Craft Room Project: STILL Not Done

The start of this day had me seriously wondering if I was going to need bail money and a lawyer because murder was sounding pretty good. (Okay, no. I’m not REALLY that vicious, but the thought did cross my mind)

As is par for the course with this company, the electrician didn’t show up at the time I was told and was about a hour past that. He shows up, sans mask, that he didn’t put on for most of the day. At one point, I’m close to him and talking to him about the lights, wearing MY mask, and he has the nuts to back up a step and ask ME if I have Covid. Are you seriously shitting me?

He takes one look at the lights I have and runs into the first cluster of the day.

Why?

Because the guy that did all the wiring (not the actual electrician) put boxes in for the new fixtures and those boxes don’t work with those fixtures. Even though I provided him with the fixture and told him that I thought they were supposed to be installed directly into the drywall and didn’t need a box. But, nope. He said that a box was required, so he installed them anyway.

This is such a HUGE problem because those boxes are mounted to the joists in the ceiling and wrapped in drywall. It isn’t an easy thing to change without potentially doing major damage to drywall that is already sprayed with texture for the ceiling.

Let me tell you I was absolutely fucking livid. I made it VERY clear I was unhappy. The scenarios of what would be required to fix it that were running through my head were not pretty.

We talked options. The electrician talked to the main guy at the company. At one point, the main guy said we may just have to go with some LED’s that they had on hand. I pretty much said hell no. I did a shit ton of work to make sure my lighting, one of the most important aspects of this space, was done exactly right. I wasn’t going to half ass it because of someone else’s incompetence.

I provided these lights way ahead of time. It isn’t my fault that your guys didn’t actually take the time to pull these out of their boxes or look at their installation instructions. I don’t think the main guy was too jazzed with me, and I overheard a couple of things while the electrician was on the phone that let me know he thought the fault was mine. Yeah, not happening.

It took some figuring out, but they decided to cut the boxes out to be able to install these the way they were supposed to. Grudgingly, but they did it. The lights are hanging in the photo because that is how I told them to leave them since I still have to paint and they have temperature adjustments on them I need to make (not 100% sure how warm or cool I want them) and I don’t want to keep popping them in and out.

When the guys showed up to do the doors, it brought up another couple of things that pissed me the hell off today. Crawling in on the heals of the lighting issue, that was not a good thing at all.

First was when the guy told me that he has the doors, but they didn’t get door knobs.

Why, you ask?

Because they didn’t know what I’d want.

Um… are you shitting me?

I was not once, in this entire 2 month nightmare asked what kind of hardware or knobs I wanted on the new doors. I just assumed they do the same thing with them that they did with the doors and go with what we already had. Apparently not. It is also apparent that actually asking me what I wanted and presenting choices or telling me I needed to get my own was too much for them.

Did I mention that the hardware for the doors is actually in my bid and is something that I’m supposed to be paying for?

It is then brought up, in a weird side way like he was trying to confirm it, that I’d be moving the existing door myself.

No. No fucking way. Not happening.

Moving the door is something I’d talked to this guy about several times throughout this whole thing, so he KNEW it was something they were supposed to be doing so why in the hell was he trying to pawn it off on me? He even jokingly said that if I could build the cabinets I should have no problem moving the door.

I again, quite bluntly, said they were supposed to be moving the door. Again, it got done rather grudgingly.

Because of the amount of time it took to cut out the lighting boxes, the electrician didn’t get finished today and will be back to set the electrical outlets in place tomorrow. I mean that is ALL he apparently has left and there are, what? 6? 7? It would have taken him maybe another half an hour, but no. I have to be up early for him to show up late and have yet another asshole in my house that apparently thinks the masks are stupid.

He said he was done with the light fixtures, but when I went down there after he left, he hadn’t done the closet.

And I can’t find that fixture. I set it out with the others when he showed up. We even dug through the trash bag that was left behind and it is nowhere to be found. I’m pretty sure the guy thought it was one of their temporary fixtures and took it with him. It was just the crappy bare bulb fixture that was in place before I put up my new light, but it was ours and it was supposed to get installed. So, yes. I’m pissed about that, too.

I also apparently don’t get paint ready trim on the doors either, but I no longer give one single crap. At this point, I’d rather do it myself and make sure it is done right than have them here even a single day more. I’ll be filling holes and caulking and cleaning that all up on my own before I paint.

I was told when I spoke to the main guy the other day that they would go through my “punch list” of things that needed to be done or fixed up, like any drywall issues, but I’m thinking that isn’t going to happen either. The electrician will most likely come out and do his little thing and be gone and I won’t see anyone from this company again.

No, I’m not joking about any of this and it isn’t some horror book I’m working on (still missing the dead body, though that was a close call today), though I really wish I could have come up with a plot line this screwed up, but I seriously doubt I’d get any positive reviews because it would be so utterly unbelievable. Seriously! You cannot make up how shitty this has all been.

You know the ONE thing that has consistently happened on time? Getting an invoice in my email. This mess isn’t even done yet, and they didn’t even hesitate to send off the last one.

In an attempt to find something positive in all of this, there isn’t much other than knowing that they SHOULD be done tomorrow and I won’t ever have to deal with these incompetent assholes again.