Erecting the Structure

As we go into the second week, we are excited to get to the part where we get to see the actual house going up. On Monday we show up at the welders, load the welder/generator, lots of tools and a few tubes of steel. This takes forever, but we hope they will improve with practice. When we get it all loaded, we head for the gas station to fill the tank on the welder and another can to take with us. We get to the site about 2 hours after the day starts, so we only have about 6 hours to actually work.

Loading up

The Welding Begins

As these things go, we move right along. It is soon apparent that we will use all the steel we have brought with us before the day is done. Good from a progress standpoint, but not so much from the productivity standpoint. We call the taxi to request more metal, but he has gone to Loja and won't be back till after lunch. He should be back up in time for a couple of more hours of welding. We need a 4x4 taxi to get materials to the site, and finding a new one who can load the steel and find us is unlikely without going personally to oversee it. That would involve walking down for a couple hours, so that is not an option. Unfortunately, he decides to wait till he comes to pick us up, so the workers sit idle for a couple of hours. I explain to the leader that if this happens again, I will not pay for the idle time. Next day we bring another load with us, but the rack on the truck will only bring about 8 tubes per load. He tells the taxi to keep bringing it, so on the third load, I tell them this is stupid, as it costs the same to bring a load with an empty taxi, as it does moving the crew. Once again, it is demonstrated that no amount of expense to me should be spared to ensure that they get paid.
The original plan had been to put pine beams on top of the metal frame, but I have seen too many wooden houses crumble when the timbers rot or are eaten by bugs. We agree to weld metal cross pieces to support the floor boards instead. This takes longer and requires more tubes, but should be pretty much bulletproof. They are very slow at measuring and cutting and cutting again when it doesn't fit, and maybe one more time for good measure, but it is moving along.

Starting to Look Like a Floor

After a couple of days of this, it looks like progress, but is driving me crazy. They mark the ends, put a string between the marks and then fit the tube pieces. I try to show them that if the frame is marked, they can just lay the tube in place, mark the bottom and it will fit first cut. They look at me like I just told them to eat a live rat, and obviously don't believe me, as this is not how they were taught to do it. I cut one to demonstrate it, and they do a few more that way. After lunch it is back to the old way, as this just feels wrong to them. I make them do it the quick way a few more times, but it obviously hurts them. Probably not as much as it hurts me to watch them waste so much time fooling around, but hey it's moving along.

A Week of Welding

It seems I have to spend at least two hours just getting them on track each day. We are excited enough about making this much progress to keep the crew for another week.

More strings and tapes

 When we get to the front area with the triangles instead of rectangles, they are terribly confused. He wants to cut each triangle into an even number of cross pieces depending on the size of the triangle. It is apparent that the floor I had envisioned, with the boards parallel to the edges, is not within their grasp. I get them to continue with the same spacing and decide the floor boards will all run in the same direction, just to keep moving. It's two hours and they are still moving the strings around. When they start cutting pieces by measuring with a tape, I give another try to just showing them how to lay the tube on top, draw a line on the bottom and cut it. Amazingly enough after you cut a piece at the right angle for one cross member, you just move it over and it is at the right angle for the next piece. Working on two sections of the floor at the same time seems painful to them, but they will do it if they have to. I make them move the cutting tools closer to the actual work just to eliminate the walking back and forth time.

Filling in the Triangles

The lesson seems to stay for the rest of the day and we move along.

Most of the first floor done

Exciting to think about going up after more than a week on the first floor.

Up we go

When all the uprights for the square part are in place we start to add the cross pieces. This part requires much time climbing up and down moving strings and such.

Front pieces

The front is particularly difficult, as no three are in line, so strings are useless. I try to convince them that the tops must be the same distance apart as the bottoms, but they must measure them at the top for each one. I convince them to try just the square part first, so that we can be doing something again.

Second floor frame

It is horribly slow, but still exciting to see the house taking on shape. When we get to the part where we add the beams for the second floor, we find that no amount of strings can compensate for hammering the wrong size upper frames in place. They try to tell me that the heat made them bend, but they are inches out of place and must be cut loose and re-welded. Half a day down the tubes, and I am starting to wonder what the Ecuadorian equivalent for Prozac is called.

Second floor taking shape

We press on, as scenes from Fawlty Towers flash through my mind, particularly one where Basil is sitting on Manuel in his underwear flailing away with a skillet at Manuels head. Alas, this would be culturally insensitive, so I have to keep it in my head.

We agree that to proceed up with the roof supports will require another pair of hands, so we will have another helper the next day.

Up, Up and Away

The helper is not afraid of height and can also weld, very exciting as visions of accelerated progress flash though my mind. The visions turn out to be illusions, as the Jefe will not allow him to take instructions from me, as I am just a dumb foreigner who doesn't understand how things are done here. At least he can fill in the welds while they try to puzzle out the process. It takes a whole day to get two of the three top roof supports in place along with the lower front roof support. A great deal of the time is trying to correct for the poorly cut angles by welding rebar and other metal into the holes when the pieces don't fit.

I keep hoping they will get better

Front roof support

Each day we talk about what we are going to do today and then proceed to get about half of it done. This is some of the hardest work I have ever done, and I am just overseeing it. They seem to have mastered the technique of moving half way to the goal each day, so that it will take infinity days to actually get to the end.

The top comes together

After much discussion, I agree to shorten the top cross piece by 2 meters, as it really adds nothing but the illusion of strength. They are convinced that it would be impossible to lift that much metal high enough to install it. We can finally start to add the roof panel supports and get an idea what it will really look like.

Connecting it all 

Next, we can start to add the supports for the porch roof. I try to get them to make 1 good one and then 8 copies of it to surround the porch. They think I want to eat their brains, but agree to make a bad one and keep refining it as they try to get them all made. Mass production is as alien as time travel in this world.

The porch roof supports going up

Despite repeated requests, they won't bring the rest of the roofing materials up to the site. After a heavy rain which damages the road a little bit, I convince them that if the road is damaged, and we can't bring the materials up, we can't work. This argument works even though it is faulty, because if we can't bring the welder up we cannot work regardless of the material situation. I suggest using a heavy truck to bring it up to the entrance, but they are sure it can just ride up with us on the taxi, as it's not really heavy. Another long painful session of moving materials ensues. I try to explain that the supports are upside down and too close together, they let me know they are in control.

Load it up

Unload and re-align supports

Final load

Amazingly enough, when they start loading it, the load is unstable because the supports are too close together, so we unload the first few panels and change the supports around. When we have 8 of 36 panels on the truck, they decide that the truck is loaded. After explaining that it will take 5 more trips and cost me $100 instead of the $20 for the heavy truck, they reluctantly load 18 panels. Half way up the mountain, the supports buckle from being upside down, but we manage to limp up to the site with minimal damage to the dragging panels. We spent about 2 and a half hours moving this load, and repeat the drill the next day in slightly less time. I send them back for the roof caps and some more welding rods. At last I have all the materials on site and no more dependence on this crew.

Roof supports going up

After another day of maddening bad cutting and hours of trying to compensate by welding it back together, I tell them that we cannot work the following week, as I have other obligations. I suggest that they take all their tools with them in case it takes longer than expected. They are really disappointed as it soaks in that they have killed the golden goose. I am the happiest I have been in weeks, kind of like when you stop hitting yourself on the head and it feels so good to not be hit on the head anymore. The taxi driver is particularly sad, as this is probably the best gig he has ever had.

I found an expat with good references who will work for a reasonable hourly rate. I will work with him to finish this up, and I feel good about the arrangement. 

We took a week off to go to Cuenca and extend our visas, and just tie up some loose  ends. I have scheduled a tractor to come move the entry to the property to the top of the hill next week, and things are looking up once again.

The new whip

A funny thing happened on the way to the generator store. We went up to Loja to look for a generator to use for construction and until we get on the grid someday. I had picked out a 1995 Land Cruiser and was on my way to buy it when we got the opportunity to buy materials and start building. It was the perfect vehicle for living in the mountains, but one must have priorities. A week later, we drove by the car lot and the whole lot was vacant. Just not meant to be, I guess. While walking around yesterday, we saw the worker from the car lot in front of another shop with no signs or indications that it was the same business. Upon asking about the car, he said yes it is right inside. We went to look at it, and the owner had completely reupholstered the front seats and added a new battery and a few other touches. He was glad to see me and I offered to buy it for slightly less than the earlier agreement. He accepted the offer and when I told him I needed to go home for the money he offered to take me down to Malacatos, a one hour ride each way. I drove us down, and we really liked the car. It had better road manners than I expected from an off road vehicle and nice new comfy seats. We spent the rest of the day doing the paperwork, and drove home in a new car. Your world can change in an afternoon, we will be doing a lot more sightseeing after the house is done, as well as having much more flexibility in making things happen. It's all good.