Things have been pretty crazy of late and it likely won’t let up anytime in the next few weeks. House #2 is getting there, although the last week felt like it was very much of the “One step forward, two steps back” variety.
I should have known that the eternal thorn in my paw — plumbing — would rear its ugly head one last time before I got done with this project. Or, err, re-insert itself in my paw, I suppose, if you want to be picky about it. I was feeling pretty upbeat about the last remaining plumbing project, which was running the drains, vents, and hot/cold lines for the bathroom addition. Granted, it was the biggest job yet, but I’d hung out with the plumbers a good bit last Saturday, built up a certain amount of rapport, discussed my goal with these projects, my general life-state, and I felt like we were in a really good spot, as far as them giving me an estimate for the last bit that made them some cash yet wasn’t outrageous.
Oh naivete, though art my name…
They shot me the bid over on Monday night and I nearly stroked out. I was expecting it to be something around $2,000-$2,500, as it’s a fairly big job, it involves tapping into existing galvanized lines and tapping into the old cast-iron sewer line, digging out a trench for the drain that ties into the sewer, so it’s not exactly a stroll in the park for them. But all the concrete removal has been done and a hole dug underneath the footer to get outside for the main drain line, so a lot of the heavy lifting has already been done. So I was pretty slack-jawed and apoplectic when I saw their bid was for $5,400.
It did, though, include a lot of stuff I planned on tackling myself, as far as installing the vanity and toilet, fixtures, etc. And we’d also discussed that I could likely save money by getting my general contractor and crew to do the trenching, and their bid included them handling all of that. I’d also not haggled at all on the previous stuff they’d tackled, and they knew that I’m pretty anxious to get this job done, so I honestly don’t really blame them for shooting a bit high in their estimate, as we’re all in this to make money.
Spent most of the week dickering back and forth, but we finally agreed that I’d handled all the monkey work (trenching, hooking up fixtures, and basically everything else non-technical) and they’d handle all the tricky stuff, for $2,000 in labor and $300-$400 in materials. So I was pretty happy about that, and hopefully they can get out next week to knock that out.
Other than that, just trying to wrap up everything else. There’s some trim left to put up, as well as Sheetrock in the rooms that need to be exposed for the rough plumbing and electrical inspection, and still a good bit of painting. There’s also tile work left in the front living room, as well as the decorative stuff I’m going to do outside. And some cabinet hardware to instal, a few more light fixtures, and, oh, you know, 172,946,172 other small things.
As far as House #1, the title company finally caved and sent us the $500 check for the earnest money from the previous contract on the house. No real explanation from them, as apparently the buyer’s lender still hasn’t paid the appraiser, but I guess they finally decided it maybe wasn’t the best customer service in the world to remain stubborn about paying us the earnest money.
There’s also a potential offer lurking for House #1, as another woman is interested in it, but she wants to get approval from the city to build a salon on a portion of the lot and live in the house. The layout is pretty conducive to that, as it’s a long narrow lot with a big drive way beside the house, which basically divdes the lot in half, with the other side currently just unused grassy space. It’s also getting shown quite a bit of late, so hopefully a decent offer will materialize soon.
