Dear So and So

[Irulan]

Is it part of construction guy training to locate the most recent project completed and then wreck it?

New floor installed Monday.
Wrecked by Drywall guy on Wednesday.
It was fun while it lasted.

Yikes, that sounds like a contractor scheduling error!

Dear so-and-so, please send a quality contractor who would like to work my way...

I'm still trying to find a contractor for our kitchen. We are NOT having the firm that did our large remodel back.

We've interviewed an design-build firm that I found from Angie's List and Houzz that seems absolutely top,drawer....but so is their bid. I totally get the" you get what you pay for" thing with going for a low bid, but this one is really high. I have no doubts it would be stunning, however.

Then there was the guy my friend recommended with the partner who made bigoted comments during the interview. That was only part of it. They are a partnership, but when we asked how they like to be paid, one guy says "fixed bid" and the other guy says "time and materials. We ask who their suppliers are and get two different answers. I said I wanted to do the kitchen in the spring, and the bigot says, "that's when we like to do outside work" Hello- who is the customer here? We toured my friends home where they have been working and sure, the one IS meticulous, and the other guy made some really rookie tile mistakes. I'm still debating whether to put this whole experience on Angie's List or not.

I've interviewed two other firms I've found on Angie's list. One of them does a lot of work in a nicer neighborhood near me. When I drive though the neighborhood, I can see two or three jobs in progress at any given time, consistently over the last few years. That should be a good sign, right? Well, it's been several weeks and neither firm has gotten back to me with a bid or referrals to call.

Next up: I have a list that I got from the cabinet firm that did my friends house. We had gotten a cabinet bid from him when we were interviewing the partnership guys. He does beautiful work. I flat out told him that we were not going to use those guys and asked if he had any referrals. He's been around a long time, and has a big enough shop that he works with a lot of folks. So I am working my way down that list.
I'm really glad I started this process 10 months ahead of the anticipated start.

DH is very on board with this and whatever I want to do. He is driving me nuts by wanting me to select the counter, cabinet door and tile now, before I even have a contractor! I have a pretty good idea of what I want, but no specifics and I think going for specifics at this point is ridiculous as who knows which supplier we will be using. I will drag him down to Lowes and show him some stuff just to make him happy.

....and then there's the inordinate amount of time I'm spending on Houzz, lol...

Rant off.