Nice story to share--on a water service job now where the 81 year old widow and her 2 grown, handicapped sons have'nt had water for 21 years!Her well went dry and she has'nt had the money to do anything until now.My plumber and I are absorbing some of the extras like ledge rock{hopefully,this AM,the last 30' won't have too much left} and the gazillion leaks that are going to sprout when we turn the curb stop valve.Yesterday,I broke thru her antiquated septic that also has'nt seen water for some time as the old Orangeburg was spotless but dry.Apparently,her 3-4 gallons of store bought bottled water a day down the drains/toilet is perking out her 50 year old swiss cheese metal septic tank.She might have set a record for being without water the longest or something.I'll let you know how things work out.I might need to push the sympathy button with the town's water dep't inspectors as they are real bastards.Matter of fact,the former dep't head made national news during Poughkeepsie's corruption scandal which he was involved in by having his mistress murder this other woman at a church parking lot.He tried committing suicide with a gun while the cops were knocking on his door,blew off part of his face,and then died in jail shortly after.I don't like talking bad about the dead,but he caused me so much unnecessary grief for some 25 years or so,he deserved this--very fitting.
21 years dang talk about praying for rain.
As usual,the water dep't's 54'' is different than mine, meaning I still have to remove more ledge.You can't tell them you're raising the grade--that's too easy--nope-they won't buy it.They gave me an option of using super special insulation but that won't work because it's too stiff and I have too many twists at the trench bottom.The kicker is though that this 50 year old curbbox will only be between 40-48'' deep but that's OK with them because that's on town property.Arrogant does'nt begin to describe these guys.
good luck keep on diggin
Sorry for long delay.Finished up about 10 days ago.Had to unnecessarily hammer out ledge rock so the water boys could get their 54'' of cover.Now,after backfilling,there's 6' + in places.Was hoping that the 50-60 year old curb-**** was less than 54'', but it was exactly there.My plumber friend is taking care of the old lady's fixtures,pipes,etc. before/during turning on the valve.Took it real easy on her pocketbook,but the extras still went half over the original contracted amount--She'll be paying me up until March or April since she's on a shoestring fixed income.
Well,Mary has water to her kitchen sink,even hot water.My plumber friend called me to give me the good news.Bad news is bathroom sink and bathtub are cracked,toilet is backed up and shower has 21 years of junk stacked in it.
Sorry for the long delay--forgot I started this post.Mary's a happy camper now--toilet has been replaced and she even found some coin to install a small jacuzzi.And II'm happy too because I did'nt think I was going to get paid, but she's giving me $500 a month fairly regular for all the extras I gave her.
Your a hell of a guy to finish the work with your concerns of getting paid:thumbsup .
Tuney443, You're a good guy:thumbsup things like you did here have thier rewards. The old saying goes "what goes around comes around" isn't only for the bad guys.:notworthy
the citys standards for themselves and the standards for contractors kill me. Back in the early 90s I was doing a sewer service line into a house, it was down 11 ft and about 12 ft out off the curb. The inspector kept busting my chops making sure i had 6" of 3/4" stone on the bottom, on the sides and on top, and he also wanted me to have the pipe dead straight the whole nine yards, then at the end of the day i backfilled and he made me recess the plates in the street for the night. It was on a sidestreet with very little traffic. As I was leaving that night i drove up the street about 4 house and saw a job the city had done. They had no stone in the hole, rocks had fallen in the hole and kickd the pipe in every which way, and they had plates that were just tossed there. The next morning as i was putting the asphalt in the new patch i said to the inspector " hey how come I have to go through all this and the city does whatever they want that job down there is a disgrace." And he said " thats none of your damn buisness we do things our way." That was the last job I did in that city for 10 years till I tore down a house for my friend and that brought its own troubles.
Maybe you should of took pictures of there job vs what you had to do and went to a higher powers to be , althought you would never be able to work in that town and maybe some others again.
It wouldn't of done any good I have ran into the something a lot, the city is more then happy to break the rules for there own.
It sounds like its the same everywhere. The second a contractor does something that doesnt meet city spec the project comes to a hault, meanwhile they have their city projects going on doing whatever they want. Inspectors just turning their heads.
i think that working for people like this is the hardest thing i do. i know they are good people and have little or no money. we charge plenty for what we do for other contractors. but i never know what to charge these people i need to charge something to cover my self but deciding where covering overhead ends and profit begian is a hard line somtimes. with friends of the come in to play 9 times out of 10 just tell them to forget it. seems to make me feel better than the few houndred that i would have charged them. and the tiny jobs always dumbfound me as what to charge....
Poughkeepsie--the town,not the city,is where a few years ago there was a MAJOR scandal involving half of the dep't heads,including the water sup't.This guy was a royal pain in my a** for over 25 years.A town curb-**** would sometimes be 3'--my depth had to be 54''---his answer--we're the town-do as I tell you.I know what he really wanted and never gave it to him,I know some others that did.He did tell me once he knew I was honest and asked me to do his site work for a pole barn for him.I refused.Besides all the corrupt things that I know he did,the worst was his orders to his one mistress to murder his other one--while she was sitting in her car at a church parking lot! While the cops were circling him,he blew off part of his face trying to commit suicide,then died of some complications in jail a while later.Sweet justice.
Good Job Help out the Lady, you will be rewarded in the end:salute :angel