The biggest f*ck-up so far.

Just when we thought we had regained control of the project, we were in for another big fucking surprise. 


As I have mentioned before, we have been waiting to receive some material from Spain. The material is called Prodema and it is used as cladding on the outside surface of the house.  We prepared the house for it a while ago as we were supposed to get it at the beginning of April but it turned out at that time that the Prodema has just been put on a boat and was going to be 4 weeks late. 


It arrived in North America at the beginning of May and was delayed in custom for about 4 weeks, which is something I have never heard of. At any rate, it finally made to our town and was being delivered today. Now, I am not sure whether I should cry or completely lose it about this whole thing. 


Yesterday, before the Prodema was supposed to be delivered, the supplier asked us to process payment. We declined on the basis that we needed to inspect the material and make sure it was the RIGHT wood. The supplier called back and said "we won't unload the truck unless we have payment in full". To that we replied "Say what? What the fuck are you talking about? You are delivering 2 months behind schedule and you want to dictate the terms of payment. Why don't you just go fuck yourself? Seriously! Not a chance". The sales guy, this really cheesey little asshole, called back and said that "he has been burned out by so many residential customers, that's why he needs payment but ok, he'll make an exception and let us inspect the material before getting paid". You fucking right you will. So the truck arrives this morning and the two Russians carpenters are now unloading the truck. This Prodema is heavy as hell and they are really having a hard time bringing the stuff down.


At any rate, the material is tightly packed in a crate and we decide to open it to make sure we have the right color material. Package opens and..................... WRONG FUCKING FINISH!!!!

                                   
                            !!!!! (O_0) !!!!


At first, I was like "WTF, am I dreaming? Is this really happening? Can't be happening! I must be high or something". One of the carpenters goes "Is it right wood?". I answered "I am pretty sure it is not right wood". 
I was sort of in denial at this point. I was thinking "How can they fuck that up? I mean, 40k of the wrong material". We needed MOCCA and it turns out that DARK BROWN was ordered. Two completely different finishes, even if you were color blind or a complete idiot with colors/finishes, you would get it right. Mocca is the same color as coffee and dark brown is red. Hello, is anyone fucking paying attention cuz it surely doesn't look like it. So now, we are back to square one, we don't have the material, we don't exactly know what to do. Our completely idiotic salesperson has been trying to figure something out but now we are dealing with the person above him who is trying to figure out the lead time on the Mocca. Is it in stock and how fast can it be shipped? Since we are moving at the end of June, it looks like we might move in a house which exterior is not complete. 


Great! Well, the thing is, again, we have no control over anything so there is not much that we can do. It is just another one of these really irritating situations that can't be solved easily, it is going to take a lot of negotiating and threats to get our Prodema in a reasonable time frame. Of course, some of my friends will say "well, but you know, you are lucky that you can build a house, so just don't complain, suck it up". Okay, sure, I can suck it up but because you are lucky enough to build a house, does that mean that you have to lay low and keep your mouth shut when shit like that happens? Does it mean that you have to suck it up when some stupid sales person makes a mistake like this and doesn't check his work? So you are basically supposed to say "Oh, that's fine, please don't worry about it, we will just wait for the fucking Prodema for another 5 months, what's the rush?" Quite frankly, screw that. I am going to complain about all I want because I think that's completely justified. And I am not finished complaining. That's just the beginning. 

Sometimes alcohol is the answer.

Over the past few weeks, many mistakes have been brought up to light on the job site. I was speaking with a good friend of mine who says that the drywall reveals many problems that were invisible before. No kidding! Besides the fact that these mistakes are being discovered, there is also the very annoying fact that nobody is ready to take responsibility for these problems. Needless to say that I am so fucking utterly annoyed by this. At the stage of the game, it sort of goes like this: the drywall is fucked up so you ask the drywall guy "why is this like that?"and the answer is "it is not me, it is the framer". 
Then you go to the framer and they tell you "No it is not me, it is either the dry wall guys' or the structural engineer's fault"... OK. Well, I am not convinced and I am not happy either. 


Right now we have a problem with the door jamb sticking out further than the dry wall. The answer I get from the carpenter (who I trust) is "the dry wall guy told us what size door jamb to get and that's what we got". The drywall guy will say "no, that's not my fault, your builder probably ordered the jambs at the wrong size". Meanwhile, I am thinking "no way, my builder would not make a mistake like that". It is entirely the drywall guy's fault. But somehow he doesn't have the balls to admit it.


Why is nobody taking ownership of their mistakes? WHY??? I mean, I make mistakes, I hate making mistakes but I take responsibility and I also try to fix them. But when everybody is too busy blaming the "other guy", it leaves very little time to actually sit down and try to find a way to fix the mistake. That really really REALLY pisses me off. A lot of my friends just tell me "don't get so fucking upset, try to relax, have a drink". Okay, I can do that and I can try to relax but it is just one thing after the other these days and I am really losing my patience at this point. Alcohol is just not the answer anymore. Now, I would like this type of answer from the trades: "Yes, I think it could be my fault, I am sure I can fix it, let me see what I can do". Now I know that this is not going to happen in this case. Which is too bad.