Let's begin that for some reason, whether it is the two of us having work done or friends that we know having work done in the home...the stories all seem to match. Contractors are not what you would call always reliable. They generally have excuses of why they are not where they should be when they said they would be. Now, I am aware that some jobs have extenuating circumstances going on without prior notice. A phone call would be nice to have so that the next customer is not waiting around all day for no one to show up. It is called communication.
Let me give you some personal examples that just happened to us. Last week we had scheduled a company to come out to work on a problem on our roof. It had caused damage to the ceiling in our screened in porch, as well as our inside Reading Room. Nothing major yet.
The insurance company suggested a firm they have used. We called them because we knew of no one in particular. The deal was that someone would come out, look at the damage, take pictures and send in to the insurance company. They agreed something needed to be done and set us up with a company to do the outside work and then do the painting.
We had a representative from the company out, took pictures and we were approved for work to begin. The day was set and so we got up and dressed and just waited until after 9. More than an hour past when they were to be here. Would you believe that we called the district manager 4 times throughout the day. No, he was not proactive in calling us...we had to reach out to him. Each time we were told that his worker was finishing up his job and on his way to us.
LIE, LIE, LIE! At 4:40, we called to say that we had to reset a day because we had to go out. He asked if the worker could get in the backyard if we were not here. Of course,he could. So off we went to get our dog, who we had placed in Doggie Day Care to keep him out of the roofer's way. HA!
Back home now at 5:30, cooked our dinner and at 7:30 we cleaning up from dinner. There was a knock at the door. It was the freakin' roofer! For real? We asked how could he work at dusk? He said that he was there to take pictures to send in. We corrected that misunderstanding right away, of which he was quite surprised. This meant another call to the Manager. He apologized, said his subcontractors know much better than this. It is not a part of their job. He said that he would call us in the morning when someone would be out. The two of us knew that we would not be holding our breath on this statement.
The doorbell rang again, this time it was our neighbor across the street. He wanted to know if we truly did have a roofer coming over because he found this guy in his back yard. He thought that he was an intruder and had a gun on him. Luckily, he asked first and did not shoot first. Mind you, this roofer parked right across the street from our mailbox with big numbers that are very hard to miss - 8890 - our address. Our neighbor does not even have an address that can be seen.
Meanwhile, since we were going to already be home for one set of work scheduled, we decided to pick this day for our pool to be opened. We watched as they removed the cover. They removed it in a way that allowed all of the dirt and leaves to go into the pool. We were told it was the only way. Bologna, I say to that. Our pool looked like the black lagoon. A few hours after they left, Steve went out to check the skimmer baskets in case they had filled with leaves and there were no baskets to be found?? What in the world were "Larry, Moe and Curley" thinking? The pump was working, but why? It was left in a mess, in other words.
Too late to call the pool place now, but first thing in the morning, Steve put a call in. We had to wait all day before a call back was made. This time, the reason was legitimate. Why the receptionist did not tell us that the owner was out on a personal nature concerning her daughter's graduation and prom? Who knows? When she did call, she told us the procedures and that the crew were not finished and they will be returning. We were home, they knew we were home, and yet they still did not bother to knock and tell us the situation.
It has been 5 days since the outside roofing work has been done. No one has called to set up the inside. I have reached out to our insurance company to let them know of this incompetent restoration company that is on their list. Because of our prior commitments, it can't be done until Friday. If it takes longer than one day, it won't be done this day because we will not go through the weekend with tarps hanging everywhere.
All I have to say about this kind of hot mess is that if I ever had the urge for us to build our own home - just go ahead, take me out behind some barn and just shoot me. If taking it in smaller chunks like this or when we had our kitchen and master suite bathroom remodeled can cause this much angst, I don't want to know what a whole house could do.
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