SoapZone Community Message Board

I'd told them yesterday, when they were putting the covers on the light switches, that I was going to pay them this afternoon. They'd told me that they were going to put on all the covers yesterday, have the debris from the remodel removed today, and have the port-a-potty picked up today with the inspection tomorrow.

Well, they slid the port-a-potty out into the front yard just to the side of the double wide gate...originally they were going to leave it directly in front of the double wide gate...then they remembered that they had to get a truck into the yard to pick up the gutters. If not for their guy being inconvenienced, they probably would have left it about two inches from the double wide gate, completely blocking it.

When I got home this morning, I checked the yard. A truck with some gutter parts in the back passed me as I was driving home, about a block from my house, so I guessed that was my stuff. The truck did not have their business name on it. Anyway, the gates were closed, the port-a-potty was still there, so I guessed they'd removed the gutters had been removed. Not exactly. They didn't take some of the parts and left some of the wood pieces. I took pictures of the debris where it was on the ground, gathered the pieces and made a few trips to toss them over the wall (easier than trying to finesse them around the port-a-potty). After the toss, I laid them out neatly and took a picture and sent it to the contractor asking if the pieces were for the second trip.

I put the invoice for payment (they wanted me to pay them today) on the door between the kitchen and the new room with a note on the bottom: Payment after project is completed/Passes inspection. It's only $4108, but it will stay with me until they do everything.

In talks with my landscaper. $40,000 to add a cover to the patio. It will have cement pillars, a wooden structure with tar paper and (lost in the blur) and they will install the two ceiling fans I have left.

****UPDATE - Things changed!!!!

Yesterday was the "Final Inspection."

It did not pass!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I paid my contractor the balance, regretted it, put a hold on the check this morning, and will meet with him today.

The contractor was not here when the inspector arrived, despite sending me a text that the inspector would be here to do the final inspection "after lunch." (Originally scheduled for the morning but...they weren't ready.

It didn't pass because:

The plans/permits were not on site. (That's on the contractor.)

The place for the sink (to be installed in the future) wasn't ready. It needs a GFCI outlet and it has a regular outlet on the wall despite the electrician telling me that the outlet was loose and away from the wall (I'd asked him why it was like that) because of the garbage disposal and had actually labeled one of the circuits in the subpanel "DISPOSAL."

The inspector couldn't find the face plate on either one of the heat pumps on the roof. (And the contractor couldn't call the company nor have the inspector call the company to tell them where the face plate was. The contractor said that wasn't his work, so he wasn't responsible for it.)

Exterior siding was not 2 inches off the concrete. (Again, contractor said that he didn't do the concrete, so he's not responsible for it not being 2" away from the siding.)

He had walked past this stuff or knew that it was in weeks before he scheduled the inspection. He chose the date and time, then rescheduled the time. He didn't show up, but sent at reply to my text stating that the inspector was here of "Did he pass the inspection?"

Showed up after the guy had already done the write up.

I told him this morning not to deposit the check. He wrote back three hours later it was deposited yesterday. We'll see which takes precedent, since I put the hold on it this morning. A race against time!

Wish me luck.