The Neverending Story

The renovations still aren't done.  We still live with my parents.  My daughter did not celebrate her first birthday or first Christmas in her house.  I am angry.  Anger actually does not begin to cover it.

For a while now we knew that things weren't as smooth as we once thought.  There are a few reasons.  The major hiccup in this whole thing is that our contractor underbid the project AND he had never worked with this exact type of project before.  The frustration of dealing with the bank on this type of project has been so tiring.  There are two types of FHA 203(k) loans for the rehab of a house.  The first is a called a streamlined 203(k), but does not include any structural changes.  Or there is the full 203(k) loan.  This type of loan is issued when structural changes are being made, scoped to take longer than six months to complete, or when rehab costs will exceed $35,000.  We fall into all of those categories.

The way it is supposed to work is that the contractor does some work.  He then gets an inspection from a home inspector who is certified to inspect projects for the bank funding the loan.  Together they submit their paperwork to the bank with the total amount spent on the updates that have been completed thus far.  Once the bank reviews it they issue a check to us and the contractor.  We sign it over to the contractor and he is now paid for the work that has been completed.  Our project only had 3 " bank draws" built into it.  So lets say for example our loan was a $100,000 loan.  That means the draws were schedule for 1/3 way through the project ($33,000), 2/3 of the way through the project ($66,000), and at completion ($100,000).  That is a lot of cash flow to have on hand.  If that contractor is working with other subcontractors then he must front the money to pay them with the understanding that the bank will not pay until the work is inspected and submitted for a draw.  Because we were accommodating, we agreed to add a few more draws to the schedule, which took money out of our loan to pay the inspector each time, just so that our contractor was not left fronting $33,000 of his own money at a time.  Apparently we didn't add enough draws to help our contractor.  He was still left with no cash flow and that meant unpaid subcontractors, employees, and no supplies.  He started taking on side jobs to have some cash coming in to cover our work.   

There were clues about his need for additional cash flow, such as the occasional disappearing act to work on a job in Rhode Island or Virginia.  They were short jobs, and not frequent, so we didn't complain.  It all came to a head, though, when our contractor told us that the plumber had come into our house last week and taken our water meter as retaliation for our contractor not paying his final invoice.  He also threatened to break through the drywall and take all of the pipes out.   And when I say he took the water meter, I really mean, stole the water meter.  See, the water meter doesn't belong to him.  It belongs to me.  I own it.  It was put in by the water company, not him and his joke of a plumbing company.  Its in my basement and I pay the water company to service my home with water.  Every month I pay a bill to a water company, not him.  When I found out about this in an after hours meeting at the house, I immediately told BJ.  Uh oh.  Somebody just messed with the wrong attorney.

See, the funny thing is, BJ just got his groove back.  He left his job as an attorney at a firm downtown in October, and every since he has been trying to get his own practice up and running.  I am so pleased to announce that with two clients on board, Jordan Law, LLC is officially open for business.  What that also meant is that this plumber just messed with the wrong family.  BJ, Attorney at Law, sprung into action first getting on the phone with our contractor and then typing official documents outlining how this plumber would be reinstalling the water meter within 24 hours while supervised by a third party, and that he is not allowed on our property for any reason EVER AGAIN.  BJ's letter was written so much better, but that is the main theme of it.  This bumbling idiot called him and they arranged the re-installation to take place with the 24 hour window.  BJ-1, A-hole Plumber-0.  

The Walls are Closing In

Did you move back home after college?  Did you stay in your childhood bedroom for a few months until you locked up that dream job?  Then you probably moved out and got your first real place maybe with one roommate instead of the 4 you had in college.  Well, I have 4 roommates as if I am in college.  But mine don't throw wild parties, and the only person crawling into bed with me at 2 A.M. is my 10 month old.  My roommates are my parents, my husband, and Amelia.  And BJ, Amelia, and I are in my childhood bedroom. And those walls are most definitely closing in.

The good news is that the walls of our house are actually almost ready to be closed in with drywall.  We are going to have an inspection this week.  What this means is that we are putting humpty dumpty back together again.  After tearing apart this entire house we are getting so close to putting it back together.  Amelia's birthday is right after Christmas.  I told our contractor that if the house was not ready by the time of her party, that he was invited and he was going to watch all of the children that I invite by himself.  I think he heard me loud and clear.  Cabinets are being ordered, tile is being re-evaluated (cost seems to be driving this), electrical is almost done, insulation is going in, and BJ has been doing massive amounts of work at the house to get things de-wallpapered, sanded, and primed.  I see progress, and that is what I like.

The pantry and the powder room in the kitchen are totally framed and almost totally wired.  All plumbing is done.  They will be ready for the inspection shortly and then insulation and drywall can go up.

The plumbing for the bathrooms including the leaking sewage pipe have all been replaced.  What a relief to know that all plumbing is brand new in this house.  They said they could barely see through the drain pipes they took out because they were no clogged.  Ew.  

The floor have all been leveled and made so that no one falls through them.  I like that my family and loved ones can go to the bathroom without falling through the floor.  

Without going back to my previous posts I cannot remember if I mentioned that I modified the size of my closet.  Originally it was only supposed to go to the left of the small window on the side wall.  I said that wasn't going to work and asked that it be moved to the other side.  Now that is a closet fit for me!

Here is a view of the whole room.

And last but certainly not least...the mantle of the main fireplace.  BJ has been stripping the years of paint off of it to reveal the beautiful wood.  I cannot wait to see what this will eventually look like.  He has been very hard at work and I think that this will be a project that takes a lot longer then originally planned.