Assessed

This weekend will mark the one-year anniversary of the September 4th earthquake.  One year in, and things are still pretty broken here.  We try to just get on with things and not dwell on the cracks.

We had a full assessment by EQC in January, but then the February quake hit and really knocked us down.  So we've been waiting since then for EQC to come back and check things over again and tell us what repairs our house will need.  We waited and waited.

Finally someone called and made an appointment to come see us.  We were so thrilled!  We waited with great anticipation for the appointed day to arrive.  We know other people who have already had their assessments, so we sort of knew what to expect.  Two men wearing flourescent vests would show up in a Toyota Corolla, carrying iPads.  They would spend hours taking measurements and making careful notes.  That was the one thing everyone said: they are so thorough.  One friend whose house suffered virtually no damage at all said EQC spent 4 hours there.  So we fully expected them to be at our house for the better part of the day.

Mike and John showed up on time in their Corolla, wearing flouro vests, carrying iPads.  All going as expected so far.  But then it got a little weird.  Mike started telling me what a disaster the whoe re-build effort is.  He shook his head sadly.  He said the people in charge are "idiots".  They don't know what they're doing. It's all such a shame.  And on and on.

Mike explained that he had worked in L.A. following the 1994 Northridge quake.  He was comparing the rebuild effort there to the one here.  Apparently, they did it a lot better in L.A.  The people here are idiots.

As I said, we're really trying to stay optimistic here.  We want to, we need to believe that it's all going to be ok.  Mike was really not helping matters.

One of the things he said was that a lot of the assessors hired by EQC to do these inspections have no building experience at all.  He said a bunch of them are ex-cops.  He assured me that both he and John are experienced builders and that we were in good hands.  So that was good, I guess.

John took a walk around the outside of the house and came back in with a grim report:  "It's all coming down."  !!  Ah, but not as bad as it sounds -  he was just talking about the Oamaru stone cladding.  The house is made of wood, but has white stone cladding on the exterior.  It's all coming down.  To be fair, a good portion of the stones have already come down, thanks to Mother Nature.  John was just confirming that the rest would also have to come down.

They used nifty laser devices to check the floors and make sure they're still level (they are).  They made notes in their iPads.  They looked at the ceilings, the walls, the attic. 

An hour later, they packed up their gear. 

What?  Done already?  But... you just got here! 

I really did not want to question their methods, but felt I had to point out the anecdotal evidence that these inspections should take 4 or 5 hours.  Mike's response: "those inspectors are idiots."  Ah, right.  He said our house is really an "easy case" and there's nothing major or unusual here.  All of the cladding has to come off and be replaced.  All of the surfaces of the interior walls (paper/paint) have to be repaired and replaced.  "You'll get our report in 6 to 8 weeks."  But the house is solid.  They say.  After only looking at it for an hour.

Gareth was especially concerned about a bit at the back where the patio bricks have been pushed up, causing us to wonder if the concrete slab has broken.  "Nah, that's fine," they said.  Hmmm.  Gareth questioned whether they had really looked at it properly (he managed to do this politely without suggesting the builders did not know what they were doing).  Mike and John agreed to take another look, "to put your mind at ease".  The men went out back and had another look, but Mike and John did not change their views on this point.  Nothing to worry about.  In any event though, there is a separate 'land assessment team' who will have a look at this. 

So they left.

They're attitude was like, "trust us, we know what we're doing," but I have to say, after listening to Mike tell us what a disaster the whole process is, it's a bit hard to be trusting.  I guess he was saying, "they're all idiots except us," but I'm not really convinced.  I'm a little worried.

I want to believe they did know what they were doing and that our house really is ok.  It's great news that we don't have to be bulldozed.  A brand new house might have been nice, but we can really do without all the hassle. 

So we've been assessed.  Now we sit back and wait 6 to 8 weeks for the report.