Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1886-02-04
HOUSE-BUuDING.
A Man Who Would Have Everything Ac-
Cording to Contract

From the somewhat indefinite era of
the man who builded his house upon
the sand previous to the rainy season,
there has been a continuous wall going
up from the unfortunate people in every
community who ''are building 1t Is
tale OF worriment, of estimates exceed
ed, and exasperations endless. 1t is
reassuring, then, to find at least one
man who was too much for the wicked
contractor, and built his house not only
upon rock but like a rock so that it
shall stand until some elevated railroad
of the future gets the right of way
through its second story. Thus saith
the man who beat the contractors at
their own game: people can't be too
careful when they are building, for
those who don't know what is what in
the way of work and material are sys-
tematically taken in by the contractors.
The architect is supposed TO see that the
contracts are carried out, but he can't
always be on hand, and when dispute
does arise he naturally leans toward the
mechanics. Many of the inexplicable
fires that occur in first-class dwellings
are simply the result of criminal care
lessness and fraud on the part of work
men and contractors. had running
fight while my house was building, but
it was done as | wanted it and accord
ing to contract. The party wall was
twelve inches wide and bricks were to
be bonded every five courses. went to
hook at it one evening when the wall
was twelve feet high and found only
every twentieth course was bonded.
Some workmen were going by on their
way home. | hired them for an hour.
We transformed big beam into bat
tering ram and when my friends, the
contractors. came back in the morning
they found their wall lying in the cellar
bottom. From that time on every fifth
course was bonded according to the
specifications. Then we began on the
framing. / had distinctly specified that
the fiues in the walls should be spanned.
One afternoon / climbed on the upper
floor beams and found burned and
sooty brick lying on the scaflolding. Ii
had been taken out of the wall of my
neighbor on the right to let one of my
floor beams in.
".Look here, said | to the German
who was doing the framing, you've
run that beam plum into furnace flue.
Some cold winter night I'll wake up
and find my house afire.
''Can't help dot, replied this origi-
nal Buddensiek.
"'Well, can, said /, and | got
piece of timber and began to pry the
beam out.
Here. Vot der Teufelr shouted the
contractor Won sion dOtr
'''Get out of the wayr | yelled, or
you'll 60 where the good Germans go,
all before your time!'
He grabbed an adze and jumped for
me. | seized an AK and began counter
demonstrations. Then while he sat
down to think it over, sat down on the
end of my lever. Up came the floor
beam out of its mortise, and went
crashing down into the cellar It had
protruded four inches into, what would
have been a red hot flue when the fur
mace was well working
Things went smoothly after that I'M
til we came to putting in the furnace.
had ordered double tin pipe and double
pipe guards wherever a partition was
pierced. One afternoon | came in and
found two apprentices lathing up par
tition about II furnace pipe. | asked if
the double pipe-guards had been put in.
They winked at one another and said
yes. After they had gone | cut little
hole with a Ratchet and investigated.
Not sign of a guard, double or single
was to be found 1t did't take long for
me to rip that all out. | told the head
lather to get somebody other than those
two apprentices to do the work; for if
they ever entered my house again I'd
make him throw up his contract, and if
he sued me I'd fight him as long as /
had dollar left. The furnace-builder
also wore an unhappy look after | had
finished with him. Well, the house is
finished, as you see, and it only cost
$40 more than the original estimate.
The excess was due to the building of a
stone wall for the yard instead of
fence, as originally intended, and the
construction of coalbins, which i had
forgotten to include in the original esti-
mate"
If others would be as careful and
energetic as this man there would be no
chance for builders of the Buddensiek
ft-pn ~ y T'rjI,5aoo