Playing Musical Blocks…

Categories: Construction - Tags: block, foundation, setbacks, suppliers, WTF

Who would have figured that building a house would be so drama filled! So the latest chapter to our story is about blocks. Yes those very same cinder blocks used to build the foundation. The story is a little complicated but we’ll will start at the beginning and try to make it as simple as possible…

When we started the foundation we made an initial order of about 1800 blocks from a block supplier. For all intents and purposes we’ll call them ‘COMPANY A’. So the following day COMPANY A shows up on site with the blocks we ordered, but in a truck from a different supplier. Let’s call them ‘COMPANY B’. Ok, so that was unexpected…but whatever. We figured the 2 companies must have some affiliation and we got our order, so who cares.

Now with all construction projects, there are tweaks to plans and unforeseen obstacles along the way. In our situation, because of the extra foundation needed to fill the septic pit, we found ourselves short about 350 blocks on a Friday afternoon. Our crew on site had planned to work through the weekend to make up time, but of course COMPANY A is closed on weekends. So the plan was to visit COMPANY B, who would be open, pick up 40-50 blocks to get us through to end of day Monday and then order the rest from COMPANY A. Sounds simple enough right?

Well the weekend goes as planned, Monday rolls around and Kevin calls COMPANY A to order the rest of the block for a Tuesday morning delivery. Unfortunately they tell him that they won’t be able to deliver until late afternoon Tuesday and at this point, as the block we bought on the weekend is almost gone, that essentially means losing a critical day of work… NOT AN OPTION. So Kevin decides to try his luck with COMPANY B again. COMPANY B tells him they can definitely get the block out to us early Tuesday morning, but they just need to quote out the cost and call him back in 15 mins with confirmation. 15 minutes pass. 45 minutes…90 minutes. No call. Finally he decides to call back to see what’s up and COMPANY B now tells him “Sorry, but we cannot sell you the blocks because you initially ordered from COMPANY A”

WTF!?!! So COMPANY A is unable to fulfil our order in the time frame we need, but they’re going to prevent COMPANY B who is able, from doing so. And COMPANY B is willing to go along with this and lose the sale even though we were just there purchasing block from them 2 days prior…SERIOUSLY?!? Ok then…

Enter ‘COMPANY C’ who our foundation sub-contractor suggested we try as he has worked with them extensively to supply his materials for previous jobs. Now COMPANY C tells Kevin that they can have our order on site early Tuesday morning. But low and behold, guess who is COMPANY C’s supplier?? COMPANY B of course!!

At this point Kevin, who is fairly sure that the order will be ‘mysteriously delayed’, is about to put a kibosh on the whole thing & go pick up the block himself, but after much assurance from our foundation guy that COMPANY C has never let him down, he reluctantly decides to go through with the order.

Needless to say folks, always go with your gut. Our block did indeed show up on Tuesday. At 2:45pm.  Kevin, who we now affectionately refer to as “The Angry Architect” called immediately to rant inform us of all that had gone down. So now despite all the hard work of everyone on site – working weekends, Christmas and New Years to get us back on track, we are now another day behind schedule. Again.