Building A Better Bumblebee

Nick Morris wrote:

Mark B wrote:

Nick Morris wrote:So what you are saying is that they have not gotten all of the compressed board up yet...

Uh, not quite. In fact, since we moved back in and stopped costing the insurance company so much in hotel bills, we've not seen hide nor hair of anybody who can get our house back together again. What a coincidence!

It's weird how that happens, huh?

Yup! Astounding!

  

Mark B wrote:

Nick Morris wrote:

Mark B wrote:

Nick Morris wrote:So what you are saying is that they have not gotten all of the compressed board up yet...

Uh, not quite. In fact, since we moved back in and stopped costing the insurance company so much in hotel bills, we've not seen hide nor hair of anybody who can get our house back together again. What a coincidence!

It's weird how that happens, huh?

Yup! Astounding!

  

That is why I am not a fan of contractors. Luckily, I have family friends that are in the trade.

Nick Morris wrote:

Mark B wrote:

Nick Morris wrote:

Mark B wrote:

Nick Morris wrote:So what you are saying is that they have not gotten all of the compressed board up yet...

Uh, not quite. In fact, since we moved back in and stopped costing the insurance company so much in hotel bills, we've not seen hide nor hair of anybody who can get our house back together again. What a coincidence!

It's weird how that happens, huh?

Yup! Astounding!

  

That is why I am not a fan of contractors.  Luckily, I have family friends that are in the trade.

Not the contractor, actually. The adjustor is taking a long time figuring out the loss, which is needed before the contractor can start fixing it. I'm sure it'll be fine, but I wish things were moving a bit faster.

It sure would be nice if they could expedite things for you.

Jim Lentz wrote:It sure would be nice if they could expedite things for you.

Nice, but not how things are turning out.

Last night, I found out that the contractor's project manager "no longer worked for the company."

No wonder he hadn't called us back for more than a week.

This morning, I called for an explanation. I was told the guy up and left last Friday (they never bothered to let us know until our insurance adjustor leaned on them last night), and he didn't have any records on his visit to our house.

Really? No records? Nope. None.

I also found out that due to the loss of the project manager, the contractor was no longer accepting new clients.

Uh, wait, I said. Weren't we already clients?

"Did you sign a contract?"

Uh.... no. We hadn't gotten that far.

"Well, then. You aren't a client." And, they said, we really would be better served with another contractor.

Gotta say, I have to agree -- even though it means going back to square one. Yipes.

So we had two new contractors come in today (which caused a bit of chaos at my office, since I was the only editor working and it took four hours), and had them look around. We should be able to decide which one to pick by early next week, and perhaps they can get going sooner rather than later. That'd be nice.

Mark B wrote:

Jim Lentz wrote:It sure would be nice if they could expedite things for you.

Nice, but not how things are turning out.

Last night, I found out that the contractor's project manager "no longer worked for the company."

No wonder he hadn't called us back for more than a week.

This morning, I called for an explanation. I was told the guy up and left last Friday (they never bothered to let us know until our insurance adjustor leaned on them last night), and he didn't have any records on his visit to our house.

Really? No records? Nope. None.

I also found out that due to the loss of the project manager, the contractor was no longer accepting new clients.

Uh, wait, I said. Weren't we already clients?

"Did you sign a contract?"

Uh.... no. We hadn't gotten that far.

"Well, then. You aren't a client." And, they said, we really would be better served with another contractor.

Gotta say, I have to agree -- even though it means going back to square one. Yipes.

So we had two new contractors come in today (which caused a bit of chaos at my office, since I was the only editor working and it took four hours), and had them look around. We should be able to decide which one to pick by early next week, and perhaps they can get going sooner rather than later. That'd be nice.

No wonder everything was at a stand still...Well, hopefully you guys will get some movement now. Gotta love contractors!!

Nick Morris wrote:No wonder everything was at a stand still...Well, hopefully you guys will get some movement now.  Gotta love contractors!!

Yup. This is probably for the best. That other firm wasn't exactly impressing us with its customer service skills... We get to pick their replacement, and both of the contractors we talked with yesterday seemed quite capable, so with any luck we'll be moving forward soon.

No running yet for me. My groin (and I notice, the hip on the opposite site) are still tight and uncomfortable, though I haven't had that spearing sensation for a few days now. I'm hoping that it's settling down.

Mark B wrote:

Nick Morris wrote:No wonder everything was at a stand still...Well, hopefully you guys will get some movement now.  Gotta love contractors!!

Yup. This is probably for the best. That other firm wasn't exactly impressing us with its customer service skills... We get to pick their replacement, and both of the contractors we talked with yesterday seemed quite capable, so with any luck we'll be moving forward soon.

No running yet for me. My groin (and I notice, the hip on the opposite site) are still tight and uncomfortable, though I haven't had that spearing sensation for a few days now. I'm hoping that it's settling down.

If I were you , I would wait at least a week after you feel no pain or tightness to start up running again. Better safe than sorry.

Nick Morris wrote:If I were you , I would wait at least a week after you feel no pain or tightness to start up running again.  Better safe than sorry.

Probably a good idea, Nick. The last thing I'd want is for it to flare up again. Besides, my stress bucket is full enough right now anyway without having to add to it.

Mark B wrote:

Nick Morris wrote:If I were you , I would wait at least a week after you feel no pain or tightness to start up running again.  Better safe than sorry.

Probably a good idea, Nick. The last thing I'd want is for it to flare up again. Besides, my stress bucket is full enough right now anyway without having to add to it.

Very true!

Quick update:

Since I last posted on Saturday, we picked our replacement contractor, and they've done far more in a three days than the other contractor did in three weeks. Just today, we had a cabinet specialist come out to see how much work needs to be done and consult with us on countertops and other tweaks.

This comes after a different specialist brought in by the insurance company assessed our furniture and said he could refinish the table that was directly under the waterfall. (Woot! We really like that table.) Our sofas are shot, which is too bad, but we can probably find something close to what we had before.

We should be meeting with a flooring person before too long (the other big decision), and the project superintendent should be in touch to start setting up a schedule for actual in-house work. It's going to get busy, noisy and dusty pretty soon -- but that is so much better than sitting around waiting for somebody to do something. It's progress.

(My hip/groin is getting slowly, progressively better, which is also nice. No major twinges lately.)

That is great news on the new contractor!

Hope that groin issue is 100% soon.

Glad to read the progress is measurable.

Good news!

AWESOME!! Glad that everything is starting to move forward...

Glad things are improving!

Jim Lentz wrote:That is great news on the new contractor!

Hope that groin issue is 100% soon.

ounce wrote:Glad to read the progress is measurable.

Michele \"1L" Keane wrote:Good news!

Nick Morris wrote:AWESOME!!  Glad that everything is starting to move forward...

Julie wrote:Glad things are improving!

Thanks, everybody! We made more progress today on the paperwork front (insurance gave us numbers for personal property losses, including the totaled-out sofas), so the wheels are still turning. After weeks of limbo, even if nothing has actually started yet, it's a huge relief to have finally reached the planning stages.

I caught myself daydreaming this morning, imagining being out on my favorite running routes -- interestingly, thinking most about country roads with rolling hills. It'll be so nice to be out there again one of these days.

Hang in there Mark. It only a matter of time now before things get back to normal.

Glad you're already well aware that the fixes are going to be, in short, a nuisance.  I used to hate working residential jobs (fortunately, only did a few), because many homeowners expect construction to somehow instantly pick up every speck of dust it creates, as it creates it.  That said, it looks like you've got a good contractor, if you're getting that much progress so quickly.  Now may be a good time for any renovations you've ever considered, too

Nick Morris wrote:Hang in there Mark.  It only a matter of time now before things get back to normal.

True. And who knew that life lessons from running long distance really applied to life outside of running?

I'm still waiting for somebody to set up an aid station with margaritas, though...   

Mike MacLellan wrote:Glad you're already well aware that the fixes are going to be, in short, a nuisance.  I used to hate working residential jobs (fortunately, only did a few), because many homeowners expect construction to somehow instantly pick up every speck of dust it creates, as it creates it.  That said, it looks like you've got a good contractor, if you're getting that much progress so quickly.  Now may be a good time for any renovations you've ever considered, too

After getting strung along for three weeks by a contractor who then unceremoniously dropped us, pretty much *any* action feels like shifting into warp speed. Not that a single thing has been done inside the home since June 27, mind you. People keep assuming that everything's all done now, and keep giving us a   look when we say, uh, no...

But a definite yes on upgrades beyond new living room furniture. We've picked a different type of countertop (still laminate, though) and are going to have the cabinet person tweak some woodwork in our bathroom that just didn't make sense. (And we're going to see if a plumber can install an overflow drain in the bathtub.)

Also, we hope to not put any carpet back in (allergies, cat barf, coffee and wine spills), but whether it's hardwood, bamboo, engineered, something else or a mix remains to be seen. (We're planning to put vinyl back in the laundry room and at least most of the bathroom areas.)

A neighbor and former contractor suggested that we do some of the floor demo work ourselves to save $$ in the budget for flooring upgrades. It'd be a lot of work -- that particle board is ridiculously well-attached to the subfloor -- but we're going to ask and see if that's possible.

So... this happened.



And this little piggy went snap!

Man, you can't catch a break, huh?

Nick Morris wrote:Man, you can't catch a break, huh?

Well, I *may* have just caught a nifty little break there, don't ya think?   

Going to swing by urgent care this evening to see if they can confirm my suspicions. I'm pretty sure it's broken.

(BTW, Alita took a header down the back steps into the garage a couple of days ago. She mooshed her toes and got a huge bruise on her knee. But her head missed the stove by a couple of inches when she fell, so we're pleased about that. And we moved the stove.)

So, you are saying that things could be worse? Way to think glass half full...

Nick Morris wrote:So, you are saying that things could be worse?  Way to think glass half full...

Well, ever since Fluff filled the house halfway with water, "half-full" is pretty much the default setting!