Around 2:45pm Wednesday 11/13, I received a phone call. When I glanced at caller ID, I knew that I was in for an interesting phone call. Caller ID said “Alton Public Works Department”. I gave the public works my cell number and told them to call me any time during the construction process to speed up conflict resolution. You may remember my citation for tall grass or the mess with the port-a-potty.
Today’s call started off very confusing. The gentleman started talking about deliveries and usage of the street. After some back and forth, I learned that the trusses for the house had been delivered, but were sticking out in the street since early that morning. He stated that several neighbors from Fairmont (it’s an HOA with two entrances) have called and expressed their displeasure. I let him know that I would do everything I could to get this resolved.
After the call, I called the construction company owner and spoke with Joe. As soon as he answered, I could tell he was stressed and was expecting the call from me. He was apologetic and said that he ordered a crane that would be there at 7:30am the next day to move the trusses. He also offered to call the city back and let them know what was going on. I passed on the phone number and crossed my fingers that all would be resolved the next day.
Danelle had just gotten over being sick and I was now coming down with whatever she had. I knew tomorrow was going to be worse, but I had to know what was going on. I told Danelle I was going to drive the 45 minutes to Danforth to see what it looked before it got dark. She decided to go with me and we left immediately.
As we drove up, there is a short hill, then the trusses came into view in the street. It was not impassible, but it was irresponsible to deliver them there!
Beyond finding the trusses in the street, we walked around to check them out. We found a bag with instructions in it. It isn’t something you think about if you’re not in construction. We looked through a bit and it shows how to combine the trusses to make our roof. They also painted a smiley face on them. That almost makes it better.
Seeing what was there, we decided to go home as it was getting dark.
Thursday 11/14, I arrive to work from the shed in the morning just before 7am. (Side note, I took a sick day as I was feeling progressively worse.) The crane was already on site and I was excited to see progress on the house today. Things are getting very positive on the house front. I settled in my shed and walked up front to see the work that was scheduled to start at 7:30. The framers were there. I walked up and found two guys chatting on the driveway. I went over to say hi.
The crane operator told me he was getting ready to leave. He had been on the phone with Joe (the owner of the construction company) and had declined the job. It turns out (and is obvious looking back at the photos above) that a crane won’t operate with overhead power lines. He needs a 10 foot minimum buffer between where he is working and where a power line is. I told him I understood and respected his decision. Now all of my construction workers had left the site and the trusses are still sticking out in the road. Somebody added two warning markers marked from the city of Alton to make it a bit safer.
I had brought supplies to stay most of the day and had heat for my shed. I worked on my blog and browsed the web while coughing and blowing my nose. Around 1:30pm, I had enough and just wanted to go home and sit on the sofa doing nothing. Since I was expecting construction traffic, I parked on the street and started walking out. There I found a car in the driveway and thought I would walk up and see what was going on.
I met Sam, an Alton city building inspector. We chatted a few moments about the project before a newer BMW SUV pulled up and the driver rolled down his window. Then an HOA bro told me we needed to move the stuff out. He let us know he called the police last night as he almost hit it. Immediately I start thinking, “Were you drunk if your bright BMW headlights didn’t show you where it was”, but just agreed with him. I explained that I wanted them moved too as I want to live in the house we’re building. He shook his head and drove off. We laughed off the HOA bro agreeing they were just jerks.
Not a few moments later, a more belligerent HOA bro stopped to let us know his thoughts. No explanation of what happened would satisfy him. He drove off in anger. I honestly worried that he would damage them later that night with his attitude. I have insurance, so I had to let it go. Sam and I exchange pleasantries and go our separate ways.
Around 4pm, I received a text from Joe with the photo below. They had rented a large fork truck and moved the trusses out of the road.
As I sit writing this 14 days later, there has been no change other than me likely paying the rental fee for the equipment sitting on our property. Maybe next week they’ll finally start doing construction again…
Hogan Haake
That’s why I dislike HOAs! Asshat that can’t see beyond the end of their noses.