Proposal Received

Finally, after more delays and procrastination, we have received a proposal and quotation from the piling specialist. The delay once again seems to be down to the structural engineer not delivering the information that they needed when he said he would.

Anyway, the proposal is for 16 150mm diameter steel encased piles at 1.5m centres. Because the ground testing done at the end of September indicated that there might be fairly large obstructions in the ground before the rock is reached, they are opting for a drilled rather than driven pile. This also helps to achieve the required loading capacity without having to put too many piles in. The drilling will create a "rock socket" at the bottom of the hole that will help to anchor the pile in position. For those readers with a technical leaning, or just want a new word to throw into google, it is called the "Odex" system.

As a result of the delays, the other local job that they are doing is now nearing completion. They actually want to bring equipment on site tomorrow, with a proposed start next Tuesday. This is very frustrating because we are not now in a position to accept this. We have clarifications to seek with the proposal, and our groundworks contractor is not in a position to clear and mark out the site (the specialists will not mark out the site themselves). Of course we also have to make sure it is going to be accepted by the local authority inspectors.

We felt we were being pressured into accepting everything at face value, but we decided that we are not prepared to do this. The saving in bringing the kit directly here from the neighbouring village, rather than mobilising it from their depot, is only £200, and we are now so far behind our build plan that another few days or weeks won't really matter. After all we have now well and truly missed the weather window ! We will give it due consideration, make sure our queries and concerns are dealt with (more on these in my next post), and give the go-ahead when we are ready.