Bare cupboards

Monday


This was not such a great day. In the morning we got the revised quote from the contractor. Based on our mis-read of the original and some further definition of scope, the number jumped up significantly. The numbers all seemed defensible, though.

Plodding on, I contacted iFloor to inquire about our flooring choice. The fellow I talked to seemed very knowledgable. As it turns out they have one of their weekly "limited time only" specials on Thursday (no interest for 36 months). So, on Thursday I'll place the draft order he created for me and we'll go pick up the stuff when it comes in. The jury is still out on whether we can get a better deal if iFloor does the install... but, if so, I think it will slow down the project by a couple days.

Next, I called Ikea about our damaged pieces, a door that just didn't look right, and a missing part that wasn't in the original order. After two attempts at navigating the phone system, on the third I finally talked to a person, but only after waiting a full fifteen minutes--no exaggeration, I timed it. And then, she told me should couldn't help me because I didn't have some code that was printed on our original receipt, and I only had with me the order number. I convinced her to take down the damage report for saving in our profile, but was told I would have to call back to have it processed.


I spent the evening completing our 'real' budget. Ouch. Freaked out by the total, I proceeded to check the cash flow situation, based on the multiple financing deals from different suppliers. I found it to still be very doable, but payments would linger on longer than I'd prefer.



Tuesday

Sleepy from having stayed up late working on the spreadsheet and still feeling dumb from the cash flow results, I made my way to a construction site at a private school on the Northside. When I walked into the building and put my hard hat on, I was tranformed. Suddenly, someone else was the owner and I would not directly bear the consequences of any of the problems. It felt so good to work on somebody else's project.



On the train to the office after the visit, I re-looked at the spreadsheet on my phone. (Yes, Excel spreadsheets that are attached to an email can be viewed on the iPhone.) Somehow, the numbers didn't make sense. I pulled my laptop out of my bag, checked the spreadsheet, and realized that I had been double-paying one of the line items. Ah! While the total number didn't come down, the duration of our payments shortened by nine months, or thereabout.



In the afternoon, a cheerful, competent woman from Ikea called. She had looked up my missing number and was ready to process my claim and re-order. I was able to ask her about one of the large drawer-fronts that didn't match our expectations--it doesn't have the texture of the rest of the cabinet doors as expected. She will research, and then call to confirm. I aslo left a message in the Ikea kitchen sales department to order the missing false drawer-fronts for at the sink. We'll see how that is handled...



The rest of the work day was fairly kitchen free. In the evening, I packed a few more boxes and cleaned up the kitchen a bit.


I did, finally, meet up with David and Eric upstairs to see their project and to talk about our presumed contractor. (What is it that they call McCain? Presumptive candidate?) They are nearly complete, just awaiting appliances and some punchlist suff. They offered good advice, such as (1) watch out for the electrical guys and their placement of devices (2) get the installation from ABT and not the contractor-proposed installation--due to ABTwarranty issues and a comparable cost, and (3) the countertop number I've been carrying in my own estimate is probably pretty close--they ended up with Zodiaq like us after some unexpected sink-related change which obviated using Silestone, as they had intended. I had intended to ask them what their total payment to the contractor would be, but forgot that their proejct included some second bathroom work, as well. Instead we talke about a few line items. Our electrical is marginally lower, as is our drywall and framing work. Too many variables. But I'm pretty confident that we're not getting taken for a ride.