Two and a half months ago the contractor tore down our front porch -- meaning we had no access to our front door -- no numbers on the house and no mailbox. That began 2 and a half months of challenges!
We were told 3 weeks to get it all put back together - better than before.
Well 3 weeks wore on to a month -- then a month and a half. The contractor complained it was the city's fault -- slow to approve the permits. WHY? I asked did they tear down the existing porch before they had their permits??!!
The lil one was fussing as much as we were ........ where were we gonna put the Christmas garland and Christmas lights?? How was Santa gonna find the house without the lights and garland??? GAH!!
Then they showed up one day and worked (half heartedly) and got the foundation water proofed ........
AND failed the city inspection!
Two days later they fixed the problems and 2 days after that they passed the inspection.
YAY! now they would put our front porch back up right??
WRONG!
They had other jobs on the go and ours seemed to fail to lowest priority. My blood pressure went up..........
The contractor seemed to have no rhyme or reason for work on our house. He'd show up on a Tuesday do about 4 hours work and leave promising to be back the next day..... we wouldn't see him for 3 or 4 days!
I bribed.......
I stroked his ego.......
I bitched........
I begged..........
Finally I said that the work HAD to be done by the 14th at the latest ........ the contractor nodded at me......... and brushed me off........ We honestly figured it wouldn't be finished until the New Year -- or worse scenario - next spring!
They showed up last Tuesday and worked a full 7 hours!! et voila -- it was almost done! We could use the front porch and the front door -- BUT we couldn't put up any lights or garlands as they hadn't put the finishing touches on. GRRRRRRRRR
Friday they showed up and in less than an hour put the finishing touches on our front porch! We put the garland and the lights up! YAY!
The front yard is a mess of gravel and mud. The patio stones they laid are mismatched and not square. At this point we don't care -- we will fix it in the spring.
On Saturday we ran out and bought a new mailbox and new numbers for the house. We finally had our front entrance back!!
On Saturday night - our neighbour upstairs came round to tell us he can't get his front door open! The contractor somehow managed to put the new roof on without allowing for the door to open!!! He's supposed to be back today to fix it........ maybe we'll see him after the holidays (I have NO faith in his ability to keep his word)
BUT
Life is good we finally have a front door again -- with street numbers and a post box
AND Christmas garland and Christmas lights! Yes Virginia there is a Santa Claus!
So glad your deck is finally up and Santa will know exactly where to come. Sorry about upstairs. I hope they return soon. Our work is coming along slowly. Being in a small town may help. Our guy is also working on the remodel of my SIL's bathroom and has done tons of work for my another SIL. The stone guy is a teacher at my old school. The electrician is a close friend of BIL. No one wants to make anyone too mad, we're too interconnected. The floor guy is the only one out of 'the family' and he won't call me back! Off to look for another floor guy!
ReplyDeleteMy suggestion to you to avoid the same problem again, and I have learned this the hard way, don't pay the final payment for the job until final inspections are passed. The lack of money will get them to finish the job. Have a very MERRY CHRISTMAS.
ReplyDeleteContractors...argh! It NEVER seems to go smoothly. How frustrating for you, and not what you need just before Christmas. So glad the front porch is now in place.
ReplyDeleteHugs
Roz
"es Virginia there is a Santa Claus!" - you really must watch Prancer/ That line appears multiple times in the show.
ReplyDeleteAnon has some good advice, but I suspect that landlord was the one in charge of payments.
Hugs,
Hermione