Friday, November 03, 2017

There is finally a light at the end of this deck tunnel.



The guys made a lot of progress today which was amazing because when I woke up at 7am it was sprinkling. At 7:30 the guys arrived and weren't sure they were going to be able to work. But the walls were still dry, so they went for it and the rain held off. They almost got a full wall done.



I think I lost my first contractor because of these tiles. The grout line is 1/16th of an inch. And as you can see, 1/16th of an inch over 22 feet takes a bit of skill. Everything was going great with that first contractor but he was super particular about the quote. He wanted me to chose things like the color of the floor on the deck super early. My project has been going on a month now and I just made that choice maybe a week ago. The first guy wanted that info before he even finished the quote.

I figured if he was the particular about knowing those details of the project that early, maybe I should tell him about those grout lines. Initially I'd chosen a cheaper knock off of these tiles. And he was like - oh no. I won't lay a tile out of it's tolerances.  Meaning the manufacture hadn't blessed a 1/16 inch grout line, so he wasn't doing it. So, I ran around to find a tile that the manufacturer did explicitly rate for a 1/16th inch grout line. He said he'd do it, but I don't think he really wanted to. I think that's why he gave me such a short quote period (7days) and then ignored me for 7 days.

Other than wasting two months of my time - it turned out better this way and cheaper for me. But that first contractor basically did all of the leg work for another guy to stroll in and take all of his glory. I just don't get it. I don't have a single complaint about my new crew. And I'm getting exactly what I wanted from the first guy.

As a side note - it's not often that the only child in me comes out because I wasn't spoiled at all. I was the opposite of spoiled. But when a contractor leaves his 2000 dollar tile saw and all of his tools at my place - I really get a strong impulse. I'd be like - I'm not doing that. But perhaps it's a really good sign that trust is finally coming back to the marketplace. My whole job has been a lot of risk on their part as far as the outlay of services and materials. Especially materials.

I mean, if I didn't pay they'd put a lien on my house, and I have a great view...... so.... But still.

2 comments:

  1. Thanks. I chose them because they mimic the sky and the mountains. But oddly when it rains and becomes white out conditions those tiles really stand out more than I would expect. You don't have either of them to adjust your eye and all of a sudden they are wavy in a place of only straight lines.

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