Furious and heartsick

10 years ago

My remodel has been a protracted nightmare. It passed inspection while I was out of town, and I just came home. The contractor hadn't bothered to get the compactor out of the temp kitchen and put it in, so we took it up ourselves. The compactor does not fit in the space left for it. ALMOST, but not quite.

And the ceiling can lights were put in so badly that half the kitchen is in shadow--I knew they looked odd and was resigned to being permanently annoyed about it, but didn't realize til the power was on that the actual light would be so awful. I have a lot of other stuff going on too and it is just all too much. I honestly thought that with the amount I'm paying the GC it would be smooth sailing.

What would you do?

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Comments (8)

gothaml
10 years ago
Have them fix it and not pay any more until they do. Sorry they are not doing their job!
weissman
10 years ago
Don't go out of town again :-) Stand over them and make sure it gets done right!
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Holly- Kay
10 years ago
So sorry for your bad experience Ashe. Hopefully it will go smoother now that you are back in town.
a2gemini
10 years ago
I was fortunate as I was working and dealing with DM long distance and was not there for much of the time.

I told sparky to put the UCL at the front and he did- terrible shadows. He moved them back about 1.5 inches and solved.

Talk to your GC and sparky to figure out options. Sending you positive energy to get through this
rococogurl
10 years ago
The lighting in my kitchen was initially so messed up I made them take the ceiling down. A new one was put up with the lighting in its proper places. But they were working from architectural drawings. If there are plans, it's a clear issue. If not, it can get mushy.
LoPay
10 years ago
If they followed the lighting plan they were given or there was no plan, I would be reluctant to blame the installer. However, that doesn't mean you don't have a reason to not be happy. Just make sure that everybody is on the same page during the resolution process.
Ashe42
Original Author
10 years ago
There was no lighting plan per se; the GC simply said that they had worked with the electrician before and he was very good at figuring out just where everything would go. I trusted the GC.

On the day the electrician came to do the plan, the GC apparently sent his sub. The electrical contractor sent his subs to do the work. The GC collected a hefty fee for his sub being there and for the electrical contractor; the electrical contractor collected fees for his subs. The lighting is not the only thing that is wrong--there was supposed to be an outlet in the cabinet next to the sink for a water filter and they put it over the fridge. I let that issue go...probably one of my many mistakes. Everyone got paid and I got ***.

The UCLs were a whole other story. No-one seemed to have any clue where they should go, including the GC. I had to insist that they were put where they should be.

Just to improve my mood, I ran the dishwasher yesterday...turned out they hadn't opened the valve for the water so it ran on high heat with no water. No idea whether THAT's caused any damage. Whine, whine! I have to keep telling myself; it's a first world problem.
Holly- Kay
10 years ago
First world problem or not it is still frustrating. If I ever do another remodeling job I will be my own GC.