Wow!! We had one pile of wood scraps, boxes from the rolled roof vent and some cans and bottles and thought that was a mess. We had the contractor push it back from the house out into the field and we burned it. Now it looks alot better. We did pick up some wood scraps and alot of nails from inside but nothing like this.
I wouldn't even touch yours but I sure would be having a talk with the contractor about cleaning up. Good luck.

Wow,that is a real crazy mess. Aren't builder's supposed to have a dumpster? Must be hard to work around all that stuff anyway!

Kelly, that is unacceptable in my humble opinion. A dumpster should be out at the site. I think our job site has been a sty throughout the build, but nothing compared to your pictures. That can't be safe for the workers.

Unfortunately when we were at the stage you were at I wouldn't allow the kids near the house, I was so afraid of the lumber with nails and all of the possible injuries they could sustain. Just thinking about stairwells without railings and porches without railings is enough to make me lose sleep and drive my dh nuts with my paranoid "what if" ramblings. But I digress....

Amy

Where is the dumpster? Just because you're out away from everything doesn't mean it should be a freakin' mess with no dumpster. Don't even think about cleaning it up yourself.

BTW, we aren't even ready to break ground yet, but we both bought steel-toed workshoes with puncture-resistant bottoms and hardhats to wear over there. We can't afford to get hurt.

What does your contract call for in the way of clean-up? You're NOT over-reacting. That's just a plain unsafe jobsite if nothing else.

I scrolled down to the first picture and thought "well, that's not so bad" and then scrolled to the next and thought "well, yeah that's pretty bad" and by the time I got to the last 2, I was wondering if you all had recently had a tornado go through your land!!!
This is horrendous. Your builder should be ashamed of himself/herself. I would not allow any work to progress until this site is cleaned up in a manner that will allow safe construction practices to be followed. You are lucky that you've had a lot of rain in TX this summer...otherwise, you'd be looking at a huge fire hazard with those brush piles.
Best of luck with this situation. I am a huge believer that a builder who would allow such a slovenly worksite is not OCD enough to be a builder!

Isn't unbelievable how much trash is generated at a construction site? I would get so down after visiting the site because I wanted it clean and that was not how it was going to be. We got lots of comments on how ours was the cleanest site they (the contractors) had ever seen and I would think, "that's because I work hard to get it that way after you guys trash the place!" We couldn't get a dumpster in due to wet conditions at the beginning of construction and well into framing. We are in a location that allows burning so we burned everything we could due to the cost of the dumpster "pulls" (when the provider brings an empty dumpster and switches it out with the full dumpster) being $300 each. We had so much lumber to burn that we had to burn on three separate occasions and add lumber a little bit at a time to the fire.

On another note, I understand your wanting to keep your oaks but those look like they may be a little too close to the house when they get to be fully grown. Maybe not but the pics make them look to be within 5 or 6 feet of the foundation. The engineering company that performed our soil sampling was very specific in their report that trees and vegatation within 20 feet of the slab should be removed. Not trying to start anything, just wanted to mention it so you can check your report. I can't remember what area of TX you're in so the soil may make a difference.

Keep on keepin on.

It looks like a hurricane struck. That has to be the messiest job site I have ever seen.

Ok, so I am NOT over reacting! Y'all have not even seen all of it. The back of the house DH picked up and saw a poisonous centipede under some wood. He is a native Texan and that creeped him out! LOL! On the other side of the house it is so bad it is unreal. DH cut a path to get to that side of the house because you can not walk around all the piles of trash and tree limbs that have been cut down and just left where they fell. DH sprayed out some poison to try and kill all the magets (is that spelled right?!) and ants and bees that were all over the food containers.

We finally got a hold of the GC today, after I called him last Thursday and DH called him Saturday with no return calls, DH called him at lunch. He stated we are going to meet at the property to look at rock samples and I am just going to tell him that this is unacceptable like y'all said. That he needs to get a dumpster out there. I mean, we enjoy going out there and working at clearing more trees and the dog and DD love to be out there and all I do is yell at the dog and yell at DD to stay back. *sigh* One of our new neighbors stopped yesterday as we were leaving and she stated her husband and her where going to shut the windows in the house during this terrible storm we had the other day but they saw the no trespassing sign. So we asked if she wanted to look at the house and she said sure. When she walked up and saw the trash in the front she turned to us and said "WOW....how are you going to get all this out of here!"

Our builder is the nicest guy but the time has come to get tough. We should have NEVER have let get this bad. My sister and DH's brother just kept telling us it was a construction site and that we needed to get over it. If I could only take a picture of all the nails, staples and RAZORS I have found! OH yeah and the round saw blades, DD almost picked one up that was sitting on the PICNIC table a few weeks ago! I almost fell over. Thank God she did not get hurt. She knew better then to pick it up but she said she almost did because it was on the table.

I am going back out there tomorrow so I will bring the camera so you can see the rest. Makes me even more angry, sick, frustrated to read some of the posts that say this is the worst they ever saw! I hope worthy reads this I would love to get his thoughts! LOL!

More pictures to come!!!!!!!!!

Pinktoes - good idea on the steel toes, DH has a pair for work sometimes. I need to get a pair. It does state GC is responsible for clean up, just doesn't say when! LOL!

ellied - I wish we could burn it all! We do not have a well yet, something else we keep asking to get put in now so that there is water out there. The brush piles should have been burnt before construction began if you ask me!

amyks - I completely agree with you. DD has to hold my hand when we walk to the front door just so I know she does not step somewhere unsafe. There is a path, only because I made one.

dixiedoodle - I told DH that if one of these works is smoking out here and just throws his cigarette down the whole place is going up! It is frustrating because DH has been complaining but he will not call the builder on it! ARGH! I think now he will after he reads all these posts.

txgal06 - thank you for telling me about the trees. I will look into that. We are in central Texas, SW of Austin. We did not have a soil report done. The only required test/inspection is a perk test for the septic system and that is ALL. Hays county does not require anything else, well they might on the electrical, I need to double check on that this week with the builder. I will say I am 98% sure that is the only inspection that needs to be done. BUT, I am going to look into the trees. There is one on the back corner of the porch that I keep telling DH I think is way to close to the foundation. He agrees and is not sure why they just cut down limbs and did not remove the whole darn thing.

While it's certainly true that that is a terribly messy site, there's no reason in the world anyone should expect a construction site to be safe for a child or dog. I would expect an explanation from the GC as to how/when the site would be clean, but you and anyone who visits these forums should know that construction sites are very dangerous, with nails and blades finding themselves everywhere. You could have the neatest, cleanest crew on the planet, but nails and blades will find there way onto the ground somehow.

though we have not started our build yet, i have visited our builder on five different sites. NONE look like that. he has a dumpster for debris (maybe 2). the sites are cleaned daily with the exception of some wooden platforms used in low lying areas over puddles and mud.

bungeeii - I agree with you 100% that it is not a safe area for a child and dog but I do not expect for a saw blade to be placed on my picnic table either. The table is first and foremost for us to use when we are there and we told the GC the subs could use it to eat lunch on. I overlooked the fact that they moved the table and wrote all over it. The fact is, we are out there every weekend working on the property and our daughter is with us. When I go and check on things she is almost always with me. Once school starts it will be much less but for right now, that is how it has to be. If I am lucky she can stay and play at a friends or families house but mostly she is with me. Where I go, she goes. The dog comes every now and then but she has only been allowed to come with us the last few times (since framing began) since DH and I spent hours with magnet sticks picking hundreds of nails, staples and razors. One sub cleaned out his truck and used a brush to sweep out hundreds of staples and about 35 razors. I did bring this to the GC attention. We of course cleaned it because there was no way I was leaving that for them to clean up. I know they wouldn't have.

So, we are 'suppose' to meet with the builder in the next day or two. I have a list made and plan on addressing all of my concerns. He knows we are leaving on Thursday and I am curious to see if he calls tomorrow. He seems to always call the day of and ask to meet sometime that day. Then we are off to the beach....for what I hope is a relaxing weekend :-) Wish me luck!!

Wow, that's totally unacceptable. We chose not to have a dumpster since our build is in spirts. After each leg of the build we either bring the trash to our current home to dispose of or call someone to come out and clean it up and take it away. Sounds like your builder is going to have a big bill to get this mess cleaned up unless he's planning on doing it himself. My DH is a contractor and never leaves his days work without the area being neat as possible. He does mostly inside work and customers know they can continue to live and function in their homes with minimal disruption from the work debris. Being that messy would make me question a contractor's neatness in doing my work. I think personal sloppiness definitely can slip into one's business practices and vice versa.

bungeeii was right that you shouldn't expect it to be kept safe enough or tidy enough for "civilians." Meaning you, children, or dogs. It does need to be safe enough for the workers. I hadn't thought about it from the builder's perspective, because it's so irritating to me and it's not even my property!

I'm sure all contractors wish we owners would just go away and stay away except when invited (that is, when we HAVE to go for an electrical walk through, etc.) I do hope you can leave your dog at home and let her wait till you move in to enjoy the land. Of course, before she moves in you will no doubt have to scour the entire property with the magnet, etc.

DD also needs workshoes if they sell them in her size. And especially the ones with the puncture-resistant soles, which are harder to find. The soles of our feet are the most vulnerable on a jobsite. Especially yours! Hope school starts soon.

So now your procedure could be for one of you to sit in the car with DD till the other one clears a path of debris and clears the picnic table and its surrounds of dangerous objects. Your DD sounds so well behaved that if you ask her to stay in her one safe place, and explain why, then she will do it.

Just stay after your builder. And, BTW, when he does something good with the cleanup, you could call and leave a message thanking him. (Catching more flies with honey....)

Good luck. Don't expect too much, but hope for some improvement.

Gosh Kelly, that is awful. I thought ours was messy but it didn't even come close to yours. You know those framers don't like working in that mess. I don't blame this on the framers tho. I think this is your builders fault. OSHA would jump all over him with fines if they saw that unsafe mess.

At one time our house didn't have an easy way in. Workers were just walking up a loose 2 x 4. The framer foreman mentioned OSHA to my builder and by the next morning there was a nice, safe entrance.

I can't believe your builder hasn't put a dumpster out there, what about a porta pot. I built out in the boonies and had no problem getting one.

The framers made the biggest mess by far, hopefully they will be out of your hair soon and so will that mess.

Even the dog is bummed out!

The framer mentioned osha? I would report this anonomously to osha. Your builder would get fined.Hitting him in the wallet would get results.

OMG Kelly, that is absolutely horrendous & unacceptable! Your contractor is too cheap to have garbage disposals, or is it just too lazy? Either way, you have every right to be absolutely disgusted with that mess! Our yard was pretty bad during framing, but since then, even the drywallers have been excellent about discarding their trash in the receptacles provided by us. (Although, curiously, while they were very good at tossing out the construction debris, somehow their lunch garbage and empty coffee cups always ended up in our yard lol. Go figure.)

I'm curious to see your clearer pictures. Our site has been a dump since the beginning. Our builder friend/consultant told us not to get a dumpster, but to hire a trash removal service. Unfortunately, the trash really piles up between pick-ups. Also, the guys seem to junk it up as soon as it gets cleaned up. Some of our subs like to create a new, convenient trash pile, instead of throwing stuff in the existing trash containment area. Ugh!

Wow, that is a mess! They should be cleaning up every evening before they leave for the night. My builder did that every night. He would burn the wood scraps. It also looks like they are really wasting alot of 2x4s. I'd definately be having a talk with them about it. I'd let them know that mess was unacceptable and the wasted wood would be paid for by them.

Not good, IMHO.

Our GC had our debris removed every week. It's about safety for the workmen, too. They swept out the house every week, too. Kept it clean so other subs could do their work. Of course, we paid for that service in our construction costs (I saw all the invoices).

Cameron

Maybe that's the custom in your part of the world.

I build infill, so there's not so much room to spread out. Besides, I can't stand a mess. So trash on my sites is confined to a single area about 8'x20' and picked up when it gets about six feet high. (Not counting the pile of discarded but maybe useful scrap.) I don't use bins; leave them overnight and they fill up with other people's trash.

Mind if I use your pics? The next time an owner say "boy what a mess" I can take them out,show the pics to them and say "no thats a mess"
sierra is right just drop a dime to OSHA your site will be spick and span post hast. Might want to call INS while your making calls.

A call to INS and I wouldn't be able to afford my home!

* Posted by rachelh (My Page) on
Wed, Aug 22, 07 at 15:14

A call to INS and I wouldn't be able to afford my home!
Could you send me your contractors name and address so I can report him to INS my self.

I don't think you should report your builder to OSHA, I was saying that just the mention of OSHA to your builder might get him to clean it up.

You risk having your project completely haulted and your builder will face major fines (in the thousands and thousands of dollars) if it is determined that he is breaking the rules. Somehow, someway that will end up coming out of your pocket and time.

Is it a mess...absolutely. Will it be gone a few weeks or maybe even a few days....yes.

What happened to the pictures?!?! I knew what you meant charliedawg :-) I would never call, I think I need this mini vacation and things will settle down for me once school starts. I have no doubt we will have it taken care of in a matter of a week or so. I am also dealing with a mom who has Alzheimer's and that is sucking the life out of me! I know my frustration stems a lot from that.

I stopped by a house that was being built yesterday to take a peek at what there site looked like, y'all would have fell over if you saw it! I am thinking these subs have no regards for anything. They are complete slobs. I didn't think there could be one out there worse then mine....I was wrong! LOL! Meeting builder today, will give an update I hope before we head out of town! Off to pick out rock!

Charliedawg brings up a good point about slipping osha into the conversation.Lifes problems escalate problems with a build, but your site is dangerous.You are paying good money for your project and need to stand up to your builder and demand a clean up pronto!

I am still on the drop a dime. If some one gets hurt I can see the court holding you partly responsible for there injuries. Which could cost you thousands of dollars. Oh keep in mind it does not even have to be a worker that get hurt it could be a nosy neighbor.