Battle of the egos (not of the blades).

I couldn't help but noticing that I haven't posted anything for a couple of weeks now. A lot has happened in a short period of time. The house looks great, the framing is 95% complete. 

It has been inspected by the structural engineer who has told us that, apart from a couple of small things, it is extremely well built. That's because those Russian framers are really amazing and have been doing a great job. 
Mechanical has also started and the mechanical contractor is very competent and pleasant to deal with. His job is very precise and neatly executed, which is comforting to see. 

Next item on the list is the plumbing. Now, I can't really say it started on the right foot. The plumbers decided to go to the house last week-end and mark where some of the fixtures were going to be located (for example, the damn toilets). So they went and started cutting holes in the wrong places. The builder noticed it and was quite horrified. It wouldn't have been so bad had I not hired the plumbing crew myself... But I gave the job to a friend of mine and now I am sort of responsible for the fuck-ups... indirectly.


So, since every problem can be solved (well most of the time), I had to sit down with my friend the plumber and figure out how to make things right going forward. The problem was that his guys were working off some drawings which have been revised at least 3 times in the past few weeks. So their set of drawings was slightly outdated, obsolete to say the least. I provided everyone with new drawings today. I also made a list of all the fixtures we have ordered, which I hadn't done before so I'll take the blame for that. The reason why I had not done it is because I still have not chosen the fucking toilets. They continue to confuse the hell out of me. I HATE TOILETS! So far I have picked 2 out of 5... I am failing totally... 


Anyhow, we decided that we would all meet at the job site this morning to go over all the bathroom and plumbing details. It was interesting (from a woman's perspective at least) seeing how these male contractors interact with one another. Basically, on a job site, nobody likes to take orders, I have noticed. The builder is the project manager  and he tells /explains to the trades what to do based on the house plans. He is extremely knowledgeable so would I be one of the trades I would just do as he says. I have witnessed today a bit of battle of egos between all the men present. Some contractors get pissed off when they receive an order, namely the plumbers (it is not that they are openly pissed off, it is more subtle than that, they sort of roll their eyes or shrug their shoulders), some others are fine with it. It was sort of amusing to see... for a short period of time though....  because I just don't want any power issue fucking screwing up the job so I am obviously backing up my builder, who I trust and who I know is looking out for us. Whatever builder says, you do. End. Of. Story.