Home Improvements Ramping Up Again

We brought in a new contractor yesterday to give us an estimate for finishing off the room above our garage. It’s always a bit depressing meeting a new contractor. Not because he was mean or anything (he and his partner were very nice and respectful the whole time), but rather because I see my house through a new contractor’s eyes.

Again.

That rarely is a good sight, honestly. When you have a house that was built in 1841 and subsequently renovated by a whole slew of people over the years, it’s inevitable that things aren’t going to be up to snuff. (Especially when some of those renovations were done by yours truly . . .)

Yesterday was no different. The floors were saggy in places. The angles didn’t quite come together right. Plans we’d thought made sense no longer did. Again, this is nothing against the contractor. I imagine some of it comes down to a matter of taste. When I look at how another author has written a scene, I critique it. There are things I would have done differently if I were writing it. Things I like, things I abhor. So that plays a part. And in the construction business, when you’re required to build something using the work someone did before you, it’s good to approach it all with a healthy dose of skepticism. (Especially when you know they guy who did the work before you ended up being a thief.)

Anyway. We got through the experience, and we’ll be getting an estimate soon on how much it’ll cost. There’s a part of me that still wants to do it all on my own. But there’s a bigger part that is through doing it half as good as someone who does it professionally, and then just accepting the flaws as part of the learning process. I suppose which side ultimately wins out comes down to what the estimate looks like, but for now, I’d say the “Pay Someone Else to Do It” side has a healthy lead. I’ve got too much else going on to be adding one more thing to my To Do list . . .