Home Remodeling

This past week I have learned that home remodeling is not for the faint of heart.

Here's what we're having done:

• New ceramic tile and new baseboards in the laundry room, half bath, guest bath and master bath
• New jet tub in master bath

The work was supposed to be finished on Tuesday. There have been 2 guys coming, one of which is a very diligent, attentive worker - I'll call him Ralph here. The second guy - I'll call him Gus - is very unreliable. I have called the foreman everyday this week, except for yesterday, to complain about Gus' tardiness. Both guys are supposed to be here at 9 am to work. Monday, it was 10:45 before Gus showed up, and I think he was either drunk or suffering from a hang over. He did not apologize for being late. He broke one of my NEW faucets, and he could not hook my dryer up properly. He tried twice, and it still was not hooked up right when he left for the day - at 2 in the afternoon -after the foreman told me that he'd be here all day to work.

Yesterday, Ralph stayed here until 7:30 trying to get things caught up. This morning, Ralph shows up at 9 am with a young guy, 18ish? - I'll call him Austin - and tells me that Gus is coming too. At 9:30, I call the foreman to tell him that Gus is late - I have to leave a message though. Still no Gus at 10 am, so I call the foreman again. He answers the phone this time, and he tells me that Ralph is the best man he's got and that he and Austin should be able to get most everything done today. . ."Worst case scenario - they will have to come back on Friday to do come touch-up work." I say OK, even tough I have my doubts, because of everything that I knew had to be done today:

• finish laying tile around tub deck in master bath and grout tub deck
• grout the rest of the tile on wall in guest bath
• paint baseboard for master bath
• install baseboards in master bath
  
• install toilet in master bath
• dispose of old toilet in master bath
• fix broken faucet in guest bath
• properly hook-up dryer
• install jet tub in master bath
• work on "punch list" - a list we've been keeping of little things we see that need to be addressed - so far it is 11 items long

So here's where we are tonight. The only things on the list above that got done where: "finish laying tile around tub deck and grout tub deck", "fix broken faucet in guest bath," "properly install dryer," & "paint baseboards for master bath." The delay is due to Ralph having to re-route the plumbing in the master bath to accommodate the new tub. And Ralph accidentally punched an 8 inch hole in my ceiling while he was trying to grout the tile on the tub deck. Gus never showed up today, and has been fired from this job site. Ralph and Austin have a LOT more than touch-up work to do tomorrow.