Posted by UnhappyCamper on August 19, 2004, 2:50 pm
My wife and I have recently undergone construction of a new home. The
contractor we picked is held in extremely high regard from everyone we
spoke with. Up until now we have been extremely pleased with the
choice we made to use him. Two days ago (1½ weeks into the
construction) we discovered the house was positioned in the wrong
place.
Background: We have a very narrow lot - 31.75 feet. The new house is
28 feet wide. We deliberately made the house this narrow due to lower
costs (square feet) but also to ensure we had enough room down the one
side to still be able to get a truck / ride-on-mower down the side.
Proposed Location: The drawings provided to the contractor showed the
house location on the lot (5ft - from the west side property line,
allowing for around 8'9" (105") on the east side for the truck access
etc). We want to be able to take lumber into the back for building a
deck etc at a later stage.
Actual Location: The house has been positioned at least 12" further to
the East than we specified in our plans. Instead of having approx.
105" on the East side, we are stuck with a mere 88" - 91".
So Far: We initially spoke to our contractor regarding this, showing
him the drawing with the house located on the lot. He didn't seem to
recall seeing the location plan before - we know we supplied it with
the drawings as we did with all the contractors we got to quote on the
job. This surprised us, and alarm bells started ringing. We went to
the house to get some better measurements. We contacted the contractor
again today and he said to speak with the Surveyor. We phoned the
surveyor. He said the contractor told him to put the house in the
middle of the lot! The weird thing of it all is that the house is not
quite in the middle - it's further to the west like we wanted it, just
not far enough over. The surveyor is going back tomorrow to re-survey
to see exactly where the house is located.
My questions are:
1. Has anyone been in this situation before? If so, how was it
resolved?
2. What are your thoughts, ideas, etc on what we should do to remedy
this problem?
Our problem is:
If we decide to get the house re-located to where it should be, we
would have the following problems:
1. The contractor may be upset with us. He's the one building the
house and may do a sub-standard job.
2. If the contractor recompensates us for some part, what's stopping
him from incorporating that cost elsewhere within the build.
3. Who would foot the bill of the re-starting from scratch.
4. All the sub-trades would have to re-schedule and may not be able to
due to other commitments.
Any help would be appreciated.
Regards,
Stephen.
Posted by Rusty on August 19, 2004, 3:08 pm
On 19 Aug 2004 11:50:38 -0700, stephen@oneway.ca (UnhappyCamper)
wrote:
>My wife and I have recently undergone construction of a new home. The
>contractor we picked is held in extremely high regard from everyone we
>spoke with. Up until now we have been extremely pleased with the
>choice we made to use him. Two days ago (1½ weeks into the
>construction) we discovered the house was positioned in the wrong
>place.
>Background: We have a very narrow lot - 31.75 feet. The new house is
>28 feet wide. We deliberately made the house this narrow due to lower
>costs (square feet) but also to ensure we had enough room down the one
>side to still be able to get a truck / ride-on-mower down the side.
>Proposed Location: The drawings provided to the contractor showed the
>house location on the lot (5ft - from the west side property line,
>allowing for around 8'9" (105") on the east side for the truck access
>etc). We want to be able to take lumber into the back for building a
>deck etc at a later stage.
>Actual Location: The house has been positioned at least 12" further to
>the East than we specified in our plans. Instead of having approx.
>105" on the East side, we are stuck with a mere 88" - 91".
>So Far: We initially spoke to our contractor regarding this, showing
>him the drawing with the house located on the lot. He didn't seem to
>recall seeing the location plan before - we know we supplied it with
>the drawings as we did with all the contractors we got to quote on the
>job. This surprised us, and alarm bells started ringing. We went to
>the house to get some better measurements. We contacted the contractor
>again today and he said to speak with the Surveyor. We phoned the
>surveyor. He said the contractor told him to put the house in the
>middle of the lot! The weird thing of it all is that the house is not
>quite in the middle - it's further to the west like we wanted it, just
>not far enough over. The surveyor is going back tomorrow to re-survey
>to see exactly where the house is located.
>My questions are:
>1. Has anyone been in this situation before? If so, how was it
>resolved?
>2. What are your thoughts, ideas, etc on what we should do to remedy
>this problem?
>Our problem is:
>If we decide to get the house re-located to where it should be, we
>would have the following problems:
>1. The contractor may be upset with us. He's the one building the
>house and may do a sub-standard job.
>2. If the contractor recompensates us for some part, what's stopping
>him from incorporating that cost elsewhere within the build.
>3. Who would foot the bill of the re-starting from scratch.
>4. All the sub-trades would have to re-schedule and may not be able to
>due to other commitments.
>Any help would be appreciated.
>Regards,
>Stephen.
I guess you meant 41.75 ft wide. We build 20 ft wide homes on 28 ft
wide lots so I don't call 41'-9" "very narrow" and you have plenty
of room for a riding mower down one side. You don't really need to
get a truck down the side, do you? Carrying the lumber for a deck a
few yards once in a lifetime is no great deal.
My advice would be to forget it and not upset the apple cart.
Someone has to swallow the loss and it will be mainly you in the
long run. Have you checked that there were not other reasons why
the foundations were moved? Does a local bylaw require more than
you allowed on the narrow side? Is there, perhaps, a right of way
for a gas line or whatever? Look at it this way, you are further
from the neighbours.
Posted by Brikp on August 19, 2004, 3:10 pm
I would say document concern (probably already done) then be happy and live
with it. Make nice with neighbors so you could drive over a foot or so of
their lot when need be.
> My wife and I have recently undergone construction of a new home. The
> contractor we picked is held in extremely high regard from everyone we
> spoke with. Up until now we have been extremely pleased with the
> choice we made to use him. Two days ago (1½ weeks into the
> construction) we discovered the house was positioned in the wrong
> place.
> Background: We have a very narrow lot - 31.75 feet. The new house is
> 28 feet wide. We deliberately made the house this narrow due to lower
> costs (square feet) but also to ensure we had enough room down the one
> side to still be able to get a truck / ride-on-mower down the side.
> Proposed Location: The drawings provided to the contractor showed the
> house location on the lot (5ft - from the west side property line,
> allowing for around 8'9" (105") on the east side for the truck access
> etc). We want to be able to take lumber into the back for building a
> deck etc at a later stage.
> Actual Location: The house has been positioned at least 12" further to
> the East than we specified in our plans. Instead of having approx.
> 105" on the East side, we are stuck with a mere 88" - 91".
> So Far: We initially spoke to our contractor regarding this, showing
> him the drawing with the house located on the lot. He didn't seem to
> recall seeing the location plan before - we know we supplied it with
> the drawings as we did with all the contractors we got to quote on the
> job. This surprised us, and alarm bells started ringing. We went to
> the house to get some better measurements. We contacted the contractor
> again today and he said to speak with the Surveyor. We phoned the
> surveyor. He said the contractor told him to put the house in the
> middle of the lot! The weird thing of it all is that the house is not
> quite in the middle - it's further to the west like we wanted it, just
> not far enough over. The surveyor is going back tomorrow to re-survey
> to see exactly where the house is located.
> My questions are:
> 1. Has anyone been in this situation before? If so, how was it
> resolved?
> 2. What are your thoughts, ideas, etc on what we should do to remedy
> this problem?
> Our problem is:
> If we decide to get the house re-located to where it should be, we
> would have the following problems:
> 1. The contractor may be upset with us. He's the one building the
> house and may do a sub-standard job.
> 2. If the contractor recompensates us for some part, what's stopping
> him from incorporating that cost elsewhere within the build.
> 3. Who would foot the bill of the re-starting from scratch.
> 4. All the sub-trades would have to re-schedule and may not be able to
> due to other commitments.
> Any help would be appreciated.
> Regards,
> Stephen.
Posted by P.Fritz on August 19, 2004, 3:52 pm
If the permit set clearly shows the dimension, then I would insist on having
it corrected, either the surveyor or g.c. screwed up.
> My wife and I have recently undergone construction of a new home. The
> contractor we picked is held in extremely high regard from everyone we
> spoke with. Up until now we have been extremely pleased with the
> choice we made to use him. Two days ago (1½ weeks into the
> construction) we discovered the house was positioned in the wrong
> place.
> Background: We have a very narrow lot - 31.75 feet. The new house is
> 28 feet wide. We deliberately made the house this narrow due to lower
> costs (square feet) but also to ensure we had enough room down the one
> side to still be able to get a truck / ride-on-mower down the side.
> Proposed Location: The drawings provided to the contractor showed the
> house location on the lot (5ft - from the west side property line,
> allowing for around 8'9" (105") on the east side for the truck access
> etc). We want to be able to take lumber into the back for building a
> deck etc at a later stage.
> Actual Location: The house has been positioned at least 12" further to
> the East than we specified in our plans. Instead of having approx.
> 105" on the East side, we are stuck with a mere 88" - 91".
> So Far: We initially spoke to our contractor regarding this, showing
> him the drawing with the house located on the lot. He didn't seem to
> recall seeing the location plan before - we know we supplied it with
> the drawings as we did with all the contractors we got to quote on the
> job. This surprised us, and alarm bells started ringing. We went to
> the house to get some better measurements. We contacted the contractor
> again today and he said to speak with the Surveyor. We phoned the
> surveyor. He said the contractor told him to put the house in the
> middle of the lot! The weird thing of it all is that the house is not
> quite in the middle - it's further to the west like we wanted it, just
> not far enough over. The surveyor is going back tomorrow to re-survey
> to see exactly where the house is located.
> My questions are:
> 1. Has anyone been in this situation before? If so, how was it
> resolved?
> 2. What are your thoughts, ideas, etc on what we should do to remedy
> this problem?
> Our problem is:
> If we decide to get the house re-located to where it should be, we
> would have the following problems:
> 1. The contractor may be upset with us. He's the one building the
> house and may do a sub-standard job.
> 2. If the contractor recompensates us for some part, what's stopping
> him from incorporating that cost elsewhere within the build.
> 3. Who would foot the bill of the re-starting from scratch.
> 4. All the sub-trades would have to re-schedule and may not be able to
> due to other commitments.
> Any help would be appreciated.
> Regards,
> Stephen.
Posted by CWatters on August 19, 2004, 4:41 pm
> If the permit set clearly shows the dimension, then I would insist on
having
> it corrected, either the surveyor or g.c. screwed up.
How much has been built? Perhaps the trench foundations are wide enough that
you can partially correct the error (eg move it 6") or are the walls already
up?
The builder/surveyor should have insurance to cover this sort of error.
In the UK the local council planning dept could make you knock the house
down and start again!
XML site map
>contractor we picked is held in extremely high regard from everyone we
>spoke with. Up until now we have been extremely pleased with the
>choice we made to use him. Two days ago (1½ weeks into the
>construction) we discovered the house was positioned in the wrong
>place.
>Background: We have a very narrow lot - 31.75 feet. The new house is
>28 feet wide. We deliberately made the house this narrow due to lower
>costs (square feet) but also to ensure we had enough room down the one
>side to still be able to get a truck / ride-on-mower down the side.
>Proposed Location: The drawings provided to the contractor showed the
>house location on the lot (5ft - from the west side property line,
>allowing for around 8'9" (105") on the east side for the truck access
>etc). We want to be able to take lumber into the back for building a
>deck etc at a later stage.
>Actual Location: The house has been positioned at least 12" further to
>the East than we specified in our plans. Instead of having approx.
>105" on the East side, we are stuck with a mere 88" - 91".
>So Far: We initially spoke to our contractor regarding this, showing
>him the drawing with the house located on the lot. He didn't seem to
>recall seeing the location plan before - we know we supplied it with
>the drawings as we did with all the contractors we got to quote on the
>job. This surprised us, and alarm bells started ringing. We went to
>the house to get some better measurements. We contacted the contractor
>again today and he said to speak with the Surveyor. We phoned the
>surveyor. He said the contractor told him to put the house in the
>middle of the lot! The weird thing of it all is that the house is not
>quite in the middle - it's further to the west like we wanted it, just
>not far enough over. The surveyor is going back tomorrow to re-survey
>to see exactly where the house is located.
>My questions are:
>1. Has anyone been in this situation before? If so, how was it
>resolved?
>2. What are your thoughts, ideas, etc on what we should do to remedy
>this problem?
>Our problem is:
>If we decide to get the house re-located to where it should be, we
>would have the following problems:
>1. The contractor may be upset with us. He's the one building the
>house and may do a sub-standard job.
>2. If the contractor recompensates us for some part, what's stopping
>him from incorporating that cost elsewhere within the build.
>3. Who would foot the bill of the re-starting from scratch.
>4. All the sub-trades would have to re-schedule and may not be able to
>due to other commitments.
>Any help would be appreciated.
>Regards,
>Stephen.