Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Can anybody get ANYTHING right?

We arrived at our block a couple of weeks ago to find that the fencing contractors had marked the ground for post-holes. Way too close to the house on the side boundary. We discovered that they'd lined our side boundary up to the wrong rear peg, using one belonging to a neighbouring block, which was about 2.5m inside our property.

So I ring the contact at the developer's office, who provides me with a number for the fencing contractor. He promises to get his guys to check their measurements. Sure enough, a couple of days later, a nice tall stake, sprayed bright pink, appears next to the right corner peg.

Last night I noticed that the post holes had been dug. Great! Only.....hmm. The ones for the rear boundary seem a little too close to the house. We have a 2m easement along that boundary and only about 145mm clearance from the house to the easement at one corner, but still.... that doesn't look like 2m to me.

This morning I go back, armed with my trusty tape measure and the site plan. Sure enough, the post holes at one end, where the next door neighbour has an existing fence, are correct. But at the other end? Instead of a distance of 2145mm between the rear of the house and the proposed fence, we have only 1800. Looks like over 300mm has gone missing.

I rang the fencing guy again. He argued with me! I insisted. After all, I was standing right there, with my tape measure and the holes were clearly wrong. He sighed and said he'd get the guys to check it. Again.

After I hung up, I found the peg that marks the angle in the fence. It's some distance from where they put the hole. I'm going back in a tick, with a nice bright can of spray paint and a string line, to mark the correct spot.

No way is our rear neighbour getting a free gift of 300mm of our land!

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