People ask me how I manage to stay calm. 'I have no idea,' I reply. It feels a little as though I am watching it on TV, or about to be the subject of a gotcha call.
Neither is true, and the gruelling process of working through a contracting problem lingers unresolved as I write.
It all began last year when we chose a company to supply and install our floorboards. We paid a 50% deposit in October to secure our NSW Blackbutt that was being shipped from over East. A few days delay in handover saw a scheduled installation become a nightmare.
In an attempt to reschedule our job before family started flooding in for the next 4 months, we rang and e-mailed this floorboard company incessantly. On the rare occasion that we caught the owner in, a promise was made. 'The floorboards will be delivered before Christmas'. 'We will begin work on 7th January'. 'The timber will be delivered this week…' Nothing happened. Aged parents were forced to squeeze into our tiny rental as we waited and waited for wood delivery and installation.
Eventually, in February, a wood delivery was made, but only a quarter of the correct amount, and minus the moisture barrier and other necessities for the job. Hours of waiting, phone calls and texts later a second delivery arrived. This too was inadequate for the job and the installers as well as us were getting tired of being strung along. A third delivery turned up, and this is where things got lively.
The message from the delivery man went something like this. 'My boss will be coming back with a gang of men to rip up your floorboards. If the door is locked they will bash it down. The floorboards haven't been paid for.'
This build has given me many new experiences, but it was novel to be threatened by a wood supply company that I hadn't even heard of. As luck would have it, the boss realised his mistake and agreed that it wasn't me he had the argument with, but the floorboard company who we had already paid for the wood.
So while we keep our front door, our steps and second floor remain in a state of limbo. Interestingly, in the middle of all this, the company presented us with a new contract asking for payment during installation as opposed to payment following installation. As of today the company is unwilling to finish supplying materials for the job to continue until we pay a further 40% of the bill.
Consumer Protection and the Building Disputes Tribunal are on the case. It seems this company is not unknown to some of them.
We just want a decent job on the floorboards and a house that we can finally move into.
There is one good thing. The painting is finished and the contractor on that job was a gem.