Tuesday 3 July 2007

Going rafting?

Picked up the drawings from the drafters yest arvo and notice they've drawn a raft slab instead of strip footings that we said we wanted all along. We'd had a whole discussion about the merits of the two types and settled on the strip because we wanted to raise the level of the internal floor a bit to allow for grading, ensuring the water flows away from the house on our very flat block. I don't know how all of that was just forgotten.
The drafters told us they'd just thought a raft would be better, so they did that. With no consultation whatsoever! They then acted like we were just changing our minds now. I wont be paying any extra for alterations!
Strip footings basically use the same amount of concrete no matter how high you make them, and really only cost you in extra bricks/mortar and a bit more fill/dirt. Combined with the fact your builder's a bricky, there's good reason to go strip footing.
Anyway, the engineers were starting on the slab specs, so we were a little panicked about the whole thing.
After lots of phone calls confirming the benefits of the strip footing etc, I think we had that sorted.

Then they asked - when are the builders going to provide the frame layout so we can do the bracing calculations?
I didn't have a clue that was coming! :D
Another call to the builder and it's worked out that the normal thing is the frame company work out that stuff, so all I had to do was tell the drafters it wasn't their job.
Fffeww... It's so hard coordinating things when you don't know how they are meant to be done. Sure glad I gave up on the idea very early on of owner building!

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