Repair Disarray

So the fun with Waypoint and the contractor who signed to take on the drywall repairs has been just as bad as the leak we suffered with for nearly 2 months now. I was about 24 hours away from calling an attorney because of the lack of communication from Waypoint over when our property would be repaired. It was bad enough they waited as long as they did to get two bids for the re-pipe before contracting Roto Rooter to accomplish the repairs. It took another 4 days in order to get two more bids to repair all the drywall that had to be cut away in order to run new copper pipes between the first and second floors.

Everything looked to be on track during my days off. Waypoint had chosen a contractor who said they would start on Wednesday. There had been talk of Monday, but there were further issues and any hope of having the repair done before the weekend was gone. The contractor arrived on Tuesday morning looked over the repairs that needed to be accomplished and spoke with the maintenance supervisor from Waypoint that they would be in contact.

I received a call later that day from Waypoint and the contractor and they had agreed on a price and would start at 8:30 on Wednesday. About 9 AM the contractor showed up, walked the house again and determined supplies they would require. He then told me, “okay we will go buy the supplies and be back on Thursday morning to start.” Huh? Thursday morning? So much for anything being accomplished during my days off. Now my wife was livid and we were back on the phone with Waypoint.

My wife had some plans Thursday morning and as the contractors arrival time came and went, she quickly took to the phone and laid into Waypoint, who they had to find out why the contractor had not started. It seems it came down to manpower and the ability to get anyone to the house to repair the drywall. They did make Waypoint a guarantee it would be done by Monday. So their 5 day window suddenly shortened to a 3 day window. I will tell you right now, they won’t make Monday.

Friday comes and the contractor is there bright and early, but the individual at the door isn’t the one who is going to be doing he work. He just made an appearance and was waiting for the workers (notice plural) to arrive. One worker showed up. This guy worked close to 8 hours on Friday, which should have been plenty of time to cut patches for the drywall, put them in place, tape and possibly get a coat of mud on. This guy didn’t even finish getting all the holes patched in the house, leaving the bathroom and kitchen incomplete. He didn’t even start in the garage.

To make matters worse, looking at the patches that were cut and placed makes me wish I would have done the work. The patches are very rough. Now, I know thanks to my limited home remodel experience you have quite a bit of flexibility when it comes to working with mud, so the patches don’t have to be perfect. His patches weren’t and I even think some will need to come down. The bigger problem, half of the patches of drywall are backwards. Instead of the smooth whitish-grey side facing out, this guy put the brown cardboard side out. Why? He had no answer, then again I don’t think his English skills were too strong. Guess we know where the contractor got his day laborer from, in front of a big box store.

The worker then has the balls to ask, “can I work over the weekend??” Woah! Since you didn’t hanging the drywall correct I am a bit hesitant to see how else you go about fucking these repairs up. Waypoint was in contact with the contractor, named Joe yesterday and left a scathing message (sort of like my emails and phone calls that went unanswered to Waypoint). My wife already told them they could not work before 1PM today. No idea as of yet what the outcome will be, but I can’t see the contractor being done with the drywall, mud, texture and painting by Monday.

More failure on the part of Waypoint? Another black eye in my opinion it sure is. It’s nice they took 10 days worth of rent off our May payment, but I fear that might not be enough as we are still without a downstairs bathroom, a kitchen and living room that covered with plastic (thanks to me) in order to keep down the dust. It’s a virtual disaster area right now. I think Waypoint needs to go a few more steps in making things right.