Meanwhile, drywall crew did not show up today. Yesterday only one guy showed up and then he told me he needed 20 more pieces of drywall and some stuff. He kept trying to use all kinds of excuses why he wasn’t going to be able to finish in the time promised.
So, I wasnt going to let him use me as an excuse. Ordered up all the drywall and rushed to load it this morning. It was pouring rain and I got up into bed of truck and muscled a big tarp over it. Job is so glamorous.
Noon comes, noone showing up, not answering calls. My guys had to unload it all, which isn’t their job. I cannot imagine rain was an excuse because we are working inside.
About 2pm I get a text ‘dont worry, we will be there at 7am tomorrow’. So much fun managing flakes that over promise!
Got a call from the slimy real estate agent that sold the hoarder house. I have no idea why he calls me. Wantsto tell me all about how he is biggest agent in Dan Diego. Had lots of opportunities for investors. When i ask what he might have available he isnt really clear about anything.
He kept fishing on whether i have a property coming up for sale. I dont have the guts to tell him he’s not going to be my agent of choice - Ever. You never know if hes going to have a nugget in the future.
We just figured out the issue with water in our walls on south side of the house. This house was in a prior escrow before i bought it. There was a termite report and the termite company did ‘repairs for clearance’ to the tune of $9,000!
I thought i was lucky to get the clearance to transfer to my buyer. We have discoveted that the work was really shoddy. I noted that company did not even bother to prime all the T 1 11 (I hate this stuff but i have to live with it) during my inspection.
Now we are finding out they just slapped it up with screws and never caulked/sealed the joins between vertical pieces or topd and bottoms. We’ve got a lot of repairs and sealing to do on scary ladders!!
A tip to everyone. Do not ever let a termite company do wood repairs. They don’t have anyone on staff so they just sub it out to cheapest guy. They dont care about the cosmetics or structural or sealing properly. Not their job!
Always get your own handyman or good contractor to do the job and then termite company comes back to review for clearance.
My experience with people in the building trades is that many of them do shoddy work and overcharge and promise to come and don’t show up and so forth, all the while complaining about clients who supposedly don’t pay them on time, etc, etc. But if you make the mistake of, say, paying for materials in advance so they can buy them, they like as not run off with your money.
A good carpenter/handyman/plumber/whatever is above rubies.
cb, I’m sorry you’re having trouble with pre-existing shoddy work and flaky workers. Thank goodness for your skilled and reliable regulars!
I’ve been thinking about your paint colors and have two cents to throw out there, but please disregard if you have made final decisions or purchased the paint.
I am concerned that dark grey siding with light grey trim may look dreary. Today while driving around I looked for dark grey houses. Almost all use white or creamy white trim. With its good contrast, the combination looks sharp and seems to work on houses of all styles.
Other successful combinations I saw:
Dark grey siding, leafy/apple green trim.
Dark grey siding, creamy white trim, leafy/apple green accent, cedar wood.
Dark grey siding with almost black trim. Very dark, but it was attractive. The house was set back from the road so I couldn’t see what they used for the door color.
Of course the particular color choice makes a huge difference. I would trust the salespeople at a Benjamin Moore store to have solid recommendations about specific colors. I can really see the combination of dark grey siding, creamy white trim (a white with some richness as opposed to stark white), leafy/apple accent (door?) and your cedar fence working beautifully together.
I like the suggestion of green as an accent color. If there is any way to re-characterize the house’s look closer to the type of S. California house that has a light and sunny feel, that’s the way you want to go.
I went back and looked at pictures of the house’s front facade again. Would you consider a bold stroke like painting the entire window and front door area that is now white the new green (or whatever sunny color)? And then use white as a highlighting contrast on the trim for the front door and windows.
FWIW, here’s one example of the use of yellow-green as a highlighting color against a gray house in S. California. It’s quite appealing:
Love the Eichler with the striking lime green trim. However, that is probably not going to appeal to 100% of the buying population - probably young buyers.
I definitely am going to add a lot of white/cream trim to the front of the house. The top large fascia board will be a white trim color and I’m thinking of putting an accent color in the wood siding alcove area - I can try some different colors there. Front door will have a ‘pop’ color, possibly the lime green. I had already selected a swatch before we even saw the pics.
I read through the termite company warranty. It only warranties against termites for 1 year - pretty pathetic. My termite company that I like warranties for 2 or 3 years. Nothing mentioned about the wood work.
The T 1 11 installed by cheezy company was not primed. Their paint job was so bad I can see bare wood in all of the grooves.
Two drywall guys showed up today so we may actually get all drywall hung today. They are flying. Had to run off and get 20 more sheets again. Boy, my estimating skills on nbr of drywall sheets sucks
Putting in a pocket door for revised master walk in closet today. It was the only way to make the closet functional.
We will probably have drywall inspection tomorrow and then we are done with inspections until final.
Haaa, curb appeal always ends up being the step child, doesn’t get done until the last minute. You’d think i would get it done earlier so we could put out a coming soon sign.
But i have finally found a concrete guy and he’s going to do the patio and front walkway next week.
Wow, cb, from a marathoner’s perspective, you are past mile 21, which is the hardest! The completion is not that far despite the setbacks! Looks like RE market is still doing well! Fingers crossed.
