New Kirkwood home torn down in the middle of construction after a small mistake puts the property in

The fact that they destroyed the building without trying to salvage the wood and pipes really pissed me off.

I bet if "The City" made a mistake with one of their buildings it would be granted an exception.

You have to pay attention when a house is being built for you. Decades ago friends of mine built their first home. He went by the build every day to look it over. He routinely found things done wrong and had it corrected before they went further. He was a thorn in the contractor's side but the home was built correctly in the end. It appears that little has changed in almost forty years.

I worked on a house with an aircraft hanger recently where the foundation on the hangar was wrong (too narrow) because surveyors set the pins, masons didn't question the difference in dimensions, the framers didn't question the differences, and no one knew or bother to question anything until the roof trusses were delivered. Unreal.

This makes me wonder how they managed to pass the foundation inspection phase of the permitting process if the foundation was more than a foot over the setback line. A lot of things had to go wrong to get this far along in construction with multiple inspections and permits signed off on. I hope the homeowner gets a lawyer of her own, as this is going to get MESSY.

Shame on the superintendent and City inspector. That mistake should have been caught when the city came out to sign off on the foundation. which happens before framing and backfill of the foundation.

This is sad this happened. I’ve built many homes in my life, and every single time I hired a surveyor to put pins for the 4 corners of the house to square off of. It’s required in Florida to have a site plan stamped by a licensed surveyor . I built my last house on 5 acres far from the property line and I still paid the extra to have a surveyor put his blessing on the project.

Yep. A new house was being built across the street from me a few years ago. Somehow, the foundation (large ranch with full basement) was poured 20(!!!) feet past the set back. The city did not complain, a neighbor did, and the city then made the owner knock in the entire foundation and redo it. That had to hurt.

Measure twice build once.

It's up to the contractor to ensure the lot is surveyed correctly, he's trying to blame a subcontractor, ridiculous!

I remember a case where we had a builder build on the lot next door. This was found just before closing at the final survey. They builder managed to exchange the lot, get they buyer to move one door down and we transferred the inspections.

It would be more practical to move the house two feet or two miles than to try to salvage the materials. Jack up the house on cribbing and extend the foundation two feet on this side and close it in two feet on the other side. Shift the house and set it back down. But would it be cost effective? The house was pretty far from finished. Hopefully someone did crunch the numbers on simply moving the house, but at this stage of construction, it might not be worth it. I framed many houses over many years, in Texas and in the Mid Atlantic. It is not practical to disassemble the house and reuse materials. Those gun nails are impossible to remove without damaging the lumber. Subfloor is glued down. Everything is shot full of gun nails, and all you would be saving would be damaged used material

Somebody was pushing their limits, on boundaries. I'm surprised that they stopped this construction. Somebody pissed a inspector off .

Very unfortunate indeed. However, to destroy a home that far along is pure idiocy. Give someone a bit of power (the municipality) and they just go nuts. Very sad.

Well the fact they tore it down without saving the wood is really upsetting

I built a garage/shop in Seattle about 15yrs ago. my contractor required I have a survey "one side" to protect his company---Our setback is also 5ft, they put the finished foundation 6ft on one side and 9ft on the other-----Mikey

I’ve been drawing blueprints for residential and commercial properties for over a decade now, and my design starts with the survey of the property and the setback requirements in the area the property is located. To see a mistake as obvious as this get so far into the building process should bring shame on Everyone involved in the construction of this home! They are ALL at fault.

Many contractors live by the moto "It's easier to beg for forgiveness , than it is to ask permission." With that in mind, why wasn't the mistake caught before the walls went up? Something stinks, here.

We had a house explode in our neighbourhood because of a senior with mental health issues. One house beside his was saved with warping and peeling of the siding from heat due to the initial explosion and subsequent fire because of the driveway and the other house, while looking undamaged, has been wholesale taken off its foundation and moved six inches. The setback was what kept it from catching fire after the initial blast. Unfortunately, that house has been condemned and has subsequently been demolished.

Its amazing that this got that far along without the general contractor or any inspectors catching this mistake