Two (almost) down

I feel like I've spent the past week waiting for service people to come to my house. There wasn't even a lot of things that needed to be done but it seems like I've spent a lot of time invested in waiting which prevented me from doing other things. There were three things we were crazy enough to think we needed done.

1. Have the one piece of broken glass replaced in the window at the front of the house.
2. Replace the kitchen countertops.
3. Convert the downstairs bathtub to a shower.

My only priority was the broken glass. It should have been quick and simple so we had a glass company come out and they gave us an estimate. $358.69.  WHAT? No. We called another company and the new estimate was $269.95.  Alright, okay, that will do. So that is two afternoons shot due to the two estimates and now they need to order the glass and come back to install. Luckily, I got the call and they installed it yesterday afternoon and that is all nice and complete. One down.

Another afternoon/evening was spent (almost two hours)! with the man giving us an estimate on the tub to shower conversion. He offered a material of corelle-like panels instead of tiles and went into deep explanations of the entire procedure. He gave us small samples of the products, and colors to choose. They would demo the three walls around the tub and strip it down to the bare walls. A master plumber would do his part, the new walls and base would be installed and doors would go in. It would be completely installed in two days. His explanation felt like it took two days to get through. The cost was close to $8000.00. I almost packed up this samples for him to hurry him out of the house.

Another afternoon we had the people come out to measure the kitchen countertops. Jay did a little extra work by stopping by their showroom prior to their visit to talk about estimates and he also picked up samples. Jay hadn't given them the correct footage so when they came and measured the price was higher than he anticipated. I called Jay since I was at home with the installer and he at work and told him the final price. He asked me if I should negotiate. What? No! I shook my head at Jay (the phone really). They weren't charging any more. They were just charging for the actual amount of countertop we have. They weren't increasing the price. There was nothing to negotiate and I wasn't going to wait for another estimate. I told them to do it. We are waiting for a call back to say the product is ready and can be installed. That will take up another day for installation.

We waited two other days for tub to shower conversion people that never kept their appointments. Two more wasted evenings and I'm now in a complete tizzy over lost days. That's six lost days out of just over a week. I haven't been able to do anything after work with all this waiting and meeting and talking to people coming to my house. 

The window is done, the countertops will be done soon and another estimate for the tub to shower won't be until next Monday. I was foolish to think these were going to be three simple things. I hadn't anticipated multiplying each one by the various parades I would need to attend in the process. I guess with almost two down, I should count my blessings and try to take advantage of  any free time while I can. Who knows when another parade will begin.

TT