Our November groundbreaking ceremony was 13 weeks ago, and we THOUGHT we were going to actually begin site work right away. What happened?
Permitting Delays
Permitting took weeks longer than it should have. It turns out there is much less cooperation between agencies here in North Georgia than you would have thought, and we had to figure out how to navigate ourselves through it as we went along. What should have been a simple submit-and-return process turned into a much longer, more involved ordeal. That really slowed us down.
THEN we were informed that we needed approval from the Georgia State Fire Marshall. This was a surprise to all of us, since our capacity size comes under the requirement for state approval. That delayed us several more weeks, well into December.
Ellijay: The No Contract Zone
We also weren’t able to start construction till all bids are in, and that has been an ongoing problem, as well. In a typical church build like this one, contractors come out of the woodwork to get a piece of the action. We knew ahead of time that Ellijay was not quite typical! It turns out that here in Ellijay, our project is pretty large for the locals, and too far away from Atlanta or Chattanooga for the big guys.
One big example was concrete. We went through 12 different concrete guys before we finally found someone who could do this job. The farther away big contractors realized our project was too small for them to break even with our proximity. The local guys felt we were too big and too risky for them to take it on. (they were worried about encountering solid bedrock, or that they couldn’t staff up enough. Some just wouldn’t call back!)
Fortunately, our site contractor has a great working relationship with an area concrete guy, and they have done quite a few projects together. The price isn’t as low as we’d hoped, but the two of them together will be a great advantage as we move forward.
Alltogether, getting all the required permits and all the subs locked in took significantly longer than it typically does, and that is why we are having such a late start. BUT we have finally started! Look for a bunch of trees to be taken down, and for some deep, deep holes to be dug to set in the storm drains over the next week or so. Let’s move forward!