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Step inside for a tale of woe. Building/construction guys are appreciated too.
- Thread starter TheGerman
- Start date
What Devildog said, the city should be all over this, sounds like this guy is just some joe blow trying to skate the system. Where I'm at this kind of thing is under the control of the State Dept. of Ecology, if you don't get any results from the city maybe try giving your state DOE a call. Here they really frown on any kind of pollutants (silt, runoff etc.) entering the waters of the state, which include the Columbia river to a dry creek bed in a wheat field that had a tablespoon of water in it 20 years ago, all waters of the state, also includes all storm drains, sewer manholes etc. Good luck and if your state DOE gets wind of this they will probably get in the middle of it quickly.
Not to be a glass half full kind of guy but what do you think the odds are that a guy likely seriously upside down on a project (granted this is speculation), with out the requisite knowledge or means to follow permitting rules or basic ground up construction procedures (facts in evidence) has a valid in force insurance policy? Policies are not cheap. Hope I am a 100% wrong here for your sake but I suspect any play for insurance money off the builders policy is likely already a dry hole at this point. All too often when a GC goes under there are little to no assets of note to go after and the principles move on and simple reincorporate under a new name.
Am very sorry to hear of your predicament. I wish you the very best in getting is quickly resolved.
What kind of fucked up town gives you a permit to dig without plans?
How does the excavation crew even know what to do without foundation drawings?
How does the excavation crew even know what to do without foundation drawings?
Wait till the guy starts having wild pagan rituals on his newly dug up earthen alter.
Hippies in micro busses camping out in tp's and cultivating sycodelic mushrooms and singing cumbia naked around the campfire all night.
Small naked dirtyfaced abandoned children digging in the trashcans.
There are probably dead bodies under it.
That's how it starts a pile of dirt gone bad.
Next thing you know Democrats move into the hood.
Hippies in micro busses camping out in tp's and cultivating sycodelic mushrooms and singing cumbia naked around the campfire all night.
Small naked dirtyfaced abandoned children digging in the trashcans.
There are probably dead bodies under it.
That's how it starts a pile of dirt gone bad.
Next thing you know Democrats move into the hood.
It’s an “Equestrian subdivision.” There are already Democrat’s in the “hood...”
Just buy the lot. Rent a D-5 cat for a weekend and I’ll come down for free and fix it. I have 18 years dirt work experience. No charge.
You could or have someone else accidentally fall into the hole. If they have not done the appropriare safety work they would be liable... think if a deer fell in and couldn't escape...
Could be a mosh pit
Mud race bog
You could use it as a squirrel fighting pit!!!
Could be a mosh pit
Mud race bog
You could use it as a squirrel fighting pit!!!
This is also a really good way to get killedHere is a guide for your new neighbors, haha.
How to Squat in Abandoned Property: 14 Steps (with Pictures)
Squatting, the practice of living in abandoned or unoccupied spaces that a squatter does not legally own, is a great way to avoid paying rent, annex parts of your neighbors' yards, or even take a whole house from someone if you're willing...www.wikihow.com
cause freedom died a long time ago. whether you want to admit it or not, we’ve been conditioned from day 1 to kneel to the crown.
glad someone else sees it. we need to go back to the constitution as law, and scrap EVERYTHING else. and i mean EVERYTHING.
now back to the poors pissing on about neighbor problems......
. i’ve been offline for the last two weeks; and to come on here and see the german getting his balls busted for being a poor.....funny stuff.
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^^^^This bigly. Having been in construction for over 40 years and been involved with a few claims/law suits, documentation is king. I also agree with what someone recommended above and find a good land use/construction attorney for at least a consult.
I also can't believe your local jurisdiction isn't doing more to resolve this. Usually erosion/run-off control is a huge environmental impact issue and would normally result in an immediate "red tag" for the site until mitigation methods were in place.
Call the guy up and ask him to meet you on site.
What's the city/county/state going to do? Nothing quick. Their normal first step is placing a stop work order...LOL. Planning dept or their outsourced civil will come up with some type of mitigation plan; likely perimeter silt controls until stabilized and perm stabilization of the disturbed area. They'll likely require the site be graded to drain and drain in the direction it originally did (like not directing runoff back towards you, assuming it didn't already. The city may make the process cost the guy twice what it would otherwise cost to fix it (possibly making it too costly for him to fix), so I'd want to try and handle it direct with him.
What's the city/county/state going to do? Nothing quick. Their normal first step is placing a stop work order...LOL. Planning dept or their outsourced civil will come up with some type of mitigation plan; likely perimeter silt controls until stabilized and perm stabilization of the disturbed area. They'll likely require the site be graded to drain and drain in the direction it originally did (like not directing runoff back towards you, assuming it didn't already. The city may make the process cost the guy twice what it would otherwise cost to fix it (possibly making it too costly for him to fix), so I'd want to try and handle it direct with him.
I'm guessing you live in a hood with a HOA. I'm also guessing the lot owner is in violation of several covenants. This is probably the only time living in a HOA restricted development will work for you. I'd go to the president and complain and get the HOA to fight your legal battle for you. The HOA is required to enforce all rules and covenants and construction will fall under the bylaws and regulations. If the HOA doesn't play ball, you can sue them for not performing their fiduciary responsibilities to protect your investment. Furthermore, the HOA can sue the lot owner and foreclose on the owner as well (at least you can in FL) if they don't pay the dues/fines.
My take is a builder wannabe had a fish on the hook to build this for. Fish slipped the hook and wannabe is now fucked!
The tack I'd take would be to load up on documentation, submit it to your insurance, but hold up on putting it forward (within reason). Wait till bank is involved (shouldn't be long) & then doc dump on them & threaten lawsuit.
There are 2 possible options. I'd pick the latter.
The tack I'd take would be to load up on documentation, submit it to your insurance, but hold up on putting it forward (within reason). Wait till bank is involved (shouldn't be long) & then doc dump on them & threaten lawsuit.
There are 2 possible options. I'd pick the latter.
- Buy from bank cheap. Down side is you now have to pay property tax on it & it'll likley push your property value on the higher end for the neighborhood (not good).
- If you have a HOA I'd propose they correct the situation or buy it from the bank cheap & make it community Green space!
Well, the township I'm in, for one. It's pretty much legal to dig all you want as long as a parcel isn't part of the defined watershed (we live near a large creek and a significant river with marshlands, so that's much of the township). If you connect a driveway to the road without a permit then the county road commission will become a problem, and fucking up surface or ground water will bring in the state DEQ. Otherwise, dig all the holes you want. Just don't pour anything until permits are in place.
That gets people in trouble when they get carried away and don't think about things like setbacks and all the other various zoning regs (it's not complicated at all around here, but mouthbreathers are gonna mouth breathe). They are the ones that end up spending more time and money in front of the zoning appeals board with a lawyer, than they would have spent creating the proper plans before firing up a trackhoe.
I'm gonna guess that if you and TheGerman spend a weekend moving dirt on an adjacent parcel, that hole ain't gonna be filled in at the end. But his neighborhood will have gained one hell of a cool CQB training course.
I think you took the right path. Call the city and let them do the leg work. I would do as other have said and add silt fence around the spoils to help shore up or at least slow down the silting. I have an empty lot next to me that has been over priced for sale for years. I dread the day someone starts to build on it. I've offered fair market for the property twice but he's stubborn.
So small update.
Ran into the neighbors on the other side of the money pit of doom and asked them if they knew anything about our potential sink hole.
They mentioned that the builder at the very start came by and asked them a bunch of weird questions about the lot, water issues and some shit about if they knew their block wall on their side was on their property or not lol They basically just told him to go away.
I didn't notice it until today, but the edge of the sinkhole pit is less than 4 feet from their 'border' wall. When that begins to slide, their wall is gone. I mentioned what I had found out and was doing and they were thankful and gave me their number to keep them in the loop as they were trying to figure out what to do as it had become apparent to them in the last week or two that this was also going to potentially damage their property.
They also mentioned that within the week of the hole being dug, it somehow got back to them from another neighbor that they heard there was now an issue with the building material costs being way more expensive than they had thought/been told/had in the contract.
From the GIS info from the city, I have the guys name, and the lot is under his name as well. Other than that, there is no builder or permit info at all, which was confirmed by the inspector.
My guess is (trying to find out if this is the case)that they bought the overpriced as shit lot and put it on a construction loan. if so, thats a huge problem for them with a standstill/financing issue/contract issue as a construction loan is usually for a short term, with a balloon payment at the end. Generally wouldn't the builder take this? Then you would get your mortgage for the construction loan + build costs and roll them all into it, correct?
If this is whats happening, it makes sense the builder is MIA as they were either fired and/or being sued or disappeared altogether. If the material costs thing is true for them, I don't see material costs coming down anytime soon either, which leaves them with a ticking timebomb in regards to the construction loan that they won't have the money to pay off at the end of.
Ran into the neighbors on the other side of the money pit of doom and asked them if they knew anything about our potential sink hole.
They mentioned that the builder at the very start came by and asked them a bunch of weird questions about the lot, water issues and some shit about if they knew their block wall on their side was on their property or not lol They basically just told him to go away.
I didn't notice it until today, but the edge of the sinkhole pit is less than 4 feet from their 'border' wall. When that begins to slide, their wall is gone. I mentioned what I had found out and was doing and they were thankful and gave me their number to keep them in the loop as they were trying to figure out what to do as it had become apparent to them in the last week or two that this was also going to potentially damage their property.
They also mentioned that within the week of the hole being dug, it somehow got back to them from another neighbor that they heard there was now an issue with the building material costs being way more expensive than they had thought/been told/had in the contract.
From the GIS info from the city, I have the guys name, and the lot is under his name as well. Other than that, there is no builder or permit info at all, which was confirmed by the inspector.
My guess is (trying to find out if this is the case)that they bought the overpriced as shit lot and put it on a construction loan. if so, thats a huge problem for them with a standstill/financing issue/contract issue as a construction loan is usually for a short term, with a balloon payment at the end. Generally wouldn't the builder take this? Then you would get your mortgage for the construction loan + build costs and roll them all into it, correct?
If this is whats happening, it makes sense the builder is MIA as they were either fired and/or being sued or disappeared altogether. If the material costs thing is true for them, I don't see material costs coming down anytime soon either, which leaves them with a ticking timebomb in regards to the construction loan that they won't have the money to pay off at the end of.
Building supplies have skyrocketed. I walked into the lumber aisle at Home Depot and just about fainted at the cost of a 2x4x8. It was in the area of $5.85. That was not for pressure treated either. That's an increase of around 45%. Now imagine expanding that throughout the entire cost of lumber to build a house.
It's done because people are stupid. Instead of working with your neighbors so that everybody can be happy that always be a few dicks in the bunch that try to screw it up for the entire neighborhood / City.
You need permits, inspections, etc. Without you would have people short cutting, building without proper footers, leading to foundation issues, people putting septic systems near wells (leading to diarrhea), undersized wiring (fires), improper grading, all this crap lowers property values and causes safety concerns for those that buy a home aren't proficient in spotting problems (95% of the population).
I can't believe the Builder had the gall to ask if the wall was in the correct place... LOL. That tells me a significant level of incompetence about the Builder. While it wouldn't be an official legal survey it's very simple to get the neighborhood plant, USGS benchmarks start planning things out and look for yourself.
Have done this both manually with paper and with GIS software... Very simple to do. You literally can teach a 7 year old to do this shit.
Maybe this can bring the neighbors together. If it ends up no home is built there, maybe all the neighbors can pitch in and buy the lot and simply put gazebo and a couple of barbecue pits ...
Have done this both manually with paper and with GIS software... Very simple to do. You literally can teach a 7 year old to do this shit.
Maybe this can bring the neighbors together. If it ends up no home is built there, maybe all the neighbors can pitch in and buy the lot and simply put gazebo and a couple of barbecue pits ...
