What the H—?

My mind-space is mostly on the house build.  So close and yet, this week it was all about the delays -hurricanes, hissy fits, hitches, and holidays.  What the H!

Hurricanes – While we were lucky to not get a direct hit from the latest gulf hurricane, it brought days of heavy rain. The yard turned into a massive mud pit with pools of water. With that much water, we can’t proceed with landscaping around the house, a requirement for Certificate of Occupancy, until things dry out a bit. They started on the shell drive repair, but only got about hallway done and then had to say, “no more right now” as trucks sank down to their axles. We also were able to see where the low spots are (those pools of water) and decided on some changes to the landscaping plan/grading.

Hissy fits – The granite fabricator apparently is a high-maintenance perfectionist. Good in some ways. But he’s been verbally “unhappy” with our granite and we are now 10 days later on delivery of the kitchen and bath countertops. He apparently needs time away from it as it has stressed him out.  Unfortunately, there are many things that cannot proceed until after granite is in place, so our builder is rescheduling the tilers, plumbers, shower door installers, and final touchup paint.

Hitches – We had a hitch when I connected with one furniture store about delivery of the pieces we paid for and they were holding when the response was, “What furniture?” Another hitch when the solar company thought they were tagging onto the build permit (they are not, as solar re-install is after Certificate of Occupancy) and so did not apply for a permit, which can take many weeks to get. Another hitch was when the rain caused flooding and accidents which delayed the landscaper from our meeting, 2 days in a row. (But we all got together finally and have a plan to move forward.) And still another hitch when I realized my credit card was maxed out (!) and I couldn’t put a down payment on the shades we decided on.

Holidays – Our town has an ordinance that no construction work can be done on any holiday. You might think that they would sway that ordinance for the hurricane recovery as it impacts close to 70% of the town at the moment. But no, not even when many businesses no longer recognize Columbus Day! We are losing a day of work, and when it is subcontractors, that could mean multiple days as they move onto another project in another town to fill the day.

Almost nothing here is under my control. Well, some is. I can say yes to paying more to deal with low spots in the yard. I can be flexible on utilization of the granite piece he’s not happy with, agreeing to other options for sills, etc. I can work on other aspects of the build – getting information on the water filter system, scheduling the delivery of furniture we have on hold (including sharing the paid invoice – yes, they found the furniture), ordering shades (after dealing with credit card early payment).

On a positive note, we have the interior painted – the trim work and walls look great (see bedroom colors below). We have the paver courtyard and patio installed and both are going to be wonderful spaces. We have water and electric to the house (two major milestones). The exterior balcony and patio ceilings, an item that kept getting delayed, are halfway done. These are not on a critical path, like the granite is, so they just kept being put off. We have appliance delivery and HVAC install this week. And possibly, maybe some landscaping to mitigate the mud, if things start to dry out.

The next two weeks will be filled with daily conversations to make quick decisions so our builder can hit the end of the month move-in date – he’s still pushing for that, even with so much still to do! The house recovery project is nearing the end. Of course, we still have the settle in stage. But I am very much looking forward to being back in our home.

How was your week?  Any hitches?

Header photo – our shell driveway (before they stopped landscaping.)

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