June 28, 2006
HVAC Leak
Posted by dana at 06:45 PM | Comments (0)
April 06, 2006
Good Grief
I was not around at all yesterday and I was gone this morning. So when I get back today, I go over to check on them and what do I see? A beautiful bench made out of ironwood.
"What is this for?," I ask.
"[Foreman]"
So they have been using this house as a work shop for other projects. That is absurd. I call the contractor, and he says he doesn't know why but that it might be because they want to keep the equipment here for when the master bath window finally comes. (It still hasn't come).
Minutes later, the foreman calls and apologizes, and says he willl make it up to me.
I say "Is is a nice bench."
"You want one?"
"I want two."
He wanted 600 dollars for them, but I refused. I agreed to pay him $300 for the pair if they built the garage door now without a day off. The garage door was something that can be built at any time since nothing needed to be done first, it was its own little section of the project. With all these delays -- we were mentioning to them that they could get that out of the way, but now I got them to agree to do it.
They did get in the door frames.
Posted by dana at 06:49 PM | Comments (0)
January 24, 2006
Stone Guy Story
Last week we asked the foreman for some sites where we could look at some of the stone guy's work. He gave us an address of a house in Encino.
On Sunday we go check it out. The house is a McMansion, but the stone work is not bad. Not the style we are looking for, but it looks like care was put into it. So we are satisfied that we will be able to work with the stone guy: after all this was a much bigger project than ours.
The stone was delivered yesterday while the tile guy is doing prep work for the bathrooms and the showers (next entry). Doesn't seem like enough, and it looks like it might be all utah blonde. Half is supposed to be Moonstone. We will have to check.
Vendida means "It Sold"
I am in the office working and the foreman calls me on my cell.
"Hi Dana. Let me speak to the tile guy."
I take the phone over to him and they speak.
I find out the foreman wants the tile guy to move the stone into the back yard. Why should he do that? It's heavy and he is the tile guy not the stone guy.
So I ask, "Why does he want you to move the stone."
"Because I am doing the stone."
Oh.
"We went by the house on Woodley yesterday. Good work."
Blank. "Woodley?"
"The house on woodley? Big fireplace? You did that, right?"
"No, Sir."
What?
I call the foreman. "What's up with the tile guy also doing the stone, and not having done the house on Woodley?" I am kind of in disbelief. We had made it abundantly clear from way back that we wanted a tile specialist and a stone specialist to do each. I even asked the question, "are they different people?" "Yes" was the answer.
Can I go one day without wondering what these guys are up to?
"Let me speak to him."
"But what is up with it?"
"LET ME SPEAK TO HIM." he yelled. I touched a nerve. Is this the caged animal the contractor mentioned?
The foremen proceeds to scream at the tile guy -- I could hear it coming out of the phone. Tile guy (stone guy too?) was visibly shaken. Stuttering, explaining.
Why is he yelling at tile guy? Oh, right, because tile guy got him caught in a BIG FAT DECEPTION!!!
Tile guy gives me back the phone and I go to talk but foreman has hung up. I go back to the office.
It is only 3 in the afternoon, but I could really use a drink. A big drink.
I go to Carter Hardware to pick up our shower drains and chromed disks to find them incomplete and marred. Finish it, do it over.
I go for a swim and swim faster than I have in months.
After the swim, I get a call from the architect. He had spoken to the contractor about the windows and then the contractor tells him he is mad that I preempted or compromised the tile guy.
Don't lie to me and there won't be anything to worry about.
Posted by dana at 01:56 PM | Comments (0)
October 25, 2005
Taking a Break I Guess
I guess this isn't so much of a disappointment considering they put in so much time recently (9 straight days not counting Sundays) and that big beam is needed before they can do much more. But they didnt work on the 19, 22, 24, 25. That's a lot of days with not a lot going on.
They did come by early a couple mornings to make an appearance and rearrange the piles of wood. And they also got rid of the trash which had been accumulating in the driveway. But no major progress.
Posted by dana at 05:32 PM | Comments (0)
October 06, 2005
Quiet Days
No one worked on site yesterday or today.
Posted by dana at 03:27 PM | Comments (0)
September 21, 2005
The Big Lull
Well, it has been a while since I have made an entry. Well, that's because nothing has been going on. The contractor has called a few times saying they intended to come over that day, and then they don't show up. Whatever. Our architect told him that things should be moving faster, and he promised that people would come today. They did. Not sure what they are doing. He called this morning with some damage control -- telling me that I really was important.
But the foreman was here. And he gave me the number to the refinisher for the bathtub. Also he asked me to get the rough plumbing ASAP for the bathrooms. And we need to get the stuff away from the garage wall this week so that wall can be worked on.
Part of the problem was that I was out of town for a few days. I guess that since I wasn't around, they would work on other projects or something. They promise me the work is starting in earnest again this week.
Posted by dana at 11:51 AM | Comments (0)
August 31, 2005
No Show
The Foreman came back from his unfortunate trip to El Salvador because of his father's death. The contractor and the foreman call on Monday saying they will be over at 2PM with the carpenter to go over a few things. Nothing heavy going to happen.
3:30 rolls around and no one has arrived. Wait, is this DirecTV? I call. "I will be there in 30 minutes," he says. And at 4:00 he does arrive. Alone. I guess the carpenter couldn't make it.
I give my condolences, tell him about the electrical fiasco. He tells me he, the carpenter, and his crew will be over tomorrow, Tuesday, at 11AM to drop off some lumber for framing. They will also be demoing the wall between the Master and the closet, plus taking out the master ceiling, where they are going to build a tray ceiling. They will also take care of our electrical needs. Great! See you then.
Tuesday comes and goes. No show, No call.
Today is Wednesday. 10AM. No show yet, no call yet. Is this what I can expect in the future? Two days with no activity, and going on a third?
They were anxious to get started, and now, as they say, we are in. We are at their mercy.
Posted by dana at 09:45 AM | Comments (1)