West Wing Contractor Explanation

***Text in this color authored by Shena***

Work & Play
As I was afraid would happen (since this has been a problem the rest of the time), the inspector failed our storage shed. He said the "piers" needed leveling. He told Shena we should call Dutch Barns and have them come out and fix it. Said they shouldn't charge us for it (how would he know?), and then to call back and re-order the inspection. I called Dutch Barns and talked to the salesman. He said "What?" Why did they do a building inspection? It's only a 10x12 unit...it should only need a zoning permit. I told him I had no idea what was going on, would he please call the inspector directly and figure out what needs to be done? He said he would...and that is where we stand right now. Like I said yesterday, luckily, I have no intention of going out to the shed for the next couple of days because the rain is supposed to continue until at least Sunday...and then I will probably wait two or three days before I venture out there. They have plenty of time to get the issue resolved. We'll see.

After work, we were supposed to go to a ward activity at Bur-Mil to have hot dogs and ice cream, then swimming immediately after (whatever happened to "don't go in the water until an hour after you eat...or the sharks will get you...or something like that). It has been raining for the last two days...and rained most of the day today. The used their better judgement and decided to eat at the church. I can only imagine how muddy and messy the little kids would have gotten had they been released at Bur-Mil. Sounds like they re-sheduled the pool for sometime in August. We'll look forward to it.

I promised an explanation on the West Wind addition and the contractor problems we ran into, that turned out ok....so here goes:

After we signed our contract, our general contractor didn't get a whole lot done because of bad weather. He did get part of the lot cleared, holes dug and had dropped off the materials to build the addition (but I found out later they weren't paid for). Up to this point we had still only paid the 25% down (which is still a lot) when we signed the contract. The contractor gave us a 2nd invoice about mid-March, and we wrote the check to pay it, but never gave it to him because we didn't see him. A couple of days later, he called and said he was on the way to my office to talk to me. He showed up with his whole crew (3 guys), and I started getting nervous. I had no idea what he was about to tell me, but I didn't think it was going to be good. I was thinking he wanted more money to finish or something. Turns out, he was going bankrupt and wouldn't be finishing the job. First thing I thought was "oh crap, I'm out $4,500." Long story short, he had purchased a house to fix up and re-sell, had an electrical fire one night and lost all of it...the insurance was refusing to pay and the bank wanted the loan money paid in full. I felt bad for him...but I had to look out for me and my family, so I didn't spend too much time worrying about him. He said that he wanted to make sure that our addition was done, so his 3 guys were going to form their own company and finish the job for us, at the original price we agreed to. Again, to make a long story short, it was good for Shena and I (but we weren't sure then), but very bad for these 3 guys. They had to finish the job without having the 25% down that we originally paid because the first contractor had used that money to pay off other debts. As I mentioned earlier, he hadn't paid for any of the supplies, either. Shena and I did some heavy praying and felt like we should trust these guys (from now on referred to as DFT). We felt like we HAD to take a chance becuase we wouldnt have been able to get another contractor to come in and finish the job without us having to pay the full amount all over again. The first check I gave DFT, I looked them in the eye and said, "I'm nervous. I don't know if you guys can pull this off or not...I don't know if you can make it work cash flow wise. Don't screw my wife and my little boys over." They gave me their word, showed me their driver's licenses and copies of their worker's comp and accident insurance, and I gave them my check. I was very relieved to see them show up the following Monday to start working on the house. From there on out (March 15th on) they were the ones working on the house and you have most of the story about how things progressed. Slower...MUCH slower than I expected, but I didn't get too upset because I knew these guys were taking a bath on our job. They were working to maintain their reputation more than for money. I know they lost a good deal on our house. They told me towards the end that the original contractor had greatly UNDER-estimated the costs of the job. But they stuck to their word, the only extra I paid was for changes that I approved, with the exception of a $150 "load test" we had to have done to pass our HVAC inspection that was a new requirement and that they didn't know about. I can't blame them for that. I did get upset towards the end because it was obvious to me that they weren't getting along as "partners" in their new business. Too many chiefs, not enough indians. They all wanted to get paid $25/hr and they couldn't compete with other contractors when they were bidding for new jobs (they are all doing their own thing, now). That meant that they weren't as interested in sticking through to finish our addition. Right now I still have two garbabe cans full of trash sitting next to my house that they have promised to pick up. I don't think they will, because they got their last check out of me, and they have no more reason to come out. We have to thank Heavenly Father that it all worked out the way it did. It gave us a stronger testimoney of tithing. This whole situation could have turned REAL ugly, REAL fast. We could have been stuck with three holes in the ground, a torn up backyard and a pile of rotting material because we wouldn't have had the money to get a new contractor to come in and finish the job. It could have been even worse if these guys had come by, promised to finish, taken the first check from me for $3,000 and bolted. As far as I'm concerned, the fact that they took 4 weks longer than we wanted and they didn't re-bury a television cable like they said they would and I have two garbage cans of trash to haul to the dump is no big deal to me. At least we have the addition. Now we just have to get some grass in here so that the boys can play in the yard!

Llano Update (Cheeto's Brood)
The boys were pretty good at the party. They ran around for a bit, but once it started getting busy in the gym, we made them stop...and they did for the most part. Kelson was kind of a butt, but not too bad. He acted tired, but he wouldn't go to bed until late.

Arellano Update
Mom came to the party too. When I called her about 5:30 just to make sure she was coming, she said that she was walking around Kohl's. She must be so bored around her house that it is more interesting for her to go shopping. That is not like her at all.

Christensen Update
None to report that I now of.

Daily Report
LAST NIGHT:
Sleep: 10:45 - 6:15 - actually opened my eyes about 6:00, but couldn't get back to sleep

TODAY: ^
Breakfast: 1 bowl of Honeycomb - been a while since I had honeycomb, not as good as I remembered it.

Lunch: Leftover KFC from last night...see, I told you'd I'd have to eat it eventually. Also had leftover mashed potatoes and gravy, leftover green beans, but the left over buttermilk biscuits were especially good...because I slathered them with strawberry jam and ate them with milk.

Dinner: 2 Hot Dogs -one with ketchup only (prepared for Kelson, but he never ate it) and one with cold chili and cheese (I was one of the last to eat, so all the food was cold), some plain potato chips, a little McDonald's Orange drink spiked with Sprite...yuck. Also had some home made ice cream made by mom (raspberry).