Construction Funnies I
After many years of dealing with the public and other contractors, yes I have seen some stuff.
A repeat customer had another home for us to completely renovate. On day one, that fell on a Friday, we took out all the wall, ceiling and floor coverings. She wanted to try and save the cabinets, but they were pieced together and fell apart. The wiring, plumbing and insulation needed to be brought up to code. Well, the home needed insulation since there was none.
In one bathroom, the wall at the end of the tub had what looked like a shower head. I reached down to grip the old lead pipe and see if it would twist. Twist, it did and pulled right out. There was no hookup for the shower head and the head was fake. The guy who had been renting that half of the house had been doing his own repairs. But why put in a fake shower head?
When we moved the stove to remove the flooring, there was a huge hole going straight through the floor and wall. The stove did not even have a plugin. What was this guy trying to pull?
After everything was out, we took the weekend off. It is never a good idea to leave a job unattended when your customer is known to get into everything. While we were gone, she decided to have a look. Then she decided to help with clean up. We use brooms and shop vacs for a reason. She only had a leaf blower. She opened the windows and doors and scooted across the floor joists blowing some of the dust out. Later, she took her leaf blower into the attic. Oh, My! The guy she had helping her said she was nothing but a black soot rag doll when she came back down. She had to go to her stylist to get the soot out of her blond hair.
When we returned Monday, she was coughing and gagging with a sinus infection since she did not even wear a mask. We all bit our tongues and thanked her for trying to clean up, but it is our job to keep the site clean.
The electrician showed up to see that the entire home needed rewired. The other half of the home was rented by a college boy and he was complaining about his power bill being too high. It seemed to be enough to power the whole house. At first, we thought it might be how drafty the home was. Nope. The electrician found an illegal tap from his meter to the other half of the home. The guy doing his own repair did not even have a power bill because he was stealing his neighbor's power. The boy moved before we could tell him. He said he could no longer afford the power bill.
She opted to use her own plumber. She thought he was cheaper and he had a nice truck. Our plumber gave a flat price that covered the whole job. I watched her plumber use a level on every pipe and then take it back apart and trim a little and then try to level it (slightly off level) over and over. And we could not put any of the subfloor down until he had every pipe perfect. He refused to work under a house. When the rough in was finally done, she received the first part of the bill. He billed her sixty five an hour and took over a week. He worked four hours a day and charged eight. He used the old water heater and charged for a new one. Yep, she flipped out. He was four times what our plumber would have been and he had not even finished the job yet.
She also brought in her own tile guy. I usually do not like tile being cut inside the home, but no floor coverings or painting had been done as of yet. The tile guys took their tools and tile into the bathroom and I did not see them again until they were done. These guys were determined. I walked in and saw a pretty neat tile job and no trash left behind. I think I like these guys.
As you may have guessed, she decided to have our plumber finish the house out. He hooked up all the faucets and drains and everything was looking real good. The customer was very happy with the colors and fixtures she chose. The plumber came back the next day to turn the water on and test everything before his inspection. The tub was filled and tested to any leaks. The same with all the sinks. Everything held water well. Then he went back to the bathroom to let the water out. When he pressed the plug, the water only drained an inch and stopped. The sink was the same. He tried snaking the drains in case the other plumber lost a rag in a pipe. Whatever was clogging the drain would not move. OK. Take the drains back out. When he did this, he found grout packed into the pipes. The tile guys had dumped enough excess grout down the pipes, nothing could get through. Now, I hate her tile guys and so did she.
She bit the bullet on everything seemingly well and even though her budget for the project was doubled, she still bought another house about three months later for a complete renovation.
A repeat customer had another home for us to completely renovate. On day one, that fell on a Friday, we took out all the wall, ceiling and floor coverings. She wanted to try and save the cabinets, but they were pieced together and fell apart. The wiring, plumbing and insulation needed to be brought up to code. Well, the home needed insulation since there was none.
In one bathroom, the wall at the end of the tub had what looked like a shower head. I reached down to grip the old lead pipe and see if it would twist. Twist, it did and pulled right out. There was no hookup for the shower head and the head was fake. The guy who had been renting that half of the house had been doing his own repairs. But why put in a fake shower head?
When we moved the stove to remove the flooring, there was a huge hole going straight through the floor and wall. The stove did not even have a plugin. What was this guy trying to pull?
After everything was out, we took the weekend off. It is never a good idea to leave a job unattended when your customer is known to get into everything. While we were gone, she decided to have a look. Then she decided to help with clean up. We use brooms and shop vacs for a reason. She only had a leaf blower. She opened the windows and doors and scooted across the floor joists blowing some of the dust out. Later, she took her leaf blower into the attic. Oh, My! The guy she had helping her said she was nothing but a black soot rag doll when she came back down. She had to go to her stylist to get the soot out of her blond hair.
When we returned Monday, she was coughing and gagging with a sinus infection since she did not even wear a mask. We all bit our tongues and thanked her for trying to clean up, but it is our job to keep the site clean.
The electrician showed up to see that the entire home needed rewired. The other half of the home was rented by a college boy and he was complaining about his power bill being too high. It seemed to be enough to power the whole house. At first, we thought it might be how drafty the home was. Nope. The electrician found an illegal tap from his meter to the other half of the home. The guy doing his own repair did not even have a power bill because he was stealing his neighbor's power. The boy moved before we could tell him. He said he could no longer afford the power bill.
She opted to use her own plumber. She thought he was cheaper and he had a nice truck. Our plumber gave a flat price that covered the whole job. I watched her plumber use a level on every pipe and then take it back apart and trim a little and then try to level it (slightly off level) over and over. And we could not put any of the subfloor down until he had every pipe perfect. He refused to work under a house. When the rough in was finally done, she received the first part of the bill. He billed her sixty five an hour and took over a week. He worked four hours a day and charged eight. He used the old water heater and charged for a new one. Yep, she flipped out. He was four times what our plumber would have been and he had not even finished the job yet.
She also brought in her own tile guy. I usually do not like tile being cut inside the home, but no floor coverings or painting had been done as of yet. The tile guys took their tools and tile into the bathroom and I did not see them again until they were done. These guys were determined. I walked in and saw a pretty neat tile job and no trash left behind. I think I like these guys.
As you may have guessed, she decided to have our plumber finish the house out. He hooked up all the faucets and drains and everything was looking real good. The customer was very happy with the colors and fixtures she chose. The plumber came back the next day to turn the water on and test everything before his inspection. The tub was filled and tested to any leaks. The same with all the sinks. Everything held water well. Then he went back to the bathroom to let the water out. When he pressed the plug, the water only drained an inch and stopped. The sink was the same. He tried snaking the drains in case the other plumber lost a rag in a pipe. Whatever was clogging the drain would not move. OK. Take the drains back out. When he did this, he found grout packed into the pipes. The tile guys had dumped enough excess grout down the pipes, nothing could get through. Now, I hate her tile guys and so did she.
She bit the bullet on everything seemingly well and even though her budget for the project was doubled, she still bought another house about three months later for a complete renovation.
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