D. C. B.

That's a Deep Cleansing Breath. In ---- and ---- Out. Ah. Feel the force flowing through you... Oh sorry, wrong movie.

So today we did something we have only been dreaming of for some time now and were beginning to think would never happen. Today we moved our first group of things into the kitchen!

What's that I hear you say, the kitchen? That place of woe and heartache? Well feast thy eyes my friends...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are understandably thrilled to death! Now there are a few minor things still to address, but none of them preclude us from beginning to make this now complete house into a living, breathing home. I have a feeling that might still take some time to accomplish all of the moving things and then we will need to hire some muscle for the big stuff.

The only thing I can think to say is "It is about friggin' time!"

Once everything is complete and our contractor is no longer in our lives I personally will be a MUCH happier camper. Let us hope that the last few items go smoothly and quickly. But the final corner is in sight, the flag man is holding the Checkers in his hand and the crowd is rising to their feet, I am craving the finish line.

 

 

One Step Forward...

I know that in order to correct many mistakes, you sometimes have to retrace your own steps. This is a fact of life, you know it, I know it. But I sure don't like living through it.

As I have said before, One step forward and two steps back, the other evening we walked in expecting to see lots of progress (And there was progress) but there was also this;

Seems they were using a fire extinguisher as a door stop and when they moved it they dropped it on the floor. In order to fix this it was necessary to step backwards a bit.

Deep Cleansing Breath...

So the glass guy came out and mounted the new shower door that shouldn't have been necessary but then he did this.

And that required that we step back just a bit in order to set things right...

Egads.

And the contractor keeps telling me not to worry, that they will take care of everything. But if I wasn't pointing out the problems, would they really be taking care of it, or would they be trying to skate by?

Sigh.

It reminds me of when Dad and I moved into this house in 1983, we had a punch list that was seven legal pages long! Now, almost 40 years later our punch list is only three pages long. I guess that is progress of a sort. 

SNORT!

😀

I take comfort in the thought that Dad himself would be proud of how I am handling the list, and I hope that he would be happy with the results.

White Flag Lap!

Things are beginning to get close I think, certainly there has been epic progress.

But for every success there seems to be at least two failures. You know, "One step forward, two steps back."

We get doors after an unbelievable wait and they are just what we were hoping for. But the contractor installed and painted the doors without bothering to prep, sand and then re-prime the doors before painting and hanging them and declaring them complete.

 

The new island required electrical power so a cut was made in the floor, conduit run and the floor sealed again then the island cabinets installed. However the island was installed two inches out of position so a small hole still exists in the floor that no one managed to see and correct.

Baseboards finally came in already primed, ready to be painted and installed. But instead of cutting and  painting the baseboards and then installing them they decided paint them once they were in place. This resulted in loads of over spray all over our beautiful brand new floors.

We had been assured that if we re-tiled the shower in the master bathroom we would be able to re-use the glass wall and shower door, saving a lot of money. However once the tile was installed we discovered that the new tiles were slightly thicker than the old ones and the glass would no longer fit. 

 

So we had a glass guy build a new door and wall and come out and install it. Great right? Well actually...

 

The lack of professionalism demonstrated by these examples and others makes me angry to be sure, but the lack of respect they demonstrate make me question how this company can exist at all. They do not strike me as professionals, nor craftsmen. It seems almost like they make a mistake, I point it out, and they go to the internet to learn how to fix it after the fact. But they don't seem to care to learn about it before hand.

All that being said, when they do finish a job it is nicely done and we are very impressed with the finished product...

How long will it take though until we have a finished product?

And Yet...

Welcome to NOVEMBER! Yes, November. You know, THIRTEEN WEEKS out from our promised 8 week delivery date?! Now for the most part the actual work that gets done is very good. I am riding them very closely on details because in their rush to be finished they are beginning to cut corners. At the cost of this project I am not about to allow crappy workmanship to slip in. So I tell the general every time I discover something, he always says (very defensively too), that he'll find all of the problems before we're done. And I am forced to remind him that he had better hope so because I surely will.

So I flop in these posts from being happy things are being done to being pissed that nothing seems to be getting done at all. Because here we are in November and it still isn't finished. It makes me want to scream! 

Please bear with...