Sliding Gate Installed - New Gate Part Five (finally the conclusion!)
We felt pretty silly (and even more unsecured!) having a new cement wall in front of our property for two weeks but still having a huge gap where anyone could walk or even drive right up to our home. After the crew finished the wall after the first week of work, we thought for sure our gate would be up quickly. We were dead wrong.
On the following Monday (the beginning of work week two), only two of the three men crew arrived. They spent the entire week building the side walls and then covering the cement block in a second cement coating for texture. The men kind of stalled toward the end of the week but we knew the money was coming out of our contractor’s pocket not ours since we were paying by the project not the hour. Friday around noon Enrique came by and inspected the work. He paid the two men and said he would be back on Sunday to install the actual gate which was fine by us since we had a school picnic to attend on Saturday. Please note that we had not paid Enrique a penny yet (we did pay for the supplies) although he paid his crew for two weeks worth of work!
Sunday went by with a no show from Enrique and finally Monday evening he arrived around 6PM with two of his sons. This surprised me since it gets dark here in Costa Rica by 6PM but I knew we had a streetlight right above our driveway which provided pretty good light. Around 9PM we started to become nervous that they were still out there welding and making various grinder noises since most of our neighbors (and even us) go to bed early on weeknights! Finally at 10PM, Patrick discreetly asked them to leave.
Enrique said he didn’t have much left to finish and he would return the next day by 2PM. Around 4PM Patrick told Enrique we really needed to leave so we could pick up Azure from soccer. He had mostly finished and actually gave us a set of keys for the gate. When we returned, Enrique was gone and I opened our new gate for the first time! How sweet and well worth the wait!
The following day Enrique arrived to pick up some of his tools and receive payment. I thought for sure he would change the amount due to him based on the length and added hassle of the project but Patrick said he paid him exactly the amount agreed upon. So, after four months of hoping to have a new wall and gate, the project was completed without too much stress –yeah right!
Oh, by the way, after the crew left and the project was “completed”. We spent a day cleaning up the mess. Supposedly their plan included throwing all the debris including old boards and left over cement into the river! Patrick told them we would handle the clean up “thank you”. We still don’t know where to take some of the refuse and looking at other homes that have been remodeling lately the common practice is to leave everything next to their home until “someone” takes it away.?
Notice in the photo that Patrick even sanded and painted the mailbox so it looks like new-thanks, sweetie!
Next step is painting the wall but we’re still indecisive about the color since typically the wall matches the house but we really don’t want pink!
On the following Monday (the beginning of work week two), only two of the three men crew arrived. They spent the entire week building the side walls and then covering the cement block in a second cement coating for texture. The men kind of stalled toward the end of the week but we knew the money was coming out of our contractor’s pocket not ours since we were paying by the project not the hour. Friday around noon Enrique came by and inspected the work. He paid the two men and said he would be back on Sunday to install the actual gate which was fine by us since we had a school picnic to attend on Saturday. Please note that we had not paid Enrique a penny yet (we did pay for the supplies) although he paid his crew for two weeks worth of work!
Sunday went by with a no show from Enrique and finally Monday evening he arrived around 6PM with two of his sons. This surprised me since it gets dark here in Costa Rica by 6PM but I knew we had a streetlight right above our driveway which provided pretty good light. Around 9PM we started to become nervous that they were still out there welding and making various grinder noises since most of our neighbors (and even us) go to bed early on weeknights! Finally at 10PM, Patrick discreetly asked them to leave.
Enrique said he didn’t have much left to finish and he would return the next day by 2PM. Around 4PM Patrick told Enrique we really needed to leave so we could pick up Azure from soccer. He had mostly finished and actually gave us a set of keys for the gate. When we returned, Enrique was gone and I opened our new gate for the first time! How sweet and well worth the wait!
The following day Enrique arrived to pick up some of his tools and receive payment. I thought for sure he would change the amount due to him based on the length and added hassle of the project but Patrick said he paid him exactly the amount agreed upon. So, after four months of hoping to have a new wall and gate, the project was completed without too much stress –yeah right!
Oh, by the way, after the crew left and the project was “completed”. We spent a day cleaning up the mess. Supposedly their plan included throwing all the debris including old boards and left over cement into the river! Patrick told them we would handle the clean up “thank you”. We still don’t know where to take some of the refuse and looking at other homes that have been remodeling lately the common practice is to leave everything next to their home until “someone” takes it away.?
Notice in the photo that Patrick even sanded and painted the mailbox so it looks like new-thanks, sweetie!
Next step is painting the wall but we’re still indecisive about the color since typically the wall matches the house but we really don’t want pink!
4 comments:
Well after all that time of waiting I would say it was well worth it.
It looks great and I can't wait to open it!
Well after all that time of waiting I would say it was well worth it.
It looks great and I can't wait to open it!
Come on - Pink would be FAB-U-LOUS!
See you soon,
Jen
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