All last week Noel and I played contractor while Indy was dealing with the passing of his dad. We, however, are very happy he is back in the saddle, because Noel was ready to fire everybody.
We have remedied the cabinet situation...we hope. The cabinetmaker is working on the missing utility room cabinets, and they have a plan to correct the current cabinet that resides over the washer. I will say that on my visit to the shop, I dealt with two very competent gentlemen, because the cabinet lady (even though I emailed her only 4 hours before my arrival), who had created this whole mess, said she 'forgot' about our meeting. I highly recommend she see a neurologist promptly regarding her short-term memory lapses.
We also had to delay the granite guys, who were suppose to install our granite on Tuesday. We knew that once that granite went on the island in the kitchen, it would be impossible to move the island in order to lay bamboo flooring underneath it. You see, the island has faux feet. The flooring has to go under the feet and the entire island. The granite guy, who is one of the biggest airhead males I have ever met, thought the flooring was already down. Once he realized it was not, he still could not wrap his head around why we needed to wait on the granite for the flooring to first be installed. Bless his heart.
On another note, we have applied for an extension on our loan, because (surprise, surprise) we are over-budget. The bank, who was originally extremely handy and helpful, is now proving to be quite a headache. They require an inspection before paying any bill (with OUR money). Now, their version of an inspection entails some banker/amateur photographer coming out to the property with a camera to take pictures of what has been done. Do you really think we would authorize money to be withdrawn under our name (money for which we will be paying interest on once the withdrawal occurs, mind you) if the work has not been completed? Seriously, seriously? I will never, for the life of me, understand their intent.
This week workers at the crib (as Noel calls it) have put a bit of pep in their step. Interior painting is almost complete. The flooring guys (they'll handle the hardwood, tile, and carpet) should be here later this week or early next week, then on to the granite. We've got to get soffits and gutters on the exterior, steps on the front porch, a garage door, plumbing fixtures installed, shower in the master bath, shelving in closets, railings on the interior steps, and another load or two of gravel on the driveway, all by June 15th. Ha! Move over Mom! By the way, we prefer a turndown service in the evening, our laundry done on Sundays, and Soxy requires his wet food at 5:30pm sharp.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Business ethics 101
Thankfully during the majority of this process, our stress level has been kept to a minimum. The operative word here is 'majority.' Now I may be a tad naive in my thinking, but I understand that the proper way to do business with another is to do your work, do it correctly, and receive compensation. My, my, how some businesses need a lesson in business ethics...and common sense.
As you might have noticed a couple of posts ago, we were so happy to see our long-awaited cabinets make an appearance. Unfortunately, not all of the cabinets made it to our homestead, but (being the trusting people that we are) we thought that they were still working on another unit for the utility room (because there are two separate units set to reside there). We waited for a week or two, then decided to email the cabinet receptionist lady, who had been our liaison during this whole process and who also just happens to be the owner's daughter. You can see now where the problems are beginning to arise. Over a span of a few weeks, we emailed asking the same question...what about the rest of the cabinets in the utility room? ...what is the status on the rest of the cabinets in the utility room? ...backerboard and baseboards have been placed where the rest of the cabinets in the utility room are suppose to be and some will now have to be removed once we get the rest of the cabinets for the utility room. None of our questions/statements in any form were addressed. In fact, they were blatantly dodged by the lady who 'helped' us up to this point. Now, we would receive responses from her but not a single response addressed our question. Finally, we had to do what we hate to do, be upset customers. It disturbs me how this cabinet shop finally responded rapidly to us when they knew we were upset. Suddenly, it dawned on the lady that in fact we were suppose to have another set of cabinets that we had purchased. Amazingly, she attempts to get the ball rolling so the building of our cabinets, which should have occurred two months ago, could be expedited. However, it turns out they are being built way too wide. In the midst of it all, we realized that the cabinet unit above the washer is much too low; thus, we will not be able to open the lid to the washer. Mind you, not once during this entire process did either Noel or I approve a template for the utility room. Why? Because we were never presented with one. Round of applause for the repeated incompetence of this cabinet shop! I don't believe in slandering a person's nor a business's name. It is distasteful and, frankly, very redneck. Thus, I will not mention their name in this post, but if asked in person Noel and I will gladly tell you who has caused us much grief. If I have mentioned the name of this particular shop in previous posts, then it was only because I was giving them high remarks at that time.
In all honesty, I do want to give my laid-back husband a round of applause for having to deal with this situation yesterday, my husband who requires a lot to ruffle his feathers. This incident, however, has been ever so trying for him. In this relay race, he today has passed the baton to me, his pregnant, hormonal, and merciless wife (I feel like I'm funneling my mom here). May the force be with that cabinet lady today...
Also, thank you to all of the other subcontractors who have done their jobs correctly and efficiently. We are forever appreciative of your work.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Back in the saddle again!
The blogging hiatus is over! April has proven to be a busy month for Noel and I not only with the house but with several other things: new job and big news. I changed jobs to be closer to Lynchburg once we move for a much shorter commute, and we've decided that we need some help filling up this new house of ours so we got on the ball (no pun intended there, ha!) and now have a little one that will be making an appearance in early November!
Enough about all that mumbo jumbo and on to the progress of the homestead. The siding is completely finished, and the house and garage are painted. Thank you Jose and Elias, because it was truly a two man show. Actually, Jose, Elias, and Simon have been the work-horses of the homebuilding endeavor. The three of them have recently completed and painted our interior trim and great room ceiling, assembled our fireplace, built the bases of our front porch pillars, and completed every other odd-and-in job necessary. They are now in the process of painting the interior of the house for the final time.
Our fireplace is finished (although in the following picture it is still in process)! And it looks amazing! The rock guys have just a bit more to do outside before they bid adios to our house for good - like the front porch pillars and some rockwork on the back of the house.
Blue-eyed Keith and his dudes have reappeared to construct our deck, back door stoop, and the lean-to on the garage for Noel's lawnmower that currently is non-existent. This, of course, took them about a day and a half. We ran into them at the house last week after they completed the majority of the deck and happened to interrupt there break (aka beer time). Why didn't I opt to be a carpenter?! Build a deck, drink some beer. Build a stoop, drink some beer. Build a lean-to, (you got it) drink some beer. The deck and stoop will be complete once Jose (man of all trades) strings the wire for the railing. Our inspiration for this look, the HGTV Dream Home in Stowe, Vermont, of course.
We got a quote on granite from another company out of Nashville. Indy uses this company in his homes. We received a better price from this company versus Aritisans Granite in Murfreesboro. So it's a no-brainer that we are going to use the Nashville-based company. I met with the the company's contact; Steve is his name, a little over a week ago at OHM (the granite wholesale company where Noel and I picked out granite in January). It's a good thing that this powwow occurred because it turns out one of the samples I had that was supposedly Sienna Bordeaux (the granite we picked out for the perimeter of the kitchen) looked not at all like the actual Sienna Bordeaux slab. Ooops! (Who knows what sample we have.) It's amazing how your memory can fail you. Nevertheless, Sienna Bordeaux is what we're sticking with, but instead of just using it on the perimeter of the kitchen, we are going to use it for the perimeter and the island. Crisis averted. On Friday, Noel met with the template guy who sketched out and measured the granite. Maybe just maybe we'll have granite in a week or two.
Stroop's (the geothermal company) is finally finished with their work, and Indy (Jose actually) sprayed the foam insulation in the subfloor under the house. This is important because once the interior of the house is painted. We'll fire up that geothermal unit to get a constant temperature in the house to lay the bamboo flooring.
On Friday, Noel was at the homestead to receive the delivery of our refrigerator, cooktop, and double-oven from Home Depot. Pretty sure the delivery boys were sweatin' it driving up our driveway. Noel got a good chuckle out of it. Then, Noel and Dad headed to Lowe's to pick up our dishwasher, so we've got all of our appliances now.
All of this rain has, of course, washed our driveway. Noel and Indy discussed placing a couple more culverts in the driveway. Indy wanted the driveway to wash before placing any culverts in order to see where they needed to be placed.
As you can see, we are in the process of tying up loose ends. We still have to choose lighting and plumbing fixtures and carpet. We should be nearing the end. However, there is still the money issue lingering out there. Noel is meeting with Indy on Monday to see how much more money we are going to need to finish this thing, because like the majority of people who build, we are over budget. Then, he is meeting with Lou on Tuesday to discuss the banking side of things. Poor Noel his 6-day vacation has been consumed by the house. (He did get a break on this warm, sunny Saturday to paddle, so there was some semblance of a vacay amongst all the business.)
Enough about all that mumbo jumbo and on to the progress of the homestead. The siding is completely finished, and the house and garage are painted. Thank you Jose and Elias, because it was truly a two man show. Actually, Jose, Elias, and Simon have been the work-horses of the homebuilding endeavor. The three of them have recently completed and painted our interior trim and great room ceiling, assembled our fireplace, built the bases of our front porch pillars, and completed every other odd-and-in job necessary. They are now in the process of painting the interior of the house for the final time.
The great room ceiling.
Our fireplace is finished (although in the following picture it is still in process)! And it looks amazing! The rock guys have just a bit more to do outside before they bid adios to our house for good - like the front porch pillars and some rockwork on the back of the house.
Our fireplace!
Blue-eyed Keith and his dudes have reappeared to construct our deck, back door stoop, and the lean-to on the garage for Noel's lawnmower that currently is non-existent. This, of course, took them about a day and a half. We ran into them at the house last week after they completed the majority of the deck and happened to interrupt there break (aka beer time). Why didn't I opt to be a carpenter?! Build a deck, drink some beer. Build a stoop, drink some beer. Build a lean-to, (you got it) drink some beer. The deck and stoop will be complete once Jose (man of all trades) strings the wire for the railing. Our inspiration for this look, the HGTV Dream Home in Stowe, Vermont, of course.
The back deck (which now has steps on either side). All we need is some grass.
We got a quote on granite from another company out of Nashville. Indy uses this company in his homes. We received a better price from this company versus Aritisans Granite in Murfreesboro. So it's a no-brainer that we are going to use the Nashville-based company. I met with the the company's contact; Steve is his name, a little over a week ago at OHM (the granite wholesale company where Noel and I picked out granite in January). It's a good thing that this powwow occurred because it turns out one of the samples I had that was supposedly Sienna Bordeaux (the granite we picked out for the perimeter of the kitchen) looked not at all like the actual Sienna Bordeaux slab. Ooops! (Who knows what sample we have.) It's amazing how your memory can fail you. Nevertheless, Sienna Bordeaux is what we're sticking with, but instead of just using it on the perimeter of the kitchen, we are going to use it for the perimeter and the island. Crisis averted. On Friday, Noel met with the template guy who sketched out and measured the granite. Maybe just maybe we'll have granite in a week or two.
Stroop's (the geothermal company) is finally finished with their work, and Indy (Jose actually) sprayed the foam insulation in the subfloor under the house. This is important because once the interior of the house is painted. We'll fire up that geothermal unit to get a constant temperature in the house to lay the bamboo flooring.
On Friday, Noel was at the homestead to receive the delivery of our refrigerator, cooktop, and double-oven from Home Depot. Pretty sure the delivery boys were sweatin' it driving up our driveway. Noel got a good chuckle out of it. Then, Noel and Dad headed to Lowe's to pick up our dishwasher, so we've got all of our appliances now.
All of this rain has, of course, washed our driveway. Noel and Indy discussed placing a couple more culverts in the driveway. Indy wanted the driveway to wash before placing any culverts in order to see where they needed to be placed.
As you can see, we are in the process of tying up loose ends. We still have to choose lighting and plumbing fixtures and carpet. We should be nearing the end. However, there is still the money issue lingering out there. Noel is meeting with Indy on Monday to see how much more money we are going to need to finish this thing, because like the majority of people who build, we are over budget. Then, he is meeting with Lou on Tuesday to discuss the banking side of things. Poor Noel his 6-day vacation has been consumed by the house. (He did get a break on this warm, sunny Saturday to paddle, so there was some semblance of a vacay amongst all the business.)
Noel survived Clear Creek after two swims and an Eskimo roll!
Our periodic home inspector.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)