A solid foundation

              

A solid foundation

DoD

23 may 2015

The building is progressing quickly.

In the end, Mr Long put in a quote that was about 20% higher than all other bidders. When questioned he couldn’t explain his justification for this price. Mr Khai simply remarked quietly that he had already visited the land and seen that the site was clay and laterite… hence he knew it would required strong foundations.

In the end we went with Mr Khai. Actually he is an ‘architect’ not an engineer. He will build the concrete box, install the windows and doors, put the pipes, wiring, drainage and sewerage in the walls and floors…and that is it. The rest I will do myself or sub-contract.

Steel reinforcing bar, gravel. Sand, cement, and cheap wooden planks for the formwork have been delivered to the site and themen spent a couple of days bending, cutting and shaping the steel reinforcement for the foundations The foundations will have 30 cubic metres of concrete and just over of twotonnesof steel….”RAT MANH!”…very strong!

Mr Khai the builder has brought in a small team of about 7 farmer-labourers who have all worked for him before..he attests to the quality of their work. They come from a small village in Quang Nam province … about 25 kilometres south. They will live on site during the week, so the first task was to build them a rough tin shack to sleep in. It is certainly just that…a rough shack of pieces of tin and a wooden sleeping platform raised up off the ground. At least it affords them a little shade in the heat of the day and they have electricity via a skinny wire hanging from a nearby tree (and connected to god knows where) so they can plug in a small fan and the or rice cooker. 

The men workhard and fast in the hot sun. they are short, bow-legged nuggety men. They are glad of the work that supplements their income and I treat them with respect….so far they have shown me the same. At first they were uncomfortable that I came very day and took photos of their work. Mr Tuan explained helpfully “ Ong Tay Robert is very proud of your work so every night he puts the pictures on the internet to show his friends all over the world”. They smiled.

They are friendly enough and have been warned not to be too rude to the ‘Ong Tay’ (old foreign man)and never, never to his young, beautiful wife…. who controls the purse strings. They are kind to Thien and when he comes on site they lift him up so he can see the concrete mixer or laugh and show him how to shit in the septic tank.Last fortnight I had to go away for ten days to work in Australia… and the men asked why I was absent. Tuan told me that he had explained that I cant get enough work in Da Nang so sometimes I had to go away to work, and the men had nodded knowingly and remarked “just like us”.  I have noticed that there is a whole army of women on motorbikes who tour the building sites – they sell food that they cook at their homes and bring to the shacks where the men live. Maybe some of them sell other things but I don’t know.

The other evening, after work was finished, we celebrated the start of the job by having an impromptu party with beer, snacks, watermelon and lots and lots of ice. We just sat together on the hot tarmac of the road in front of the house and ate and drank and told bad jokes and watched the pink sunset over the mountains.  Mr Khai and I both promised a box of beer each and a party after we build every concrete floor. Tradies are Tradies the world over – they’re happiest after a hard day’s work knowing they can sleep soon, they are going to get paid today , and they have an ice cold beer in their hands. They played with Thien and he giggled and felt their strong arms. It was clear that some of them missed being away from their own children.

They are strong men… and they are building us a strong house.