Continued Plumbing Woes…

As mentioned previously, no plumbing permit was pulled for the work in our house and we had to have the BRAND NEW concrete in the basement torn back so that the county inspector can view the pipes and witness a pressure test.  When the inspector arrived for the first try, he found 3 additional issues that the plumbing company (big company, one of the oldest in Seattle) had to address.  They ended up tearing up more concrete, part of our foundation wall and a 2′ section of my BRAND NEW AND FRESHLY PAINTED drywall!!  To add a little insult – I found an empty bottle of wine from a case we imported from France under the trash pile that the first and second crew used in our back yard.  Seriously, why would they leave the bottle?!  As a ‘Fuck You’..?!

I am unhappy and Stamps-With-Foot is livid.  The plumbing company GM came by and was really apologetic and assured us that we would get an update, directly from him, every day.  That hasn’t happened and we had no clue that the concrete was being re-poured until my floor re-finisher called and asked if it was OK that he let the concrete guys in.

The new concrete is super wonky and out of level – 1/2″ below the toilet flange and my tile guy wants $800 in addition to his original quote to lay extra floor leveler.  To rub salt in the wound, the plumbers sent us a bill for $36,000 dollars.  That is not a typo: $36K.  The original agreement was for $9200.00 BEFORE they screwed up.  I called the GM, sent him all the emails that had gone back and forth and he promised that he would get right back to me.  That was a week ago…

Super frustrating.  Out of the 7 contractors that have worked on our house remodel and garage build, the plumbing company is the ONLY one that we have had any issue with.  Everyone else to this point has been super easy to deal with, lived up to their contract, filed for and received permits, and were clear and concise when small issues came up.

I am not naming names – yet.  I am going to see what their next step is.  If they try to bill me for another dime, I won’t hesitate in publishing all the details, pictures, e-mails and text messages here on the interwebs – I get 34K hits to my site a week, so…  I will be having a long talk with the county concerning a fine request, use Angie’s List remediation, file a BBB complaint, file a WA State L&I claim, and then there is the Consumer Protection Division of the WA Attorney Generals office.   That should get things started at least.

Plumbing Screw-up 2016 (1) Plumbing Screw-up 2016 (3) Plumbing Screw-up 2016 (2)Plumbers drank my wine_ 2016

Aftermath of a robbery

A couple of months ago, we were robbed – my shop was cleaned of tools. It is just now that I have calmed down enough to write about it and not rant and want to get up and throw things/commit serious bodily harm to someone. All of my hand tools, small power tools and a rolling large tool box were taken. It was a huge blow, not just in dollars, but in sentiment as well. There were carving chisels that were my grandfathers, most of my father’s wrenches , 80 year old spoke shaves, saws, a brand new – never used – router, and all my air nailers. Cleaned out.

We were in the UK and Ireland for 9 days and a couple days after we got back, I had a miserable day at my J-O-B and just wanted to work in the garage/shop and make a big pile of plane shavings – stress relief. I walked in the door and there was stuff everywhere (more than usual). Boxes off shelves, lumber moved, clamps scattered… I couldn’t comprehend what I was seeing – did my wife move my stuff… No… Wait… Fvck!! I got crazy mad, then wanted to cry. My stomach tied itself in knots and my heart was sick as I made a mental calculation of what all was in my tool boxes. I called the cops.

Police came, took a report, I called in insurance company, and started looking on Craig’s list and in local pawn shops, while taking slow and painful inventory of what was gone. Not one tool, chisel, saw, router, or wrench ever showed up. To add insult to injury, I know who took it all. We had some contractors do some work at the house around Christmas and one of them was a little sketchy. Not weird junky-itch sketchy, he just looked around at everything in the house and yard with an appraising eye and followed me into the shop to get some supplies I had for him to use and he lingered just a little too long. I didn’t really put it all together until weeks later. I won’t go into details because I cannot “prove” anything and an online accusation could lead to court or this guy showing up at my house again and that would lead a different sort of court case… But I KNOW this guy has my stuff. I know, not a hunch, not a feeling, I know. I called the police to tell them what I had found and I was told that unless he was seen on a public street with one of my tools in his hand, that they could do very little. No warrant to search his vehicle, or house, or shop would be forthcoming… Man, it pisses me off that I paid this guy for slow work that I had to finish AND he took my property – tangible links with my father and Grandfather.

I filed a complaint for the workmanship issues and uncompleted work with the BBB, gave him a craptastic review on Yelp, and let the guy who recommended him know what all exactly happened. Maybe I can save someone else’s stuff. Additionally, I cut the plug off of a power planer months before the break-in because it had an electrical short to the metal housing. I hope that he puts a plug on it and the thing shocks the living shit out of him or that one of the carving chisels slips and relieves him of a reproductive organ in the lower abdominal region…