Day 40

Our contractor, David, came over in the morning to go over many details for the garage. We discussed the retaining wall mistake, the Cat 5 cable mistake, doors and windows, siding, stucco, the placement of the washer and dryer, the water heater, the dumpster, and the ductless heating and air conditioning unit. We covered a lot in about 40 minutes. I also let him know we need to see estimates for the cost of various things before we just give him the go-ahead. I think that’s our biggest problem with him is that he gives us a bid and then wants us to OK it within the next five minutes. We'd like to do a little research to make sure the bid is reasonable and that the bid contains exactly what we want.

For example, we got the garage door bid. It was a lot more than we expected, but after doing some research I found that it was a reasonable price as we’re getting semi-custom garage doors. The thing I really didn’t like about the bid was that there was no drawing of what we requested so I’m not sure David communicated what we wanted to the garage door guy correctly. However, he wanted approval for it ASAP—more like he wanted approval an hour ago. In reality I was under the impression he already went ahead and ordered the doors. I guess we’ll find out in a week or so if what is being made is what we really want. Yikes!

We hope everything we discussed sticks with David. I think Lazaro was the one who really absorbed the conversation more than anyone. The whole thing made me nervous because no one was taking notes. For example, David had old drawings of one side of the garage where we initially wanted a window, but in the newer drawings the window is gone. Lazaro had already framed the area for the window and we said that was wrong. I think Lazaro will remember that, but I wanted David to cross out the window on the drawing. I even asked if he wanted a pencil to take notes. He said Lazaro would remember everything. The thing is, I think Lazaro will remember everything, but I’m not sure David will.

One thing we discussed with David that irritates me more and more as I think about it is the dumpster. As I’ve stated before it’s been full for two weeks. I found out in our meeting with David that we pay for the dumpster by the day. So basically we’ve been paying for a full dumpster to sit in our alley for two weeks! To top it off I’ve been asking for it to be taken away for at least a week. Perhaps I’ll fish for a dumpster discount. The good news is once the dumpster is gone, it’s gone for good. Instead of getting another dumpster we’re going to have the scraps put on the new driveway and someone will come haul them away. David doesn’t foresee the need for a small dumpster, so I’m happy our neighbor will be able to park his truck in his garage again.

I’ll leave you with progress photos from Day 1 until now and a photo of one of the almost-framed sides of the garage: