Day #28: Construction Reality Check: When Perfect Storms Hit the Build Site

Another week just flew by on the construction site! While we made solid progress, I'll be honest—I was hoping we'd be even further along by now. I'm quickly learning this is probably how every owner feels watching their project come to life.

The Monday That Wasn't

Our team was cautiously optimistic about starting concrete pours this Monday. Here we are on Friday afternoon, and there's still no concrete on site for footings or foundations.

What happened? A perfect storm of challenges that snowballed into a 10-day delay: more massive boulders than expected, team misalignment issues, a motorcycle accident, and scheduling conflicts. Some were avoidable, others... not so much.

Boulder Battle Continues

We kept hitting massive rocks while excavating for the foundation. And when I say massive, I mean massive. There's no way around them—we had to crush them and haul them out, piece by piece.

The number of enormous boulders we've already extracted is unbelievable, and I'm told there are more to come. It slowed us down, but here's the silver lining: except for one corner (which we're keeping open for excavator and concrete pump access), the entire building perimeter is now dug out and rock-free. So, we are in the clear from this perspective.

The Great Communication Breakdown

Next came a very human challenge—resolving a fundamental misalignment between our site team and concrete team, who apparently see life through completely different lenses.

The site team is focused on digging: How deep? How wide? They see the world looking up from the bottom of trenches.

The concrete team is focused on pouring: They need to create a floor at a specific elevation—in our case, 312 feet above sea level. They're looking down at grade level.

In theory, the plans should accommodate both perspectives perfectly. But as my very first computer science professor said years ago: "The difference between theory and practice is much bigger in practice than in theory."

Problem-Solving Mode

For reasons I never got a satisfactory explanation for, there was a discrepancy between where the concrete team expected the bottom of the foundation to be and where the site team actually dug it.

After some heated debates (and thankfully stopping the blame game), we focused on solving the problem. The solution? Adding gravel in some places to bring the footing bottoms to the right height.

Plot twist: This actually worked out great! The extra gravel means we don't have to worry as much about soil quality underneath. Sometimes construction challenges turn into unexpected benefits.

The Motorcycle Accident

Just when we thought we were ready to move forward, Anthony (my GC) called the concrete company owner to book delivery and pumping for the next day. Straight to voicemail.

Strange. No callback.

When Anthony followed up with the company office, we learned the owner had been in a motorcycle accident and was preparing for urgent back surgery. As a fellow motorcyclist, I genuinely feel for the guy and wish him a speedy recovery.

But none of his team knew the details of our project or had worked with Anthony before. To move forward, they needed proof of funds to ensure we could pay for the concrete.

One call to Berkshire Bank later, and within 30 minutes I had an official letter confirming sufficient funds available.

The Final Hurdle

Problem solved, right? Not quite.

Now that we're ready to pour, guess what? No pumps available until next Wednesday!

One problem after another, leading to our 10-day delay.

The Silver Lining

Here's what's keeping me sane: my team assures me this concrete delay won't impact our building erection timeline. The building structure arrives in about three weeks — August 14th — and we must be ready.

I've made sure every subcontractor knows this date is non-negotiable. Everyone's united around doing whatever it takes to hit this deadline.

Construction Lessons Learned

Week by week, I'm learning that construction is less about perfect execution and more about perfect adaptation. Boulders happen. Teams miscommunicate. People get injured. Equipment isn't available.

The key isn't avoiding every problem—it's solving them quickly and keeping your eye on the dates that truly matter.

August 14th, here we come.

Stay tuned for more updates as we navigate this beautiful chaos of bringing Open Play Pickleball and Padel Club to life!