PICK A CLICHÉ

I know I haven't blogged in weeks now. I've been biting my tongue, trying to follow the principles I was taught as a child - "If you haven't got anything nice to say..."

Having never directly hired a general contractor before and finding myself disappointed or irked about something every time I checked in on the work being done, I began to think that perhaps I just needed to wait until they're done. Perhaps "the proof is in the pudding". Maybe they, too, see the spots they missed in the finish on the wall, the glob of drywall mud slopped on the new bathtub, the half wall in the hall where there is no quarter round, the dried drips of paint on the newly painted front door. They're planning to take care of all that (and the rest of the "oops!" around the house) - just wait until they're done and it will all be right. And I can be patient because Sponge is over there every day catching all the irreversible problems as they happen and calling the general to make sure he knows we want this or that corrected. But they're done now. So now I can say, outloud, what I think and have learned.

Where to start?! First of all, before I get real candid and detailed, let me say I LOVE our houses. They're both beautiful. Medallion is the nicest house I've ever had and we've moved into it at this point. From a "purusing" point of view Medallion is fabulous compared to where we started with it and Sun Bay is MIRACULOUS in comparison to it's "Ugly House" beginnings.
However, when you're paying a contractor to gut and put in a new house (which is pretty close to what we did in both cases) you expect perfection. And the "proof in the pudding" turned out more like "a fly in the ointment". I may not have hired a general contractor before but I did work for one for years and I know all about the punch list... ahhhh - the punch list. The punch list is our friend. So at the end of the whole process I was verbal indeed. Admittedly I'm a bit of a perfectionist (possibly even a little OCD about details) but you know, when you're about to write that final check you MUST make sure all items are complete because YOU WILL NOT HEAR FROM THE CONTRACTOR AGAIN AFTER THEY HAVE THEIR MONEY. Sooo, I came along on the walk-thru and, yet another cliche comes to mind - "If you want a job done right..."

Our punch list at Medallion was pages long. And it needed to be done NOW because they were already two weeks late and we were planning to move in (which they knew well in advance and I'll explain in another entry). And there are certain items that to "fix" would actually mean doing it over. Like, for example, one of the laborers dropped a tile while they were doing the tile surround of the bath/shower in the master bathroom and it put a BIG chip in the porcelain on the tub. They just left it that way! OK, I paid for a brand new bathroom (including replacing a grungy old fiberglass bathtub with a new porcelain one) and I end up with worse than grungy... I end up with a big black hole in the middle of a sea of white porcelain. One more example and I'll move on... they installed the baseboard BEFORE they laid the tile. Ok, so they're not geniuses but it's all good. After laying the tile they went back and added quarter round to the baseboard to cover the gaps. Unfortunately, the thickness of baseboard plus that of the quarter round is more than that of door trim. So throughout the entire house you have the blunt end of a piece of quarter round boldly protruding at every doorway... and it's not even painted!

Moving on... and this is the major point of this incessant whining... the contractor has NOT finished the items on the punch list. He also is not returning any of our calls regarding same. Nor is he calling to ask for the final payment. Not that I like looking at the blunt end of quarter round at every doorway but there's something about not having to make that final payment that makes it a little easier to bear :) Sponge made the final payment to the electrician before he was finished... he never finished. He also made the final payment to the A/C guy before he was finished. And, guess what... he never finished either. Sponge, big bear of a guy that he is, is more teddy bear than grizzly bear. We've decided that within the bounds of our business, we have a new policy: Contractors are required to get their final payments from me (because I won't write a check until I hear a fat lady singing!).

On a better note - we hired a different electrician for the work at Sun Bay. He worked for a national franchise and he actually ITEMIZED what he was doing, how much each item cost, and what the charges for labor were BEFORE we ever agreed to have him do the work. And then - brace yourself - he did the work... ALL the work... before ever asking for ANY money. And last, but soooo not least, he gave us a RECEIPT and a WARRANTY!!! (Thank you Donna for the referral and thank you Manny at Mr. Electric for the great work!)

Now there are many of you out there that are probably getting some good belly laughs out of this. You're thinking... DUH!! And yet - when someone comes highly recommended and offers to do the work for 80% what everyone else is asking you too might find yourself tempted to grab it and grin. For those of you who know better - good for you! For those of you who don't... RUN - DO NOT WALK to a licensed contractor - with a business card, and you get extra "Whew!" points if he's got a storefront. Pay the few extra dollars and save yourself weeks (or months) of anxiety and aggravation.