"John Moorhead" wrote in message
m...
Folks -

Well, I am back at it with the foundation layout and cutting of the
footings. Wif and I restrung the foundation lines and make our cut lines
for the backhoe guy again... He wanted the line 3" OUTSIDE of where the
cut
was to be.... So he showed up this morning and got started. Lo and
behold -
he didn't make his cut 3" inside the chalkline, he SPLIT the chalkline and
dug 30" deep instead of 20". Goddamn it! I needed a trench 1 foot
wide,
now the trenches vary between 18" and a bit over 24". So now I'll end up
A)
buying appx 1 acre more fill sand than I was planning; or B) renting a
compactor and tamping the soil to get my depth right, building my forms,
and
backfilling the sides and compacting that; or C) Both.

I perhaps should have gotten some other backhoe service, but this was the
only guy to return repeated calls. Sometimes I just *ucking ***HATE***
contractors. Nothing personal, to those of you who are, I was just hoping
to at least have the footings dug out before someone ****ed me off....

John



Damn John! You've got my sympathies. I've been there and I know just how
PO'd it makes you. But... I've got to ask - why aren't you just backfilling
with the materials that came out of the footers? Unless you have some very
bad materials that you're digging the footers in, there is really no reason
you can't backfill with what came out. It's not always a must to compact
the backfill either. Make sure there are no big rocks going in against the
block or the pour (which ever is the case), and have the operator shake it
in if he's using a bucket. A bulldozer operator will backfill in pushes and
he will bring the fill up gradually that way. If you're using this same
fellow to do the backfills, then make sure he does not run along the wall
with his machine as he backfills or tries to compact the fill. Whether it's
a hoe or a bulldozer, this puts pressure on the wall and should be avoided.
Fills and grades are always done from the wall, away. From the sounds of
your experience, I would not trust that this fellow knows that kind of
thing. In case you don't already know - allow ~20% for compaction
(settling) of fills that are not tamped in. So - if you want your grade to
finish 1 foot below your siding, have the operator grade it maybe 8-10
inches below your siding.

You are correct in having to tamp your fills that will bring your subgrade
up to the elevation it's supposed to be at. I would not pay this guy the
originally agreed to price though. He clearly is somewhat incompetent and
has not delivered the workmanship that it was reasonable to expect. Any
decent hoe operator should be able to dig footer trenches within an inch in
his sleep, unless the ground is full of large stone. Really good operators
can do it within 1/4". At the very least, I would hold back the cost of the
rental for the tamper and a reasonable amount to cover your time in having
to repair his damages to your trenches. It's safe to assume a laborer rates
out at $16.00 - $20.00 per hour for this type of work in upstate NY, don't
know about your area.

--

-Mike-