Back at Work
Koontz-Jodi has kindly been posting alone while I went on a personal detour. So today is Monday and I am back at work. And what a Monday it was.
My current client got himself into a fix assuming he could act as his own designer, draftsperson, contractor and laborer on a 600 square foot addition. Doesn't sound so big does it? But the 600 square feet includes a new kitchen, master bedroom and master bathroom. Of course the first thing he did was demolish his existing kitchen and move all the necessaries out to the garage. The addition he told his wife would take three months has gone on for eleven months now. At the ninth month he called me asking for some consultation. At the tenth month he called and asked if my partner and I would take over the project and get it completed.
A couple of good lessons here. This client and his wife both work full-time and though he has quite a few construction skills; he actually use to work for me many years ago; having a shop in the garage is quite different than running an actual job. Especially when you're doing it after your own "pay the bills", work day.
HIs second mistake was the assumption that he had the ability to effect the correct design. Because it's his first home, and it certainly needed the additional space he's adding, it is not a calamity. But the reality is that he didn't utilize the space nearly as well as he could have. He just has a poor design. Poor enough that though my partner and I are working on the job now, we will not use it as a referral work because of the clients' design, material and color choices.
With a month on the job, we've now gotten this client through his rough inspections, (building, electrical, plumbing), we've sheet-rocked the entire addition, gotten the texture in the kitchen and washroom done, set the kitchen cabinets-which God forbid are Oak!! (Note to all remodelers-Oak does not belong in the kitchen!) Installed the new sink/disposal/dishwasher and fixtures. (Because the client can't get his plumber to return and this is not because of payment problems, it's just been too long between stages and the subs have moved on to other projects and are not responding to the agreements they made). We've laid the kitchen tile and grouted it, we've started on the finish electrical work-because the client's on-the-side electrician will not return to do the rest of his job either. We've arranged for an air-conditioning/heating unit to be installed and we completed the plumbing and electrical on that to get it running because our summer here seems to have started in the last week
And all this work is being done at an hourly rate because we can't walk into the middle of a job and realistically bid it out for the client. Although my client was allegedly acting as the general contractor on his addition, he didn't pay attention to what his subs were doing, or how they were doing it. So I come in to do the finish electric work and I have to double check all the work the first electrician did because there are several "right" ways to do a project like this. For my liablity and the clients' safety, I can't assume I know what the first guy did, I have to know for sure. That all takes a huge amount of time. It's frustrating for the client, because he just wants me to wire everything up! And it's aggravating for me, because I have to track everything back before I can actually get anything further along. One of the grand things about construction is to actually effect changes, so getting paid for your time or not, doing work that doesn't make noticeable progress makes for a bad day.
So that was my Monday. Sounds just right for a Monday doesn't it? I am convinced the week can only improve after this day.
My current client got himself into a fix assuming he could act as his own designer, draftsperson, contractor and laborer on a 600 square foot addition. Doesn't sound so big does it? But the 600 square feet includes a new kitchen, master bedroom and master bathroom. Of course the first thing he did was demolish his existing kitchen and move all the necessaries out to the garage. The addition he told his wife would take three months has gone on for eleven months now. At the ninth month he called me asking for some consultation. At the tenth month he called and asked if my partner and I would take over the project and get it completed.
A couple of good lessons here. This client and his wife both work full-time and though he has quite a few construction skills; he actually use to work for me many years ago; having a shop in the garage is quite different than running an actual job. Especially when you're doing it after your own "pay the bills", work day.
HIs second mistake was the assumption that he had the ability to effect the correct design. Because it's his first home, and it certainly needed the additional space he's adding, it is not a calamity. But the reality is that he didn't utilize the space nearly as well as he could have. He just has a poor design. Poor enough that though my partner and I are working on the job now, we will not use it as a referral work because of the clients' design, material and color choices.
With a month on the job, we've now gotten this client through his rough inspections, (building, electrical, plumbing), we've sheet-rocked the entire addition, gotten the texture in the kitchen and washroom done, set the kitchen cabinets-which God forbid are Oak!! (Note to all remodelers-Oak does not belong in the kitchen!) Installed the new sink/disposal/dishwasher and fixtures. (Because the client can't get his plumber to return and this is not because of payment problems, it's just been too long between stages and the subs have moved on to other projects and are not responding to the agreements they made). We've laid the kitchen tile and grouted it, we've started on the finish electrical work-because the client's on-the-side electrician will not return to do the rest of his job either. We've arranged for an air-conditioning/heating unit to be installed and we completed the plumbing and electrical on that to get it running because our summer here seems to have started in the last week
And all this work is being done at an hourly rate because we can't walk into the middle of a job and realistically bid it out for the client. Although my client was allegedly acting as the general contractor on his addition, he didn't pay attention to what his subs were doing, or how they were doing it. So I come in to do the finish electric work and I have to double check all the work the first electrician did because there are several "right" ways to do a project like this. For my liablity and the clients' safety, I can't assume I know what the first guy did, I have to know for sure. That all takes a huge amount of time. It's frustrating for the client, because he just wants me to wire everything up! And it's aggravating for me, because I have to track everything back before I can actually get anything further along. One of the grand things about construction is to actually effect changes, so getting paid for your time or not, doing work that doesn't make noticeable progress makes for a bad day.
So that was my Monday. Sounds just right for a Monday doesn't it? I am convinced the week can only improve after this day.
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