I left early, before the contractors arrived, for the airport to go to New Orleans. At that time, Brian was already on a flight back to Chicago from Vienna. I left Brian an email with a list of things to check in on with Slawek when he arrived.
In the late morning, Slawek called me. My stomach always sinks when I see that it is him calling. Luckily, this time he was only looking for the hinges, which I had stashed away in the less-dusty secondary staging area—the second bedroom.
When Brian got back, Javier and Slawek were there. I have a really hard time communicating on the phone with Slawek, so Brian called and “translated’ the remaining questions that Slawek had. Simple things like, “is the filler panel near the furnace room door flush with the cabinet door or set back?” and “does the cover panel that goes below the wall cabinets overlap the backsplash, or the other way around?” Brian and I called back and forth through the afternoon. In New Orleans, we were commissioning a renovated high school auditorium. I kept tabs on what was happening inside with the tuning of the audio system, and kept stepping outside to take the phone calls. Gladly, I only really had about an hour of fixed schedule through the day.
Also about that time, ABT called about the appliance install. While I feel that the level of service is high and that everyone is pleasant, I feel like the information sharing from ABT hasn’t been that great. Maybe we missed the “So, you just bought appliances from us. Now what?” orientation and training session. I’m kind of embarrassed that I hadn’t thought of this, actually. On the appliance install date, we will not have a countertop, which means that the cooktop cannot be installed. Duh. But, it’s kind of chicken-and-the-egg, as we need the cooktop template to fabricate the countertop. In the end, we have arranged for ABT to bring the cooktop on Thursday during their initial walk-through. Then, on Tuesday, all of the appliances except for the dishwasher and cooktop will be installed. They will then return on the following Tuesday to finish the cooktop and dishwasher. In the meantime, we pray that the countertop stays on schedule. Luckily, it’s not an extra charge for them to come out twice. Unfortunately, this means the full completion will be May 6—one day short of a full month since the start of the project.
I should say that Brian, after not having seen the room for a number of days (since before the floor went in) was very excited about the progress and pleased with the look. He sent me some photos in the evening (they were big files, so I couldn’t upload them to the blog right away). Here they are.
In the late morning, Slawek called me. My stomach always sinks when I see that it is him calling. Luckily, this time he was only looking for the hinges, which I had stashed away in the less-dusty secondary staging area—the second bedroom.
When Brian got back, Javier and Slawek were there. I have a really hard time communicating on the phone with Slawek, so Brian called and “translated’ the remaining questions that Slawek had. Simple things like, “is the filler panel near the furnace room door flush with the cabinet door or set back?” and “does the cover panel that goes below the wall cabinets overlap the backsplash, or the other way around?” Brian and I called back and forth through the afternoon. In New Orleans, we were commissioning a renovated high school auditorium. I kept tabs on what was happening inside with the tuning of the audio system, and kept stepping outside to take the phone calls. Gladly, I only really had about an hour of fixed schedule through the day.
Also about that time, ABT called about the appliance install. While I feel that the level of service is high and that everyone is pleasant, I feel like the information sharing from ABT hasn’t been that great. Maybe we missed the “So, you just bought appliances from us. Now what?” orientation and training session. I’m kind of embarrassed that I hadn’t thought of this, actually. On the appliance install date, we will not have a countertop, which means that the cooktop cannot be installed. Duh. But, it’s kind of chicken-and-the-egg, as we need the cooktop template to fabricate the countertop. In the end, we have arranged for ABT to bring the cooktop on Thursday during their initial walk-through. Then, on Tuesday, all of the appliances except for the dishwasher and cooktop will be installed. They will then return on the following Tuesday to finish the cooktop and dishwasher. In the meantime, we pray that the countertop stays on schedule. Luckily, it’s not an extra charge for them to come out twice. Unfortunately, this means the full completion will be May 6—one day short of a full month since the start of the project.
I should say that Brian, after not having seen the room for a number of days (since before the floor went in) was very excited about the progress and pleased with the look. He sent me some photos in the evening (they were big files, so I couldn’t upload them to the blog right away). Here they are.
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