The people helping.....

With the demise of our 203k loan application, we decided to use our savings to fix up as much of the house as we could. We decided that redoing the existing bathroom and kitchen were our top priorities for now, and we nixed the new bathroom and figured we could work on other areas one at a time. But we decided that it would be easier if we had some help getting things done. So here are the people we have (or had).....

The General Contractor: Our general contractor for the 203k loan was still around and we felt really bad for him, because he hung around for so long only to end up out of a big job. so we really wanted to give him something to do. It was very obvious from the get-go that the contractor was not as into the project anymore. We told him what our priorities were and asked for a new bid. So he haphazardly pulled out some relevant bits from his original estimate and sent it to me, insisted on getting a new plumber to turn in a bid and threw in a general figure for electrical. It was clear though that we were not going to be able to afford doing the plumbing and all the priorities we had set, so after a lot of back and forth, we decided that the contractor would do a complete kitchen remodel, which included supporting and leveling the sagging ceiling (which is also the bathroom floor).

The Plumber: We ended up asking for the first of 2 plumbers that the contractor had turn in estimates - the new plumber came in a little bit higher than the first, but his bid only included redoing the existing bathroom and not putting in a new one. So we asked for the 1st guy and decided to put in the new bathroom.

The Electricians: We ended up getting a local company to come in and do the electrical. It basically included everything we wanted in the loan and they came up with a very reasonable estimate. In fact they just called me to tell me that they were done with rough-in and were going to schedule an appointment for the inspection tomorrow.

Our friend Bill: Born and brought up on a farm in Nebraska, Bill has been a great handyman. Although he prefers to to frame and hang drywall, he will probably do anything construction related. Unfortunately Bill got a job that started Monday, so we don't know when we are going to see him next. It was great when he would come over do some stuff during the day when we were at work and suddenly we had new walls, ceilings and plaster ripped out, a leveled kitchen ceiling.

In spite of all the help, we have still been busy ourselves, but it all seems more manageable. Although Bill got rid of old hanging cabinets in the kitchen, Seth and I tore out the rest. We then put down a new IKEA floor in the new bathroom and in the kitchen and are the general clean up crew. I even cut up our old cast iron bathtub and we hauled it downstairs to the dumpster. We will probably be putting in kitchen cabinets this weekend!!