How could you have had a straight driveway into the garages as you expected?

the driveway was supposed to run into the end of the garage pad, not the middle

Oh I see, I thought that would have been obvious to the GC. Wow.

That'll be easier to break up at this point in the cure process. Get it done and subtract the cost. Curving forms and finishing won't be free. Stake out the correct position.

I'm sorry for your experience. It may not help you at this point, but others can avoid the problem you've experienced by including a site development plan along with your architectural plans and specifications to clearly define the project scope. The communities and municipalities in which we build all require site development plans as part of their approval and permitting processes.

A site development plan should show the extent of clearing; the location and construction details for erosion controls; the location of the home with respect to property boundaries, set-backs, easements, etc. ; the dimensions and location of the driveway, sidewalks, parking pads, etc.; the elevation of the garage slab and 1st floor; the grading to be performed and how storm water will be handled on the site.

Can you show an example of how it was supposed to be installed? How big is the apron around the garage area? How wide is the end that meets the road? It seems rather wide. Are you planning for the entire driveway to be that wide?

There should have been an agreed upon Plot Plan/Site Development Plan with the exact location and the shape of your driveway. I can not comment whos fault is that.

1. Just like @User you can extend the pad to the right with radius curves.

2. Honestly I do not like your straight sidewalk either. It could have been done so much better. Sometimes there is a covenant that require L shape sidewalk. But ugh not my taste.

3. That pad is valued at ~$1200 if needed can be busted up, but why?

What we do is use the garden hoses to lay the exact shape you want and transfer with Orange, Yellow or Green road spray. Never leave anything like this to a sub. Subs are great at suggesting the most cost savings - but for a difference may be like couple hundred dollars you can have a really awesome custom driveway.

FYI: IMHO architects are notoriously bad at site conditions. Your house looks nice.

I am totally confused as to why you have continued with this contractor . I see no real problem in removing that samll piece of driveway and get a good contractor that knows how to build one because for sure there will be another issue to deal with with the current contractor. This should have been layed out and signed by both parties as to where it went. Then if he screwup he rips it urt and does it right. IMO this is on you. I have not read the other posts but IMO you should have fired him the first time he screwed up.

@BT I wish I could but I can't explain their logic. We confused by the sidewalk as well. I could go in depth about the ineptitude of this builder and his staff but it'd take a novel to cover everything. I just hope we can figure out how to make it work. If I think about this mess up on top of all the others I'll be at serious risk for a extreme anxiety attack.

@Juneknow thanks. that seems like a viable option

@devonfield no that wasn't the plan at all. We didn't discuss the sidewalk or driveway, they just did it

@Patricia you're right this is on me. My diligence is about ran out and we just want to close. Im at my wits end at this point

Slight curves in driveways, not enough to need hard turning of the steering wheel but enough to add interest would be ok. My question is why do you need what looks like 24' of concrete going all the way out to the street (dotted in below)? You could land a small plane on that! Maybe start with that width at the garage pad and taper it down as the driveway gently bends 15 degrees or so.

And I agree with BT about your walk. I like to avoid the "drive up to the side and then hike around the house to the front" set up for guests but seeing as how you're past that point better to add some interest with curves there too.

+100 AG.

My guess they wanted slightly wider driveway for hey/tractor access... Contractor appears to aligned it improperly. Shows inexperience.

I do not understand why they are pouring that in a wrong order and it cost more.

Who does (1) pad, (2) sidewalk (3) driveway instead of (1) driveway and pad (2) sidewalk.

The GC carefully located a driveway entry to the street that can accommodate a gently curving drive to the right (like ARG's sketch) to gain access to the garage AND to the left space for an elegant circular drive with parking to accommodate first time visitors (and the home owner) easy and convenient access to the front door.

(Okay it's probably BS, but it does offer relief in the form of a solution for the current situation)

June Know offers a great solution. I would try to keep the drive as tight with the house as I could because adding curves is only going to make your mowed area larger. I think you’ve spoken on wanting to do something agricultural with the land so adding a turn around pad near the garage doors will allow you to have a fairly straight line on the right of the driveway for a fence.

Just sharing another perspective. Our driveway isn’t paved it’s paving stones so they were laid. The landscaper did not follow the plan, did not make the opening as wide as they should have, and we were horrified. They completely went off script and did what they thought would be best not what we wanted nor what was planned. Luckily we had the plan and essentially said to everyone what the heck is this and change it. I’m sure we got dinged somewhere for the cost, because that’s how it always goes, but I don’t even care. I am so happy pulling into the driveway that is how we wanted it and I would have totally regretted not doing this change. That said we don’t have nearly the volume of space you do. Can you not work with what you have somehow?

You need it that wide for growing hay? I dont get it.

Will anyone ever make the trek to the front door? Where do guests park?

You could do a circle. But yeah, that's in the wrong place. What an ordeal.

Besides the driveway, what other things are needed to be done by the GC? Wondering if there are any other future issues you can avoid by knowing what else he's in charge of.

For example, there would have been multiple recommendations from Houzzers to make sure you talk to him about where the driveway goes. I'm not trying to blame you, but just using this example to show you how you could have avoided this issue because you already know that the GC is not up to your expectation.

My suggestion is to ask the GC for his punch list, and sit down and discuss in detail every item left. Document these discussions and share the documentation with the GC. Site your experience with the driveway as an example of why you need to have everything documented and detailed. Regardless of the status of the relationship with him, you both have the same goal: To complete the project and get away from each other.

Very sorry that you are having such a rough house building experience!!

ARG’s design gives you and your visitors a glimpse of the pretty entry, that‘s nice.

A hay trailer to the barn out back needs a straightish driveway. And a big turnaround close to the barn. Not the house. Backing a trailer down a curved drive to park next to the house is also kinda an advanced skill. Getting one unstuck from the mud after trying to turn it around in a yard is kinda advanced too.

This is why one of the first things to be done was the plot plan, siting the house, future barn, future shed, and access paths to all of that. This is what happens with ”plop” instead of plot.

Regarding all this hay deliveries and needing runway straight driveways malarkey, for 17 years I lived on a place with horses, made two slight curves on the "straight" part for interest (as you can see, could have been ramrod straight) plus one harder turn nearer the house going to a dead end at the barn and we never had any problems with hay trailers (and these were large, 300 bales), horse trailers, gravel dump trucks, appliance delivery trucks and such. Of course as Celadon wrote, all of this was figured out ahead of time.

And I curved the fence paralleling the drive, having it gradually fall away when the house came into view in lieu of a hard corner making it a nice gradual sequence on the trip up,

.The importance of how a house is arrived at is often an underestimated design concern, many times an afterthought (I wrote that for the yet to build lurkers).

Hay trailers is a pick up and a trailer or a horse trailer around here. You don't need anything special for them. If you are talking about big farm equipment you don't want them on your driveway to begin with.

Just wanted to clear up the Hay thing. That was never apart of anything, so that's that lol.

@Mark that will work

@JJ If the weather permits my friends should be fine with the sidewalk, it's not even that far and we all could use a few extra steps in the day. If not garage access is there, plus a mud bench on entry.

@D B it's a running list at this point and all decisions go between either GC or sales manager and they're literally dumb and dumber but in real life. We did everything we possibly could aside from chaining ourselves to the concrete truck to avoid it being used. Even pointed it out to him a whole day before when it was only dug up. Yet and still it still happened

@bpath it does. And I really appreciate all the input

@celadon we all can't get everything right all the time. Shit happens just gotta learn and move past it

Were working on another design and we think it can be salvaged with some well thought out landscaping. Thanks for your help guys

I had hoped you had dropped the idea of horses. In another thread you said you know nothing about them.

@Shannon Thats not what I said. And I haven't dropped the idea. Thanks

In a thread 2 months ago you said “I'll figure out what I need to know about horses before I get one, thats why I asked”. In that thread you were clear you had never had horses before, knew nothing about what it takes to keep them alive and healthy, and also thought that 2 acres would be enough for several horses, and also didn’t know you can’t have a horse alone by itself. I am saying this because of the enormous suffering endured by horses who end up with people like you. The horror stories are everywhere, and the people responsible for horses ending up in horrific condition were well-meaning people like you who did not know what they were getting into.

Terrence, no advice on the drive, but just want to say that your home is stunning. I hope you can focus on the positive things and finish soon. Good luck!

@Lynn thank you so much.

Allow me to opine over curved driveways versus straight in setups. If you look out the window of an airplane as you pass over neighborhoods, the more expensive neighborhoods tend to have curved drives. The price point goes down as the drives are straightened.

Curved drives cost a little more to layout. More importantly, they require forethought and planning. That costs money.

Your home will look a little different to anyone who drives up to your home if you put in ARG's slightly curved version. Your guests won't know why your house looks better than your neighbor's. But, that will be their subconscious reaction.

Problems require solutions. This is a case of the solution is better than the original. Just be very certain to be at the job site when the concrete installer marks the pathway and sets the forms. Insist on providing the approval upon completion of the forms. Once they order the concrete trucks to start delivery, there isn't any stopping the process. It becomes time critical. Getting it right at the form stage is the key.

@homechef that makes me feel better

I doodled this last night. I think it curves just enough

The house and land are square-ish. I think this calls for a straight driveway to a large turnaround near the house. They can easily redo this concrete at the road.

@strategery,

You've just described the entire midwest!

Lol thread started about a driveway and ended up about horses.

All i know about horses is they are delicious. When I was in Japan I was fed some "tartar" red meat that I devoured... I asked what it was and was told horse.... Yum!

Cobalty - this poster has made numerous posts about his building project, some of them quite contentious after a casual comment he made about getting a horse. I think there’s a way you can search for all the posts he’s made.

I think what got contentious was the wild assumptions others made about the OP and their ability to manage their own land. People are free to plan their yards as they see fit and sometimes that includes livestock. Many people assumed so much based on small tidbits in a thread and basically attacked the OP for wanting a horse.

"We did everything we possibly could aside from chaining ourselves to the concrete truck to avoid it being used. Even pointed it out to him a whole day before when it was only dug up. Yet and still it still happened"

Are you kidding me. If you said no that was the final answer. They did it anyway - they could dig it up with their fingernails for all I would care, but that thing would be moved and placed where it is supposed to be. No compromise if you informed them prior to the pour that this was wrong.

This is coming from someone who has ridden, owned and trained horses. Horses need a leader. You don't just hop on and ride - you mount your horse and guide their every movement. You should burn more calories riding a horse for an hour than you would swimming for an hour. You have to know what is acceptable behavior and what is unacceptable behavior and never compromise. If you get frazzled you have to get your emotions in check because the horse will feel your emotions and if you are not in control of your own emotions you won't be able to control the horse.

If you must buy a horse, which I agree with the earlier poster, would be a bad decision, buy two that are close to 20 years old and have at least 5000 trail hours under their belts. They need to be absolutely dead broke so you can't ruin them.

I had to make another profile, I think mine got deleted because I got a little vulgar at another poster. It seems as if some people are always looking to be rude without provocation. Anyways I appreciate all the input. We're actively trying to resolve the driveway issue and I think it can be worked out. We're supposed to close this Saturday which was the main reason we decided to just find a workaround in lieu of having them demolish and rebuild. Being that my GC sucks at scheduling guys and time management we're sure that would prolong everything. We just want to be done with them and move on

Question: you said “we close this Saturday.” So this isn’t your house yet?? Well no wonder you’re having all these troubles.

I enlarged the pictures you posted. It looks like there several homes similar to yours - plopped in the middle of a small acreage with the driveways squared up with the house, just like yours. This makes me think there is a Production Builder doing ALL these homes.

It is my understanding that a Production Builder has ownership and control of what he builds UNTIL it’s sold/closed.

@Tee S it's not unusual here in FL to see long curved driveways, I never would have thought twice if you asked what was wrong with your photo and where the street entrance was. I've seen some that start at one end of the home by the street and curve around all the way to the other side where the garages are. There's lots of water/lakes here so sometimes it's the only way. I think your drawing is nice but don't do it too narrow, our long driveway is very narrow, I wish it was at least 2 cars lengths wide, easier for backing out.

@itsourcasa yea I'm feeling better about the curved drive idea...Just frustrated with the communication issues with my builder. its making this experience forgettable everyday

@littlebug if that makes sense to you then cool🤷🏾‍♂️👍🏾

@Tee S I get it, we did a full renovation, every inch, so pretty much like a build. It wasn't easy and we had a few big issues... but I can say now that they have been gone about 8 months it was worth all the aggravation and I can look back at pictures and video with a little less anxiety now lol. I know it's hard to imagine but trust me. Post an updated picture once they pour the rest.

@itsourcasa I sure will