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Sunday, July 25, 2010

Remodeling Update - yea..

I wanted to think of a cuter title. Like "Hell's Kitchen" but too many people know that as a tv show. Or "Dog Days of Summer" but I'm not upset with my dogs. So .. yea ...

The last time I blogged about the remodeling we were entering month 2. We now have not had ANY work done since June 24th. We haven't seen him since the 27th, the day we left for the beach, and haven't talked to him since either, despite numerous phone calls and even a couple of visits by his house. Wonderful.

We've had the City Building Inspector out. Apparently our house was VERY, VERY dangerous for us to be living in. The bastard .. I'm sorry, contractor, took the chimney down beginning on May 6th. It was an old brick chimey that vented the gas boiler heater and the gas-powered hot water heater. He was supposed to re-route it all and vent it out the side of the house & up the outside wall, above the roof. He never did. He capped off the old chimney at the kitchen floor with some wood, let it be, and hopped on to the laundry room. He NEVER went back to the chimney, meaning all those gases were just venting into the house. Luckily, we have LOTS of fans and a couple carbon monoxide detectors.
Per the City Inspector's demanding, we've now had the water heater temporarily vented out so that we all can still live in our home.

We've had to replace a piece of "wall" behind the kitchen sink because where he removed the laminate that was there and left it with the old, exposed walling, black mold had begun to grow. Again, not safe.

But what about Harmon?? Well, legally we've had to send him a letter letting him know that he has 15 days to complete the work (hey, his new girlfriend signed for the letter on the 15th, so let the countdown begin!) or give us ALL of our money back. Failure to do either will result in legal action being taken. --- Since I don't know who all reads this (he has seen the blog before), I will keep mum about the next steps there ... for now.

We've had other contractors in, trying to get estimates to finish the job. So far, the estimates have ranged from roughly $12,000 to between $20,000 & $30,000. Yikes!!

On an odd note, we've had two contractors who haven't given us their estimates yet! I called them both on Friday but havne't heard anything back from either of them yet. Not even an "I'm too busy" or "I simply don't wanna" call. If I don't hear from them soon I'll let you know. In fact, I'll be so nice as to let you know their names too. They're both local guys.

And that is where we are for now. Till July 30th .. which is, of course, only 5 days away. We had been taking bets on Facebook on when he would show back up & when the work would be done. There were a lot of "Never!" votes. I can't call it until all is said and done with, but I PROMISE there will be a winner or winners as the case may be.

In the mean time, since I didn't post any photos on here, feel free to amuse yourself (if you want to anyway) and check out the remodeling hell photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/funkymamataney/sets/72157624437011151/ --- these are the photos of all the things left undone, done wrong, 1/2 done, fucked up, and things that left us lucky to be alive.


** PS ~ At this point I can very, very safely recommend NEVER EVER EVER hiring David Wayne Harmon to work on your home!!!

3 comments:

Carole and Chewy said...

AAAUUUGGGHHHH! I'm so sorry this is happening to you! The other contractors estimates ar ehigh because they know you're desperate and need to get the work done. Maybe breaking it into pieces will save you some money? Like hiring one guy to do the venting, another to do tile, etc. Just a thought.
Personally I prefer the idea of hiring a lawyer to garnish all of Harmon's assets from now to the end of time....

Elena DeRosa said...

I'm sorry you and your family are still going through this, especially since it took a dangerous turn. A word of advice, if a contractor doesn't call you back with a bid in a timely fashion, chances are they're not going to complete the work in a timely fashion either, so beware. I wish I had someone I could recommend but all the good contractors I know are in Brooklyn!

Anonymous said...

a friend sent me the link to your blog after hearing about a TERRIBLE experience i had with Harmon serveral years. Like your job we had a major remodel in a bathroom, were putting in a second bath and had planned to do that kitchen after the baths were conpleted. He started the job, demo'd the bath and began laying tile. he got one row of tile in and quit for a week( i heard all sort of health and personally issues excuses). when he came back i handed him the shelves for the tub and he threw a fit and demanded more money to put in the custom slate shelves(we had dicussed). after agreeing to pay him the added cost he put up shelves and left. Weeks past and we never heard or saw him again. We hired someone else to finish the job, they did a great job, but had to remove all the tile that Harmon put in. because is was not properly water sealed. Then SEVERAL months later we get a noterizered letter from Harmon claiming collections on our unpaid balance. Or he was going to seek legal action. haha. as if anyone would pay him for the piss poor service he provided us. anyway, thats my rant. I am sorry that he is still in business and put other families though this same nightmare:(

sheena clark
sheenalorenclark@yahoo.com