just left, having dropped off the report. Pretty clear cut, not really a narrative, but straightforward.
I told him that I kinda wanted more of an inventory under the house, including pics. He said he could do that, but that I probably wouldn't need it to get started. When I said, that I wanted full reports before even filing a claim against the bond, he stopped me. He said that what I had in my hand was enough to file the claim. If we have to go to court, then we'll need more docs, but to get the Licensing Board involved, we have all we need.
When I told him about the letter and the statements of "extortion" and threats to force us to pay legal fees, he shook his head again.
First, he said, it'll never get to court. The CSLB will push him to settle. If we do have to take him to court, we should do small claims court. We can only ask for $7500, but there are no lawyers allowed in small claims court.
Interesting.
This weekend, after the game, we'll need to look all of this over much more closely...
Friday, September 4, 2009
Thursday, September 3, 2009
lawyer letter
Just received a letter from Anthony B Gordon ("A Professional Law Corporation"... are there amateurs?)
the highlight: they're claiming that the "M" pipes were pre-existing... right, and that's why we never had a leak in 15 years, but now have had one within two... right.
"Should you wish to take this further, you are invited to follow the procedures set out in the contract under the heading "Arbitration of Disputes." This mandates resort to an arbitration proceeding in the event of any dispute, and provides that the prevailing party will recover its attorney fees and costs."
In other words, don't fuck with us, we'll make YOU pay.
Need to take some time this (long) weekend to review the contract and consider the options... including going directly to the bond issuer.
Of course, still waiting on Martin to do his documentation of the plumbing.
the highlight: they're claiming that the "M" pipes were pre-existing... right, and that's why we never had a leak in 15 years, but now have had one within two... right.
"Should you wish to take this further, you are invited to follow the procedures set out in the contract under the heading "Arbitration of Disputes." This mandates resort to an arbitration proceeding in the event of any dispute, and provides that the prevailing party will recover its attorney fees and costs."
In other words, don't fuck with us, we'll make YOU pay.
Need to take some time this (long) weekend to review the contract and consider the options... including going directly to the bond issuer.
Of course, still waiting on Martin to do his documentation of the plumbing.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Caught Up for Now
So it's been three working days... no visit from Frank. No call from Allen.
So I call Coastline at 5:30. I get a Craig on the line. I tell him the situation. He says he'll leave Allen a message.
Riiiiiiight.
An hour later the phone rings. It's Lisa's mom, so I hand it off. But within seconds, Lisa says, "Mom, we're expecting a call from the contractor, let me call you back." I let Lisa take the call.
It's Coastline.
It's our favorite little FRuckhEaD. I hear only one side of the conversation.... but the gist is this:
They're checking with their supplier... and if they didn't order the M, then it wasn't their install. Slippery little fuckers.
So I look at some old pics. There does seem to be existing lines left there (and Lisa does remember Fred telling her we had "good pipes"). But they aren't really going to go with the "you had M pipes all along" story, are they? Yeah, we had M pipes for 15 years with no leaks. Right.
So I look at the engineering plans. Nothing of note.
Lisa calls David the architect.
I call Martin the plumber.
David says it's conceivable that they didn't replace the existing pipe. Though if it was existing M, they should have since the blueprints call for L.
I ask Martin to come over, and I'll buy a few hours of his time. I want him to document everything under the house. Where is there M? Was the leaky M shit the newly installed stuff? Where is there L? (Is the L old, existing stuff?) Where is freaking galvanized? What did he replace/repair at the end of May/beginning of June? If he can take pics, all the better.
I want ammo. And I want to fire it all like a motherfucker at Fred. I want him to pay financially. I want him to pay karma-cly. And physically? Let's just say if the fucker was on fire, I wouldn't piss on him... though I might if he was drowning.
So I call Coastline at 5:30. I get a Craig on the line. I tell him the situation. He says he'll leave Allen a message.
Riiiiiiight.
An hour later the phone rings. It's Lisa's mom, so I hand it off. But within seconds, Lisa says, "Mom, we're expecting a call from the contractor, let me call you back." I let Lisa take the call.
It's Coastline.
It's our favorite little FRuckhEaD. I hear only one side of the conversation.... but the gist is this:
They're checking with their supplier... and if they didn't order the M, then it wasn't their install. Slippery little fuckers.
So I look at some old pics. There does seem to be existing lines left there (and Lisa does remember Fred telling her we had "good pipes"). But they aren't really going to go with the "you had M pipes all along" story, are they? Yeah, we had M pipes for 15 years with no leaks. Right.
So I look at the engineering plans. Nothing of note.
Lisa calls David the architect.
I call Martin the plumber.
David says it's conceivable that they didn't replace the existing pipe. Though if it was existing M, they should have since the blueprints call for L.
I ask Martin to come over, and I'll buy a few hours of his time. I want him to document everything under the house. Where is there M? Was the leaky M shit the newly installed stuff? Where is there L? (Is the L old, existing stuff?) Where is freaking galvanized? What did he replace/repair at the end of May/beginning of June? If he can take pics, all the better.
I want ammo. And I want to fire it all like a motherfucker at Fred. I want him to pay financially. I want him to pay karma-cly. And physically? Let's just say if the fucker was on fire, I wouldn't piss on him... though I might if he was drowning.
recap, redux
August 12:
Allen from Coastline called again, said Frank was coming again, and Frank didn't come.
Again.
Allen from Coastline called again, said Frank was coming again, and Frank didn't come.
Again.
Friday, August 7, 2009
legal
just talked to a "lawyer acquaintance" of mine...
she's given me the lowdown.
since Fred did not respond to our certified letter requesting a response to our request that he do something about the type M pipe, she wants me to do the following:
check the engineering plans, see what they specify
contact the engineer and have him check under the house to see if it matches the plans
have the plumber come down and document the changes he's made and the type of pipe used
the lawyer can then turn these documents into a legal declaration
check the permits to see who the plumber was
FILE CLAIMS against both bonds, both contractor and plumber
FILE COMPLAINT through CSLB
looks like we have work to do...
she's given me the lowdown.
since Fred did not respond to our certified letter requesting a response to our request that he do something about the type M pipe, she wants me to do the following:
check the engineering plans, see what they specify
contact the engineer and have him check under the house to see if it matches the plans
have the plumber come down and document the changes he's made and the type of pipe used
the lawyer can then turn these documents into a legal declaration
check the permits to see who the plumber was
FILE CLAIMS against both bonds, both contractor and plumber
FILE COMPLAINT through CSLB
looks like we have work to do...
Monday, June 1, 2009
plumbing hell
we're in plumbing hell.
we have a leak under the house... just below our bedroom floor
We discovered it late last night as its whooshing sound (which we THOUGHT was the neighbor's hose watering the back yard) was keeping us up. So we turned off the water and went to bed and called our plumber at 7. His guy arrived at 8:15. I walk him through the situation, starting in the bedroom and then outside to the subfloor access (thank goodness we're on a raised foundation). He grabs a flashlight and goes under. Five minutes later he's back.
"I know where the problem is. The problem is I can't get to it."
Huh?
There's a sewage line that makes a c-shaped snaking turn that is in front of the problem... he needs to take out the sewage line to get to the problem... but that way he can straighten out the C and make it all good. But he can't figure out why it's the way it is... I tell him we had the entire house reconstructed around two years ago... maybe they had to do it to make it work. He smiles and shakes his head. ANYWAY, How much? $550 and will take three or so hours. OK, do it.
I hear sawing under the house and fifteen minutes later he's back saying he needs to go and buy some stuff, but first a question:
"So do you have any problems in the back bathroom?"
Well, occasionally we hear a glub-blubl-glub sound in the toilet. You mean other than that?
"Nope, pretty much what I expected."
Why?
"Well, let me show you..."
And he takes me around back where he has the sewage line he's removed laying out on the grass (nicely avoiding the neighbor's dog-dookie... we really need to address this issue, but later). It looks like some Rube Goldberg thing. The plumber has no clue as to why that curve was necessary. But that's not the issue at hand. The issue with our glub-blub-glub problem is that the sewage line from the back of the house going to the main line tilts UP rather than DOWN and so the flow isn't as good.
Great.
And then he asks the question:
"So did you and your contractor end on good terms?"
No, but that was at the end, and by the time we finished the plumbing we were still good. Why?
"Because this (points to the C) and the slope seems to me to be there just to piss someone off."
Fucking Fred and his worthless piece-of-shit outfit.
So it's going to cost another $150 fix the slope... that will solve the glub-blub-glub issue... 150 for peace of mind... I'm cool with that.
Fred's a dick.
But I'm ok... really, I am.
--------------------------------------------
UPDATE (11am):
so, maybe I'm not all right.
Plumber's done. quick and relatively painless: $675. Only his news was more painful.
When I asked if all was good, his reply was "for now."
What?
Seems the contractor used thin-walled type M copper, instead of the standard medium-walled type L. The plumber says only a handyman or a contractor trying to cut costs would use type M.
I asked if the leak was where I thought it was and he said yes. I said that was kinda funny as that bathroom was pre-existing and was already copper-piped. He said that all that pipe from front to back was new M stuff.
WTF. So did they remove the existing pipe and replace it with this shit?
So I asked the plumber if we needed to replace everything. He said we would at some point? When?
"When you start to see leaks in the type M stuff... I can't tell you when it's going to fail, but I wouldn't be surprised if you got another leak somewhere in the next four to six months."
FUCK.
So how much would it cost to replace? We went over the needs: 3 baths (one upstairs), plus kitchen and laundry room. He said it would be around 7K... and that doesn't include the finish work repair to any walls, floors, and tiling that has to be busted out.
FUCK.
Talked about it with Pa. We should do nothing until there's a leak... if the upstairs bath leaks, then we attack that immediately and tear through the ceiling of the first floor instead of through the floor (we'll know where the leak will be because of the water damage in the ceiling). And attack the first floor stuff, piecemeal.
Talked about it with Lisa. She's finally considering lawsuit.
I've got a call into the city to find out what their specs are for minimum requirements in regards to type of copper piping. If it's L, then the City has some explaining to do.
This is fucked.
we have a leak under the house... just below our bedroom floor
We discovered it late last night as its whooshing sound (which we THOUGHT was the neighbor's hose watering the back yard) was keeping us up. So we turned off the water and went to bed and called our plumber at 7. His guy arrived at 8:15. I walk him through the situation, starting in the bedroom and then outside to the subfloor access (thank goodness we're on a raised foundation). He grabs a flashlight and goes under. Five minutes later he's back.
"I know where the problem is. The problem is I can't get to it."
Huh?
There's a sewage line that makes a c-shaped snaking turn that is in front of the problem... he needs to take out the sewage line to get to the problem... but that way he can straighten out the C and make it all good. But he can't figure out why it's the way it is... I tell him we had the entire house reconstructed around two years ago... maybe they had to do it to make it work. He smiles and shakes his head. ANYWAY, How much? $550 and will take three or so hours. OK, do it.
I hear sawing under the house and fifteen minutes later he's back saying he needs to go and buy some stuff, but first a question:
"So do you have any problems in the back bathroom?"
Well, occasionally we hear a glub-blubl-glub sound in the toilet. You mean other than that?
"Nope, pretty much what I expected."
Why?
"Well, let me show you..."
And he takes me around back where he has the sewage line he's removed laying out on the grass (nicely avoiding the neighbor's dog-dookie... we really need to address this issue, but later). It looks like some Rube Goldberg thing. The plumber has no clue as to why that curve was necessary. But that's not the issue at hand. The issue with our glub-blub-glub problem is that the sewage line from the back of the house going to the main line tilts UP rather than DOWN and so the flow isn't as good.
Great.
And then he asks the question:
"So did you and your contractor end on good terms?"
No, but that was at the end, and by the time we finished the plumbing we were still good. Why?
"Because this (points to the C) and the slope seems to me to be there just to piss someone off."
Fucking Fred and his worthless piece-of-shit outfit.
So it's going to cost another $150 fix the slope... that will solve the glub-blub-glub issue... 150 for peace of mind... I'm cool with that.
Fred's a dick.
But I'm ok... really, I am.
--------------------------------------------
UPDATE (11am):
so, maybe I'm not all right.
Plumber's done. quick and relatively painless: $675. Only his news was more painful.
When I asked if all was good, his reply was "for now."
What?
Seems the contractor used thin-walled type M copper, instead of the standard medium-walled type L. The plumber says only a handyman or a contractor trying to cut costs would use type M.
I asked if the leak was where I thought it was and he said yes. I said that was kinda funny as that bathroom was pre-existing and was already copper-piped. He said that all that pipe from front to back was new M stuff.
WTF. So did they remove the existing pipe and replace it with this shit?
So I asked the plumber if we needed to replace everything. He said we would at some point? When?
"When you start to see leaks in the type M stuff... I can't tell you when it's going to fail, but I wouldn't be surprised if you got another leak somewhere in the next four to six months."
FUCK.
So how much would it cost to replace? We went over the needs: 3 baths (one upstairs), plus kitchen and laundry room. He said it would be around 7K... and that doesn't include the finish work repair to any walls, floors, and tiling that has to be busted out.
FUCK.
Talked about it with Pa. We should do nothing until there's a leak... if the upstairs bath leaks, then we attack that immediately and tear through the ceiling of the first floor instead of through the floor (we'll know where the leak will be because of the water damage in the ceiling). And attack the first floor stuff, piecemeal.
Talked about it with Lisa. She's finally considering lawsuit.
I've got a call into the city to find out what their specs are for minimum requirements in regards to type of copper piping. If it's L, then the City has some explaining to do.
This is fucked.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
So not done
So Lisa tells me (after taking Dad to the emergency room last night as part of the fallout of his traffic accident on Friday) that the Fr(uckh)e(a)d actually returned her call Saturday (but she missed the call).
He said we needed to contact Frank. And he dismissed the talk of stucco cracks as something he told us to expect.
Fuck him.
I'll take pictures today, and we'll follow up this week.
He said we needed to contact Frank. And he dismissed the talk of stucco cracks as something he told us to expect.
Fuck him.
I'll take pictures today, and we'll follow up this week.
Friday, April 4, 2008
Stick a Fork in This... It's Done
To continue this blog, quite frankly, is too anger-inducing (in the last month, Fr[uckh]e[ad] sent a painter to paint to roof... so it doesn't look as ugly anymore).
This took place only after Lisa called him at the end of February to let him know that the rainy season was pretty much done, so we could probably move ahead with the resolution of the roof issue. Of course, the muthaf-er wouldn't take her call. And he didn't return it, either... but the next day the painter showed up.
He sprayed the roof (and oversprayed a little... he came back on his own [NOT ordered by the gutless fucks] and more-or-less fixed the overspray [there's some darkness on one part of the fascia... but really only I see it, 'cause I'm looking for it]). I told him to tell F(R)uckh(E)a(D) and Frank about the crack (what crack? you ask. There's a fairly major crack in the stucco in the exterior of the boys' upstairs bath) ... which according to the painter he did... not that we heard anything from those gutless fucks.
Dave the architect came by to check it out... he says we definitely need to talk to F(R)uckhead about it. And we were putting it off until Spring Break (begins today, hooray). But two nights ago when we had our latest (last?) rain of the season, Lisa and I went out into the garage (which, btw, Pa has "finished" and organized incredibly well, thank you very much), we found a leak in the roof. Same place as before.
WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT
So she left another call on his machine, telling him about the leak and the stucco crack. Which is kinda funny, really. Two days after the last call (before the painter), Dina from the office called Lisa to tell her to call Dina in the future.
Fuck that.
I want F(R)uckhead annoyed.
So, anyway, it's two days later, and still no response from the assholes @ Coastline.
btw, I did purchase CoastlneDC-Sucks.com, but I haven't done anything with it, yet... you see, I really AM trying to move beyond all this, trying to live the calm, loving, forgiving life.
Quote from Billy Jack:
You get my point.
Anyway...
I'm putting this Home Addition Adventure (er, Nightmare) blog to rest at least for the time being. I will try to wrap it all up with some final conclusions, but I think this may be it.
For now, those who want to follow my wandering thoughts, rantings and ravings, can head on over to my new blog, "A Notion Deep Inside"... it's going to be more free-form, but probably a little less focused (or at least not so centered on reconstruction, bitterness, fucked-up workmanshit, and those GUTLESS FUCKS AT COASTLINE DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION).
See you there. Who knows, since that blog is sure to be more positive, you might even find some finished home pics there... though I'm not promising anything in the immediate future...
This took place only after Lisa called him at the end of February to let him know that the rainy season was pretty much done, so we could probably move ahead with the resolution of the roof issue. Of course, the muthaf-er wouldn't take her call. And he didn't return it, either... but the next day the painter showed up.
He sprayed the roof (and oversprayed a little... he came back on his own [NOT ordered by the gutless fucks] and more-or-less fixed the overspray [there's some darkness on one part of the fascia... but really only I see it, 'cause I'm looking for it]). I told him to tell F(R)uckh(E)a(D) and Frank about the crack (what crack? you ask. There's a fairly major crack in the stucco in the exterior of the boys' upstairs bath) ... which according to the painter he did... not that we heard anything from those gutless fucks.
Dave the architect came by to check it out... he says we definitely need to talk to F(R)uckhead about it. And we were putting it off until Spring Break (begins today, hooray). But two nights ago when we had our latest (last?) rain of the season, Lisa and I went out into the garage (which, btw, Pa has "finished" and organized incredibly well, thank you very much), we found a leak in the roof. Same place as before.
WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT
So she left another call on his machine, telling him about the leak and the stucco crack. Which is kinda funny, really. Two days after the last call (before the painter), Dina from the office called Lisa to tell her to call Dina in the future.
Fuck that.
I want F(R)uckhead annoyed.
So, anyway, it's two days later, and still no response from the assholes @ Coastline.
btw, I did purchase CoastlneDC-Sucks.com, but I haven't done anything with it, yet... you see, I really AM trying to move beyond all this, trying to live the calm, loving, forgiving life.
Quote from Billy Jack:
"I want you to know... that I try. When [they] tell me that I'm supposed to control my violent temper, and be passive and nonviolent like they are, I try. I really try. Though when I see this ... and I think of the ... this idiotic [work] of yours... I just go BERSERK!"and another:
"I'm gonna take this right foot, and I'm gonna whop you on that side of your face... ...and you wanna know something? There's not a damn thing you're gonna be able to do about it. "gotta get me one of those hats
You get my point.
Anyway...
I'm putting this Home Addition Adventure (er, Nightmare) blog to rest at least for the time being. I will try to wrap it all up with some final conclusions, but I think this may be it.
For now, those who want to follow my wandering thoughts, rantings and ravings, can head on over to my new blog, "A Notion Deep Inside"... it's going to be more free-form, but probably a little less focused (or at least not so centered on reconstruction, bitterness, fucked-up workmanshit, and those GUTLESS FUCKS AT COASTLINE DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION).
See you there. Who knows, since that blog is sure to be more positive, you might even find some finished home pics there... though I'm not promising anything in the immediate future...
Friday, February 1, 2008
Yawn
It's been over a month now.
Roof is still looking like crap... not that I'm holding my breath.
Nor am I waiting to have any correspondence with F(r)uckhead... That will need to take place to get the roof issue settled, but since he won't return my calls...
The gutter guys came Wednesday and put the downspout back up. They also looked at the section that was pooling... they did something... but they didn't test it, so we're left waiting for the rain.
Roof is still looking like crap... not that I'm holding my breath.
Nor am I waiting to have any correspondence with F(r)uckhead... That will need to take place to get the roof issue settled, but since he won't return my calls...
The gutter guys came Wednesday and put the downspout back up. They also looked at the section that was pooling... they did something... but they didn't test it, so we're left waiting for the rain.
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