substandard infrastructure?
 

Any civil engineers on this forum?

It seems like there is a report of some part of the drainage, ponds, and/or home foundations failing in The Villages quite often. Sometimes it is in areas only a few years old.

Is this normal? My neighborhood in Tennessee was over 70 years old and we did not have similar issues. Maybe it is just reported in the local newspaper more often but I really don't know. My gut says it is due to substandard building practices but I have no information to back that up.

I'd like to hear the thoughts of others with some experience in this arena.

Report, what report?

Did you attend the PWAC meeting today where this was discussed?

My understanding of what was explained is that the stormwater pipes installed at the time met the applicable code. Since then, perhaps due to failures, the code has been changed. I have no idea if this is true but that is what I believe I heard.

Tennessee, NY, and MD may have been built to different code, the water may be less corrosive, or they may not have the same amount of pipe in the ground waiting to fail. It also could be that the code in FL was lacking at the time and has been changed since. It is also possible that the Developer used pipe that was not up to code but with so many miles of pipe to fail and such a focus on Florida's Friendliest Home Town, that would seem to be a risk to the reputation of the Villages that he would be unlikely to take.

Obviously I meant in the news

I did not attend that meeting. I was just on my mind after the news piece on the $500K plus that must be paid (not by the developer) to repair pipes at a pond to prevent damage to the nearby homes.

The level of over-sight for construction work in FL in general, is abysmal. Both private and public work. You need look no farther than the project on 27/441 that's taken almost 4 years and it seems no closer to completion now, than it was 4 years ago.

I think your premise is reasonable and from my observation, the quality of the basic infra-structure in TV, as well as the (lack of) ongoing maintenance, certainly doesn't match the quality of infra-structure work that occurs in major metro areas.

You need to remember, the infra-structure of The Villages is designed and build by a private developer and then maintained (paid for), directly by the people who use it. There's really no city, town, country or state, on the hook for the cost of repair & maintenance.

Two thoughts. First, any developer has to meet then current building codes, and typically only builds out to the codes minimum standards in an effort to minimize costs and maximize profits. Can’t blame the developer, that’s what they do. Blame substandard codes. Second, it’s easy to build to minimum codes when the developer is fully aware that there is a captive buyer lined up to purchase said infrastructure and has to absorb the consequences of that action. Put the blame on that where you please. I’ll leave it alone for the certain blowback my opinion would receive.

Did your neighborhood back in Tennessee have the same elaborate drainage system and retention pond system that has been built here? Let’s compare apples to apples.

How many failures have there been?

Is it too high for a system were +99.??% of the pipe functions without failure, in the hundreds ( maybe thousands) of miles of storm water pipes installed over 30+ years?

Failures I've seen in the recent areas appear more related to improper installation/ connections/ backfill than design.

The perfect is the enemy of the good enough.

Provide Proof.

Proof that he is of the opinion that IT SEEMS there's a report of this happening often?

Why would he need to prove his perception of something? It's his perception of something. If he had said "This is happening often" you could maybe ask him to clarify what he considers "often" and provide reports to support that.

But he didn't say that. He said IT SEEMS that there are reports of it happening often. That doesn't involve the need for proof.

[QUOTE=BrianL99;2392230]The level of over-sight for construction work in FL in general, is abysmal. Both private and public work. You need look no farther than the project on 27/441 that's taken almost 4 years and it seems no closer to completion now, than it was 4 years ago.

I think your premise is reasonable and from my observation, the quality of the basic infra-structure in TV, as well as the (lack of) ongoing maintenance, certainly doesn't match the quality of infra-structure work that occurs in major metro areas.

You need to remember, the infra-structure of The Villages is designed and build by a private developer and then maintained (paid for), directly by the people who use it. There's really no city, town, country or state, on the hook for the cost of repair & maintenance.[/QUOTE

Was a evaluation done by a qualified , independent, civil engineer as to the reason for the failure? The developer being the 800lb gorilla in the room, politically, economically the idea of improvement in code requirements and inspections are not very likely, once sold its your problem, you own it , 50 behind my house is a solid 6" fence, wind damage blew down several sections , it in a "special easement" zone Iam responsible for the fence, the amount of concrete in the footing was a joke, you would not install a fence like that anywhere much less here with soil and wind condition, special easement zone, my problem, tried to find the specs for the original install , was stone walled

If he really wants answers, help, responses................provide the reports, they posters can address what his is talking about.

:sigh:

To answer all the people predisposed to criticize and can't take the time to actually read the original post.

By reports I mean the news articles that are published almost every week. I have no need to go back and repost those as "proof". I also ASKED if this level of failure is normal. Note that I asked if there were any civil engineers on the forum. I am looking for an informed opinion.

Not almost weekly (I checked) but there is a pretty good monthly streak going.