Lessons of Renovation

The finished product

Although we had a fairly good working relationship with our Contractor, I do believe that we were short changed in the end. 

We had signed a contract for the services to be performed, but when the project didn’t finish on time (originally a 3 week process that turned into a 2 month project), the Contractor became less interested in finishing the project as described in the original proposal.  I believe that once his profit margin began to shrink due to unexpected situations, he simply lost interest.

Case in point, we had an entertainment center that had been damaged by the tenant.  This was a built in unit that had deep gouges where the tenant had their computer center.  When we began the project, the Contractor recomended that we remove the unit entirely and refinish the hardwood floor underneath.  Prior to demolition, we were provided very expensive alternatives (custom cabinetry options) that were well beyond the scope of the project and quite frankly, beyond our pocketbook.  An option that the Contractor came up with sounded like a fantastic idea….he would bring in a professional artist to paint the built in entertainment center.  *Dave Cahill Homes is well know for their artistry and I was excited.  Little did I know that the Contractor saw a group of painters across the street from our house, ran over and asked them to give him a bid on how much it would be to paint the interior of our house AND as a bonus, they needed to throw in the repainting of the entertainment center for FREE!  Of course, we learned about this AFTER the painters ruined our built in entertainment center that was beyond repair. 

The painters used high gloss black latex paint.  Due to time restraints, the Contractor had the painter paint a second coat while the first coat had not had time to dry/cure.  Not only did they do this, but they put the painted, wet shelves back in the unit and left.  Guess what happened after that?????   The paint pealed off.  Large sheets of black high gloss latex paint bubbled and pealed.  It was a complete disaster. 

Since it was impossible to salvage the cutom built-in entertainment center, the Contractor had no other alternative than to go with the original plan of removing the unit and refinishing the floors.  That meant, the floor guys had to come back and sand, stain and finish the floor, the drywall guy had to come back and repair the drywall and the trim guy had to come back to install baseboards and guess who did the prep, prime and paint?   I did.

We replaced 6 windows and the wood used to trim out the window should not have been used because it was too wet.  It is now warped and needs to be replaced.  We have brought this to the attention of the Contractor three months ago and he still has yet to respond.

Our kitchen is beautiful and the staircase is beautiful, but the painting and windows were a disaster.  We withheld about $1000 from the final bill waiting for the Contractor to finish.  We should have withheld more than the $1000, because it is going to cost us more to fix it and even more to force the Contractor to perform.

Would I recommend *Dave Cahill Homes?  It depends.  He did a great job on our kitchen and staircase.  His suggestion of sprucing up the fireplace with granite was fantastic.  What lacked was his oversite of the painting and using inferior materials with the trim around the windows.  This is still an unfinished element of our remodel.  I think he meant well and he has a very high opinion of his abilities as a general contractor….but when the project didn’t finish on time and he had to come back to fix some problems, his enthusiasm deminished and he ended up not honoring his promises and/or commitments.

Lessons learned: No matter how  detailed the bid, you need to know what will happen when the unexpected happens.  We should have made the original proposal more detailed.  Although he did provide a bid to re-sand/refinish the hardwood floors, after we signed the contract, he said that it was only for one room and did not include all of the hardwood floors.  I contacted the insurance company and they said that their approval of the contract was for the entire first floor.  This is just one example.  The Contractor did eventually include the entire first floor hardwood flooring into the original proposal

Lessons learned: When a bid is for painting, you have to be more specific.  Painting to the contractor meant that the painters would paint (not prep, repair drywall, clean baseboards of debris before painting).  You need to detail out your expectations as to include Prep work, Primer, Paint, and how many coats.

We love our house and the way the house looks and feels.  We had excellect trades for the dry wall and all of the flooring.  The detail trim work was good on the interior of the house.  The exterior is still incomplete and we will have to redo this part of the project.  The window replacement was added to the proposal as an extra cost to us.  In total, the repairs for the Tenant water damage was $40,000 + an additional $5500 for a new A/C unit.  We ended up going out of pocket about $15,000-20,000 all said and done.

I’m not sure if we are ready for a major remodel/renovation project again.  But when we do,  I will know more what to expect and I won’t be afraid to speak up and get ALL of the facts BEFORE signing a contract.  No assumptions.  And expect the unexpected.

* DISCLAIMER: Dave Cahill Homes in NOT affiliated with Cahill Homes who has been building in Central Florida for 35 years.

The Renovation Project – The Demolition

Demolition

Demolition

When our renovation project began on July 18th, the projected completion date was set for August 8th, 3 weeks later.  This time frame was determined by everything running perfectly and smoothly.  Demolition would begin on July 18th.  The first week would be to remove the wall of cabinets in the kitchen, remove part of the stairwell, remove the Air Handler and stack in the closet, remove the kitchen and bathroom flooring, remove the bar in the front room, remove 6 windows in the back of the house, remove the hot water tank and remove the mold infected walls in the kitchen, closet, air handler closet and stairwell.  The most difficult part of this process was making sure that the Wood Mode custom kitchen cabinets were well preserved with no damage to the cabinets and/or countertops. 

This is one of the main reasons we hired Dave Cahill of *Dave Cahill Homes.  Other renovation company’s that came out to bid on the job, would not guarantee that the kitchen cabinets would not get damaged in the renovation  process and none wanted the additional expense if something did go wrong. 

By the end of the week, everything was removed and the mold remediation complete.  Large plastic sheets and tape masked off the rooms where the mold was being remediated.  Mold experts were called in to supervise the mold removal and clean up process.  Mold samples were taken to ensure that the mold remediation was complete.

What you could not imagine by the type written words in this blog was the heat inside of the house.  With the air conditioner disconnected in the middle of July in Central Florida, the heat was nearly unbearable.  Fans were brought in to move the air around, but the hot air did not keep the trades cool.  I walked inside of the house to monitor the progress of the renovation with a cool wet towel drapped around my neck.  Within seconds of entering the house, sweat was pouring down my face; my clothes were soaked and any makeup I had put on that morning, was gone within minutes. 

The day the cabinets were scheduled to be removed, I was nervous.  Just one slip and the custom, non-replaceable cabinets would be ruined.  Dave brought in a custom carpenter named Stephan.  Stephan (a craftsman from Quebec) was absolutly amazing.  He liked working alone and within an hour, the wall of cabinets were removed and stored in the family room….without one scratch.  He was very meticulous and knew exactly what needed to be done.  Well at least this was the worst part….or so I thought.

*DISCLAIMER:  Dave Cahill Homes is NOT affiliated with Cahill Homes who has been building in the Central Florida area for 35 years.

Renovation Project

After several months negotiating with our insurance company and interviewing several renovation companies, I decided to use a trusted name of a local builder well known in the Celebration and Orlando areas….*Dave Cahill Homes.  At the beginning of the process, I quickly realized that the Insurance Company was not looking out for my best interests.  The Insurance Adjuster was indeed working for the Insurance Company and when it came to reviewing the final project scope, I decided to take my own initiative to find a contractor that could look out for my best interests.  Although the insurance negotiations took 6 months, we found the BEST solution to a difficult situation.

With Wood Mode Custom kitchen Cabinets with values of more than $200,000, the insurance company recommended a second renovation company out of Deland to handle the mold remediation and reconstruction.  The protocol for the mold remediation required the removal of one of the walls which held beautiful custom kitchen cabinets. When the owner of the second renovation company came out to preview the potential project scope, he quickly backed out when he realized that the insurance company was placing an additional financial burden on the contractor should any of  the kitchen cabinets become damaged during  the removal and reinstall process.  Since the ability to match these cabinets was nearly impossible if damaged, the contractor would then be required to replace ALL of the cabinets in order to match.  This is when I reached out to Dave Cahill of *Dave Cahill Homes.  Working with Dave Cahill made the insurance process easier to maneuver and my confidence with the renovation process began to grow.  We also decided to utilize Dave’s skills with additional remodeling services, such as a full first floor remodel as well as replacing some our Marvin wood windows.

I met Dave Cahill in February 2011 when I requested an evaluation of the project scope presented by the Insurance Adjuster.  He was very quick to point out additional items that the Adjuster had “missed”.  No surprises there…..

After 6 months of failed recommendations from the Insurance Company, they decided to approve *Dave Cahill Homes after Dave was the only contractor willing to accept the liability of the project.  For Dave, the kitchen cabinet removal and reinstall did not pose any liability because he had the best subcontractors in the business for this Renovation Project.

Decisions were made and the project Approved – Finally – June 5, 2011

*DISCLAIMER:  Dave Cahill Homes is NOT affiliated with Cahill Homes who has been building in the Central Florida area for 35 years.

Tenant From Hell

Even the most horrific landlord/tenant stories eventually have a happy ending.  Mine is no different.  We decided to lease our Celebration, Florida home to a national brand real estate company in early 2008. What we thought was a sound business decision turned into an unpleasant, antagonistic relationship filled with late rent payments, unpaid rent payments, attorney fees, lawsuits, water damages, broken promises, cancelled insurance policies and ultimately, eviction proceedings.   

We received an email from our tenant October 2010, indicating that the hardwood floors were buckling, floor tiles were becoming unglued and popping up, doors weren’t closing properly and the air conditioner wasn’t working properly.  My husband flew down Florida to investigate as to “why” this was happening.  Upon his arrival, he hired a licensed A/C company to discover the source of the problem.  It didn’t take them long to determine that the A/C condensation line had gotten clogged with algae and the water had been leaking from this build up, saturating the sub-floor.  What was the cause for this water intrusion? It was due to lack of maintenance (tenant’s responsibility) and the water had been leaking for a long time.  This went undetected, possibly for months.  Well at least we knew that the Tenants insurance company would be able to repair the damages, right?  Wrong!  The Tenant cancelled their required insurance policy a few months after signing the lease, leaving our insurance company to handle all costs of restoration.

What happened next was my 6 month journey working with the Insurance Company and searching for the BEST contractor that could handle this renovation project.

My Life – My way

Greetings … welcome to Cathy Melton dot com … this is where I’ll be sharing my views, my way!

So often, many people are concerned about being Politically Correct.  Well, for the most part, I try to be nice to everyone.  But there are times, when nice just won’t cut it.  I am a direct person and I have an opinion. 

I created this Blog site in order to share my views, the events in my life, and the solutions I found along the way.  Life is tough, life is challenging and yet life can be incredibly exciting and joyous.  Feel free to share your stories and your solutions on this site. 

I will cover topics such as Real Estate (this is my passion in life….I absolutely LOVE what I do and for the most part, I LOVE the people I have the pleasure of working with),  Projects (I am always busy doing something), Relationships (personal and professional – I promise to reflect before I post), Politics (I am a little bit of everything – but mostly I am fiscally conservative.  With my Turnaround Management background and certified as Six Sigma Lean – zero waste, I believe in efficiency and I believe in the American Spirit and the  American Dream.  I also believe that the Federal Government is too big and I believe in States Rights), Health, and anything else interesting.

So, enjoy and share.  Life is too short to be unhappy, sad or angry.  I got a second chance at life and I appreciate every moment God has given me.  Blessings to all……