Saturday, September 29, 2012

ARGH!!!

Yet another disappointing week of virtually NO progress. Monday is our bank deadline to finish, and we're not even close. Now we're hoping for a thanksgiving move. REALLY!!! WHAT IS THE PROBLEM???????? We're not sure WHAT is going on here. The whole job seems to hinge on one russian guy who just can't be bothered to make an appearance. My theory is that he's stalling, hoping that the floor heat will get going soon. There's no guarantees on that. We just NEED to get moving. Every day that goes by with no one working at all is another sleepless night. It's getting old and extremely frustrating. Our contractor is FULL of promises, but not a lot of action. We've been very patient, but it's time to get out the squeaky wheel. (Don't MAKE me get out the stink eye) Next week is SUPPOSED to be a circus of contractors. Electrician (to move the mis-placed light fixtures), plumber (to work on the boiler and floor heat), russian (to finish the screwed up island, cabinets, and clean up the mess he left with the floor), countertop template folks (to start countertops - but only if the island is fixed), bulldozer guy (flatten the property out before it starts raining), tile guy (back from vacation to finish the master where they ran out of tile and the jack and jill shower). If all that happens, it'll be more work than has been done in the last 2 months. We're hopeful, but not optimistic. There was ONE bright thing this week. The painters worked their butts off doing the outside. I love, love, love this color combination. It looks clean and fresh, and not like anything next door. The exterior is 95 percent done. All that's left are the columns on the porches, that need to be built after the porch is poured, and the front door (it's going to be an awesome shade of burgundy). Gotta love those painters!

Saturday, September 22, 2012

FINALLY!!

After 6 weeks of pulling teeth progress and three days this week where NO ONE worked at all, we finally have some progress. On thursday we were very excited to see the cabinet installer return to start the cabinets....floors are on hold for now. He put in 2 full days, building toe kicks and putting up the kitchen and it's coming right along..... The stove wall is pretty much done....
The fridge wall is making great progress......
and, although it should have been done WEEKS ago, we're pretty happy just to see progress!
The island still needs to be placed and there are glass door cabinets over the fridge wall, but it's coming right along. Next will probably be the two bathrooms and the built-ins next to the fireplace. Those will go quickly compared to the kitchen. I notified the countertop folks that we will be ready to template within the week. I also picked up the LED under counter lights yesterday (they're SO cool), and the knobs and handles from the cabinet gal. We're kinda hoping the installer will work today (sat), to make up some time. We'll see. It's a good thing all this is almost ready, because there was a big surprise yesterday iin the form of all the appliances! I just happened to be over there when the truck pulled up. Not quite sure why this happened. We won't be ready for these for a couple of weeks. Now we'll have to go out and cover them all so that they don't get buried in dust.
There WAS one more sign of progress. The plumber showed up on friday afternoon with the boiler. This contraption is the heating system and also the hot water system for the entire house. It will eventually be hiding behind a cabinet. He just barely got started, with a promise to be back on monday to finish (and bring the missing parts). He also figured out that he could start installing the sinks, shower and toilet in the master bath since the tile is done there.
Fingers crossed, we SHOULD see some serious progress this week. The cabinet guy (who is also the finish carpenter) will keep going, the plumber will be here monday, and hopefully the bulldozer guy, framers to finish their stuff, sheetrock guys to do touch-up, exterior painter, and maybe a little electrician just for fun. That would make it the busiest week ever. Let's hope. We're destined fly past our bank deadline without finishing and now hoping we'll be moved before thanksgiving. ARGH!!!

Friday, September 14, 2012

finally some progress

(but not much) We were very excited monday to see the long awaited gas company pull up to hook up our gas line and install the meter. They sent about 6 trucks and a backhoe and proceeded to dig up the street and the neighbor's flower bed. After about 3 hours, they covered thier tracks and bailed, leaving us with a brand new shiny meter, and our gas working. This was huge, because now the heat system can be installed and get to working and the floors will follow soon after.
Our finish carpenters were MIA and we found out later that one of them had a family emergency. They're supposedly back on track and ready to go now. Tile guy, however, worked his butt off. He did the floors in both bathrooms - this is the jack and jill
and the master shower.....
but my favorite of all is the entry....I just want to park a chair out there and stare at it. It turned out SO good!
Not to be outdone, the electrician made an appearance and put up some light fixtures. (master bedroom ceiling fan)
He also kept on installing outlets and switches, and did as many of the outside lights as he could get to. We're not really sure WHAT will be happening next week, although the plumber has said he will be here tuesday or wed. to install the boiler and the rest of the heating system. Here's hoping that everyone else will get back on schedule and we'll actually see some work done. The Oct. 1st bank deadline is fast approaching. Think they'll have to ask for an extension?? We do.

Friday, September 7, 2012

it's a holiDAY, not a holiWEEK

Someone forgot to tell our contractors that. At the beginning of the week I said "you watch, no one will work this week" shoulda kept my mouth shut because it was pretty much true. We're still stuck in catch 22 hell, no floors until the heat, no heat until the gas..... Now the tile guys are kinda stuck too, because they need the finish molding to be up so they can place the tile. The good news....the electrician got over his pout long enough to show up for 4 hours or so and put up some light fixtures. We were so glad to see ANYONE here.
Tile guy also came for a bit on friday afternoon, installed the denshield in the showers and put in the little niche cutouts for the shampoo bottles.
We were pretty durned glad to see him too. According to our project manager, this week, we should have cabinets installed (they decided to do them without the flooring), exterior paint, electrical and tile. Oh, and by the way, he's on vacation. If ANYONE shows up we'll probably full body tackle them and kiss them right on the mouth! HELLO!!! you can't get work done if no one is here! Our bank deadline is Oct. 1. That means they need to have the occupancy certificate by then, or ask for an extension. Since there are effectively 15 working days left, and over the last 20 working days, there was a total of 55 hours worked (by everyone total), not thinking they're going to meet the deadline. We seem to be WAY more worried about it than they are...There is SO much left to do, and it pretty much all hinges on the gas and water lines being completed. They've been out here locating the last couple of days, so......fingers crossed.