Exciting topic today, eh?
As with most things, there is a story behind that one word. We had the final walk-through and created the punch list on Friday for my home addition construction. My architect included a note that I would list missing things, including a cost for the items, and deduct it from the final bill. A terrific idea, because several times during construction I posted sometimes long emails to the contractor and architect over things that have gone missing.
I know where everything is in my house, or I did before construction. One of the strangest feelings is to reach for something that you’ve kept in a particular spot for, say, ten years, and find it missing. So, if you ever have construction in your home, be prepared for your property to disappear. No matter how much you complain, it just happens.
I got a bit angry as all my flashlights disappeared and basement lightbulbs were broken every week, but I got angrier when I realized that no amount of complaining on my part would stop things from disappearing. There seems to be a universal truth that construction guys have sloppy boundaries when it comes to a homeowner’s personal property. If they see an extension cord, they use it. Unfortunately, it just doesn’t get returned after they use the cord they borrowed. They also take bottles of water, orange juice, and, sometimes, food from your refrigerator.
Once a construction guy picked up the phone when it rang and scared my mother.
I complained regularly about all of these transgressions.
After one of my big tirades, the guys did manage to return a shovel. It wasn’t mine, but was close to the one I described to them that they had taken. They returned a big plastic tub that I used in the garden, too, but it was cracked and broken. The battery lanterns, flashlights, extension cords, and other stuff never returned.
Someone took my ancient ipod, too, but I figure I got the last laugh on that one, because it doesn’t hold a charge at all any more — I left it in an ipod speaker in the basement to use during workouts. I am upset that someone took my old ipod, but I’m relieved that they thief didn’t take the little speaker thing when he took the ipod.
The missing dustpan situation strikes me as funny because I didn’t notice until last night that they were all gone. I wonder what else I’ll discover missing in a month or so, long after this list is done and I’ve paid the contractor.
Around the middle of construction, I became hyper-vigilant about my brooms, because they were regularly commandeered by the construction crews until I rescued them (usually from the yard right before a rain storm) so I could sweep something up in the house. Once I realized that the guys kept what they borrowed, I did my best to hide the brooms.
What I failed to notice until this weekend was that some time in the last few weeks, my dustpans disappeared. I know the big one that I use to pick up leaves in the fall was in the basement as recently as a month ago, because I used it then to pick up errant plastic shipping peanuts in late July and early August when I was cleaning up the basement after most of the construction work was done. Of course, I used my big yellow flashlight a couple weeks ago, too, but it was gone when I reached for it so I could look out into the crawl space under the new addition on Thursday night during our walk-through with the contractor.
Of course, hiding things from contractors has its downside, too. I still can’t find the screwdriver and hammer that I hid when I realized the guys were taking stuff they could see.
