Summer Is Definitely Here

The above image was taken a few blocks up the hill from me, looking more or less west. It was lovely then, and it is lovely now. In another couple of days it will be hot, but for now it’s pretty nice.

And why is a report on the local weather the focus of this post?

Sigh.

It’s because the contractors are not yet here to work on the windows. They said they would be here on Monday. They even confirmed that a few days before, when they told me they’d have to buy materials and to expect them around 10am.

But at 9:54am on Monday morning I got a text saying they would not make it, apologizing profusely, and telling me that they would call to reschedule. They didn’t call on Monday, and by late Tuesday morning I’d had enough of waiting and called to get the scoop.

Turns out:

• It’s summer, and people are on vacation.
• A helper just quit (not someone trained… just a helper).
• They had a plumbing leak at a previous job on Monday morning that had to be dealt with on an emergency basis.
• Another job has gone on longer than expected.

The upshot is that we’ve been pushed back two to three weeks. I am supposed to talk to them again today to see if we are on track. I tried calling once and was sent straight to voice mail, so I suspect he was on another call at the time.

Honestly, I am not surprised. This is par for the course with any contractor in my experience. Partly it’s human nature. We all tend to underestimate jobs and/or over estimate how fast we will get things done. Scheduling is never easy or simple, in any line of work.

The other issue is that renovations are particularly subject to jobs going wrong. Take our case: we’re going to replace every window in the house as well as two doors. Wanna bet we encounter dry rot somewhere along the way and have more extensive repairs to make than we can even currently anticipate? I’m banking on it. And of course that goes for every renovation job, so it’s always the case that jobs take longer than it is possible to estimate up front. Add in the fact that a lot of clients discover other work they want to get done once things get going and schedules are basically never met.

Life goes on. My contact really was very sorry and really wants to get this job going. I believe him, and I have no reason to doubt anything he’s told me. It’s just an ongoing frustration that so many of the existing windows cannot be opened. Even worse, many that do open can’t be opened effectively.

At some point though, this will all be just a memory. Fingers crossed.

I wish I could tell you where the week actually went given the change of plan. Sadly, it kind of vanished.

I did take a long walk in the local woods one day, where I once again encountered this sign:

Since I survived to write this you can be sure I didn’t step on anything explosive, but those signs always give me pause.

Beyond that, it was an uneventful time. I expect next week to be similar, but who knows. Maybe the contractor will surprise me. That would be good.

I hope you are all enjoying your summer, and that next week I have something more interesting to share. Probably not, but you never know. Cheers!