The saga continues....
It's funny, really. I mean, heck, you can't really fault the general contractor. Their goal is to keep costs as low as possible in order to maximize their profits. But I have to say, their subs were crap. I got the impression that our project was an unwelcome interruption from their otherwise well-planned workday. I can't tell you how many times I called the foreman (who was rarely onsite) to ask where some crew was only to be told, "Well, they had an emergency job that they had to take care of first thing this morning, but they'll be there as soon as they're done."
Riiiiight....
Translation: "Your measley job is a drain on my already overburdened resources. We'll get to you when we're damn-well ready."
I'm okay with that though -- we've seen the last of the work crews. Although it took way longer than I could ever have expected. I was thinking about it over the weekend... If I had performed all the work necessary, except for the actual plumbing re-route, it probably would have been done in one week's time, instead of four. And that's forgiving the fact that I work slowly and methodically.
But enough about the amount of work done and how long it took, let's talk for just a minute about the workmanship.
Plumbers:
These guys were pretty with-it. They did a decent job and they worked hard. Their biggest problem was they were devout company men -- "I don't do nothing I'm not supposed to do without a word from the foreman." And to be honest, I'm completely fine with that. Except when the communication from the higher-ups is less than stellar. We started off on the wrong foot when they walked in and started going on and on about how they were supposed to be replacing a bunch of studs. When I started explaining the difference between what their verbal work order was and the actual task at hand, they went for the phone. Again, I'm happy they did, but that was a frequent occurance. The joys of not having written specifications.
Drywall:
What a cluster-! This guy was in such a hurry and he was so disorganized that it took him the better part of a week to drywall and texture roughly 70 square feet of space (keep in mind a single 4x8 sheet of drywall is 32sf). At one point he had completely finished one section and cleaned up all of his tools and materials when Meredith pointed out that he forgot to texturize another area. And again, in his haste, he didn't clean up at all -- left dried texture all over the backs of our washing machine and dryer. Oh, and when he pushed the dryer out of the way, he separated it from the vent. I'm sure he saw this, because we have a rigid vent that is impossible to miss, but what did he do? Ignored it.
Oh, and back to the construction -- when the same crew came out to install the plywood for our bar, he was totally unprepared and ended up having to borrow my tablesaw. And all of his screws were too long for the double-thickness of plywood, so he had to cut them all off, except he missed a few and I'll have to go back and clip those off so that somebody doesn't give themselves tetanus when they rake the top of their knee across one of the screws!
But like I said, we're done with the work crews. Any more screwups will rest squarely on our shoulders.
We've finished the bulk of the installation of the laminate wood flooring. I'll post pictures of that soon.
It's funny, really. I mean, heck, you can't really fault the general contractor. Their goal is to keep costs as low as possible in order to maximize their profits. But I have to say, their subs were crap. I got the impression that our project was an unwelcome interruption from their otherwise well-planned workday. I can't tell you how many times I called the foreman (who was rarely onsite) to ask where some crew was only to be told, "Well, they had an emergency job that they had to take care of first thing this morning, but they'll be there as soon as they're done."
Riiiiight....
Translation: "Your measley job is a drain on my already overburdened resources. We'll get to you when we're damn-well ready."
I'm okay with that though -- we've seen the last of the work crews. Although it took way longer than I could ever have expected. I was thinking about it over the weekend... If I had performed all the work necessary, except for the actual plumbing re-route, it probably would have been done in one week's time, instead of four. And that's forgiving the fact that I work slowly and methodically.
But enough about the amount of work done and how long it took, let's talk for just a minute about the workmanship.
Plumbers:
- They were chronicly tardy. Even after the first day when they realized that it was going to take them forever to get from their office to our house.
- I was up in the attic yesterday, and the line they rerouted from the water heater to the kitchen is drawn straight through the attic. It looks like a giant, crooked chair-rail. I don't know what the plumbing code is, but I'm guessing it's supposed to be strapped down in a few places -- which it doesn't look like it is. Not to mention that any other water supply lines in the attic run straight up from the attic floor or their source to the rafters, over to their destination and straight back down again. Very professional, very high-quality.
- They were in a huge hurry to finish and wrap up on any given day. Which means clean-up was not very high on the priority list.
These guys were pretty with-it. They did a decent job and they worked hard. Their biggest problem was they were devout company men -- "I don't do nothing I'm not supposed to do without a word from the foreman." And to be honest, I'm completely fine with that. Except when the communication from the higher-ups is less than stellar. We started off on the wrong foot when they walked in and started going on and on about how they were supposed to be replacing a bunch of studs. When I started explaining the difference between what their verbal work order was and the actual task at hand, they went for the phone. Again, I'm happy they did, but that was a frequent occurance. The joys of not having written specifications.
Drywall:
What a cluster-! This guy was in such a hurry and he was so disorganized that it took him the better part of a week to drywall and texture roughly 70 square feet of space (keep in mind a single 4x8 sheet of drywall is 32sf). At one point he had completely finished one section and cleaned up all of his tools and materials when Meredith pointed out that he forgot to texturize another area. And again, in his haste, he didn't clean up at all -- left dried texture all over the backs of our washing machine and dryer. Oh, and when he pushed the dryer out of the way, he separated it from the vent. I'm sure he saw this, because we have a rigid vent that is impossible to miss, but what did he do? Ignored it.
Oh, and back to the construction -- when the same crew came out to install the plywood for our bar, he was totally unprepared and ended up having to borrow my tablesaw. And all of his screws were too long for the double-thickness of plywood, so he had to cut them all off, except he missed a few and I'll have to go back and clip those off so that somebody doesn't give themselves tetanus when they rake the top of their knee across one of the screws!
But like I said, we're done with the work crews. Any more screwups will rest squarely on our shoulders.
We've finished the bulk of the installation of the laminate wood flooring. I'll post pictures of that soon.
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