The end of handyman lane -- not really

The last day? NOT.

Down to one worker, who arrived at her usual lateness. She exuded confidence that all would be finished inside before my normally scheduled cleaning service folks arrived. I pointed out all the little misses and problems. "Not a problem," is her answer to everything.

Things were relatively uneventful, and she had a man show up later in the day to help with the roof part of the project. When I told them we needed to go out for an hour, and asked if they needed access to the house, she indicated they should be just about done, and that she'd need to be paid.

Immediately called my husband and said if he wanted any say on the "acceptability" of the project, he'd better be home in an hour. We did a walk-through and there were still at least a dozen places where paint was missing from where it was supposed to be, or on something it shouldn't have been. "Not a problem," she said again.

It was probably around 4 pm when she said, "Done," and presented us with the bill. My husband asked if she took care of everything, she said, "Yes," and he handed over his credit card. Didn't get up and check. However, there's a one year warranty on their work.

I have an appointment with them next Friday morning for them to finish all the things that weren't a problem for her, but sure as heck don't pass muster with me.

More on the winding handyman lane

Day 4, which shouldn't have happened.

Got the now-expected 'we're running late' call. Again, they promised the work would be done. Worker #2 arrives first. She has another job starting the next day, so today, she'll stay as long as it takes. More or less.

Worker #1 arrives, and they get the toilet out of the master bath, but she leaves soon afterward for what turns out to be a medical appointment, not the supply run for the lumber to fix the chimney surround. Worker #2 reaches a 'let things dry' phase and says she's going out for a soda, then will be back for the duration. She's gone about half an hour. The master bath has 2 coats of paint, but it's now well past noon.

At about 2:00, they go out for burgers and get back 45 minutes later. Worker #1 notices the bolts are rusted on the master bath toilet. We'd been advised to buy new wax rings, but not bolts. Another trip for supplies. I may not be in the business, but to me, it makes more sense to check everything you might need before the job starts. Yes, there will be some surprises, but I think they've made two supply runs each day.

Finally, at 7 pm, they call it a night. The walls are painted, but there's still a lot of touch up—and cleanup—to do. And there's still the chimney.

The colors look good, and they've got the blinds back up in the kitchen and bathroom. I'm sure the neighbors appreciate it. But they haven't managed to get the kitchen wall phone re-installed properly, and they've missed the stud for the bathroom magnifying mirror, so they have to find it to re-hang it. Plus there are the under-counter appliances still sitting on the dining room table. There are gobs of caulk and other bits of debris all over. We won't discuss the dust. Their estimate of how long the job should take was about half of what it did take. While yes, there were some surprises, if they'd both been on the job and had their supplies from the get go, they probably would have been done on time. But, we pay by the job, not by how long it takes, and we'll see what happens tomorrow.

But first, I'm sure my husband will go through and point out to me all the things they need to attend to, then go off to work, leaving me to miraculously comprehend exactly what he expects them to look like at the end of the job. The thing is, if he's interfacing with tradespeople, whatever they say is usually a sufficient explanation. But when I have to play middleman, I'm going to be the one responsible if he's not happy.

Overall, am I satisfied? Yes, because 1) every contractor experience has been along these lines, so I expected nothing different, and 2) I sure as heck wouldn't have wanted to do it myself. However, the final answer comes after the, "We're finished, I'd like my check." The difference between doing it myself and paying someone is that I'm less likely to accept, "close enough" as a quality standard.

More travels along handyman lane

What I'm reading: Hunter Kiss by Marjorie M. Liu

What I'm working on: Fozzie's Book -- I might have to kill my heroine's best friend; she's starting to get far too interesting.

Day 3 (which should have been Last Day but isn't)
We get a call that Worker #1 is running about half an hour late. Minor shock that she called at all. She arrives at 8:40, only 10 minutes later than the predicted half hour. Says her partner is right behind her. She starts to work. Worker #2 shows up at about 9:30, mumbles hello and starts working. No mention of where the heck she was on Friday.

There's an issue with the old drywall adhering to the baseboard under the kitchen window, but they don't want to replace the baseboard, so they struggle to take care of it, conversing in whispers. Eventually, it's done. Worker #2 says she's going to pick up more supplies. Sandpaper blocks? These aren't things that a contractor carries as a matter of course? Guess not.

The house is quiet, and I notice Worker #1 isn't here, either. About an hour later, Worker#2 returns, and disappears within the next hour without a word. The drywall is now up. Still no return of Worker #1. Working hypothesis is that they have another job in progress and are shuffling back and forth, since they have to let the drywall stuff dry. I begin to get irked, because I've arranged my schedule to be home while they're working, and if they'd told me they were going to be gone for as long as they have, I could have run errands. After all, I've got my daughter coming into town tomorrow night, and she'll probably want to eat.

Worker #2 returns with a soda, saying Worker #1 is right behind her. Time and communication seem to have different meanings to contractors and those who work for them. But, for the next hour or so, they are both busy. One's spackling, one's caulking. They swear that all they'll have to do tomorrow is paint, and they'll definitely be done with the inside work. We'll see. Meanwhile, there's a coat of dust over everything, they've been far less diligent about picking up debris, and Worker #1 says, "Is 8 tomorrow morning good?" I say yes, and whoosh – they've vanished. Glad I was in the kitchen to request they put the fridge back where it belongs so I can open it before they did. A quick inspection of the day's work has me wondering how they can come in and start painting first thing. Looks like there's still a lot of wall prep to be done. But they don't get paid until they finish. I think I'll let my husband be the one who decides if the job is acceptable.

A side trip down handyman lane

I've never had much luck with contractors. I suppose you could say they haven't had a lot of luck with me, either, since I don't think any of them are still in business. (Side note—same thing happened when I signed my first contract with a romance magazine—it immediately folded.)

But, the days are long gone when I get any satisfaction out of painting, and replacing rotten wood around a chimney is another task neither I nor my husband want to tackle. Roofs are tricky, and if they leak, that's very bad news. So, he found a company that does all kinds of 'handyman' work, and as always, everything sounded clean cut and straightforward.

Does anything ever work out the way it's supposed to? Our jobs: remove wallpaper from the kitchen and two bathrooms. Replace with paint instead. We're toying with retirement and moving away, and figured we need to start getting everything in good order for resale. We agreed that new owners would most likely have totally different tastes, and rather than go through the hassle and expense of choosing new wallpaper someone else would end up removing anyway, paint seemed the wisest move. The biggest challenge was picking colors, but since we probably won't be looking at the walls for many more years, I didn't feel a lot of pressure to get it perfect.

So, Day 1 arrives, and the two-person crew shows up. They actually called my husband at work to let him know they were stopping for supplies first. Of course, it would have been nice if my husband had let me know they were going to be legitimately late, but at least they called. That was a first.

Since this was my release day for Hidden Fire, I was busy at my computer and they did their thing. The day passed without many glitches. Everything near a wallpapered wall had to be moved, which pretty much took the kitchen out of commission. We knew there had been some water damage in the bathroom, and expected to need some drywall patching. The wall under the kitchen window also showed previous damage, and we approved them replacing that as well. We signed a revised work estimate. They sort of cleaned up (and I left their sodas on the counter right where they left them, so they could find them the next day, thank you very much) and left. My husband moved into the guest bath, because there were wallpaper scraps in his toilet, and they'd removed the shower curtain. He questioned whether they intended to get the wallpaper remnants off the wall behind the toilets. (Translation: "When they show up tomorrow, tell them they have to get the wallpaper off the wall even if it means reseating the toilets.")

Second glitch. I let my husband deal with the contract. All I did was say I thought the bottom line was reasonable. He didn't read the section that said materials weren't included, only labor. Mentally uptick the bottom line.

Dinner is cold leftovers because, although they did shove the stove and fridge back where they belong (let's not talk about what the floors looked like behind those appliances; suffice it to say it wasn't pretty, but I dealt with it), I don't want to move the microwave back onto the counter, and it's too much trouble to shift enough stuff to deal with anything more complicated.

Stay tuned for Day 2.