This week Stu and I started work on excavating the footings for the new build.  We carefully marked out our trench centre line, and commenced work.  Although once you get under way, it is an easy job to do, it just takes time getting rid of the excavated soil, you need to think things through and plan so that you can have the muck taken away and that the muck doesn’t build up and get in your way.  Unfortunately, due to the rain from the previous week, the top surface was turning into a swamp, and it was making life difficult for Stu on his dumper getting around the site.

I provisionally placed my concrete order with Darren at Gem Mix for later in the week once the footings had been signed off.  By Thursday morning we had all the footings excavated, and it was just a case of tidy things up ready for the Building Inspectors site visit later that day so he could sign them off, and they would be ready for concreting later on that day. But come 2pm, there had been no Building Inspector?  I phoned the office, and was told he was still on his rounds and would be out later that afternoon.  This meant I had to contact Darren to delay my concrete until Friday as it wasn’t now possible to get the concrete in due to the Building Inspector running late.  Come 4pm, and there was still no sign of the Building Inspector?  I again contacted the office, and was told to stay on site until 4.30pm, if the Inspector hadn’t turned up by then; he would be out first thing Friday.  4.30pm, no Building Inspector?

I received a phone call at 9am Friday morning from the Building Inspector, telling me had visited the site on Thursday, which I thought was strange as we had been there all day.  He proceeded to tell me about his site inspection, when I realised he was talking about another new build site just down the road.  He had visited the wrong site!  He then told me he would be out later that morning.  I phoned Darren to advise, and the concrete order was standing by for delivery.  The Inspector didn’t visit the site until 12 noon.  But he was more than happy with the footings, signed them off, and allowed us to proceed with concreting them.  But due to the time it had taken for the visit, the first of seven lorry loads of concrete didn’t arrive on site until 14.30, and in these winter months day light hours were not on our side, as it pretty much dark by just after 16.00.  The concrete pump lorry arrived on site at 15.15, and we could start to pump through the concrete to the back of the site.  But by 16.30 we concreting in darkness and we still had two lorries still to tip.  Once you have started concreting you can’t stop, so we had to see the job through.  But concreting in darkness meant our levels were going to be a bit hit and miss.  The last lorry tipped at around 17.15, and Stu and I were all done by 17.30.  I had been a nightmare afternoon, and the situation had been out of our control, but he concrete was in, and it was just a case of seeing how things were in the cold light of day on Monday morning.  Fingers crossed!