Friday, March 24, 2006

The Complaint Department

Okay, I know there have been a few negative posts in this spot lately, and I realize I should break up all the negativity by posting something happy and cheerful before I lose all my readers, but I have to add just one more item to The Complaint Department.

Remember how we decided to have the house sided, and I was all excited because we hired a real company to do the job? And because we hired a real company, the job would actually get finished, unlike every other project that's been started around here? And how it was especially nice that this particular project get finished, because it's an exterior project, and while I can put up with the inside of the house looking half-finished, exterior projects that are left undone generally scream out "LAZY" to everyone living in the area or driving/walking by?

Right.

According to the contract, this project will be completed between March 20 and April 10. The owner of the siding company told me the actual job would take 4-5 days, but there could be delays due to the weather or if the materials didn't come in right away, especially since red is a "special order" color. All of which is fine. Even if they didn't get started until the second week of April, I figured the house has been covered with faded aluminum siding for the 10 1/2 years we've lived here, so what's another three weeks?

Mistake #1 : Assuming once they started the project, they'd continue working on it until it was finished.

Here's what's happened so far:

Monday: This was the first day, according to the contract, that they could start working on the house. I didn't expect anyone to show, since they hadn't called to say they were coming, but mid-morning two guys arrived and dropped off a bunch of ladders and scaffolding. They asked a couple of questions about the railing on the porch, and said they'd be back tomorrow (Tuesday) to start work. About a half hour later the owner called to confirm they'd be there Tuesday morning between 7:30-8:00am.

Tuesday: 8am passes with no sign of any workers. Nobody comes by or calls, but in the afternoon a delivery truck brings the siding.

Wednesday: Two guys show up around 7:45am. They pull off all the aluminum, and start nailing up foam insulation and siding. They leave for a good hour and a half at lunchtime, but return with a third worker, and work until dark. When they leave for the day, the back of the house is sided and trimmed, the left side is 90% finished, and the right side is about a quarter done. The front of the house looks pretty bad, with old shingles and torn foil insulation exposed on most of the front, except for a few spots that have foam baord already nailed up, but the workers say they'll be back tomorrow, and since they've pulled off all the exterior lights on the house, no one can see it anyway.

Thursday: Nobody comes or calls.

Friday: At 8:35am, when the workers haven't arrived yet, I call the office and get an answering machine stating their normal hours are 8:30am-5pm. Okay, fine, the receptionist is a little late. I hang up and call back at 8:45, and get the same message. Finally at 8:55 I leave a message. At 9:25 I call again and get the owner, who tells me he dosen't know where the guys are, and he tried to call them but they aren't picking up the phone. He'll call me back when he hears from them. Also, am I sure they didn't come yesterday? Yes, I'm sure, since Hubby was home all day. He calls me back a half hour later, says the guys will definately be here tomorrow, and mumbles something about about how it was "hot and sunny" when they were here last and how they had to work in their T-shirts (I guess they needed two days off to recover?). At least that's the best I could deciper what he said; the owner has a heavy Russian accent. He definately said "warm, sunny day" and "T-shirts". Wednesday it was pretty darn cold here and I remember feeling bad for the workers, who I seem to remember being pretty bundled up. Maybe what he meant was they were waiting for a warm, sunny day so they could wear just T-shirts? If so, I think it's going to be awhile.

If they had to leave it half-done, couldn't they have started on the front of the house, instead of the back? *Sigh* Looks like I'm destined to always have the "ghetto house."

Okay, enough complaining. Next post will be about bunnies and baby chicks, or something equally cheerful. Promise.

Posted by The Gradual Gardener :: 9:27 AM :: 14 Comments:

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