construction | Piss and Moan

Estimate on the estimate?

Posted on March 18, 2021 by backuphill

Working with contractors is a frustrating endeavor. Sometimes I wonder how some of these outfits stay in business since they apparently have a hard time following through with even the simplest part of the job – giving a potential customer an estimate or bid for a proposed project.

Now, maybe I am wrong (I have been know to do that once in a while) but I would think that these business would be falling all over themselves to line up jobs for the year. At the very least, get the estimate out there for consideration. Granted, not every potential client will choose them for varying reasons, but you can’t get a job if you don’t give the customer even the chance to consider you.

I am looking at having a concrete patio build off the back of the house (its not a small job) and I would like someone who knows what they heck they are doing rather than a few “weekend warriors” to tackle it with me. So, I have called about 17 different businesses in the landscaping to concrete categories. Of those calls, only 14 had the courtesy to call back, 11 came out to look at the project, and only 8 have submitted a bid for consideration.

Are these companies THAT busy that they just don’t need the work? Are they overwhelmed with job opportunities and can’t get the process started? I am confused as to why even the easy part is difficult to do.

I texted two of the businesses that came by to look at the job and said they would submit an estimate within a few days. Four days after they stopped by I asked for an estimated time on when they would get the estimate sent off to me. So, I asked for an estimate on the estimate. Only one has bothered to respond so far, and he has set his deadline for himself as “today.” I guess I’ll see.

Anyway, thought I would vent about a frustrating process I have been dealing with for over a month. I am hoping to have a decision made by the end of the week, so fingers crossed I get a couple more estimates to work with and compare.

Anyone else had a (or multiple) frustrating interaction with a contractor as of late? What has been your experience in the last year or so (setting aside that many couldn’t work for a short while because of “precautions” related to Covid-19)?

Project overload

Posted on June 22, 2020 by backuphill

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Spring and summer…

…mean projects.

Somehow, I keep adding projects to my list instead of actually finishing the ones I have already going. I am getting to project overload. Or is it projects overlord? Either way, I have enough to do for the rest of the summer.

I gotta stop this.

I can only track so many things at once. Men have “boxes” and too many “boxes” means that we can’t get anything done because we are trying to arrange and balance those “boxes.”

As such, focus is lost because now I am worrying about how to make those boxes work.

Time to dump boxes and focus on one.

Which is most important? One thing at a time. Please.

Roofers

Posted on June 19, 2020 by backuphill

architecture build building construction

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

The sun is out.

It will be for (at least according to the fairly inaccurate Weather App) for the next two weeks. Of course, weatherpeople can be wrong 80% of the time and still people look to them to provide answers.

Anyway, the roof still hasn’t been done and, as of writing, I have no idea if I am on the schedule for anytime over the next two weeks. Supposedly, two weeks ago, my house was slated to be done the following week when I reached out to them, but that was weather dependent, of course. I understand that part.

Its rather tiresome that the tarp on the roof of the house has been there since mid to late November. In that time, I have contacted 12 roofing companies. Five have come out to give estimates. Two have had signed estimates returned to do the work. One ghosted me. The other is still pending…

I was hoping it would be done before the end of the month, but I guess what little optimist is in me (I am 94% pessimist) is growing tired of waiting.

Tired of the run around. Tired of climbing on the roof to check the tarp. Tired of worrying about water destroying the house. Tired of worrying about ants.

Tired.

Sometimes, not owning a home would be nice.

Sprung

Posted on October 22, 2019 by backuphill

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Drip.

What is that? That sound doesn’t sound like it should.

Drip.

Nope, that isn’t a normal sound. Yes, it is raining really freaking hard outside and, yes, there is the typical sound of rain going down inside the vent pipes. This drip is different.

And there it is. Inside the furnace. In the arch way of the back entry.

Damn.

There is a leak in the roof. It is in the most troublesome section of the roof. Somewhere between the ending of the sloped house roof and the beginning of the flat garage roof. This is the spot I have worried about since I moved in. This is the spot I was planning on having fixed in the next three years knowing it was only a matter of time before it causes an issue.

Now, the rainy season is in full force and the prospect of a quick fix is null.

Now, not only a roofing company has to be involved, but likely a contractor too since we might as well work on the structural issues at the same time and do it all in one fell swoop. Oh, and on top of that, now likely a bank will be involved with a home equity line of credit or something like that….

Awesome! **in the most sarcastic tone ever known to man**

Lane closure

Posted on August 19, 2019 by backuphill

low angle photography of orange excavator under white clouds

Photo by Anamul Rezwan on Pexels.com

I have said it in the past but I am going to say it again. Sorry if it sounds like I am a broken record, but WADOT (Washington State Department of Transportation) seriously has to do a better job – not just them, but the contractors they hire as well.

It was another painful travel weekend. It think it was three weeks ago I mentioned the reduction of lanes on a major interstate highway (it’s actually I-5, a federal highway) and how badly it affected the traffic on a Friday night. Well, this last Friday was no different. Miles and miles and miles of lane closures and not a soul in sight doing any work! While progress may be getting done, it surely doesn’t appear like it and they are in no hurry to get it done. It’s kind of ridiculous really.

So, yesterday (Sunday for those of you keeping track), a major north/south highway had ALL of the northbound lanes closed. That’s right, I-405 was closed with only one lane (a collector/distributor lane) getting by. That means five lanes diverted to one. To top it off, they didn’t close on-ramps that directly affected that one diverted lane, so merging traffic and diverted traffic had to fight for the same space. Ultimately, that mean five lanes got bottle-necked and didn’t have a steady flow. Kind of a CF if you ask me!

Look, I get that construction needs to get done. I am fully aware of the condition of the roadways. But, let’s be honest here. These days, there is never a good time to close highways and there is never a good time to avoid the hassle.

BUT, what doesn’t appear to be happening is that WADOT isn’t requiring construction crews to complete the work in the fastest time possible (overnight work, 24/7, until it is done). Traffic volumes are much lower at night and it affects for fewer people/travelers when work is done then. And, let’s face it, with the technology that is available these days there is no reason work can’t be done at night.

Get it together WADOT! You are costing people money and time.

Delayed

Posted on July 19, 2019 by backuphill

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

This post is officially brought to you by road construction delays.

It isn’t a sponsored post, but should be.

Road construction on my commute route that was supposed to completed by 5am this morning wasn’t done at the appointed time. This is on a major North/South interstate highway, mind you. Three lanes reduced to one. When I finally went past the choke point, the newly laid asphalt was still steaming. So, the delay was going to be at least another hour.

So, you know, just by that description, that you are going to get thousands of commuters and travelers who are going to get stuck in that backup. It took me 45 minutes to get through a section of roadway that normally takes less than a minute at highway speed.

I knew about the construction, but figured I would be going through the area almost two hours after the supposed wrap-up. No problem, right? Not so much.

So, my question is…do these construction companies get fined for not getting things done at the appointed and planned times? I mean this delay caused me (and I am sure thousands more) late for work. That’s lost time, lost production. So who pays for that?

Who answers and how for these sorts of things?

Dremel Multi-Max anything but max

Posted on October 29, 2018 by backuphill

Don’t you hate it when things just stop working? Yeah, me too.

I received this thing as a gift for my birthday one year. It didn’t get used for about three months and then it got used whole working on a remodel of a birthday. It was a helpful too, except when it wasn’t working.

Right from the start there was something wrong with the variable speed switch. Shake it, smack it with the ball of your hand, hold it just right and it would work. Finally I resorted to jamming a small shim into the switch area and it worked great at full speed. The problem was the shim couldn’t stay there forever since the tool obviously wasn’t designed to work that way. Total time in use, maybe an hour when all said and done?

The project ended and it got stored away. As you can see, it didn’t get abused or anything of the sort.

I dug it out to use it the other day. Doesn’t work at all now. Dead. Removed the shim, nothing. Put the shim back in, nothing. Now what? Obviously it is out of the warranty period. Totally disappointing it doesn’t work.

So, who’s the tool now? Dremel or me?

Don’t mind me, trying to get anywhere…

Posted on August 31, 2018 by backuphill

Photo by David Whittaker on Pexels.com

Passable roads are nice. Summer is nice. So do we have to ruin one to make the other possible?

Summer is apparently the only time road construction can get done. Added to that, it also can only be done during the day and not at night, which is weird considering we have this cool technology called “lights”. So, with technology available to do construction at night while traffic volumes are reduced significantly, why are we still doing it during the day while traffic volume is at it’s highest?

I suppose someone (or maybe just LIFE in general) is out there conspiring against me and all the other people that have to get somewhere…