Contractor Wars, Return of the Plumbers and A New Hope
Which came first? The eternal question.
We have the answer. It's whoever is pouring the cement.
With our contractors all delayed by our recent record-breaking snow storm and cold snap, Lori and I awoke recently to find about six cement pourers, four hardwood subs, two framers and an insulation guy hovering around the front of our new garage. It wasn't yet 8:30 a.m. Shortly thereafter Mark Leriche, the finish carpenter, arrived.
It was a quandary. Swenson's cement guys wanted to pour the driveway, stair pad, sidewalk and walk way. They'd started before the snow nearly two weeks earlier, putting up all the framing and flattening the dirt/rock.
The hardwood floor guys, Troy Wolf and his assistants, Jimmy and Tajon (the first contractor yet here with rings in his face cheeks), wanted to get a jump start finishing the first floor hardwoods in hopes of avoiding weekend work. If the cement guys poured the driveway, it would be painstaking to get his heavy equipment into the house.
Once they finished sanding, however, smelly, sticky floor finishes meant no one else could walk on them--the finish carpenter in particular. It also would create havoc for the electricians who were scheduled for the day--and we desperately wanted them so we could have electricity throughout the house.
I'm not sure exactly how the discussion ensued since I was still in my bathrobe and left after opening the garage door for access. But the next thing I looked, cement was being poured in the walkway and hardwood guys were scurrying in with heavy equipment before Swenson got to the driveway. The framers and insulation dude went through our back door and non-new stairways to handle the attic and basement needs.
That's about the time Margie our general contractor arrived.
The carpenter gave up and left. Margie arranged for the timing of the hardwood fellows and was showing me how to properly caulk and spackle while waiting for the electricians to show up. Ross Electric arrived sometime later that day, but had a brief chat with Troy Wolf and then took off without further discussion--scared off by the hardwood guys. Frustrating but understandable.
We also had a return visit from the plumbers, finishing up a few loose ends. In their absence we'd already discovered the ongoing problem with no cold water: It had never been turned ON under the sink.
Later in the week the framers returned and began our back deck, an effort that they wrapped up today, along with the front porch stairs and the railing.
We now can officially walk out our front door. (We may not want to walk out at night, however, until we get electric to our porch lights and the front of the new garage.)
There now is light at the end of the tunnel though. Today, right on the rescheduled time, Ian (pronounced EE--ON) and Mike from Ross Electric arrived, one of them promptly at 8 a.m. They began deciphering lighting boxes and installed several today--including the beautiful Tiffany showpiece light in the kitchen nook, our most costly fixture.
Tomorrow Ian says he'll return at 7 a.m., just so Lori can take a planning look at the LED under-counter lighting he'll install in the kitchen. Supposedly the rest of the wiring will be done tomorrow. That's ambitious I think, but still, it seems that things are spinning to a close.
It's got to be, right? Even the Honey Bucket was taken away last week, once the snow melted enough to drag it out. Plus, if the electricians don't finish tomorrow, they'll slip into Thursday. That's the day the hardwood fellows return to apply their last (and nastiest smelling) protective coating.
And trust me, when that happens, we all want to be in another galaxy, far far away . . . .
We have the answer. It's whoever is pouring the cement.
With our contractors all delayed by our recent record-breaking snow storm and cold snap, Lori and I awoke recently to find about six cement pourers, four hardwood subs, two framers and an insulation guy hovering around the front of our new garage. It wasn't yet 8:30 a.m. Shortly thereafter Mark Leriche, the finish carpenter, arrived.
It was a quandary. Swenson's cement guys wanted to pour the driveway, stair pad, sidewalk and walk way. They'd started before the snow nearly two weeks earlier, putting up all the framing and flattening the dirt/rock.
The hardwood floor guys, Troy Wolf and his assistants, Jimmy and Tajon (the first contractor yet here with rings in his face cheeks), wanted to get a jump start finishing the first floor hardwoods in hopes of avoiding weekend work. If the cement guys poured the driveway, it would be painstaking to get his heavy equipment into the house.
Once they finished sanding, however, smelly, sticky floor finishes meant no one else could walk on them--the finish carpenter in particular. It also would create havoc for the electricians who were scheduled for the day--and we desperately wanted them so we could have electricity throughout the house.
I'm not sure exactly how the discussion ensued since I was still in my bathrobe and left after opening the garage door for access. But the next thing I looked, cement was being poured in the walkway and hardwood guys were scurrying in with heavy equipment before Swenson got to the driveway. The framers and insulation dude went through our back door and non-new stairways to handle the attic and basement needs.
That's about the time Margie our general contractor arrived.
The carpenter gave up and left. Margie arranged for the timing of the hardwood fellows and was showing me how to properly caulk and spackle while waiting for the electricians to show up. Ross Electric arrived sometime later that day, but had a brief chat with Troy Wolf and then took off without further discussion--scared off by the hardwood guys. Frustrating but understandable.
We also had a return visit from the plumbers, finishing up a few loose ends. In their absence we'd already discovered the ongoing problem with no cold water: It had never been turned ON under the sink.
Later in the week the framers returned and began our back deck, an effort that they wrapped up today, along with the front porch stairs and the railing.
We now can officially walk out our front door. (We may not want to walk out at night, however, until we get electric to our porch lights and the front of the new garage.)
There now is light at the end of the tunnel though. Today, right on the rescheduled time, Ian (pronounced EE--ON) and Mike from Ross Electric arrived, one of them promptly at 8 a.m. They began deciphering lighting boxes and installed several today--including the beautiful Tiffany showpiece light in the kitchen nook, our most costly fixture.
Tomorrow Ian says he'll return at 7 a.m., just so Lori can take a planning look at the LED under-counter lighting he'll install in the kitchen. Supposedly the rest of the wiring will be done tomorrow. That's ambitious I think, but still, it seems that things are spinning to a close.
It's got to be, right? Even the Honey Bucket was taken away last week, once the snow melted enough to drag it out. Plus, if the electricians don't finish tomorrow, they'll slip into Thursday. That's the day the hardwood fellows return to apply their last (and nastiest smelling) protective coating.
And trust me, when that happens, we all want to be in another galaxy, far far away . . . .