Not sure to be aggrivated or impressed

[LostinTexas]

Just had the second refrigerator delivered since Sunday. They were 6:30 on Sunday getting her. The unit didn't cool, so off to Lowes to get a replacement on Monday that they didn't have. After a lot of price negotiation and phone calls, ended up with a nice discount on another unit.  Still $250 more, but a higher end unit.

Pickup for the faulty unit was arranged and delivery. Supposed to have been here by noon today for the trouble.

Well, at 9:45 PM, I hear air brakes blow. I thought to myself, you've got to be kidding. Nope Lowes truck in the driveway. Seriously?

OK, at least they are persistent. Still not certain how to think of it. Glad to not have to wait for them another day, and glad we had nothing going on early. I hope this fridge works. We'll see.

I guess I might mention that I didn't want a new one, and we didn't "Need" a new one. The water system on the old one was slow and a bit of a pain, just didn't work like some folks here thought it should. She has been on the kick for several months, just never dreamed she would decide right now with all the other expenses going .

 

[Fog]

It will be easier on you to be impressed.

Being a delivery driver for a box store is hell. The directions they get are horrible, people expect a big truck to fit on a tiny driveway, that's steep with tight turns, and then get made at the driver. "I could get your truck up here!"  

That's just the beginning of the trouble.

[LostinTexas]

The driveway is easy. The road is easy. The duo was here Sunday.

Did you read the time they showed up?

That is the part I was talking about.

[Mrs.Cicero]

I had an Amazon delivery show up at 9:30 PM a couple months back, that pulled into the driveway and then DROVE ACROSS THE YARD (it's about 50 yards walk from the barn where the driveway stops to the front door of the house, but WTH?  Always before they just dropped the packages by the barn door, got back into their trucks and left, which is fine with me)  By the time the delivery person was out of the truck, I had turned the dogs out into the side yard (so the mastiff was barking LOUDLY) and both of us were at the front door with pistols in our hands.  She tossed the delivery on the porch and took off.  I'm still annoyed about her driving across the yard.  Who DOES that?

[gwalchmai]

7 hours ago, Fog said:

It will be easier on you to be impressed.

Being a delivery driver for a box store is hell. The directions they get are horrible, people expect a big truck to fit on a tiny driveway, that's steep with tight turns, and then get made at the driver. "I could get your truck up here!"  

That's just the beginning of the trouble.

I sympathize, mostly. But not about directions. Given that every swingin' pecker in Murca has a smartphone and every house has an address anyone who drives for a living has no excuse for not finding a destination. Then again, "driving for a living" leaves out all the screenwriters who are doing a temporary gig...

[railfancwb]

9 minutes ago, gwalchmai said:

I sympathize, mostly. But not about directions. Given that every swingin' pecker in Murca has a smartphone and every house has an address anyone who drives for a living has no excuse for not finding a destination. Then again, "driving for a living" leaves out all the screenwriters who are doing a temporary gig...

Had a driver take out my brick mailbox, which had the house number conspicuously on it. Shortly thereafter got a text from FedEx “We couldn’t find your house. Your package is at our pickup location (about 30 miles away).” Got there and the clerk said “Oh that’s been returned to sender as non-deliverable.” Pointed out that the text was that day or the day before. Clerk looked in the back and brought out the package. 

Have a seemingly permanent temporary mail box so put the number on fence corner post by the driveway facing the road.

Oh… shortly after it was up that temporary mail box was taken out by another driver. 

[DAKA]

Reinforced with rebar, poured concrete mailbox with a 3 foot deep footing...TAKE THAT OUT YOU ASSWIPE

[railfancwb]

3 minutes ago, DAKA said:

Reinforced with rebar, poured concrete mailbox with a 3 foot deep footing...TAKE THAT OUT YOU ASSWIPE

Big concrete footer with channel iron sticking up one foot, to which the traditional 4x4 wood post is bolted…

[railfancwb]

On 4/7/2022 at 6:56 AM, gwalchmai said:

I sympathize, mostly. But not about directions. Given that every swingin' pecker in Murca has a smartphone and every house has an address anyone who drives for a living has no excuse for not finding a destination. Then again, "driving for a living" leaves out all the screenwriters who are doing a temporary gig...

Duplicate response. Sorry. 

[LostinTexas]

Met the counteracter and picked up materials today. When asked about his absence and not answering calls, he said he was told that materials would arrive on the 13th and planned accordingly. Fair enough, but no excuse to not return calls.

Had a smirk that irritated me. He was informed that if he weren't so highly recommended by people I trust, I'd have cut him loose a long time ago. Smirk disappeared. OK, now we are on the same page. I think he's a good enough guy, just not much of a business man and personalities probably clash a bit. Should get started Wednesday. I'm ready to be done with this mess.

Note to self. If I get out of bed and step into another puddle, I'm leaving.

[LostinTexas]

Worst of all case scenarios, told the contractor to figure his time.

I've just bout had it with them around here. Still 2-3 weeks until completion and they NOW tell me that they won't install the shower door, because it's too hard. Um, you told us to buy that one.

Lots of other things along with price changes and "Forgetting" about things. Time to go, so back to almost square one. Good part was the guys working for him were decent, and the shower is tiled. A friend will help me with the tidy up, I hope.  One guy was pretty good at what he does, the other was set on a path where he struggled constantly and had no guidance. Not his fault, but enough.

Now to call the plumber and ask him to finish the top off, find someone to install the shower door, and I guess I get to finish out the closet and fix all the screw ups. I have no desire, strength, ore intention of it, but at least I'm pretty good at things like that, it will just take a while.

GRRRRRRRRR.

[janice6]

On 4/7/2022 at 7:47 AM, DAKA said:

Reinforced with rebar, poured concrete mailbox with a 3 foot deep footing...TAKE THAT OUT YOU ASSWIPE

50 years ago the kids used to have a game of driving to mail boxes and hitting them to knock them down.  

Neighbor and I put a stainless well screen 8 inches in diameter 8 feet long into the ground with around 400 lbs of concrete at the bottom.  We had a wide 5/16 inch thick sheet stainless MiG welded to the well screen.  He worked for Johnson Well Screen.

Nobody did anything that every touched it.

The city had the roadway improved and we watched the contractor walk to the mail boxes and wiggle them then pull them out.  Ours wouldn't wiggle.  They looked at it for a while and left it alone.  It's still there, unmarred.

[railfancwb]

3 minutes ago, janice6 said:

50 years ago the kids used to have a game of driving to mail boxes and hitting them to knock them down.  

Neighbor and I put a stainless well screen 8 inches in diameter 8 feet long into the ground with around 400 lbs of concrete at the bottom.  We had a wide 5/16 inch thick sheet stainless MiG welded to the well screen.  He worked for Johnson Well Screen.

Nobody did anything that every touched it.

The city had the roadway improved and we watched the contractor walk to the mail boxes and wiggle them then pull them out.  Ours wouldn't wiggle.  They looked at it for a while and left it alone.  It's still there, unmarred.

Heard of people putting thick wall channel, inside about 3-1/2”, into a worthwhile lump of reinforced concrete. The channel stuck up about a foot or so and was drilled so the 4x4 holding the box could be bolted in place. Oil slick tended to kill the grass in line with the post. 

[janice6]

17 minutes ago, railfancwb said:

Heard of people putting thick wall channel, inside about 3-1/2”, into a worthwhile lump of reinforced concrete. The channel stuck up about a foot or so and was drilled so the 4x4 holding the box could be bolted in place. Oil slick tended to kill the grass in line with the post. 

'You' must learn to respect someone else's property.

 

[railfancwb]

Latest in mailbox protection along these rural roads is to drive a T-post strategically in the path a drive-by baseball bat would take. Thoughtful box owners paint their T-posts with [almost] glow in the dark orange. Others use any old dull rusty colored T-post salvaged from a fence rebuild project. 

[LostinTexas]

On 5/3/2022 at 4:26 PM, LostinTexas said:

Worst of all case scenarios, told the contractor to figure his time.

I've just bout had it with them around here. Still 2-3 weeks until completion and they NOW tell me that they won't install the shower door, because it's too hard. Um, you told us to buy that one.

Lots of other things along with price changes and "Forgetting" about things. Time to go, so back to almost square one. Good part was the guys working for him were decent, and the shower is tiled. A friend will help me with the tidy up, I hope.  One guy was pretty good at what he does, the other was set on a path where he struggled constantly and had no guidance. Not his fault, but enough.

Now to call the plumber and ask him to finish the top off, find someone to install the shower door, and I guess I get to finish out the closet and fix all the screw ups. I have no desire, strength, ore intention of it, but at least I'm pretty good at things like that, it will just take a while.

GRRRRRRRRR.

Well, this is fighting us tooth and nail. Folding door was out of square so bad, it wouldn't work. Cased door went in today and fought us all the way. It is as true as I can make it but will need to sand off some room for paint. It ain't going no where. Bud and I took the entire frame out out to try and fix it yesterday. We got a lot closer, but it still fell to a 28 inch cased door instead of the original 30 inch folder. That was the best we could do and it was still a struggle. It looks like crap since it was so far out, but that is what trim is for. LOL The door is square and functions freely, so there is a positive. 

A little more sanding on the door, paint, hardware and wait on the plumber and shower door guy. What a fiasco. LostWife is ready to get her house back, and getting grumbly. None aimed at me, but I'm the only one here. It will look purdy when finished, but we shouldn't have had to finish it. 

Live and learn. LostWife did ask me what I picked up on that I wasn't too eager with the contractor, since he was so highly recommended by a trusted friend, and I don't know, but was hesitant from the day we met him. Sadly, he was the most impressive of the half dozen that bothered to show up for a bid.  I guess it'll be nice when finally finished.

 

[Huaco Kid]

On 5/3/2022 at 5:26 PM, LostinTexas said:

I've just bout had it with them around here. Still 2-3 weeks until completion and they NOW tell me that they won't install the shower door, because it's too hard. Um, you told us to buy that one.

A customer once told us (at the same job I have now), "I give you guys an A Triple-plus."

"Really?"

"Yep.  You showed up on time.  You knew what you were doing.  You had all the tools and parts you needed.  And you finished before the end of the day.  No one can do that any more."

[LostinTexas]

1 hour ago, Huaco Kid said:

A customer once told us (at the same job I have now), "I give you guys an A Triple-plus."

"Really?"

"Yep.  You showed up on time.  You knew what you were doing.  You had all the tools and parts you needed.  And you finished before the end of the day.  No one can do that any more."

Yea, it was bad enough, but finding all the screwups makes things worse. That closet door was a shade over an inch off bubble in an 80 inch hole. Top was 30 1/4, bottom was just short of 29. We took out the frame in and got it to 30 1/4 at the top but the floor level was still 29 3/4, no matter what. figured a 28 inch cased door would be safe, figured wrong. Like i said, it looks shoddy but the casing is square and the door is functional. It is tight, so need to sand off a bit to get things operational after paint. Gotta see if my trim nailer still works. It hasn't been used in over a decade.

Need to trim it out, and will leave the inside for a later time. Sanded over a 1/4 inch of mud off the walls and finished it right, textured, floated in the cuts the plumber had to make for the retrofit, and repaired a few holes the remodel crew made in the sheetrock. Had to play some inventive invention since a few pieces of trim were broken, cut, lost and no telling what. Trim that I can't match any more. Found a GFI plug that was supposed to be replaced after the other guys shorted it. Well, they put a new plug in, and it threw the breaker. Found that out after plugging in a tool to charge. They wired both polls to the same side of the plug. It won't reset, and not sure I want it to. It did it's job. I was curious why the breaker was tripped and not turned off, I guess I know. I'll get to that later, it is low on the list. Just glad they didn't burn the house, and probably a good thing they were putzing with a GFI.

I hope they didn't screw up the plumbing with a capitol F, like they did most everything else, but know a great plumber, not good, but great. He'll get it right. My neighbor is an electrician, and if I run into problems he is a great kid.

The fun we have. Living on Ibuprofen isn't all that and a sack of taters. I can only get a couple hours in at a time and I'm in pain and done for the day, but at least I can hit it a couple hours at a time and do it to not have to do it again. I'm slow as hell these days, but can still do presentable work.

[LostinTexas]

Well, I have whined about it enough. A coat of paint, and done. Should be done now, but the paint was not available we used back when, so we had to go with what we could. Color is perfect but it looks like semi gloss on the eggshell. Lowes was very accommodating (surprise), and it seems the paint was mislabeled. None of our fault, so we have to try it again. As long as that works out, and I'll section it off needed or not to get this done. 

Plumber as out this morning, he found some issues when asked to pass an eye over it and go them taken care of. Shower door went in yesterday. 

New AC outdoor unit and lot of fixing from the install of the inside unit last year. I hope our electrical usage goes back to where it was.. The guys found things quickly when I told them my complaints. A lot of head shaking. Seemed like a good bunch. Comfort level in the house is phenomenally improved.

I'll get to the GFI's on my time. Not a priority, or even a right now, but then they aren't in stock anyway.

One more day. 

[DAKA]

WOW problems...

I guess we were VERY lucky, with out kitchen island counter remodel

When we bought this house, it was as close to what we wanted, but just a few things bothered me...

Carpeting in the bedroom was kinda icky...so the first project was a new wood floor (we have 2 little babies (dogs) and I guess that little dogs sometimes have a pee problem,,,so no rugs) 

                       Our real estate agent had a "guy" (Ok a bit more than I thought but recommended, good job DONE, moldings removed painted and reinstalled) 

Second was to replace the 80 gallon hot water heater in the garage that took up the space I needed for my work bench....(Got estimate good job DONE)

Third, epoxy finish on the garage floor BEFORE moving anything in.   (Got estimate....good job DONE)

Next is to replace the 2 level Kitchen center island, make it counter height and bigger with more storage underneath...got estimates ranging $13,000 to $6500, didn't get a good "feeling"from the low end guy,

and told me that the cabinets were 16 WEEKS OUT ! 

I called and visited more "contractors" and lucked out with a local granite company who gave me a firm price $7600 and would do the job, Demo to Finish 10 days, and the cabinets were available in 2 weeks

Crossed my fingers, gave half in advance....JOB DONE BETTER THAN I EXPECTED, JUST ABOUT ON TIME...    

[jfost11]

Geez, that all sounds like no fun at all. Some people we know around the corner here had some major work done to their house last year. The low quote to fix what that contractor messed up is over $50k IIRC. I know the high quote was just shy of $100k. We spent about $15k on two separate basement projects last year. I feel very fortunate that they were done well and in a timely manner.

[LostinTexas]

On 5/25/2022 at 6:39 AM, DAKA said:

WOW problems...

I guess we were VERY lucky, with out kitchen island counter remodel

When we bought this house, it was as close to what we wanted, but just a few things bothered me...

Carpeting in the bedroom was kinda icky...so the first project was a new wood floor (we have 2 little babies (dogs) and I guess that little dogs sometimes have a pee problem,,,so no rugs) 

                       Our real estate agent had a "guy" (Ok a bit more than I thought but recommended, good job DONE, moldings removed painted and reinstalled) 

Second was to replace the 80 gallon hot water heater in the garage that took up the space I needed for my work bench....(Got estimate good job DONE)

Third, epoxy finish on the garage floor BEFORE moving anything in.   (Got estimate....good job DONE)

Next is to replace the 2 level Kitchen center island, make it counter height and bigger with more storage underneath...got estimates ranging $13,000 to $6500, didn't get a good "feeling"from the low end guy,

and told me that the cabinets were 16 WEEKS OUT ! 

I called and visited more "contractors" and lucked out with a local granite company who gave me a firm price $7600 and would do the job, Demo to Finish 10 days, and the cabinets were available in 2 weeks

Crossed my fingers, gave half in advance....JOB DONE BETTER THAN I EXPECTED, JUST ABOUT ON TIME...    

Always nice when a plan comes together. Congrats. Finding material is much easier than a few months ago, but prices aren't much improved.

[railfancwb]

13 minutes ago, LostinTexas said:

Always nice when a plan comes together. Congrats. Finding material is much easier than a few months ago, but prices aren't much improved.

So-called smaller jobs are competing with the rapid fire house building - spec and to order - while folks are trying for low fixed rate 30 year mortgages if any are still available. Since first of the year such rates have gone from 3% range to 6% range. Jump in rates knocks 1/3 off a financed mortgage - person who could make payments on $300,000 at 3% is looking at only $200,000 at 6%. 

[LostinTexas]

I swear Sherwin Williams makes Valspar paint. That stuff doesn't cover worth a s#!t. The finish is still not right, but nothing else to do with it. It is live with it or repaint the entire bath. I may just do that. I painted over what I intended to 3 times already to get it looking right, and it still has issues. 

I missed a couple of spots for texture, thought I got them, but not used to thinking. It will take a few minutes of work over a couple of days to allow dry time, then I can finish that up. I will probably finish out the ceiling when I do it. Would have today, but had roofers doing some work and they put in an exhaust vent. They will put another one in to replace it next week. Droned through the whole house. It was their idea, so they can fix it. We'll see how the other latest and greatest ideas work out.

Had my fill with contractors, but need to give them the opportunity to make it right, and these at least seem interested in doing that.

The good part? We have our master bath back and can use it now. Happy Day.

[DAKA]

Most people just complain. When they get good service they don't think to compliment

When I get good service no matter where I usually send a thank you..