Surveys, Sanitation, and Sweet, Sweet Revenge
Don't be Doug
Happy Monday, folks!
I’m going to tell you this story. It’s too good not to share. And yes, there’s a pro tip included here.
A few years ago, my buddy Allen was building a 40-unit project. It was his first build. He had too many general partners (too many cooks in the kitchen), and his capital stack was not aligned with his investors, so although the build was out of the ground, little problems were popping up constantly. (I’m not gossiping here; he would tell you the SAME thing). Add to that, the entitlements process had been a grind, and he was constantly dodging grievances from a VERY wealthy neighbor who lived across the alley from his building.
This guy had bought a few contiguous lots and built the largest house on the block with an alley entrance flanked by two small lions. And yes, there were two even LARGER lions at the front of the house guarding the front door.
Does that give you some insight into his personality? Picture Tony Soprano. Only kinder. And yes, this guy I’m going to call Doug, also worked in sanitation.
Doug was pissed that my buddy Allen was building apartments across the alley from his dream home, and he told him as much before the city council meeting.
And during the city council meeting.
And after the city council meeting.
You get the idea.
So while Allen didn’t quite have PTSD, he definitely wasn’t sleeping well.
Okay, I’m just going to come out and say it: Allen worked VERY hard, but not very SMART. He should have been reading The Bright Build.
He reads it now (Hi Allen!)
So Allen and I meet up for dinner and he’s going on and on about Doug and how Doug showed up to his office this morning screaming about damage to his driveway. It’s a brand-new slab with heated coils running through it to melt the snow. Very expensive. And Allen’s “ #$#$$-for-brains” crew has wrecked it with their heavy trucks and machinery.
Replacement costs? Forty grand.
Doug already has his hand out.
Allen drives over to the site and looks at Doug’s driveway. And sure enough. It’s cracked. Really cracked. Right across the apron, as if Thor himself had sent a thunderbolt down from the sky.
Doug’s pointing his finger, spit coming from his mouth, sweat on his upper lip, kicking at the crack with his shoes. Lots of words I can’t write here.
“And now I have to pay this guy, Sean,” Allen tells me.
“Did you document existing conditions?” I ask him.
Allen’s shoulders slumped.
“Kind of. We forgot the driveways.”
Yup. Allen was screwed. Rookie mistake.
You see, an existing conditions survey is a detailed assessment of a property’s current state, including its physical features, structures, utilities, and any legal or environmental factors, done to understand what’s there before starting new construction. And part of this process is also about documenting the conditions of the surrounding properties.
What’s the one thing your neighbors might care about as your general contractor moves heavy machinery down a shared alley?
Bingo.
Their driveway.
But maybe all hope wasn’t lost. Allen did have security cameras up on the job site. I told him to check the cameras when he got home.
The next afternoon, Allen calls me up. His cameras in the alley captured something interesting.
Apart from the usual construction traffic, there were garbage trucks running down the alley. Every Wednesday.
Okay, you’re asking. What’s the big deal?
Doug owned his own sanitation company. And he was pretty cheap. Rather than paying the company that serviced HIS neighborhood, he made his drivers drive over to his house once a week and pick up his garbage.
It turned out that Doug was having a labor dispute with his drivers. They wanted a raise, but Doug said no.
So… not only did Doug’s drivers come every Wednesday to pick up his garbage, but, as Allen saw on the security footage, 2-3 trucks drove through his alley EVERY afternoon, five days a week, and ran straight over the edge of his driveway.
Now, a standard residential concrete driveway is typically about 4 inches thick. For heavier loads, say you’re going to park an RV there (or a garbage truck!), you need 5 to 6 inches to prevent cracking. A typical garbage truck weighs 25 to 40 tons when fully loaded.
See where I’m going with this?
Some clever driver found a concrete way (pun intended!) of making their unhappiness clear.
Allen gave the footage to Doug and told him that maybe he should ask his employees to pony up the 40k.
I wish I had been there to see Doug’s face. I can imagine.
Needless to say, Allen has built a whole bunch of buildings since then, and he makes sure that his GC walks the alley with a video camera on every new build, documenting the conditions of EVERY. SINGLE. DRIVEWAY.
Funny story. But there’s a lesson there. Fifteen minutes can save you 40k.
This is just one in a thousand things I teach once a year to aspiring developers in my master class.
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Peace,
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X: seandsweeney