The Building Begins

We decided to strike while the iron is hot, so to speak and keep rolling as long as possible. Eduardo, the taxi driver we have been using for most of our running around has been going on and on about how the VIlcabamba workers exploit foreigners, and if we use his friends in Malacatos, they will be honest and hardworking and stop trying to take advantage of us. At first glance, the materials for the bodega were more expensive than we were led to believe, and Eduardo's dad hauls rocks, gravel, sand, and anything heavy in his truck for about half what we paid for the bodega project. His truck is also smaller and more powerful than the dump truck, so it can bring the materials up to the site instead of dumping them at the entry. Since the bases for the columns will be require lots of this stuff, we decided to give it a try.

We talked with the metal worker he recommended, and he seems to be able to grasp the design, and actually have some ideas of his own, so we decided to proceed. I had been told that he had his own gas powered portable welder/generator, and would charge $130/day for a welder and helper to weld the steel frame for the house. Of course we should buy the materials immediately, as the price would be more the next week. We decided to go for it and headed off to Loja to the steel distributor to buy metal in bulk. We bought about $3400 worth of tubes for the frame and channels for mounting the wood and metal roofing. We also bought $2200 worth of  metal roofing and screws and such. This was all paid in cash and must have made my pockets appear to be very deep.
The first warning should have been when I asked what the work would cost and he replied $800/wk. I asked what he paid his workers and he told me $85/wk, so I told him we would pay what is fair, but I wanted to see a list each week of what we were paying for.
We proceeded to dig holes for the bases and made good progress.
The first load of rocks and cement came, but the truck couldn't quite make it to the top of the driveway with a full load. They unloaded it and it was decided that he would dump half at the entry, make a run up to the site, and the guys would go back to the entry to reload the truck with the other half. The price of the delivery was included in the cost of material which was $15/cubic meter, so this was not a very good deal for the driver. Instead of bringing it all the next day, he just made 1 or 2 trips a day over the rest of the week. We had to adjust the work schedule to use what we had available at the site. At the end of the first day I was told we needed to buy rebar for the supports and a guy in town would do the ironwork. We agreed reluctantly that we should have concrete supports above ground level so that the steel would not rust out in the concrete below ground level in the rainy season. When we ordered the ironwork, it became apparent that they were going to be a bit taller than I had planned. Actually he ordered then to come up to floor level, just to be safe. We were to use steel plates with rebar attaching it to the rest of the column to attach the steel framing. I tried to avoid the columns, as this is a long process and bad concrete mixing is a common problem here. I finally caved to the peer pressure as everyone I talked to thought it would be much stronger and that's how we roll in Ecuador.

Building the bases

The first colum

Una mas columna

Column plates for the frame attachment

One more load

Pouring concrete in the column form

At the end of the week, he wrote down $800 as the total. I asked what this was for and he replied workers, lunch, transportation, etc. This was for 3 guys digging holes and mixing concrete. I was furious, but tried to keep my composure and told him that I had paid for the transportation, so he dropped the price to $700. We just gave him $500 and left, afraid that longer interface would bring culturally unacceptable behavior on my part. When I got up to leave his wife was standing at the door looking really scared. It is considered poor form to get really furious and appear as though you are about to go postal on them. I stewed on this for a couple of days and went to see him on Sunday, determined to fire him if we didn't come to some agreement. I lost a lot of sleep fuming about the nerve it took to imply that I was too rich or stupid to need to count where it all went. When we talked on Sunday, I explained that I was not paying for anything I did not get and if that was a problem other people wanted to do this work. I was not paying welders wages for common labor like hole digging. He reduced the price to $350/ week for the team, so we agreed to go forward.  Another week of much the same and the columns were complete on Thursday, we just needed to come back for the forms Friday, so it would just be 4 days work this week.

Rebar in the form

Looking down from the road above

Mixing and pouring concrete

Last one is done

Moving the driveway to make room for the frame

When I got the bill, it was only $600 for this week. I started to percolate, but explained that we had agreed on $350/wk. on Sunday, so I only owed $280 for this week. He agreed and I had already paid $150 too much the previous week, so $130 more would cover it. He was obviously disappointed at my grasp of logic, but agreed to this. He then said the metal all needed to be cleaned and painted and that it would take 6 days, so would be $1100. Once again, I told him workers were not worth that and we agreed that $400 would be more in line with the norm. I am astonished that he can tell me this with a serious straight face, but it is a different culture, and you must earn their respect by not bending over and well,,,you know what I mean.
Come Friday, we go up to remove the last of the molds, and he tells me he forgot to include lunch in the bill which is another $75. I explain that lunch is only $2.50 in the nicer restaurants in town, that they don't actually buy lunch, one of the wives makes it each day, and I am already paying $100/wk for $85 labor, so maybe he should give me back the extra $7.50 I paid. A disappointed look and never mind shrug settle that matter. We talk about the framing work and agree that using metal instead of wood for the beams will be stronger and last longer, and that integrating them into the frame will make the structure stiffer and eliminate the need for supports for the porch. This will take a few more days to implement, but is a good idea in the long run. I agree to go buy the additional metal and he agrees to include painting it for the already agreed upon price. He also says he wants to do a formal labor contract to avoid further confusion. A little research shows that in Ecuador such contracts are only to protect the workers and to be sure that they get paid.

Moving and Shaking at Last

A week went by, and now it's July. At least it seems like that when you travel for a couple of months. We were glad to get out of the storms and bugs in Florida, and ready to try our luck in Ecuador again. We returned to Cuenca for a few days, planning to visit the shock wave guy for a follow up, and have someone look at Joan's shoulder, which was deteriorating. The shock wave Dr. was in the USA visiting his kids, so we just saw the original ortho guy and got some ultrasounds and xrays of Joan's shoulder. Good news was no tears in the tendons, but the down side is that nothing can be done about it except long painful rehab. He started her on anti-inflammatory medicine with glucosamine and sent us on our way.

We decided that the only reason to return to my Dr. was to tell him I was good, so we took off to Malacatos. I am more mobile than I have been in a couple of years and loving every minute of it, with the possible exception of the soreness from overdoing it now and then. We returned to the same house, as we had paid a portion of the rent to secure a spot for our Ecuador possessions and to skip looking for a new rental on return.

This is an example of how things go for the unwary. The ceiling of this A frame house is supported with Ubingue wood timbers which is an extremely hard and totally water resistant wood, an excellent material for floors. It was very expensive 3 years ago when this house was built, and is virtually unavailable now. The background wood is actually floating floor, totally unable to tolerate moisture or wetness. There is no rhyme or reason to this, so the owner needs to pay a lot of attention to the building process.

We visited the property, and everything seemed intact. We started looking for a tractor guy to fix the road and ran around in circles for a few weeks trying to line something up. We were convinced by an english speaking local to hire a more expensive guy with a bigger tractor because of the extent of the damage to the road. It was to cost $25 instead of the usual $20/hr. Turns out he was the one who had finished the construction on the road originally, but had not been paid to finish it well. He showed up a week or so later than promised and tore into it. He worked miracles with the big tractor, moving very large rocks into the ruts and holes, filling them in with material from above.

Everything flows down hill in the mountains, so the fill was just pulled from the high side or gathered from the rubble which had tumbled down from above. As I was to learn over and over, things are not always what you expect. When he finished the road in one day instead of the 3 or 4 we had expected, he told me it costs $350 instead of the the $25/hr. I had been promised by his friend. It was still a better deal than a smaller tractor for several days, but my expectations were not met. Never let anyone do anything for your without a clear understanding of the cost. The people we deal with are almost evasive when you asked what they charge or what a job will cost. This seems to be because they hope it will take a long time so they can make more money.

The next step was to build a bodega or shed on the property to give us a place to keep tools and materials for the house project and also to enable us to apply for electricity. The guy I was considering for the house project agreed to build the bodega for a fixed price which we found reasonable, so we went for it. They worked for about a week and finished it up on time and only slightly over budget. It turned out that the dump truck bringing rocks, gravel, sand and bricks could not make it up the final part of the driveway because it was too steep, so all the materials were dumped at the entry to the driveway and ferried to the site with the contractors 4x4 pickup truck. This added a bit of unforeseen time and work to the project, which resulted in an extra $100 and a day more time. We were pretty satisfied with the results and now had a one car garage with steel doors for a base in the mountains.

Moving the rocks

The Finished Bodega/Garage

We were now in need of electricity for the construction of the house. We had been told that if we apply with 5 other neighbors, the government would set up the electricity for the neighborhood without cost to us. I spent a few days looking for some neighbors, but they are few and far between. The first one I asked about this asked me "Why would I want to pay for electricity?". Hard to make payments if you garden and tend cows for a living. This was beginning to look like a long process as it is driven from the national level, and wouldn't even be budgeted until the fiscal year following approval. We decided to see what the electric company wanted to just hook us up. We had been told that it would cost $3000 and take three months, but when they came, they said we would need four poles. a transformer and permission to cut trees on the neighbor's land. The proposal came by e-mail a few days later and it would cost $6500 and take two months. I got a call from the engineer the following morning asking when I wanted to start. I told him not now as I didn't have that much money lying around. I think I can buy a generator and run it for 5 or 10 years at that cost. This will also allow us to  get on with the house project without having to rent a generator for the work.