7 Yards Over: How a Florida Rainstorm Turned Into a $1,700 Fight
Lot 326-A. Footers dug, steel in, plastic down. Ready for inspection.
Then it rained. In South Florida in the summer it rains every afternoon. You can set your watch by it.
The inspector failed us. Reason: footers need cleaned out.
So three of my guys pulled the rebar, pulled the chairs, peeled back the plastic and mucked out the wet material by hand. We reset everything and called for inspection again.
It rained again. We failed again.
The third time, it passed. But here is what nobody in the builder's office thinks about. Every time you muck out a wet footer, it gets wider at the top and deeper at the bottom. That hole grew twice.
The builder had Lot 326-A down for 50 yards. That number came from an estimate at a desk, on paper, on a dry day.
We poured. The superintendent walked over and told me I was 7 yards over my allowance.
The math
7 extra yards at $200 a yard: $1,400
Extra labor for the cleanouts: $300
Total: $1,700
That is one lot, and the cause was rain. Now I am not just trying to get paid for extra labor. I am fighting a backcharge for concrete the hole needed.
This is not an accident
The big production builders carry a whole portfolio of guardrails like this one. Yardage allowances. Fixed piece rates. Rules written at a desk to make sure no extra ever gets paid.
Every new builder and every new subdivision told me the same thing: "We always try not to backcharge our subs." The first lot or two, that held. Then reality set in. That statement never held true. Not once.
What actually works
Real, documented evidence. Against a builder that size, it is the only tool that works. Here is how I would run Lot 326-A today:
Photograph the footer before the rain, with the lot number and the time showing.
Keep every failed inspection notice. It proves why you went back in.
Photograph the cleanout: the crew, the muck, the standing water.
Measure the footer after the last cleanout. Width and depth, with the tape in the photo.
Text the superintendent before the first truck shows up: "326-A footer is wider and deeper after two rain cleanouts. Expect to run over the 50 yard allowance. Reply to approve."
Save the reply. If there is no reply, save the text you sent.
Step 5 is the one that wins. Have the fight before the pour. After the pour, it is your word against their spreadsheet.
Why I am telling you this
I spent about 25 years in grading and concrete. I was told I would always be a laborer at the bottom. I ended up running more than 120 workers and subs.
The field work was never my problem. Nobody ever taught me how to fight on paper. I learned it by beating my head against the dashboard of my truck.
Most subs walk into a gunfight carrying a spoon. I build tools for the business owner who was never taught how to fight. Built by experience, not by the book.
If they can cost you, you can cost them.
Never give up.
Trey Courson, CornBred Media
Start with my free backcharge checklist: cornbredmedia.gumroad.com/l/BCchecklist
