It's been quite a while since I have had much to write about.
It will have water and power but I assumed that the review of that would be related to drilling the well. Take away lesson - NEVER ASSUME - ALWAYS ASK EVEN IF IT SEEMS OBVIOUS
We are STILL waiting for the engineered plans.
They keep promising that they will be sending us a version to bring to the town to review. But it hasn't happened. At this point we have lost hope of starting the house before winter starts. I don't think we can build between December and March here. We will have to talk to South Industries to find out for sure but I think below freezing is a "no go" for concrete.
For the fall we are concentrating on building the barn and getting utilities set up. We are currently looking for a contractor to pour the foundation of the barn. I have asked for quotes but no responses yet. I hope that doesn't mean everyone is booked up. I have someone to drill the well and help us deal with the electric and data connection to the road.
This past Sunday we met with the electricians and came up with a plan. The distance from the pole on the road to the barn is 420ft! I called Eversource (our electric company) to find out what they need in order to start on their end. They refused to talk to me because I am a "homeowner". I never got past the secretary in the contractor department. Apparently they only talk to electricians. I kinda get it. They don't want to spend forever on the phone with someone who doesn't have a clue but it would be nice if they told me they have a form I could get filled out! I am not a pushy person who asks a lot of questions and demands answers. CLEARLY I need to become one. In the spirit of trying to be aggressive I decided maybe email was a better way to try to get info. They at least can't brush me off and not listen if they are reading it! This turned out to be the better way! They sent me the form with many little boxes that need to be filled out. It was gibberish to us but the electricians could answer easily. We also got one piece of fantastic news from the electricians. Turns out the electric company, by law, has to provide the first 200ft of connection from the road!!!
This means we don't have to pay to either cut the road or put in a pole! We thought we had to go all the way to the current pole (on the other side of the road) and they would take care of just connecting it. Turns out they have to bring it to us!! This is a huge cost savings!
This was us for the past few weeks.
After the driveway was roughed in we were spinning in circles for permits. We submitted all the permit paperwork to the town for our barn but didn't find out for a few weeks that we also needed to get a permit from the health department. So back to the start we went to file for a health department permit. The health department took a few weeks to process the permit. SO...back to the beginning again allowing zoning and the building department to issue permits. It would have been nice to know that I needed the health department to sign off BEFORE the other departments! I guess that is why people hire general contractors. It is hard to navigate the bureaucracy! I never would have thought the health department would need to review the barn plans since it doesn't connect to a septic or need any drains etc. It is basically a glorified shed.
It will have water and power but I assumed that the review of that would be related to drilling the well. Take away lesson - NEVER ASSUME - ALWAYS ASK EVEN IF IT SEEMS OBVIOUS
We are STILL waiting for the engineered plans.
They keep promising that they will be sending us a version to bring to the town to review. But it hasn't happened. At this point we have lost hope of starting the house before winter starts. I don't think we can build between December and March here. We will have to talk to South Industries to find out for sure but I think below freezing is a "no go" for concrete.
For the fall we are concentrating on building the barn and getting utilities set up. We are currently looking for a contractor to pour the foundation of the barn. I have asked for quotes but no responses yet. I hope that doesn't mean everyone is booked up. I have someone to drill the well and help us deal with the electric and data connection to the road.
This past Sunday we met with the electricians and came up with a plan. The distance from the pole on the road to the barn is 420ft! I called Eversource (our electric company) to find out what they need in order to start on their end. They refused to talk to me because I am a "homeowner". I never got past the secretary in the contractor department. Apparently they only talk to electricians. I kinda get it. They don't want to spend forever on the phone with someone who doesn't have a clue but it would be nice if they told me they have a form I could get filled out! I am not a pushy person who asks a lot of questions and demands answers. CLEARLY I need to become one. In the spirit of trying to be aggressive I decided maybe email was a better way to try to get info. They at least can't brush me off and not listen if they are reading it! This turned out to be the better way! They sent me the form with many little boxes that need to be filled out. It was gibberish to us but the electricians could answer easily. We also got one piece of fantastic news from the electricians. Turns out the electric company, by law, has to provide the first 200ft of connection from the road!!!
Comments
Post a Comment