Sad Day/Tough Love

Today I phoned a renovator and had him come up and tell me if he can finish what my handyman started. He showed up on time, took notes, and said it wasn't that big a job and he'd do it. He'll give me the price (gulp!) tomorrow.

He'd barely left the house when my handyman showed up at the door with tears in his eyes. He handed me my house key as I'd requested and cried as he explained he hadn't meant to cause me any trouble.

As angry as I was yesterday, the sight of someone in such mental anguish was heartbreaking. I did stand firm, though, and told him he'd left me in a real mess by tearing so much of the basement apart (without my permission) and then abandoning me with it still undone. He wanted to continue the job but I told him no, that I'd already hired someone else to do it.

This man is no demon. He had great intentions when he started redoing my basement but he seemed unable to stop himself from doing too much. Soon he was over his head in work and couldn't face it. The result was that he procrastinated for way too long and I finally lost patience.

I told him how disappointed I was that our relationship had soured over his lack of commitment to completing what had started out as a relatively simple reno job. All he could see was that he'd put more money and time into it than I'd paid for...but he couldn't understand that almost all of the work he'd done was nothing I'd asked for. As of today, 8 months from the beginning, my basement is a demolition zone with half the walls and ceiling gone.

Last Spring I hired this same man to paint the front porch. I asked that it be sanded and painted...it's a small porch. We settled on a price and then he discovered that the concrete was disintegrating so he put a layer of plywood on the porch and steps and painted it with some kind of pebbly stuff that looked great but cost a fortune...so I doubled the price we'd set. It took him 4 months to paint the porch. I'm a slow learner and sometimes dumb as dirt so what did I do? I hired him to redo the basement.

I am at fault for expecting him to do what was asked and get it done in a reasonable amount of time. I've known him for 40 years and should know by now that his personality doesn't allow for that kind of rational behaviour. He has a heart of gold but he follows his own rules and timetable. I deserve to be in the mess I'm in.