The Renovation Construction Ending Soon & The Painter Is Fired!

Hi Everyone,

 

Happy Father’s Day!

 

Thank you for the dozens of incredibly supportive and helpful comments and emails you sent me last week.

If you missed the drama, you can read about the renovation paint disaster here.

 

There is so much going on that I have to break it down.

 

• First of all, yes, the renovation construction, except for the den, should be finished this coming week.
• I am pretty sure I’ve found a new painter and a new flooring contractor. I will know by sometime this coming week, maybe even Monday. So, there will be more about that in a subsequent post.

 

Gosh, Laurel. That was fast.

 

Yes, I know. But when I put my mind to something, I don’t mess around.

So, here’s a partial recap of what went down last week.

On Monday, I spoke with Robert, my GC, who, as I said, had turned a complete 180 from “The painter is your responsibility, and I’m [losing] my shirt on this job, nonsense. Later in the day, I spoke to Bryan the painter, who was calm and assured me all would be fixed and the paint would be perfect.

The next morning (Tuesday), no van was parked behind the building, but the lights were on downstairs, and the toilet seat was up, meaning a male was in the apartment.

 

Mostly, it was pretty quiet. Occasionally, I heard a bit of sanding.

 

However, twice, I caught sight of not Bryan, the painter, but his employee, the same one who made the paint mess. I found him outside the building, having a ciggy and drinking something out of a can.

The image is intentionally blurred to protect the guilty.

 

Blurry did not return on Wednesday. Robert said it was because he wasn’t feeling well.

 

Clearly, he was out of focus the day before, as well. ;]

 

That day, I got on the horn to find competent professionals to paint and do the floors.

 

Sadly, Brendan and Eugene (the carpenters), who had been on a roll, did not return last week.

On Thursday, Blurry returned.

I woke up to the sound of him sanding the wainscoting right outside the den.

Seriously WTF???

 

Was that painted, Laurel?

 

No, it wasn’t.

 

Was he finished sanding off all of the paint downstairs?

 

No, not even close.

It would take a crew of about three people at least three days to remove all of the paint.

 

Wait, Laurel! Were you in your home alone with Blurry?

 

No, I hired a bodyguard.

Yes, of course, I was alone in the apartment with him, although I only saw him once. Since November 29th, I’ve been alone with one, two, three, or occasionally more men for about sixty days.

Anyway, with a smile, I opened my door and asked him if he could keep going downstairs.  He smiled back and said, sure.

Blurry left at about 3:00 on Thursday, and I went downstairs to investigate. While some things were better, there was still plenty of orange peel, and he hadn’t touched the “paper mache” crown moulding or the hundreds of feet of panel moulding and some of the doors.

 

And, he did NOTHING in the bathroom.

 

Blurry did not return on Friday.

I got Bryan on the phone late to inquire why Blurry and himself weren’t there! I got a lot of grunting and hmm-ing. He insisted that they were nearly finished prepping downstairs and that I told him to stop sanding upstairs.

I said, You’re not even close to being finished downstairs. Then I remembered a particularly astute comment and asked Bryan, “WHO gave you permission to paint?”

“I don’t need permission,” he said.

What a ___fill in the blank___!!!

When asked about the miles of panel moulding, he said, “Oh, that wasn’t painted; it was only primed.”

 

Above is a piece of the trim that Bryan claims is only primed.

Primer for paint is DEAD FLAT. This is shiny latex.

Okay, as my blood reached the boiling point, I knew this farce needed to end immediately!

“How dare you tell me such a blatant lie. You are NOT coming back. Goodbye.”

 

It has occurred to me that he’s so impaired he actually believes that’s primer, not paint.

 

Although I felt bad about firing him, he left me no choice.  Of course, anyone who did what he did in the first place did not deserve another chance. I just wanted him to fix it. But, even then, he failed miserably. I asked him if he ever came over to see what was going on. He said he was there for a couple of hours on Thursday.

WHAT?

That right there is beyond the beyond. He had NEVER come by before to see the mess his employee had made. Never mind he should’ve dropped everything to help fix the disaster he promised on Monday would be perfect. Yes, that’s what he said!

Robert understood completely and has been very accommodating. It was only that one text that was bad. I think some of you missed that he’s been his usual sweet self ever since.  So, he will be here Monday when Blurry and Bryan get their filthy crap out of here.

 

What else is going on, Laurel?

 

Isn’t that enough? lol Well, a lot is going on.

I am working out a timeline for finishing the prep, floors, and paint within the next two months.

I will meet the guy I’m 99% sure I am hiring to paint, and I can’t wait to share more about that.

Brendan and Eugene will be back on Monday. As stated at the beginning, they are expected to finish all of the renovation construction this week except for the den. I may have to move out for a week or two.

 

However, that’s not all that’s happening on Monday.

 

Please stay tuned! It’s all good!

xo,

 

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