Contractors

Every time I’ve had work done on an apartment it's stretched out for roughly twice the time as that initially projected by the contractor.

The first time I did a renovation was on the bathroom of my old place on 12th street. The workers broke ground on September the 10th, 2001. The next day the world changed. This combined with the fact that I lived below 14th street made what was supposed to be a weeklong job a month-long one.

The work I’m having done on my new place consists of a paint job, installation of a flat screen TV into the wall of the living room, and the fitting of sconces into the bedroom wall. It was supposed to take three days. That was two weeks ago.

The paint job and installation of the sconces happened relatively quickly. But then there was a hold up with the electrician coming back to put the flat screen TV in the wall.

He finally showed up this week. Then, just as the TV got mounted and I began to see the light at the end of the paint can and wire-ridden tunnel, the head contractor informed me that he needed to order a wire to complete the TV hookup. The complication stems from my desire to have the DVD player and cable box on the other side of the wall as the TV.

However, as with most difficulties in life, there was a silver lining: I got to change my mind. About the color of the closet doors in the living room. About getting the steps to one of the terraces painted. I even found something the painter had, due to the way they close on one another, neglected to paint on a closet door in the bedroom, and had him fix it.

Strangely, even big inconveniences can work out, in the end. Just as long as these contractors finish in the next week.