stewpid deck guy

Last year around this time I decided to add on to my deck.  My original deck was big enough for my grill. And only my grill.  I also decided to keep the original deck and just add on to it since it seemed to be in good shape (if I had to do it over again, I would've started from scratch...that or hire someone who doesn't suck).

I could tell from the get-go that this guy that I was working with was kind of a tool.  He would call me every morning on my way to work to tell me what he was doing. 

Most mornings he was taking his kids to school or drinking coffee on his way out to my house.  As much as I tried to screen his phone calls I would eventually have to call him back to get his update on how the deck was coming along. 

Kansas weather during this time of year is very unpredictable; this year the days have been in the 70's-80's and at night the temp's get down to the 30's-40's.  By the time my deck was actually finished last year, there was snow on the ground, so really...the nice days are usually hard to come by; this year has been amazing though.

So, anyway, I tried to make sure that he was there working when the trusty weatherman said it was going to be nice and not freezing cold outside. 

One evening I was out to dinner with some friends and crazy guy calls me on the phone.  I decide to answer, since he never really calls at night, in case something was wrong.  I definitely should have screened this phone call.  I was out to eat, after all.

I remember very clearly that the weather the following day was supposed to be really nice, so I was thinking that he was calling to tell me that he'd be out there early.  The phone call, however, went something like this:

Deck Guy:  Hey, uh, Kristin, how's it going?
Me: Good, how are you, what's going on?
DG: I just wanted to let you know that I'm not going to be able to work on the deck tomorrow because I have to take my wife to get an IUD put in.
Me: Oh. Uhhhhhh.....ok? Um....right. Ok.
DG: Yeah, we just had a baby and we don't wanna have any more for awhile and I just need to take her to the doctor.
Me: Sure. Fine.  Um, so when's my deck going to be done?

REALLY? I did NOT need to know that little tidbit of information about your wife.  Thanks though, buddy.  Make something up for all I care!  Your personal life is just that: personal.   Gross. 

Also, my friends that I was eating with were all trying to figure out what was going on as this phone conversation was taking place because I'm pretty sure my face was full of pure shock.

SO, just as deck guy promised, he "finished" my deck that weekend.  Below is the finished staircase.  Looks good, right?



Really?!



I realize that the color is two-tone (this is because it's old deck/new deck-it doesn't look that way anymore, obviously) but this guy shoved scraps of wood under the bottom stair to make it even and decided to not replace the posts of the staircase.  So, essentially, my staircase is floating over the ground.  Perfect!  Just what I wanted, a deck that won't pass inspections.

The big boss guy from the company I hired came out and found a lot of things that my stupid deck guy messed up and they fixed a few of the problems but not that ugly bottom stair.

Luckily, my parents live close by and are very smart so we were able to fix this little problem because the company that I hired refused to fix it. 



OK, it looks ugly now, but it's so much bigger and nicer! Er, kind of.

Thanks to one of my good college buddies, he and I were able to stain my deck back to one pretty color.  I had to outsource the ladder labor...I was too scared to try to hang on to the stain bucket, the ladder, and the paintbrush, but luckily my pal Joe loves doing that kind of thing :)

Dan, Trish and Pete enjoying the new bench on my new deck at Laila's first birthday party!

Puppies playing :)

Long story short, use a decking company or person that someone recommends to you and not some weirdo or a company that sucks.  While my new deck is great and serves it's purpose well, the process caused me many headaches and freak out moments to say the least.  This is only one of the stories from my deck guy, unfortunately I have many more...