Date & Time

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Christmas

Saturday, August 6, 2016

Well, Thursday numbered week #10 waiting for new patio doors - 4 pairs - not cheap. Seems the Funk's luck has struck again. I'm not too sure it is our bad luck or the contractors' bad luck.

It seemed to have started back in 2001 when we contracted to have a new 2 story 24' x 24' garage built. We were given some cock & bull story about it could only be so high. So our 2 full stories turned into 2 stories only 6 ft. ceilings, only because the contractor was too lazy to advise us that we could probably get a variance. (my fault really! As a former Realtor® I should have known that) Anyway, that seemed to start it. He also put a so-called rubber roof on the kitchen which flopped and noisily interrupted every conversation we had in the kitchen because it wasn't properly secured. 

When we called him to come and fix it, he told me that we could fix it ourselves because my husband had lots of old tires and that we should throw them up there to keep it from flapping. In 2006, we went on a trip to see my sister & brother in California and every time we saw a mobile home in the desert with tires on the roof, we would laugh and say, "There is another quality construction job by Epperson."

Then, in 2004 it was time to put new windows in the kitchen. The old ones were over 50 years old and not well insulated and leaked a lot of air. So we find this contractor to 1. put in 2 new windows @ $450.00 each and to re-do the kitchen roof that was screwed up by Epperson. The roof was done in a week, thank goodness. but when September turned into November and no word about the windows which were already paid for, the contractor could not be found... No phone calls returned, no listing with the BBB. He had vanished. Come January, 2006, a very thin (skinny) man shows up at the door saying he is there to put in the kitchen windows.

Seems the contractor's wife was diagnosed with cancer, so he simply quit his business and left all his jobs with a couple of winos to finish when they got around to. "He always finishes his jobs." one of them said.

Well, in 2006, I am so sick with at the time had no idea, later to find out that I had cancer (scary yes I agree), so I was just happy that the windows were being replaced. But what happened? They used this ugly 2 x 6 as a window sill filled with hammer dents and gouges that even I could not have messed up and no paint. I have to supply the paint. I was just so glad to get the windows and them out of my house, (again, my fault) I said nothing.

Okay, we are good, right? Well, not so fast. 2010 comes and we are thinking about getting new siding for the house (the house is pink and the paint is peeling and something needs to be done.) The first estimate - $60,000 ( 1 1/2 Cape Cod building 36' x 24' not a huge building). No thank you, of course, we have to put a new roof on before he will do the siding. Thank you but, no thank you! 

So we opt for just putting on a new roof which we know is bad. We have to now, of course, refinance in order to pay $17,000 to have the house and the garage, plus another rubber roof (#3) on the kitchen. Now, this is what gets me thinking. Within less than a month, a very reputable contractor is in the news about fraud and guess who it is? Yes, the ones who replaced our roof! So there is no more workmanship warranty to be had, but the roof job was a very good job!

But, back to the 10 weeks waiting for 4 sets of patio doors. June 2, 2016, Mr. Dave and I get together (his inheritance) enough to replace the bad glass in 4 large patio doors on the back sunroom.

The gentleman who was the foreman of the roofing job shows up at our door about 8 months after the contractor went out of business to let us know that he was starting his own business and that if we needed any work done to please give him a called. Now, as I said, we were pleased with the roofing job, so we had no problem with Miles. We sign the contract for 4 new patio doors and to replace the siding in the back in 6 to 8 weeks. Reasonable? Yes and No!

Miles tells us that he will be sending out his guy the next day to remeasure the doors so that they can order the proper ones and get it going. Friday, we stay home all day and wait, and wait and wait. Around 8 o'clock in the evening, Miles' wife calls and says she is sorry that nobody got out but they will call when he will be over. Now, fast forward week #8 - 8 o'clock in the morning another strange man is ringing my doorbell. "I'm here to remeasure the doors."

When he gets done, we are told that the doors haven't even been ordered and it is going to take another 3 to 4 weeks, because Miles has been skimming or something and has been replaced by his wife and her father to run the business and Scott is the foreman now in charge.

...to be continued