Well, what a week. So incredibly frustrating.

Last Sunday night, I stayed at The 1885 House trying to get the plumbing fixed until about 09:00 pm with no luck. I had gotten the drain fixed, but then the rusty supply lines were leaking. Grrrrr. Frustrated, I called it quits for the night and left.

On Monday, I waited for the siding company. Nothing. At some point in the afternoon, I saw that the materials had been delivered…in my driveway. Great. Now where am I supposed to park? And not a contractor in sight. Also, on Monday, I got the issue with the property taxes on The Maple House resolved and they were reduced almost $9,000! Now I can go pay our taxes! And sleep at night! On Tuesday, the contractors didn’t show again. It had snowed that night and I had to shovel The 1885 House, so I worked on the plumbing while I was there. And I got it leak-free! Yay! But the sprayer is still not fixed, since I always get sidetracked. I’ll take care of that another day. On Wednesday, the contractors didn’t show again. What the hell. I did pick up a stainless steel dishwasher that a lady was selling! Now we have two! All we need now is a gas range.

On Thursday, the contractors showed up. I was thoroughly frustrated. The way I typically manage contractors doing work for me is that I check on them every 30 minutes – one hour when they first start. If I like what I see, I check in less and less as my confidence grows. But with these guys, every time I checked in, I grew more concerned. Why is there a big hole in my siding? Will you fix it? We’ll caulk it, was the answer. Why are there nails in the face of the capping? That’s normal, they said. Won’t it ripple in the summer? Only sometimes, they said. Where’s the vapor wrap? You don’t get any, they said. Are you flashing, at least? Yes, of course, they said. But when I came back out to check on the progress, no flashing around my windows. They left for the day at 12:30 pm, since they were waiting for more materials to be delivered. When they left, I went to inspect more closely and take pictures. I was highly displeased with what I saw. I immediately called the company’s office to complain. I told them they could not continue with this quality of work and they agreed to call me back with a plan. On Friday, the contractors didn’t show up, but reps from the local office did (it’s a national company) to inspect the work. I showed them what I had problems with. They brought vapor wrap and told me they’d do a full tear-off on Monday, wrap the house and start over.