A House Under Construction

Demo Day!

I know we’ve all heard that phrase by now and anyone would get a little excited hearing it in regards to their own project. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you need to go to your TV right now and start recording ‘Fixer Upper’. Best. Show. Ever.

In spite of not being able to sleep the night before, I was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed that morning as we picked up some lunch and headed to the house to meet the crew. I had a huge smile on my face as our GC introduced me to the group working on the project. Then he broke the news to me…. Pipes. Pipes in the wall we removed that were ‘crushing’ my dreams. Little did I know, that was just the first hiccup of many.

As a reminder, here’s where our kitchen started:

This renovation process has been insanely fast! In the first couple hours, the wall was already starting to come down:

After the first day, it was one big room:

When I first started looking for babysitters, I was blown away by some of the rates (I swear this topic has a point related to this post). I don’t remember making that much when I babysat, and it was always a surprise having to add so much money on top of a night out. When I took a second and really thought about it, I realized how silly it is that I complained about that expense. We had some INCREDIBLE sitters back in Ohio, and finding someone you can trust with your kids is priceless. I mean, they are literally responsible for kids’ lives while parents are away. What job is more important than that??

Now for the tie into this post… This isn’t as extreme as the childcare example, but I felt very similar when it came to this home renovation. Everything seemed so ridiculously expensive! But as soon as the project started, again, I found myself wishing that I could pay more than they even asked. Dumb, I know, and not even a possibility right now, but these men are literally helping to build the home that we’ll be using to raise our family. And they work SO hard. The amount of patience they have and their attention to detail is inspiring.

Cabinets and island going in after just a few days…

Update: I started this post when we were a week or so into the project. The guys were there all day everyday and were solving problems left and right. It was a roller coaster ride, and there were a lot of frustrations on a daily basis, but overall, we felt really good about how things were turning out. That feeling quickly shifted when we were a day short of the three week mark. Our GC and his main team left the project without any signs of returning. This is how the kitchen looked…

Looks awesome, but does it look finished? There aren’t any countertops or backsplash tile. The countertops were delivered a few days later under the supervision of my husband, and one of the newer members of my GC’s team came after that to finish up the backsplash. It’s hard to tell from this photo, so the short list was… floors were covered in sawdust and white paint/other stuff, the tile and cabinets were covered with a bunch of random grout and caulk spills, some of the cabinets didn’t work, a drawer face is missing, and there are a few gaps in the flooring along the edges.

We had to move into the house in less than two days, and we were nowhere near feeling ready for it. All warm and fuzzy feelings were gone, and I was left just feeling angry. I’ve officially joined the club of people claiming they’ll never renovate again.

Long story short, the GC came back a week later to address as much of our “punch list” as he could in a day. Apparently a silicone caulk was used on the backsplash, and it’s nearly impossible to remove all the residue. We always knew we would be responsible for all painting required, so that is on our list to tackle over the next couple weeks. I will hopefully be posting pics of the finished product soon, but these “hiccups” have delayed us a little bit. In the meantime, I will be here scraping silicone residue off the tile with what is left of my fingernails….