1. It’s a small project. Not every contractor will take on a small project because they don’t feel it’s worth their time. Those that are willing to take on smaller projects are usually smaller companies who don’t have many trades people working for them and also have to take on a number of jobs at once in order to make real money. I think this is what happened to us. The project started the week of August 20 and here we are in almost mid-October and we’re not done. Considering we were told that, if there was nothing wrong, it could take at most two weeks, this has been a really frustrating and aggravating experience for us. Turns out, there was something wrong, which I’ll get into next. But what has outright pissed me off the most is the fact that, until two weeks ago, we were only getting 1-2 days of work per week out of the trades. To me, there is no excuse for that. I find that to just be disrespectful of us as clients.
2. Like I said, there was something wrong. When the carpenter opened up a wall and passageway to create more of an open space between three rooms, he found old termite damage. He told me that he continued to find old termite damage as he worked his way through the project and eventually sprayed for termites to prevent future damage to our new walls.
3. This area that is getting renovated, either part of it or all of it, was an addition to the house at some point. As the carpenter tried to peel off the wallpaper in the bathroom, the old plaster walls came crumbling down with it and saw there was no insulation. So he had to do a surprise gut job. There is a radiator in the bathroom and even still, it would get cold. I just figured the old radiator didn’t work that well, but I guess now we know that the real problem was a shoddy addition.
4. I messed up. When the plumber came to check out the project to prepare an estimate, I told him that we were replacing the sink and vanity. He prepared the estimate based on what a replacement vanity would entail. But what I didn’t specify is exactly with what we were planning to replace it. I always knew it would be a console sink but he didn’t know that. Thankfully I was home when he was there to do the rough-in work and thankfully the sink had already arrived. I showed him the sink and that’s when he let me know two things: that he’d have to schedule another day to come back to move the plumbing so it would be centered as it should be in a console sink and that there is a beam in the cellar that’s in the way of where centered plumbing should go. The plumber having to return cost us extra and that is my fault. If I had been clearer from the beginning, he would have been able to schedule everything appropriately and order whatever he needed to order from the get go. And perhaps he also would have advised me not to move forward with a console sink because of the beam situation. But here we are and I’m just going to have to come to terms with the fact that I will not have the ideal console sink setup.
5. I think there was miscommunication between the general contractor, the carpenter and the electrician as the electrician was surprised to find out that he had to work on the job more than once during the rough-in phase. I’m not quite sure how this negatively impacted our overall timeline, but I wasn’t pleased with the miscommunication in the first place.

Here’s a video I shot showing the gut job and pointing out the reinforcement of the framing that needed to be done:

• Floors and walls ripped out
• Framing in walls repaired
• Framing in ceiling added
• Drywall on ceiling and walls
• Electrical and plumbing rough-in completed
• Back window that was next to the door removed and boarded up
• New back door and hardware added (just the back door and not the storm door yet)
• Pocket door has been wallpapered (see moodboard post for more on this)
• Radiator has been sandblasted and painted
• Everything that we need has been ordered and is on site except for the wall tile* and paint

Removing the window and prepping for back door replacement

Drywall still in progress and Molly enjoying her new permanent view

Back door and storm door installation still in progress

Sneak peak of the radiator cleaned up and spray painted gold

• Framing of new wall and pocket door
• Finish drywalling
• Tiling
• Painting
• Add molding to bathroom window and stained glass window in the beautility room, and baseboards to mud room
• All the electrical and plumbing needs to be finished
• All the finishes need to be checked for and added