Sunday night. Daniel and I sat on a breezeway. We were sad. His brother, Claude, with wife, Charlene, had just left. A simple dinner with them was the highlight of 2020 for us.
We sat and looked at our own strange yard. The grass is scorched by the sun and trampled by 10,000 steps of 3-5 contractors a day. Next to the hedge is a dump of ladders and stepladders covered with plastic. Not far from it is another pile of boxes with shingles, also covered with plastic. In front of the house, the view is not more beautiful.
There is a dumpster, pallets with recently delivered shingles and stones for finishing the chimney, gutters. And there are nails on the ground all over around the house. Our cars are parked on the next street, and the dog has been in the shelter for 2 weeks. There is something to be sad about.
And suddenly it dawned on us! Enough is enough! We decided that on Monday we would announce to the team leader of the contractors that on Saturday we would lock all the gates and bring the dog from the shelter. In our opinion, 3 weeks should be enough to finish at least part of the house. The thought was a relief, like the light at the end of a tunnel.
I’m thinking, is long-term construction a normal phenomenon in the US, or are we just so lucky?
I used to think that a “White Elephant” was typical of a Soviet-type economy. I was probably wrong.
Long before the project started, Daniel had warned that contractors were difficult to deal with. He said they do what they want and say it’s the right thing to do.
The trick didn’t work with my husband. Shingles that were incorrectly nailed on Wednesday were torn off on Thursday.
Despite this, Daniel and I were very patient. Maybe it was our fault. Yes, Daniel showed the contractors all their mistakes and demanded corrections. But he didn’t mind sharing his experience in carpentering, made them coffee a couple of times, and didn’t yell, we even did cement work on our porch by ourselves. .
I have no idea how long this will last. I’m not even sure what part of the job is done: ⅓ or ½….
The funny thing is that Dan has got an email asking if we will recommend this company? Naive people.
On Saturday, I’m picking up our poor Сrackle, we’re locking all the gates, and partly go back to our normal life.
Hurray!
