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Swimming to Sunset

Gravel delivered that will aid the drainage system!

Rainy woes around town lately. One of our rental properties, Sunset Valley,  is sure not handling all of this rain very well! It has been a battle with the already saturated ground to keep the water from damaging anything. It’s also just a terrible thing to have water sit at the foundation of a house.

Pro tip! Move that water AWAY!!

Luckily, we found an expert in installing drains underground that will (hopefully) fix all of the issues.

What’s Going on with the Rain?

One of the trenches in the front with the drain pipe started, and Caution tape! This guy really knows his stuff and is all about safety!

What is really bad is that we usually do not have this kind of rain, so while it is very necessary right now, we may not realize the benefits again for a good while. I’ve heard people who have been here their whole life say that they don’t remember a time this wet in a very long time. I do not either. But we must protect the investment!

Finding a Guy

This awesome landscaper who just moved here from California had given our contractors from the Washington house his business card, and I called to see if he could help. Isn’t networking good?

To our joy he said he knew all about these types of things and has a lot of experience with them! So, he has been busy at work digging trenches and creating a large spillway (by hand) to put a drainage system in.

He has really worked incredibly hard and has made amazing progress (did I mention BY HAND) in only two days of work. He also found some issues with the gutter system and is going to address those as well. I’m sure glad he came along!

We can’t help what Mother Nature decides to do, and we can only seek out people who know how to work around it. Maybe it will stop raining long enough for him to finish soon!

Bac kyard. All of that water in the trench will soon have a better place to go! It usually just pools on the back porch area.

The back yard trench going under the fence to meet the other side.

The other side that meets the back yard drain with the spillway at the end. The spillway is a good two and a half or three feet deep. All of that water NOT causing an issue! Yay!

 

 

 

 

Here is the pipe that is going under a side walk.

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Lining Up the Parkwood Contractor

This can become a nice entryway, right?

Now that we have the keys to the Parkwood house, Carol has been able to go through it in greater detail. She also chose which contractor to work with for this project, so our friend Ray from some of our previous jobs will be joining us again for this one. His bid will work well for us. Welcome, Ray!

What’s the Plan?

You’re probably well aware that the house has a lot to clean out, which has to happen first. But at least you can see floor space now in some of the rooms.

We’ve had queries about whether any of the stuff that’s left is worth buying from us, or if we can donate it to folks we know. Carol’s pretty sure there are horrible germs or bugs on all the furniture, and is equally sure that the relative who stayed at the house after the previous owner died managed to find the things that were worth selling. And we are glad that she did, because she deserved to get something out of her dedication to the property.

After clean-up, the fun begins. Here are some highlights of what Carol and Ray agreed to do.

It’s dark and dreary in here. Let’s add skylights.

Interior

  • Add skylights. As you can see from the photos, the house is pretty dark inside, so two skylights will go up in the living area.
  • Remove a wall into the kitchen. There’s an unfinished wall leading into the kitchen. It will go away and help open up the main living area.
  • Finish the laundry room addition. The laundry room used to be in the garage, and it was partially converted into a room, but without an air conditioning vent. We’re going to add one and finish the addition, which is basically sound.
  • Update the bathroom surrounds.
  • Find the source of and remove the smells in the master bedroom and any other smelly room.

This is some of the nice siding that has already been renovated.

Exterior

  • Replace the trim with wider boards. This will give it an updated look.
  • Finish the job of adding new good quality siding to the house. The material is there; it just never got finished.
  • Replace the roof. This is really important, of course. Carol hopes to use a newer, more modern color on the roof, and will repaint the exterior modern colors.

And all the obvious issues and damage you can see in the photos will be addressed. As you look Carol’s photos over, let us know if you have any other ideas we could try!

More Fun Photos

 

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To Follow Up on Renovations

Sue Ann’s blog from Tuesday discussed what she and Lee saw at a hotel they stayed in. It was obvious that corners were cut (drastically), and the job was probably not inspected before payment was made [Sue Ann says that WAS the rumor she heard]. I want to add to that some of my own experiences.

Always inspect the job upon completion! Most of the contractors that I have worked with are honest, but even the honest ones should expect that you will inspect everything that you have been charged for.

You’d be smart to look under there and check if those faucets are installed right!

If something is wrong, bring it to their attention before you agree that the job is complete.

  • Have all utilities on so they are able to see if any water is leaking or if there is a faulty plug or breaker.
  • Check the bathroom and kitchen faucets to make sure that they are placed properly and
  • Turn on the temperature of water that the faucet says it should be. This seems to be a mistake that I have heard of happening more than a couple of times now.

One house we have had the kitchen faucet on backwards, and also the bathtub faucet was on upside down.

Check those things before the crew leaves!

Sue Ann and I will be inspecting Rattlesnake together when she gets back. I don’t expect anything to be amiss unless it was just an oversight along the way. Even though we have trust and confidence in Chris’s work, it is just a good practice (and is a great excuse to “Ooooh” and “Ahhhh” over what we see). I also know that if we should find something that is not right, he will make it right. He is very detail oriented, so IF something is not correct, I know well that it was just an oversight and not poor workmanship. On a project of that size, it would be easy to overlook something small.

Be picky with what you’re paying for, but not unreasonable. Make sure it is done right of course, but not so nit picky that you’re just being a pain. If the texture has one dot that doesn’t look right to you, that IS NOT a flag on the workmanship. If the faucets are upside down (even if they work) that IS a flag.

Also, remember the budget that you gave them. Is the budget you allotted for flooring fair, or will the contractor have to cut some corners to make it work by using lower quality materials? Look around the area and see what a fair price is. Fair in a big city does not equal fair in a small town where property values are like night and day, but do consider where the contractor is coming from and how far they are traveling. Be reasonable in consider that information.

 

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A Contractor for that Mattress House?

“I’m very good with digging through rubble. You guys should have hired ME,” says Vlassic.

The good news is that the Mattress 8 project in Temple no longer has any mattresses in it.

The bad news is that it doesn’t have a contractor working away in it, either.

It’s not for lack of trying! Lee and Mandi have been contacting potential contractors, scheduling meetings, finding the potential contractors are flaky, and starting the process again. Lots of times. I know that all our mentors say Craigslist is a great place to find contractors who will work for reasonable rates, but we are not lucking out in the Temple market at all.

But maybe the tide has turned! Lee met with another potential contractor, who even has a team and is interested in investing. His initial estimate is in line with what we think the project will cost to get it up to rental quality. We’re just waiting for the bid now.

Cross your fingers, or whatever you do to support your real estate redevelopment friends, and hope this one works and we can MOVE on this project!

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Contractors. Please Don’t Tap the Glass!

I have had the pleasure and pain associated from working with contractors. Some are great, some are a little more difficult. Recently, I have heard quite a few stories from some of the better (in my opinion) contractors that I have worked with about really bad experiences they have had. I want to go over what should really be common knowledge, but appears as not. Let’s dispel some myths associated with some of these bad experiences right quick.

This is not how contractors create their bids.

Contractors Can See the Future!

There may come an occasion where you receive a bid and the contractor discovers something else that should be addressed. That happens. Make it clear from the start that you need to be notified if it happens, and you will make a decision. If your contractor discovers something like black mold, and you tell them that you don’t want it fixed, please understand that they might leave the project. Black mold is bad for many reasons. They could be held by moral standards as well as legal for turning a blind eye to it. They are not the bad guy for this, and you should have contingencies set up just in case. Please don’t take it out on the contractor if they discover an underlying problem that no one knew about. They are not psychic and do not consult a crystal ball when figuring up your bid. Well, the ones I know don’t do that. There may be some that do.

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