Subpar Miniature Golf- What went wrong.

We began by tearing out two non-load-bearing walls, some old plumbing, and trashing a great deal of debris that had been left behind, as previous years the space had been rented to Halloween stores, and they had left massive amounts of crap. Once we had all of that out, and our dumpster hauled away, we brought in our electricians and plumbers to inspect our situation and make bids.

Our electricians were blown away by the out-of-code work that had been done on this site- we were aware that there were problems, but the scope of the work was a lot more than expected. We asked our landlord to cover all costs associated with bringing the electricity up to code. Any changes to the electric system that were our own changes- the installation of new wall switches, new outlets, and electric bathroom fixtures (lights, tankless water heaters, hand dryers) would be changes we would pay for. This request was refused at first, then the landlord offered to pay for half of what we were asking for.

Then the plumbing- our plumbing contractor had us examine the current plumbing system with a scope- and the results were again worse than we expected. The only two existing working toilets were attached to the old sewer line in only the most minimal way possible- not up to code, and not in a way that safely allowed for proper disposal of waste. The cost to repair this so that the existing toilets would work properly- not the new ones we'd be installing later, was significant. And we asked the landlord to be reimbursed for that. We were refused this outright.

Then the rear left wall- In some year past, our neighbor on the south by our rear exit decided to add two feet of depth to the parking lot without getting a permit, and in doing so decided to use the wall of our building to hold everything up. They put in no drainage or waterproofing on our wall, and in subsequent years the wall has started to buckle and leak. This was all done before the current owner of the lot purchased it, who was unaware of the problem when it was bought. Thankfully, after discussing the situation with the lot owner, they have agreed to right the problem without any fighting or disagreement. Dealing with them so far has been easy and excellent.

Then the floor- After the Halloween store moved in, and back out again, we began work. We had no building permit yet, so we were limited to wall and floor covering work at the time. All the while we are negotiating and expecting the landlord to agree to our costs, making offers closer to midway between where we and our landlord saw the costs being split. And we kept getting turned down. Then after ripping up the carpet we inspected the floors. And the back 25% of the floors were thrown in over pits with no infill or reinforcement, and the slab was installed in some places at less than an inch thick- when concrete slab is supposed to be at least four inches thick.

These new costs coupled with our costs of making the building ADA compatible were skyrocketing. I can't use any specific numbers here, but suffice it to say costs associated with just making the building acceptable for our use had long since passed half our total project costs, and our landlord has been fighting us on every penny. Meanwhile, Jake and Martin had been getting paid for their work, and money had been spent on the improvements and supplies for the further work expected. All this before we had done any building of a golf course at all. Then...