

Good luck buddy.

a reply to: CriticalStinker

No, they didn't. They sold me exactly what I bought. I cannot fault them for that.

I just told them to put the building 2" lower. Now, 2" may not seem like a lot, but when you do it over 6,000 square feet, it's bigger than you think!

So, concrete guy comes in and says we either want a 6" slab, or a 4" slab. I'm not payin' for a 6" slab, that's 1/3rd more concrete! Screw that!!!!......"Okay, well, you do the dirt work!"

I told the wife to wave the guy off! Screw him! Took me $20k grand to level the land for the damn building, and get all the drainage right. Now this dude wants to scrape up my building surround to get the dirt to fill the floor. F# that!!

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
I have worked in construction (heavy) for 43 years! I've been a hard-assed superintendent. It's what I know! It's what I do!

I've whipped more "puppies" into shape than I could count! I'm not talking about simple stuff like framing a sissy window; I'm talking about pouring 2,000 yards of concrete on stepped walls in a single day! I'm not talking about 580 Case backhoes; I'm talking about Manitwok 4500 CRANES, twin boom!!! and two hundred cubic yards of concrete at a time! That's 400k pounds of mud!

I remember once I made a Civil Engineer from Perdue cry. Dammit, I'm a surveyor, and I know what it takes to balance land for concrete, I do!!

Now, tonight I got pissed! I got trapped in a game I already knew 35 years ago. My dear wife fell into the trap, and now I'm pissed off!! Bigly!!!

So, we built this building (150' x 50) and we want to get the floor poured. The F#'s built the building about 2" above grade. I told them not to, but they did. Do the math. Now I need like (7) truckloads of sand at about $300/load to fill in the the gaps, because my concrete guy is only quoting me 4".

So tonight I'm out there ripping frost (which isn't suitable fill). Broke my shear pin on the ripper the frost is so hard.

F#...I'm PISSED!!!! I came up with about 60 yards of dirt, but 10 of that is frozen and unusable. Now I have to have 200 yards of dirt trucked in just to do my floor...and I'm MAD!!!

I KNEW this was gonna' happen! I told the wife, and she didn't believe me! I am so MAD I can't even control myelf right now!!!

If you told them "not to" and they did anyway, does it say so in a contract....if so then they pay for the fill.
The devil is always in the details....good luck on your project.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk


Oh buddy I feel your pain.
I remember "back when I built custom motor coaches" butting heads with a new manager.
There is a max load on the front axel of the bus, I forget how much cuz that was 20 years ago..
The customer wanted his house batteries and invertors behind the front bumper.
We are talking about 6 deep cell batteries and 2 invertors...
A good 1000lbs...

He said do it, I said fine..
Guess what's? Yup, overloaded front axel..

Three days renovation later we were all good....ugh

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

If that's the case I'd tell them to kick rocks.

Manitowoc.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Personally, if you have the bread, a six inch slab is the way to go. Who knows, maybe youll want a lift, or be able to bring in a heavy truck.

a reply to: caterpillage

Yes, thank you!

Spelling.

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
a reply to: caterpillage

Yes, thank you!

Spelling.

Lol, its not often my area of expertise comes up on ats.
Worked on and around maintowocs a bunch in my day.
Only one time with a 4500, mostly triple 7s, 8s, 3900 4000 and 4100 friction rigs.

Nice machines.

a reply to: caterpillage

Worked in a 12 story deep hole one time with not one, but two 4500's swinging in conflict with each other, lifting tandem on precast "T"s for a below ground parking garage. Big iron, big concrete. the walls were 4' thick at the base with haunches every 10'. Poured 2,000 yards of concrete a day on that job! Had concrete trucks lined up to two city blocks, all day long. All the crane movements had to be called by radio. Big gear. 300' foot of stick in each. Massive iron. The precast members were some of the biggest I've ever seen. Setting 150' spans twelve floors up and overhanging 200' or more. Massive lifts, intense coordination. Both of those cranes were brand spanking new when they came on the job; wore the paint off the running gear getting them in the hole. When they'd spin up for a lift it would shake the earth around the project!

"Black-ah smoke" the Italians would say..."Black-ah smoke, that's-ah how you know the iron, she's-ah workin'!!!"

And on the big lifts you'd need headlamps in the hole just to see from all the diesel fumes!!

THAT was some COOL stuff!!

Damn, so can you use 2" sheets of foam, or cut from the bldg surround?

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

the way I see it, you can't unbuild your building and do it over, so you can either deal with the situation, or be very angry, then deal with the situation. When something like this happens, there is a lesson to be learned. I'd say that lesson is not to let someone do YOUR project differently than you want. Lucky for me, I wouldn't know any better, I'd just get the 6" slab, mumble about the cost for a bit, then smile when it's all done and looks great.

Good luck either way. Happy New year.

Fascinating.

I sometimes go months without actually looking at my mail.

I've been meaning to put the sheets on my bed for like, 8 weeks now. I mean, they're sitting on the bed, but it's not made, so I just sleep near them.

I have the muscles of a toddler. I don't think I could do one proper push-up right now.

Sometimes, I will copy/paste letters to do a Google search rather than move my hand from the mouse.

Just fascinating.