I’m a pretty easy person to work for. It’s always worked to be persistent but nice, annoying but pleasant. So I’ve never gotten angry at contractors until today, but now that I’ve seen the reaction, I may try it again.
Backstory: we have a plumber we love, and I was inclined to hire them to do the work at our house. But hiring a general contractor, which we did, means that you’re almost certainly better off going with their subs. So we went with their plumber, the big name in plumbing in our town. From the start, although I liked their guys, the lack of communication and relative arrogance about customer relations irked me.
This week, they had a number of jobs at our house. When I arrived on Wednesday afternoon to see how things were going, they had done every single job incorrectly, down to installing the handles backwards on the fridge. I was calm, explained the problems, and was told they would be fixed. One of the problems was that the washer and dryer had been installed facing the wrong way (they’re in a corner, so not as insane as that sounds). Thursday, turned around, the washer and dryer invited me to take a test spin. Imagine my wonder and surprise when I looked into the laundry area from the kitchen to see the stacked washer and dryer walking across the floor. Quietly. Tip toeing, in fact. They stopped, though, and then the left front leg shot out from under them. Perhaps, I thought, these have not been leveled properly.
Phone calls ensued. I was testy, but not angry. I wanted the thing fixed before the weekend. Ok, sure, ok. Will do. At the same time, when the painters painted our front door Thursday, it swelled so that it wouldn’t close. They used a battering ram set up to close it for the night and promised ‘some kind of fix.’ I was patient.
Friday morning I headed to the house to paint the cabinets. Paint paint paint. No sign of plumber or guys to fix the door. Then I filled the sink partway up to soak the brushes. Had lunch. Drained sink and let out a stream of words so blue even WordPress would notice. The entire contents of the sink drained all over my feet, the brand new floor, newly painted cabinets.
Now, NOW, I was angry. Furious. Ready to sue these bastards. Phone calls ensued. A lot of phone calls inside of five minutes.
Within another five minutes, the head plumber, an affable and charming guy, just the right one for the situation, was on site fixing the problems and every other plumbing problem I might even imagine I would have in the next five years, putting his personal cell number into my phone (in a good way). Within 10 minutes the contractor was on site promising that everything was going to be OK by sundown, promising that all work was guaranteed, and calling crews to back him up.
And by 6pm, the door was better than new, the washer and dryer were humming, the cabinets were repainted, the plumbing was fixed and my bill was reduced.
Hmmmm.
In other news, Move In (MOVE IN) day is either tomorrow or Sunday, depending on how hard we push. Not by a long shot done, but done enough to allow us to live in it. So. Ex. Cited.
Item 1: the garage and its constituent parts are all level, now.
Item 2: my amazing Paperstone counter top is installed, as is the sink.
Item 3: we’re down to just the plants we like (although most have to be moved, eventually).
Item 4: this is our front yard, looking toward the street, after the fence was removed. Most of our neighbors did not know this beautiful magnolia was there, as it was completely covered in ivy until today. Note absence of sick blue spruce, too.
Item 5: we have a new garage floor! New drywall and doors and a wall to come, beginning tomorrow.
