Day #1: Beyond the Joy of Breaking Ground

When "Perfect Timing" Meets Reality (Again)

Just 3 hours after we broke ground at 7AM as planned, we were faced with a disappointing surprise that proves the universe has a twisted sense of humor.

Picture this: There I was, practically glowing with satisfaction as dirt and boulders went flying on-site. Our crew was in full swing, machinery humming, and for the first time in months, I was watching actual progress happen in real time.

Feeling confident (my first mistake), we decided to swing by Town Hall to check on our retaining wall approval. You know, just a quick status update on what I assumed was routine paperwork.

Spoiler alert: It wasn't routine.

The "Simple" Retaining Wall Saga

A few days ago, we'd submitted our retaining wall plan from the block manufacturer for an approval to the Building Inspector. This wasn't some hastily thrown-together document – our Civil Engineer had reviewed three iterations of this plan before he was completely satisfied with it. We'd dotted every i, crossed every t, and finally reached that magical point where everything was "ironed out."

All we needed was the town's final approval so we could order the blocks and actually build the thing. Simple, right?

A Stroke of Luck (Or So I Thought)

We got lucky – the Building Inspector was actually in Town Hall instead of out on an inspection. We practically begged for just 3 minutes of his time to get a status update and timeline for approval.

"When should we expect your decision?" seemed like a reasonable question.

You can only imagine my surprise when the Building Inspector looked at our plans with the expression of someone trying to solve a Rubik's cube blindfolded.

"I can't even find one of these two walls on the site plan," he said.

The Plot Twist Nobody Saw Coming

I confidently showed him exactly where the wall was located on our site plan. Problem solved, right?

Wrong.

What he said next hit me like a freight train: "The building permit that the town approved doesn't even include retaining walls."

Can you imagine my surprise?!

He pulled out the description we'd submitted with our building permit application. There it was, in black and white: building, outdoor courts, parking area, golf simulator... but no mention of retaining walls.

My Epic Face-Palm Moment

It was totally my fault.

I had naively assumed that submitting incredibly detailed plans – civil, architectural, landscaping, and about seventeen other types of engineering drawings – would be sufficient. These weren't napkin sketches. These were professional, comprehensive plans that had been reviewed by:

• My engineers (who designed them)

• The town and various boards(during the approval process)

• The bank (for financing)

• Third-party consultants (hired by the bank and the Town)

Every single entity had seen these retaining walls clearly depicted in the plans. But apparently, if you don't explicitly mention something in the one-paragraph project description, it might as well not exist.

Who knew that having gone through months of Planning Board reviews and approvals wasn't enough?

The Heart Attack Moment

For about thirty seconds, I genuinely thought I might need medical attention. Visions of six-month delays danced in my head while I imagined explaining to everyone why the project was suddenly on indefinite hold.

My brain went straight to worst-case scenario mode: "We just broke ground this morning and we're already dead in the water."

The Relief (Sort Of)

Thankfully, the Building Inspector quickly clarified that this wasn't the bureaucratic apocalypse I'd imagined. All I needed to do was send him an email amending the scope of our building permit application to include the retaining walls.

An email. That's it.

Being the paranoid project manager I've apparently become, I took this opportunity to think about what else we might have failed to explicitly call out. Why risk another surprise inspection revelation?

I decided to include not only the retaining walls but also our storage shed and the chain-link fence with sound mitigation blankets. All of these items were clearly shown on our plans and had been discussed ad nauseam during the permitting process, but apparently explicit is better than implied in the world of municipal approvals.

The Waiting Game (Round 847)

But we're not in the clear yet.

When I asked for a timeline – even a rough estimate – the inspector gave me the bureaucratic equivalent of a shrug. No date when we'd get approval. No indication of when he'd even have a chance to review our amendment. No timeline at all.

"The department is overbooked and understaffed," he explained. "I'd be lying if I gave you any date."

I appreciate his honesty, but it's not exactly what you want to hear when you've got contractors, equipment, and a construction timeline that depends on getting those retaining wall blocks ordered ASAP.

Where We Stand

So here we are at the end of Day #1 of actual construction:

✅ Successfully broke ground at 7AM (victory!)

❌ Discovered our building permit description was incomplete

✅ Learned the fix is simple (just an email)

❌ Have no idea when we'll get approval

❌ Can't order retaining wall blocks until we do

❌ Timeline potentially impacted by unknown delay

The irony isn't lost on me that on the same day we finally started moving dirt, we discovered another bureaucratic hurdle that could slow everything down.

The Silver Lining

At least this time the fix is genuinely simple – no additional engineering, no new plans, no committee reviews. Just an email clearly stating what's already shown in our approved plans.

And hey, I'm learning that in construction, "simple" problems are actually cause for celebration. Three hours into Day #1, and I'm already nostalgic for problems that can be solved with email.

Hopefully, my next update will be more about blocks being ordered and less about permit amendments. But given my track record with predictions, I'm not making any promises.

Stay tuned. If today taught me anything, it's that even on the days when everything goes according to plan, something unexpected is waiting around the corner.

The adventure continues! 🚧

P.S. – At this point, I'm seriously considering adding "Municipal Permit Amendment Specialist" to my LinkedIn profile.