Hearth, inset, family rm entrance issues...
2005
Saturday, June 18
Building a house is quite the learning precess. My advice to any owner that has atypical designs/add-ons, like we had with our hearth and insets, is no matter how much contractors complain, set up a time to walk through those atypical areas and make sure everyone is on the same page. Some atypical areas had gotten missed, due to no walkthrough and being assumed that they were typical areas.
The hearth, insets, cutout in bathroom and the 1/2 wall in kitchen were missed to be finished with drywall. The family room entrance was on final plans as a PO (plaster opening) and had gotten missed as well. I realize people make mistakes........ although, these mistakes were made due to assumptions and guesses.
When I talked to Joe, our foreman, about them not being done, it was because he assumed they'd be trimmed out by wood, without making sure first. I told him at not point had I said there were to be trimmed out and if there were any questions, they I should've been asked. That was besides the point that I had written on the walls near my custom areas that were to be drywall.
By the advice of several people, who had built before, I was told that I should not be charge for mistakes like that.... and that it's the job of the foreman and subcontractors to know what I want and not to assume. So I asked not to be charged extra for other people's mistakes or assumptions. I then emailed pics/diagram of what I wanted with the hearth to our Joe on May 31st and told him what I had wanted. I told him that if they could fix it... fine, if not don't worry about it and I take care of it.
Well... not only was it not the greatest job in the world, but not even what I had asked for. The corners didn't even have the correct angle and bowed out to the point that you'd need an inch of plaster just to straighten it out. The insets weren't even level and wiring for the light in the hearth inset was plastered over. Oh..... it gets better..... when I questioned what the heck was up with that job...... Joe answered me with "don't complain about it, they did it for free". Yep... that's what he said.
In a 2nd conversation about it, I became even more irritated after Joe admitted that he never told me that he couldn't open my file, but yet told them to go ahead with it anyways. I was so mad and asked why he didn't just tell me that...... I would've sent a copy to Mike or printed one out for him, or something so that we were on the same page. He replied again with "don't complain about it, they did it for free". I just bit my tongue and told him that I would take care of it.
So, on the weekend of June 11th, my Dad and I removed the horribly bowed corners and reconstructed the hearth. Now that it looks the way I wanted it, I can't wait to trim it out with a flip-down door and have a nice nook for storage.
Saturday, June 18
Building a house is quite the learning precess. My advice to any owner that has atypical designs/add-ons, like we had with our hearth and insets, is no matter how much contractors complain, set up a time to walk through those atypical areas and make sure everyone is on the same page. Some atypical areas had gotten missed, due to no walkthrough and being assumed that they were typical areas.
The hearth, insets, cutout in bathroom and the 1/2 wall in kitchen were missed to be finished with drywall. The family room entrance was on final plans as a PO (plaster opening) and had gotten missed as well. I realize people make mistakes........ although, these mistakes were made due to assumptions and guesses.
When I talked to Joe, our foreman, about them not being done, it was because he assumed they'd be trimmed out by wood, without making sure first. I told him at not point had I said there were to be trimmed out and if there were any questions, they I should've been asked. That was besides the point that I had written on the walls near my custom areas that were to be drywall.
By the advice of several people, who had built before, I was told that I should not be charge for mistakes like that.... and that it's the job of the foreman and subcontractors to know what I want and not to assume. So I asked not to be charged extra for other people's mistakes or assumptions. I then emailed pics/diagram of what I wanted with the hearth to our Joe on May 31st and told him what I had wanted. I told him that if they could fix it... fine, if not don't worry about it and I take care of it.
Well... not only was it not the greatest job in the world, but not even what I had asked for. The corners didn't even have the correct angle and bowed out to the point that you'd need an inch of plaster just to straighten it out. The insets weren't even level and wiring for the light in the hearth inset was plastered over. Oh..... it gets better..... when I questioned what the heck was up with that job...... Joe answered me with "don't complain about it, they did it for free". Yep... that's what he said.
In a 2nd conversation about it, I became even more irritated after Joe admitted that he never told me that he couldn't open my file, but yet told them to go ahead with it anyways. I was so mad and asked why he didn't just tell me that...... I would've sent a copy to Mike or printed one out for him, or something so that we were on the same page. He replied again with "don't complain about it, they did it for free". I just bit my tongue and told him that I would take care of it.
So, on the weekend of June 11th, my Dad and I removed the horribly bowed corners and reconstructed the hearth. Now that it looks the way I wanted it, I can't wait to trim it out with a flip-down door and have a nice nook for storage.
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