Our big move day was a week ago, as noted in my last post. With the furniture out of the way we still had a lot of things to sort, dispose of, and either move to the apartment or find a place to store. We were still in the first half of the week we had set aside for moving and things seemed to be progressing well. However, as we dug into accumulated possessions, including clothes, books, business records, photos, kitchen furnishings, odds and ends of leftovers from old construction projects, tools, and whatnot, five days left in the week seemed like not much time at all.
Meanwhile, Erik and I were still going back and forth about some of the contract language and costs. After a few more emails we resolved the costs, mostly in the contractor’s favor. We arranged to meet Saturday morning with the expectation of signing a contract. There was just one issue outstanding- a construction schedule. I had asked several times for a schedule and got no response. Now Erik and Bob (his dad and partner) were arguing for not giving us a schedule. They were apparently worried that if they provided a schedule and there was slippage, we would hold them accountable in some way. They said something about “managing our expectations”.
I responded that the way to manage my expectations was to provide a schedule. I understood that schedules change, but you need to start somewhere. Besides, we are to furnish quite a few things- plumbing fixtures, cabinets, appliances, tile, etc. We can’t do them all at once, so we need to know when they will be required. It seems reasonable, doesn’t it? So I was really adamant about it. Meg says she never saw me quite that way before. Finally we agreed that Erik would provide an “approximate” schedule. I never expected it to be more than approximate. After all, I’ve been in the construction sector for a long time!
With that out of the way, we proceeded to sign the contract!!
And then we were back at work. Erik would be back on Monday with the demolition contractor and the plumbing sub. We definitely wanted things to be ready for them. The main areas we needed to focus on were my former office in the basement and everything on the first floor. The bedrooms and third floor space could be put off for awhile as the demo contractor would not be working in those areas. I won’t bore you with details. We worked through the afternoon and then took the night off for a Passover seder with friends.
Monday was almost upon us. We decided to skip the Easter church service and put in a full day of clearing out. We finally left the house about 2 am, got about 3 ½ hours sleep, and I returned for the Monday morning site meeting. The plumber disconnected the gas and water lines and work was underway. Demolition would start Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday. We had accomplished nearly all that we needed for the demolition to begin, but we had just a few more things to do. Monday night, after being back at our daytime jobs, we put in another late night. All in all, it has been an exhausting week.
Rebuilding Our Home 