Project Ingå

Ground works are progressing quite good, despite of the small hiccup in the beginning. It is time to put the pipes into the ground. Sewer and water pipes are ordered, a plummer will come to make sure pipes are placed into the ground correctly, and another plummer from Inkoo municipality is coming to make sure connections to the municipal systems. The day and time is agreed and everybody gathers on the construction site.

But what was supposed to be a one hour job turned out to be a day of wasted time for everyone. Pipes were placed into the ground and water pipes were even connected, but sewer connection was simply impossible because of overlapping problems – as soon as the hole was dug up to get to the collector it started to immediately fill with ground water. When water pump was brought (I didn’t yet have electricity connected, so thanks to the neighbours who allowed to use their connection) and water was pumped out it was discovered that sewer connection is incorrectly made and it is not possible to connect the pipes. By that time working day was over for municipal plummer, so fixing and connection had to be postponed.

Ok, just a couple of days after ground preparation works started first problems appeared. Contractor called and told that the rock is going to be in the way of the house and if I want to keep given heights, we need to blow it up. Blowing up rocks is quite typical for construction projects in Finland, but it is expensive.

Calling a meeting with a contractor and project engineer on the spot to decide what to do next. After two hours of measuring and remeasuring, double-checking the blueprints and considering various option the decision is made – ground will be raised by 20cm, house will be moved away from the stone. Construction inspector came to the construction site as well and after reviewing proposed changes gave final approval.

After all trees and tree stubs are removed, ground has to be prepared for the construction project. First, some crushed stone was used to enable heavy vehicles to get to the land from the road. Today I had a meeting with the contractor who will be excavating the “soft” land and bringing stones and sand to level the land and get it ready for contractors who will build the foundation. We looked at the scope of work and agreed on the price and schedule.

There is a sign on the land now – it states the name of the house manufacturer and responsible construction engineer. First indication of what is there to come…

The trees are all gone now. There were a few birches and about 30 pines. They were cut down and sold away. The roots had to be removed and driven away to the nearest garbage collection place. After all grass had been cleared away the place became so much sunnier, but also – oh my gosh – there was a huge rock in the place where we had planned the driveway. Will have to think what to do with it.

It is official now. We’ve had a kick-off meeting with Inkoo construction inspector and responsible construction engineer. It was quite short – just to make sure that all necessary contact information is available and everybody knows what they are supposed to do.

First unforseen problem has emerged this morning. Only two weeks left before construction committee meeting and Inkoo authorities still hasn’t called up the neighbours to get their statements about upcoming construction. By law they have to do that 20 days in advance… So we’ll have to do it ouselves. Well – the earlier we get to know each other, the better, right?

This morning I drove to Inkoo to meet with deputy construction inspector and submit all papers necessary for obtaining construction permit. July is a month that does not exist in Finnish calendars. Townhall was absolutely empty and had a feeling of school building in summer to it.

After a quick review I left all papers and we agreed that Inkoo officials will take care of the only missing bit – getting neighbour’s statements about upcoming construction project. That was really nice of them, since I was leaving to US for 2 weeks business trip on the very same day and wouldn’t have had time to handle this anyway.