Enough about semantics.
A problem with the dirt guy is that, despite the fact that he's good at what he does and he's reasonable with his prices, he is unreliable as in he does not return calls, nor does he necessarily show up when he says he will. To me, this is a huge problem. To the contractor, it's a hiccup he's willing to tolerate. (We are quite different in that regard.)
We had been waiting for the dirt guy to come lay the tile, gravel, and back-fill the dirt around the house so we can move on. We could not start the porch without the dirt work being completed. It seems the dirt guy had said (multiple times) that he'd be there to finish the work.
He neither appeared nor returned phone calls. Tim was getting aggravated and texted the contractor that "[he'd] do it [himself]. LOL." The contractor replied something along the lines of "I know you said 'LOL,' but you do have the equipment, right?!" The answer was 'not exactly' but, ultimately, a plan was hatched wherein Tim was going to do the drainage, gravel and back-fill.
Much to his chagrin, our son was recruited to assist with this endeavor. It had rained multiple times while we were waiting for the dirt guy, so what should have been a quick easy job was now significantly more difficult. There was a good amount of digging and cleaning to be done...all by hand...before laying the perforated pipe and gravel. My job was to pick up garbage. As anyone who has ever had a house built knows, subcontractors throw their garbage EVERYWHERE...even when there is a perfectly good dumpster right nearby. I've never seen so many dip cans in my life! I picked up bottles, wrappers, lids, and even a sock (??!!).
After cleaning, Tim and Connor dug out the trenches and put down the tile. While we were working, our contractor had two loads of gravel delivered. We dumped and spread the gravel two-feet deep all along the front and back of the house.
I should mention here that it was amazingly HOT last Friday. I believe the temperature got up to 97 and the heat index was well above 100. Tim and Connor got out to the job site at 6:30 am to beat the heat. I joined them around 8:30.
Finally, around 12:30, the job was finished. Connor was exhausted, as was I. We left. Tim continued to work. He met up with the central vacuum installer as well as the contractor, who came out to check on how well we did the job.
We had been waiting for the dirt guy to come lay the tile, gravel, and back-fill the dirt around the house so we can move on. We could not start the porch without the dirt work being completed. It seems the dirt guy had said (multiple times) that he'd be there to finish the work.
He neither appeared nor returned phone calls. Tim was getting aggravated and texted the contractor that "[he'd] do it [himself]. LOL." The contractor replied something along the lines of "I know you said 'LOL,' but you do have the equipment, right?!" The answer was 'not exactly' but, ultimately, a plan was hatched wherein Tim was going to do the drainage, gravel and back-fill.
Much to his chagrin, our son was recruited to assist with this endeavor. It had rained multiple times while we were waiting for the dirt guy, so what should have been a quick easy job was now significantly more difficult. There was a good amount of digging and cleaning to be done...all by hand...before laying the perforated pipe and gravel. My job was to pick up garbage. As anyone who has ever had a house built knows, subcontractors throw their garbage EVERYWHERE...even when there is a perfectly good dumpster right nearby. I've never seen so many dip cans in my life! I picked up bottles, wrappers, lids, and even a sock (??!!).
After cleaning, Tim and Connor dug out the trenches and put down the tile. While we were working, our contractor had two loads of gravel delivered. We dumped and spread the gravel two-feet deep all along the front and back of the house.
I should mention here that it was amazingly HOT last Friday. I believe the temperature got up to 97 and the heat index was well above 100. Tim and Connor got out to the job site at 6:30 am to beat the heat. I joined them around 8:30.
Finally, around 12:30, the job was finished. Connor was exhausted, as was I. We left. Tim continued to work. He met up with the central vacuum installer as well as the contractor, who came out to check on how well we did the job.
No comments:
Post a Comment