Another Hold Up

I started off waiting for my tile contractor to show up for a meeting. I had almost given up when he showed. We had a face to face conversation after exchanging written statements that seemed almost irreconcilable. I rejected a $2,000 change order to a $2650 original bid. He never mentioned my letter in response so I don't officially know if he received it yet or not. I sent it to him certified mail, but only yesterday. I also sent him a copy via email Sunday night but it's unclear whether he ever checks his email. He did tell me about how the job was more complex than he thought it was at first and explained some carpentry tasks and creative mudwork he had to do to compensate. I reminded him that I asked him before he started, and before 8 weeks of delay on his side, what prepwork needed to be done. When we parted we agreed he'd finish the job, but only for the original estimate.

But then...

When I got home from work today I went straight upstairs to the bathroom to see what had been done. NOTHING. AAgh! So, after trying to decide what to think, how to respond, I just called him to see what he had to say. His substitute assistant, the brother of his regular assistant, tripped on the front porch steps first thing. Sim took him to the hospital, he had a hairline fracture to the wrist. Shoot.

So now I'm meeting with Dave tomorrow morning to talk about fixing the front porch steps. This could be interesting. Dave's the one who did the carpentry that Sim had all the complaints about. Sim did some funky stuff with the bathroom floor, different from how we first described it, oh probably going on a year ago now, or maybe only 10 months. I wonder what Dave will think of it. I've been living on borrowed time with the porch steps anyway. Shoot.