Plumbers and contractors eat their young. They all do. It’s just how they are.
Finally got back in touch with the good contractor who was willing to talk to the city inspector. He’s bidding about a billion dollars just to do the plumbing, with the “pump in the basement floor to force the sewage back up to the main drain” option. We declined the “decorative fountain of sewage” option, since that would have cost more.
He’s still trying to figure out how much to charge to shore up the footings under my master bathroom. Code says that these footings should be 4 feet deep. They’re 14 inches deep. He wants to bring in a guy with a machine that pounds a pipe or a stake or something underneath the footing. I asked why he couldn’t just do what I’ve seen at other houses, and shore up each corner, dig under, and pour cement to the correct depth. He responded with a story of “destabilizing the structure” and (more compellingly) with the reality that he would have to back a cement mixer over my garden to get enough cement there.
The guy is playing me like a harpsichord.
Once it’s stabilized and the plumbing is in place, then we’ll talk about insulation so that the pipes don’t freeze this winter. Wheeeeeee. The good news is that at that point, the building will be code compliant in every dimension where we’ve looked. I have no plans to look at the electrical wiring. At all. Ever.
Inevitable overruns and complaints to the “better bid-ness bureau and indian casino” will be addressed at a later date.
Oh yeah, and the futon delivery got pushed back to next week.
Plus, the social security administration apparently doesn’t know that I’ve been employed this last year. My company has been sending them money, but … ummmm … well …
Gah.
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