I’m at the laundromat again which means you all get another update. I like this place more than I should and today it’s completely empty which makes me like it even more.
Our contractor stopped by to leave a check for on of his subs right after my last post. It was the first time we’d talked to him in a little while. He said this project was taking much longer than expected. Not what we wanted to hear, but not unexpected. They told us up front that demo and getting the foundation in was going to be something they wouldn’t even put a timeline on because it was so hard to find subcontractors to do it, much less get them scheduled. He also said, “It looks like a bomb went off here.” Again, not exactly what you want to hear as the homeowner, but again, not unexpected. It validated how I’m feeling lately that the house is truly a total disaster and I’m not just hypersensitive.
He answered a few of my other questions and we talked about a few things that aren’t on the plans that we needed addressed so he asked me to write them on the plans.
Let’s talk about these plans for a second. These plans are the builder plans and there are a few sets of them. One they keep back at the office and one that stays at our house, the Field Set. It’s the Bible of the project. I love these plans and I have every intention of keeping them when we are done- assuming someone doesn’t accidentally throw them away. It’s fun to see all the notes on them, the dirty hand prints, and the wear and tear.
The contractor asked me to draw on the plans exactly were the plumbing that was left off the plan goes in the basement. This plumbing is for a kitchen that we could potentially put in later as a mother-in-law apartment, but don’t plan on finishing now. This is more nerve wracking than I can explain. Based on where I put it, it will be exactly there because the plumber will come in and do EXACTLY what I write. I got our my ruler, my pencil, and quadruple checked my math.
This was actually a good exercise because it got Mike and I looking at the lighting schematics and realizing that there are a few things that got left off of those as well. Looking at the plans and realizing that is what this place is going to be in a few months makes me excited. Even if every time we look at them we seem to find one more thing that got left off or end up with 10 more questions.
The other thing that is exciting to see if the building up of things, not just the tearing down of things. It’s emotionally more satisfying than anything. It feels like a sign that this place is going to actually get finished at some point. I don’t think I’ll Be super excited until the framing is done, but it’s weird to look at the foundation starting to come together and realize those are actual walls and they enclosed space that will soon be our home. The foundation rebar is in so forma should be in early next week. I’m really hoping by next weekend we have a foundation!
There are lots of goofy, quirky, and sometimes frustrating stories that go along with having crews at the house all the time. We never really know when to expect them so occasionally I’ll be chasing cats in my pajamas and they’ll roll in or I’ll find them sleeping in their van while parked directly in front of our fire hydrant while they wait for their boss to arrive.
One of the crews has this van that needs a jump every day. We’ve jumped them, my in-laws have jumped them, and they’ve used our jump box a few times. Yesterday they took the jump box with them and went to another job. Annoying. Especially when Mike realized his own truck wouldn’t start and he needed it to go get hay.
We asked the two teenage boys that were at the house working about it and he said the other crew would be there “soon” and bring the box. This was around 6. This van was also the guys ride so we knew they’d be back eventually.
They finished up the work they could do alone and waited. I talked to them around 7 and offered them some water as it was clear they didn’t really have anything with them. I also made sure they had power for their phones.
Around 9 we finally offered them a ride home. They said they couldn’t leave the tools or they would be in trouble. I felt bad. It’s hard to be terribly hospitable when you are living in a trailer. We didn’t even cook dinner last night to offer them something and don’t have a lot of food around right now as we were on vacation last week and have yet to go shopping. We fed kids their food last night and split a bag of pretzels for “dinner” because that’s just how the night worked out.
Finally, right around 10 and well after dark, the guys pulled in with the van, the jumpbox, and seats for the guys. I was happy, annoyed, and glad I could go to bed without worrying about them. Until this morning when I looked in the hole out back and saw that they just discarded all the empty water bottles I’d given them without even throwing them away in the dumpster. Then I was mostly just annoyed as shit.
I’ll still offer them water if it happens again, but I’ll probably point out to them that the courteous thing to do would be to thank me by not using my new house as a dumpster.