Luckily, what the neighbors think won’t be your problem.
And you know that once the guy has used it half a dozen times, he’ll never use it again.
@BunsenBurner I beat your husband to the bordello punch! I asked about that days ago! It’s all weird to me and a big waste of time and money, frankly.
@coralbrook when do you hope to be done with this guy?
@thumper1 - lol, I remember your comment. I “liked” it and liked it 
Funny that Mr. had the same reaction! Great minds, as they say. 
If a guy who is a big fan of a mirror tv in his bath says the steam shower is a bad idea - it is a bad idea. :))
The dumber my house is, the smarter I feel. We are still discovering the little artifacts (of top of the line of their times) the original and the second owners installed. Ripping those suckers out! Not touching the great woodwork and rock.
This morning the owner finally realized that he is bleeding money out the door. I had to prepare a detailed estimate of costs to complete. He has now realized he doesn’t have enough money to finish the project! As usual, about $100k has been spent under the covers and we barely have anything to show for it. I now have to come up with ideas on how we are going to stay within ‘budget’. It is impossible to stay within budget if new gizmos arrive every day that need to be wired, plumbed and installed!
Here are some of my ideas:
Abandon floating staircase and just change out the railing on existing staircase
Lower expectations on kitchen appliances
Hold off on buying all kinds of cabinetry to be installed all over the house (under the fireplace, dining room, master bedroom)
Less expensive tile choices (unfortunately the steam shower has used up about $7500 of budget and it’s already done)
Install AC unit at later date (wiring and plumbing is complete)
Forget about the stupid remote control blinds for the crazy huge windows in living area (including the ones way up at the top). He already made us wire across living room ceilng for those
Abandon idea of giant wall texture panels
And lots of other little details
And, I am going to have to back down on project management and go part time to save costs. That will last about a week after I give the whole crew his phone nbr and tell them to start calling him every 10 minutes with priorities and design decisions. And, he will have to start managing the sub contractors while juggling CEO conference calls!!
I feel bad because it is always the same issue. Too much money went into the walls and nothing left for the finishes and fixtures that everyone can see
CB - if he starts making noises, feel free to send him my way so I can drill into his head how important that stuff in the walls really is! The previous owner of our place did a lot of cosmetic stuff… we had to rip out a lot of drywall and woodwork to replace what her contractor took out to please her.
@coralbrook YOU are going to cut back to save this over spending guy money? If anyone deserves to be compensated fully…it’s YOU.
Your “reduce the costs” List is a good start. I would also include much less costly light fixtures everywhere. All floors should be less costly.
Can you ditch the LED bordelo lights or are those part of the excessively overpriced steam shower?
Gosh, he realizes he’s bleeding money? I never saw this coming.
I’m sorry, but what an idiot he is. It’s just rotten that he has insisted on all these expensive non-essentials and now you need to scramble to fix his budget.
It’s rotten that @coralbrook is going to take the financial hit because this guy overspent.
With some fairness, we are over about $20k from issues found in the walls, on the roof, in the ceilings and in the garage. But it all started first day down in the garage when he decided he wanted more outlets and a lot of LED lights added. That was $2,000 added on Day 1 because electricians aren’t cheap. Swiss cheese all over the walls and ceiling to pull wires and switches. Then you have to patch, mud, sand and texture that all back up.
I can’t believe he wants lights in all the kitchen drawers. I bet he never cooks!
Unless he’s going to be cooking in the dark, drawer lights are a dumb idea IMO.
I’d start by telling him the drawer lights are an expensive and impractical idea!
Why would you need drawer lights? I mean that as a serious question.
I’m sure we all have a dark corner of the kitchen where the light isn’t that good and it can be a little hard to see what is in the drawer. So having a light come on in the drawer is a cute idea that sounds pretty neat, it would help see what’s in the drawer.
In practice (IMO) the kitchen lighting should never be so bad you absolutely need another light in the drawer. If it is, fix your kitchen lighting! And for most drawers it would be superfluous, because the kitchen lights will provide plenty of light.
And, once you fill the drawer with stuff, the light will just cast shadows on everything and make it harder to see what is in there.
So the answer to you question is, IMHO, “you don’t”.
@coralbrook give this guy a small flashlight as a housewarming gift. He can shine it into his drawers which are not going to have lights IN them.
??
He saw the drawer lights at IKEA and wanted them. We had to wire bottom of kitchen for a transformer outlet on every wall. I think there’s at least $750 in transformers and lights sitting in a box somewhere, $320 in electrician costs already spent and I bet at least $250 in install costs to drill holes through back of cabinets and get all these mounted up!!
That could all be spent on nice tile which is an important expense in my opinion
OK, I give up. The owner is going crazy about the expenses. I don’t blame him. The 1800 sq ft townhome is turning into a money pit. Just last week we realized that the single pane front windows that are blasted with wind and rain are not sealed at all. Water is coming through the trim. This is going to be very dangerous and time consuming to get out on the balcony and seal them all with silicone. In my book that is a “Must Have”.
So, for 4 weeks I have been sending him reminders that we need the appliances on site before kitchen installation to check outlets, gas hookups, etc before we start mounting all the cabinets. I have sent him the exact list of what we need and what size. I recommended several places to go look at appliances and look for good deals. Instead he is on the Internet fantasizing about crazy fancy stuff and barraging me with questions via text like “Can we fit a 36 inch cooktop in the 30”cabinet?” “Can I get a 48” wide refrigerator?” “I found the perfect refrigerator, but it will stick out 36”, will that look bad?” And, did I mention that he comes alive after work and starts calling between 7pm and 9:30pm?.
But the worst part is the appliances he is looking at are ridiculously expensive. Way over the original budget. I don’t think he even cooks. He eats out, makes pasta or brings in take out for the kids.
Sorry for the rant
But the good news is the paint goo on the balcony is finally fixed and the railing is going to get out of the living room tomorrow!! It’s been in the living room for 3 months!!
So far the spend on the project is $110,000 and that doesn’t even include the floating staircase or steam shower stuff because I have no idea what he paid for all of that, he ordered on the Internet and things just arrive. My estimate to complete is about $40,000 more but that could go way up as he is out shopping for appliances and tile and we still have flooring to select!!