Update from the Home Front

Well it has been awhile since I posted, but that is because not too much has been happening. Ty was working on trim and the staircase for a long time, and they couldn't do much of the staining/painting till he was done because of dust.

We had to make an interest payment last week, it is up to 2700 a month now (ouch). So the month and a half delay from Lighthouse is going to cost us at least 4000, so it makes me really happy when they ask for an extra 1000 for something that was discussed at the meeting.

This week they are actually getting to the staining, hopefully this is the beginning of the end.

The Meeting (part 6)

So we go back into the room with the agreement in hand. Of course what do you suppose Lighthouse proposes... We feel you should pay the 1500 because we put in the heated floors in the bathrooms. That is a surprise... We stare at them dumbfounded for a minute, look at each other, and just wait. Rob asks if we want to talk about it in the hall.

We exit stage left and go to the hall. Jen is very sure that we should not pay the 1500. She agrees to do the negotiating and we return. She explains in plain terms all that we have been thorough and how the agreement will stay as it is. Steve asks his partners what they think and they demur, so he agrees. And that is that.

Then we discuss the model agreement. They brought there a model agreement and we agree to it with the penciled in changes. And that is the last time we talked with Steve.

The Meeting (part 5)

Now where was I...

At this point Jen and I agree to pay 8200 over the original contract price. At this point Mel and Light house want to have a discussion w/o us, so we leave the room and hang out by the fireplace (which is very nice btw).

We are waiting for probably a half hour, Rob stops out at one point for some conversation, saying that everyone in there is pretty blindsided by these developments... We chat with Stacee for awhile, then she goes back to meet with Mel for a couple minutes.

After that brief meeting she comes over and says that Lighthouse is will to settle for 8580.79. Which we are fine with, it is only 300 more then we had already agreed to. So we have Stacee write up the following:

Counter tops are in

Counter tops are in, as well as a first coat of stain in some places. We are a bit concerned that it doesn't appear that the trim has been sanded prior to being stained... We will probably have to ask Steve about that.

The Meeting (part 4)

So the resolution of these items:

3k for the appliances, was understandable to Lighthouse and they agreed. Of course Mel had thought that there was 5k in the original bid for appliances, which we had taken out to save money...

The 605 was discussed for a bit, with Steve claiming not to remember the 50 feet included. So we basically passed that over. The 794.20 for the gutters was accepted and agreed to.

We discussed the credit for waterproofing and Steve showed us were we incurred other increases with the foundation and electric to offset the credit I had given us, so we agreed to remove that credit. Also, we agreed to an overage of 263.59 for bath materials that Joanne had purchased. With these changes Jen and I were agreeing to pay 8253.40.

The charges for the hookup of the electric and gas, was discussed and we were told that the hookup payment was over a month late and we would have to paid any fines incurred. We said that was ridiculous because when we received the bills in the mail, they were stamped accepted and paid... We were told that is the process they use when bills come in and we would have to pay any fines.

Stacee entered the conversation at that point on our behalf and said that how would we know to pay the bills when we haven't paid any other to date and the bill was stamped paid. So they are going to pay the bill fines (if there are any).

We went back and forth about the retaining wall, with Steve repeatedly telling us that he was not going to pay for any of that wall, and us saying that we weren't going to pay for all of it. It was a pretty heated discussion...

The Meeting (part 3)

Yeah, this is the 100th post on this blog...

The overage agreement that I had written up and sent to Lighthouse was what Jen and I felt were fair overages and we feel obligated to pay (well I felt obligated, Jen humored me...).

The 3k for the appliances was what we had discussed with Lighthouse, when they decided to upgrade our appliances and pay the difference. We had discussed 5k, but had also obtained a letter from them granting us 2k as a credit for appliances. That was obtained when we went to sign the sworn construction statement and expected to save some money, but were faced with another increase. That was another interesting meeting...

The 605.51 was for trenching the electric to the house. This was an area of contention, because Jen and I remember Lighthouse agreeing to pay for 50 feet of the trenching, which of course Steve didn't remember.

The 794.20 was for putting up gutters. This was something that Lighthouse asked us to add, and we agreed that it would probably be necessary. So Steve told me that they wouldn't charge O/P, and presented me with an estimate for $625. Of course they ended up charging us almost $800. That was an interesting conversation with Steve as well...

The 3128.50 was the main issue of contention and constitutes the concrete retaining that was "necessary" to add while pouring the foundation. We felt that it was an added cost w/o our consent or discussion with us, so were only willing to pay for half of the addition. We were told after the fact that it was done and we would have to incur the increased cost. Of course at the time I was told that it wouldn't cost that much and would probably be offset with savings on other items.

The 872.10 and 200 was the charge from Excel (natural gas) and Dakota Electric for the hookup charges.

The 610.50 was a credit to us, because we had installed the low voltage electric in the house, instead of using their contractor (550 was included for that (plus 11%)). The 1338 was the savings that we realized, because the foundation crew had done some of the waterproofing that the waterproofing company was planning on performing.

The Meeting (part 2)

Jen and I were the first to arrive at the meeting, we got there about 8:20. At 8:30 we went into the bank and waited by the fireplace in the lobby. Stacee and the Lighthouse crew got there about the the same time and everyone filed into the conference room. Rob stopped us and told us about how they all came down in the same pickup truck and that he was freezing in the back, because something was wrong with the heat or something. It was very cold that day.

We got into the room and Stacee opened the meeting by suggesting that we go over the numbers. Mel, Stacee and I had all brought "number" sheets so we started going over them. My numbers were a bit off because I hadn't updated them from the most recent draw request, but we all had similar numbers... However, Mel still had 17,000 in profit, but the draws added up to 349k. He didn't realize that we were only going to pay 349k, or didn't connect the fact that we had paid all we were going to pay for the house.

When the facts started to sink in, Mel and Stacee went off to a cubicle to discuss the situation. In the mean time Jen and I were left with Steve, Rob and Rick in the conference room. We decided to discuss the overage agreement that I had written up.