The old saying hard things come in three's? Well, I think I went beyond that. Once again I haven't written in a month.....with good reason.
Let's start off with construction house because that's sort of the start of the madness at beginning of October. Well, my general contractor Darwin just up and quit. I've known him for 5 years but it was a risk having him run the project from the beginning. The house was a total redo from studs on up, but since we had a mentor-type guy Marc who did this for a living (Darwin used to work for him actually) and had his crews, etc. and would help both of us, I thought it would be worth trying. This was his first project general contracting and I think it got to a point that he decided it was just too big and too stressful. He was trying to manage people who he worked next to before and let's just say the subcontractors cut corners where they could. The other thing is he didn't make my project his priority. He kept trying to work too many other places (ironically he spent most of his time working a job for Marc--I'm not super happy about that, but no matter how much pressure I put on Darwin to be at house, follow up, the phone calls, etc.. it just wasn't working). He knew it and I knew it.
So, once he quit I had a minor meltdown because I couldn't fathom running the project--we were months behind schedule, working full time, and taking care of my kids. Even though we were pretty far down the road, there are many things left to be done. So, I finally decided I had to bring in someone new, so I reached out to a guy that was a subcontractor 3 years ago for the house I'm living in now--Jacob. He's still working for the same guy who did my house, but does work on the side. I brought him over to show him the house and in a way, it was probably a good thing because that's when things started to unravel.
The biggest issue I noticed over a month ago was the flooring. I noticed the floor sloping noticeably in the hallway to the bedrooms. The house is on slab and I got the foundation fixed first thing, so why would the floor be sloping? I had mentioned it to Darwin a few times and he said nah...it's fine.
Well....Jacob told me pretty quickly the flooring was not installed right. The way the flooring guy tried to level it out was not correct, it was uneven everywhere, and very bad in places. Since the flooring guy only speaks Spanish we had him come to the house and talk to Jacob. Flooring guy was pointing finger at old contractor Darwin because he said he told Darwin the floor wasn't level but that Darwin said it was fine and to keep going. Then when Jacob started pressing him on how he tried to level the floor and why he did it that way, he kept talking in circles. No ownership at all for the crap floor he laid down. Interesting fact: he works for a guy in one of mentor Marc's crew.
What came out of that, though, was that Jacob and I decided to get the foundation checked again because regardless of how bad the floor was, the foundation shouldn't have been that far off. When we brought that guy out, he was in the house for five seconds and said "gee I can see the house is off at least two inches down the hallway....there must be a sewer pipe leak". Ummmm.....no there isn't. Then when Jacob pressed him on why he didn't measure before deciding on where to put pilings, etc. and why there was so much off in the house, the guy started to get frustrated, stomping around a bit, raising his voice, getting somewhat aggressive in how we was responding...basically he knew he couldn't bluff my contractor. The guy left in a huff and said he'd be back with his measuring gear. Well, considering the crap job he did, I had no intention of having him do any more work at the house. Ironically, he did come back that day and after he 'measured' he said the foundation was fine, it was all the floor. C'mon... Interesting fact: he was recommended by Marc.
So, now I learned that not only the flooring guy screwed up the floor, but the foundation wasn't fixed right to begin with. That guy lifted the back of the house where he shouldn't have--now it's 2" higher than the rest and he didn't address the interior hallway where it needed it the most.
A second, very reputable foundation company had given me a bid at the very beginning ( I had actually used them on another house), but they were scheduling two months out. So, rather than wait for them at the time, I didn't think I could wait that long, so I didn't use them....hindsight right.
Also, .....Jacob said the cabinet guy's cabinets were crap. Actually, Darwin had told me the same thing only AFTER I had agreed to use him. However, this could also be a matter of opinion because I have found that no matter what craft it is, if they didn't do it, it's not right and someone else did a crap job. Interesting fact: cabinet guy is Marc's guy.
And.....the tile guy said he sent me an invoice after I made some changes, said I agreed......which I hadn't. I expected the changes I made to be about 1k....he sent me a bill for 2500. What the crap. We actually got into a pretty heated argument on the phone when I was at work one day because he added things in there we never talked about. He claimed I saw the invoice and agreed. I absolutely had not. And his wife was calling me over and over to pay this bill, which of course I wasn't going to pay the whole thing. Interesting fact: Tile guy is Marc's guy.
So, you see.......things sort of fell apart at construction house. I mentioned that these were all of mentor Marc's people, however in totality, they have all just sucked. Of course I'm like, how could this have gone so wrong if these are the same people he uses too?.....And I think it boils down simply to this--they weren't being managed by an invested general contractor and basically cut corners where they could. I can hear my realtor friend now telling me ' I told you so'......she said from the very beginning this project was too big for Darwin, but based on Marc's guidance and my thought that he could handle it....that's what I went with.
So now what? The biggest thing has been getting all the facts about what we are dealing with now, then trying to decide what to do and how to fix.
Step 1:
I ended up deciding with Jacob that we needed to rip out the wood floor that was just installed--everywhere. I couldn't in good conscience leave it knowing how poorly it was installed and that it would no doubt give me problems/buckle down the road. We had talked about leaving it in the areas we won't need to redo the foundation inside, however I just wasn't okay leaving a craptastic floor in there. Some others might have decided to salvage what they could because the route I took just cost me 19k I won't see again. Yup folks, 10k for the wood and 9k for the labor and other materials. Thank goodness he wasn't paid for it all.
Now that the new floor has been demo'd out a new issue surfaced....there was old orange vinyl flooring and I checked w/ floor lady I've worked with if there was any worry of asbestos...she said no to vinyl, however back in the day they also used asbestos in adhesive. So, because of the blackish color left, she thinks it might be good to test the adhesive. Sigh.
Step 2:
Use reputable company to come and fix foundation. I talked to reputable guy a few times and he was back out to measure after the new floor was taken out. He said he recommend to leave what other guy did alone...and he'll come in and do what he said at beginning which is to come inside and put 9 additional pilings. He said he could do the front part of house also, but knowing what we've gone through thus far he said that can wait and it may not need it.
The foundation issue boiled down to putting trust in the wrong company. The guy who actually did the work had said I shouldn't let anyone talk me into putting interior pilings in, will create further issue, etc etc.....and reputable guy ironically said that a lot of other foundation outfits will say not to do interior work because it's just that--a lot of work and not as easy and quick money as the exterior ones. Reputable guy also pointed out that other guy showed an exterior piling on the graph that was paid for that was never installed. Sigh.
Step 3:
I need help picking out all the interior finishes. It's been stressing me out and I've looked at 4 different granite/quartz places. I've got a referral for a designer, and no, not from Marc....who I talked to last week. He's expensive, but honestly if it helps me to knock this out and only have to paint once because I chose the right color, then hoorah.
Now.....if you made it this far through construction house woes....cool. But that is just part of the story. In addition to dealing with all of that above, the following has also been happening over last several weeks:
1) My AC at my current house stopped working. Just stopped.
2) My 3 year old refrigerator at my current house just stopped cooling. Just stopped.
3) My kids have been sick for about 3 weeks now and just yesterday my son went to the Dr. and was diagnosed w/ pink eye.
4) My son hasn't been sleeping well in months and over the last few sick weeks it's been beyond. Up every hour to two hours all night. I hear him calling out to me and coughing now. Hang on....
5) Two weeks ago my back just gave out. I could hardly move for days until I went to see chiro I haven't seen in over 3 years. He said I was having muscle spasms that was locking up my back.
5) My sister texted me this week to say that she has a growth on her throat and she was at Dr. getting it scanned. What? After that they said she had to also do an ultrasound which they found it had something there they needed to biopsy so will wait for those results next week.
6) I was asked to post on some jobs at work with deadlines now. Probably I'll say thanks but no thanks.
Friends....I have hit a wall. I've been limping along by working from home a few days a week, but this week I didn't work at all tue and wed and worked from home yesterday. I haven't slept well in months and barely at all in the last 2 weeks. Before I had a hard time staying asleep, now it's progressed into having a hard time falling asleep to begin with. I've been just trying to hang in there, but man has it been tough.
I was talking to my co-worker yesterday and she basically shook some sense into me. She's like look, you need to go to the Dr. yourself. Maybe you need a sleep rx, maybe you need a break from work.....you aren't functioning and it's getting worse. And you know what? She was totally right. I've been so focused on just going from thing to thing and trying to manage it all that I haven't stepped back to say hang on, what do I need here.
So, I made an appointment for my Dr. today and he basically said I have sleep deprivation. He doesn't want to adjust anything--I need to get some time with some actual, non-broken sleep. I can't remember the last time I slept more than 3 hours w/out waking up from my son, myself, or my cat--I'm just not able to recuperate. I actually thought back today that how I feel now is so much like when my girl started pre-k3 with all her sicknesses and I had a one year old who didn't sleep then either. At the time I went on an intermittent leave at work for a few months...which really wasn't 'leave' because I still went to work, it was just maybe at 9 or 10am instead of 8.
Well this time I said doc, I've never asked this before (I've known him for over 10 years), but I just can't. I just need to have something lifted off and I think I need a break from work...like just a week or something. The thing that is so crazy.....I felt guilty/bad about asking. And why, right? Considering the load I am carrying and trying to do it without sleep, how can I be expected to manage?! But that little voice just says I should. That was all internal because he basically said he was totally supportive of what made sense. He suggested why not say off for the next two weeks and see him in the middle, and plan to return to work after that.
I agreed.
So, that's what I am going to do. And you know, as soon as we made that decision I could literally feel the weight easing off of my chest.....I could breathe deeper, I felt somewhat lighter.
It was SO the right call and I am so thankful for that conversation with my coworker. I was already in the process of getting old nanny here this weekend, but while that would help, that was only for a few days. I can't just take a nap and fix all this.
After writing this I'm going to send a note to my boss and let her know I'll get the paperwork to the right person here in the U.S. and I won't be logging in. Well, I have email on my phone so I'm sure I'll still be checking it, but to be mostly unplugged.......yes.
I didn't want to write this tough note and also talk about my son turning 4 last month so I will save that for another post.
Here's to things getting better over next few weeks.....
