Three times is a charm? Read on...
...ahhh... a day like any of our recently splendid Indian-Summer days of September in Codiponte... a good-weather-insuring-breeze out of the South, a cloudless blue sky, birds tweeting in the persimmon tree outside the Upstairs Apartment and only a light rumble of heavy truck-traffic over on the Strada Statale 445. Maybe the breeze was NOT out of the South... because... A Day of Great Promise... all went PUFF!!! about five minutes after Our Builder showed up on site.
He had come by to tell me he would not be able to finish the last items of Phase III by the end of the day. Oh? Well, I'm not the one having to pay A Penalty... for what? 85 days now? That was all it took. Our Builder went gigantic-nuclear-war-head-carrying-exterminate-the-entire-fucking-world ballistic!!! His highly radioactive Rant & Rave went on for 45 minutes. I was berated, assailed, castigated, criticized AND insulted!!! A scary performance. The man was so beside himself, he shook all over.... lips & ears included. When I saw the man draw-up both hands into tight fists, I felt sure he was going to sock me into 2012 or... worse still... out & over & down the 25 foot drop to the Cortile!!!
I fled to a safer elevation and promptly called Our Geometra. My message was simple...
Get your butt over here ASAP!!! I will accept nothing less.
Above me, Our Builder attempted to call the same. I was faster on the draw... ha!!!
I called Mr. You-know-who too. My message to him was simple...
that man has spat on the plate which feeds him!!! And, am I supposed to say... Thank you? Mr. You listened and then excused himself to go operate on some person. I really should call him by his 6 years of medical school title of Dr. rather than that lightly insulting Mr. However, I am NOT the one who insisted upon Anonymity!!!
I also called Our Lawyer. His message was simple too...
Am I standing on solid ground if the builder sues me? What I got was an appointment for the following Monday. I believe hysteria is always better in person than over the telephone.
Our Builder... now brusquely demoted to plain ol' builder... had left the premises, loudly dragging his work-guys with him. We're off your lousy project!!!
Out with one and in with another. Our Geometra appeared. We sat down & looked at the contract for Phase III. Lo' & behold, I was standing on solid ground though Our Geometra cared not for the bad feelings running rampant between the participants. We adjourned for the weekend, allowing tempers to cool until Monday.
I left to buy some ricotta for my pasta lunch at the village's convenience store. Inside the establishment's door, my nose decided to erupt into a gusher of a nose bleed. Ruined one of my favourite blue & white striped shirts. Panicked, I called Dr. You. He was fresh from slicing into some person's... well, never mind that. Dr. You exclaimed that my blood-pressure had probably shot through the roof. Oh, great! Am I going to have a heart-attack? No, a stroke. Take an aspirin... be quiet... lie down. These are Dr. You's Standard Remedy, irrespective of any symptoms, etc. I obediently did All-of-the-above.
So now, let me ask you, please...
...how could the builder ignore the Penalty Fee? He was in the office when we discussed the time frame and a penalty, if the work wasn't finished on a specified date... Our Geometra set June 30th as The Date of Completion... OR, those items on My Construction List such as, the electrical plant, painting, flooring, windows & doors and a kitchen counter, might be held-up due to the builder's tardiness. The previous penalties for Phase I & II were Euro 50 for every date late. The builder managed to deliver those on time. This time, for Phase III, we agreed... Our Geometra suggested the amount... upon Euro 75 for each day late. I imagined, to give added UMPH!!! to the Due Date. The builder brushed it off by saying he & his work-guys would finish by the middle of May. Fine. 75 Euro it would be. We then both signed the contract. The Builder immediately began to screw up the schedule from Day One. Delays, excuses, absences. Then, he started with his hissy fits. But, enough about those.
...how could the builder also ignore being late by 3 months? T'was him & NOT US, who decided to completely shut down work for 3 weeks in June because, we hadn't selected the flooring. The builder could very well have gone on with the Plumbing Plan & the Laundry Room. Did he? No! He certainly did NOT!!! T'was the builder who, again, shut work down for a month and a half from the first week of July to the end of August, giving priority to other building projects... ones I later learned he risked loosing more than any Penalty Fee of ours... and, bucking August 15th, vacations for the work-guys.
The builder accepted & signed the contract AND spent his time ignoring it!!! Yet, a Big Mystery.
Tempers, emotions or, fears of heart-attacks cooled over the weekend. On Monday, I met with Our Lawyer. Yes, I was standing on relatively solid ground but, it would be better to write & have signed by the builder another contract for any settlement, a Penalty figured into the equation. I felt that would just upset the waters more. Dr. You agreed.
On Tuesday, I met with Our Geometra. I made an offer for him to present to the builder... I would stop the Penalty clock, pay the builder what was his due, as soon as he had finished all the items on the contract, minus a discounted Penalty Fee. I got something yet, I had to give something up for some Peace & a completed Phase III.
The Mighty Gist of all this construction Sturm und Drang... and, it is a bit irritating to admit to... is... at the very, very end of the day... the builder is a good one... we trust him to do good work we are happy with... he solves construction problems... and... damnit... breaking in a new builder might be the end of me. Gads.
...ahhh... a day like any of our recently splendid Indian-Summer days of September in Codiponte... a good-weather-insuring-breeze out of the South, a cloudless blue sky, birds tweeting in the persimmon tree outside the Upstairs Apartment and only a light rumble of heavy truck-traffic over on the Strada Statale 445. Maybe the breeze was NOT out of the South... because... A Day of Great Promise... all went PUFF!!! about five minutes after Our Builder showed up on site.
He had come by to tell me he would not be able to finish the last items of Phase III by the end of the day. Oh? Well, I'm not the one having to pay A Penalty... for what? 85 days now? That was all it took. Our Builder went gigantic-nuclear-war-head-carrying-exterminate-the-entire-fucking-world ballistic!!! His highly radioactive Rant & Rave went on for 45 minutes. I was berated, assailed, castigated, criticized AND insulted!!! A scary performance. The man was so beside himself, he shook all over.... lips & ears included. When I saw the man draw-up both hands into tight fists, I felt sure he was going to sock me into 2012 or... worse still... out & over & down the 25 foot drop to the Cortile!!!
I fled to a safer elevation and promptly called Our Geometra. My message was simple...
Get your butt over here ASAP!!! I will accept nothing less.
Above me, Our Builder attempted to call the same. I was faster on the draw... ha!!!
I called Mr. You-know-who too. My message to him was simple...
that man has spat on the plate which feeds him!!! And, am I supposed to say... Thank you? Mr. You listened and then excused himself to go operate on some person. I really should call him by his 6 years of medical school title of Dr. rather than that lightly insulting Mr. However, I am NOT the one who insisted upon Anonymity!!!
I also called Our Lawyer. His message was simple too...
Am I standing on solid ground if the builder sues me? What I got was an appointment for the following Monday. I believe hysteria is always better in person than over the telephone.
Our Builder... now brusquely demoted to plain ol' builder... had left the premises, loudly dragging his work-guys with him. We're off your lousy project!!!
Out with one and in with another. Our Geometra appeared. We sat down & looked at the contract for Phase III. Lo' & behold, I was standing on solid ground though Our Geometra cared not for the bad feelings running rampant between the participants. We adjourned for the weekend, allowing tempers to cool until Monday.
I left to buy some ricotta for my pasta lunch at the village's convenience store. Inside the establishment's door, my nose decided to erupt into a gusher of a nose bleed. Ruined one of my favourite blue & white striped shirts. Panicked, I called Dr. You. He was fresh from slicing into some person's... well, never mind that. Dr. You exclaimed that my blood-pressure had probably shot through the roof. Oh, great! Am I going to have a heart-attack? No, a stroke. Take an aspirin... be quiet... lie down. These are Dr. You's Standard Remedy, irrespective of any symptoms, etc. I obediently did All-of-the-above.
So now, let me ask you, please...
...how could the builder ignore the Penalty Fee? He was in the office when we discussed the time frame and a penalty, if the work wasn't finished on a specified date... Our Geometra set June 30th as The Date of Completion... OR, those items on My Construction List such as, the electrical plant, painting, flooring, windows & doors and a kitchen counter, might be held-up due to the builder's tardiness. The previous penalties for Phase I & II were Euro 50 for every date late. The builder managed to deliver those on time. This time, for Phase III, we agreed... Our Geometra suggested the amount... upon Euro 75 for each day late. I imagined, to give added UMPH!!! to the Due Date. The builder brushed it off by saying he & his work-guys would finish by the middle of May. Fine. 75 Euro it would be. We then both signed the contract. The Builder immediately began to screw up the schedule from Day One. Delays, excuses, absences. Then, he started with his hissy fits. But, enough about those.
...how could the builder also ignore being late by 3 months? T'was him & NOT US, who decided to completely shut down work for 3 weeks in June because, we hadn't selected the flooring. The builder could very well have gone on with the Plumbing Plan & the Laundry Room. Did he? No! He certainly did NOT!!! T'was the builder who, again, shut work down for a month and a half from the first week of July to the end of August, giving priority to other building projects... ones I later learned he risked loosing more than any Penalty Fee of ours... and, bucking August 15th, vacations for the work-guys.
The builder accepted & signed the contract AND spent his time ignoring it!!! Yet, a Big Mystery.
Tempers, emotions or, fears of heart-attacks cooled over the weekend. On Monday, I met with Our Lawyer. Yes, I was standing on relatively solid ground but, it would be better to write & have signed by the builder another contract for any settlement, a Penalty figured into the equation. I felt that would just upset the waters more. Dr. You agreed.
On Tuesday, I met with Our Geometra. I made an offer for him to present to the builder... I would stop the Penalty clock, pay the builder what was his due, as soon as he had finished all the items on the contract, minus a discounted Penalty Fee. I got something yet, I had to give something up for some Peace & a completed Phase III.
The Mighty Gist of all this construction Sturm und Drang... and, it is a bit irritating to admit to... is... at the very, very end of the day... the builder is a good one... we trust him to do good work we are happy with... he solves construction problems... and... damnit... breaking in a new builder might be the end of me. Gads.
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