Not a lot to report. Several beautiful days gone by without workers but we had them for 3 days out of the last week. Our project manager is "out of town" on another job so we expect to see workers come back once he's back which is fine by us - he actually has a critical eye and expects as much out of the craftsmanship as we do so at least when we point things out to him, it's usually not an argument. It just takes awhile because of how busy he is.
Stone masons finished the fireplace (brick herringbone pattern, and put cap on chimney). They still need to replace some stone in the archways, chip the overhang away on the upper step, outside edge and finish the 1x1 tile over by the lounging area. But I am so happy with the fireplace.
Chimney Cap (and trim work on the columns - this trim work is actually okay)
Untitled by
Ranger_Bob, on Flickr
Herringbone Pattern
Untitled by
Ranger_Bob, on Flickr
Inspiration Photo
Photo_Video_1476114504_medium by
Ranger_Bob, on Flickr
Upper Step with flagstone extended that will be chipped off (they did this to match the pattern of the other flagstone, but we think it will look better with an even edge to the step)
Untitled by
Ranger_Bob, on Flickr
Carpenters did a terrible job at the finish work so we took pictures and sent to the project manager - which is why he is coming out on Friday. At this point, since we are so far past the date I had hoped to see this completed, I told Bob, I'm not compromising on anything. The carpenters boxed out the chimney, but still need to do the flashing. They finished the tongue and groove on the ceiling, started putting stain on the pillars (dropped stain on the concrete which still has to get fixed). We still need a counter installed along with all of the appliances. They cleaned up the yard, it took 2 tries.
The heated discussion this week was around the plaster. Initially we were told diamondbrite, then 4 months ago when Bob started talking to the PB about the plaster he said stonescapes. I said, really? the contract was pretty generic about an upgrade to an Hawaiian aggregate but the PB gave us Stonescapes samples to choose from. This week the Project Manager said it wasn't in the contract. So we asked the office girl (remember her?) to provide us a breakdown of what the cost was for "standard" finish, what the actual upgrade cost was to the Hawaiian aggregate and then what the additional upgrade is to the Stonescapes and then what the added cost is for the abalone shells. The PB offered to stain the DiamondBrite black (the color we are going with) but then later agreed it won't work with the dark colors and we won't be happy with it. (That was a non starting option for me anyway and although it sounds like he might be steering us to the Stonescapes I agreed with this logic). So now that I feel we have spent just about the same amount of money it probably cost to build our house 10 years ago....we're going with the Stonescapes mini pebble black with abalone shell. Thanks to all the TFP'ers who responded to my PM's about the colors and giving me tips about the abalone shells. I told Bob, I really, really want those. At this point, I can't see getting all this way and not finishing it with what I had always expected from the beginning - well or convinced myself I could get comfortable having. (I really wanted Pebble Tec but our PB doesn't work with any Pebble Tec installers so I settled for Stonescapes)
Still a ton to do - and we really can't see the plaster going down until all the other things are finished but the initial plan by the Project Manager is "next week"...6.5 months and counting. Original project timeline: 3 months. We are tracking close to Martin Kennedy's estimates (2x whatever you are told) - Karen
-Karen