Progress Amid Frustration

It's been a hot minute since last I posted but in our defense, the past month has been absolutely crazy! Between our insane work schedules, dealing with House B, good weather FINALLY arriving in Pittsburgh, family visits and trying to plan our summer, the blog slipped.  Fortunately, we were able to continue regular site visits and take some progress photos.  It's really starting to look like a home.

First, the good.  A while back I was rather concerned about a sad, sad bowed, twisted and apparently half tree bark stud that was in our master - specifically right where we wanted to hang a tv.  Our PM's fix was to install a 15" wide piece of wood between the problem stud and the other studs.  We're fine with this - we now have something relatively solid to use for the tv bracket.  Guardian did come back out and properly marked the cable & sound locations & they all look great.  The drywall crew did a relatively nice job on their finish work - after hearing so many horror stories I wasn't sure what to expect.  There are a few areas that are not ok but I'm going to employ a wait-and-see attitude for now.

Now the shady.  I don't know where RH gets off treating their customers like we have nothing but time for them.  We received an email (I think it was 17 words - one of his longest) from our PM stating that our pre-drywall meeting needed to happen either "next Tuesday or Wednesday at 10 am." I think we got that on a Friday.  Uh, no.  I was due in WV for work the following week and J has this little thing called a job too.  It's how we pay for the house.  Crazy logic, I know.  I responded with "that doesn't work for us.  Tuesday at 6pm is do-able."  Our PM then had the guts to say that the meeting would have to be with the SR.  WHAT???  I'm so so sorry that you might have to stay late one day but you're the freaking Project Manager.  You know what happens when I have to meet with someone or something needs done?  I STAY LATE.  THAT'S HOW IT WORKS.  This meeting is required by RH of their people, not by the customer.  Sorry, but you knew we were only available on Fridays. I'm still irritated that J had to use PTO for this meeting.

We found out that our request to have the light switch for the garage moved to the house side was denied.  I honestly don't think the PM marked anything down, then said that the electrician wouldn't allow it to cover his tail.  He did complement us on our choice to move the basement window - due to our grading, we didn't need the well (aka mosquito breeding ground).  They totally forgot to install our gas line in the laundry room (remember THAT discussion?) J asked about adding an electrical outlet in the garage since there are only 2...one near the house door and one in the ceiling.  Yes, for an entire garage there are 2 outlets.  And our worthless SR (who bounced to another community and won't return any emails) neglected to mention anything about that.  Of course it's far too late to do anything and we get to hire an electrician to install a new circuit after close.  Fantastic.  I think these bozos have completely forgotten about their precious survey.  I could remind them but honestly, right now she's looking at a 6.  Maybe.  I don't really care if she gets in trouble, maybe she'll learn not to be a waste of space.  (there is obviously no love lost between us)  On second thought, it's probably a good thing I couldn't make this meeting.

One other random - we were the victims of some vandalism!  A window in our bonus room apparently had a rock thrown through it - not sure if it was from the construction site next door or what.  Regardless, RH gets to buy us a new window.  Maybe that one will come in the same day as the broken one in the office, the missing one from the basement and the one in the master with the broken seal.

Final frustration of the month was when I visited the site Tuesday.  I was locked out!  Previously, the garage door wasn't locked so we just lifted it and walked in.  I suppose they wised up and locked it.  I climbed onto the porch to try the door...locked too.  I could've stuck my hand through the deadbolt hole but didn't feel like splinters would be worth it.  Fortunately, that missing egress window in the basement came through.  It's right at ground level & I climbed right in.  I was a bit disappointed to see that all they were storing in the garage was some drywall mud.  I thought maybe our cabinets/flooring had been delivered but no.

Back to the good...we made our first big appliance purchase as Mr & Mrs!  Last night we took advantage of Home Depot's Memorial Day Sale & scored a sweet Samsung french door refrigerator with the "food showcase" feature.  It was weird to be so excited over a refrigerator but cool at the same time.  Next up is our La-Z-Boy design presentation...since we scheduled them to come measure our basement & great room to help us choose furniture (complementary in-house design service), we locked in their 30% off Memorial Day Sale on anything we buy from this presentation...Huge Score! Comfortable furniture, here we come!