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Posted by cajunpaisley on May 15, 2008, 3:43 pm
I am a carpenter. Not a contractor. I've offered to help a friend re-
do her living room floors and kitchen. I have a knack for making
things look nice without spending a lot of money..I have a good nose
for bargains, a good eye for detail, etc. Rewiring that had to be
done, to accommodate new fixtures, new fan and a dimmer switch
replacement were all done by a licensed electrician.
I am dealing with my friend mostly, but lately the husband has gotten
involved in the process. The living room floors are done, they are a
good brand laminate. Installed and baseboards, shoe are coped and in
place. Now to the kitchen. No decision has been made on tile or
countertop materials...First the theme was to be "neutral", then not
to spend too much money, then they looked at all their friends and
family's stuff and made a sort of decision...only to waffle on design,
product, you name it. (remember, I am doing this free, so money or
pay is not the issue) The wife's usual comment has been "you have
good taste, just do something and i'll like it". Now the husband has
stuck his nose in it...and has NO clue what he wants, but pontificates
forever about what he thinks he wants. He nitpicks every decision, is
hard to engage as to "friendliness" and at the end of each twice or
thrice daily dissertation..he says "well, it don't matter to me
anyway". But then five minutes later, here he starts up with the
nitpicking (he knows nothing about carpentry) I don't ever dispute
color, as we all have different tastes. The end of this project is a
custom bar, but the bar is going to be the last thing to be done. And
because it will depend on some of the choices that they make...my
specialty is custom wood pieces..all unique, and quality sturdy usable
functional bartops. The husband has never been to my house, which is
a showcase of what I do, I've asked the wife to bring him...oh well.
Not that I want their house to look like mine, just to show them i
have a sense of good quality..
I am getting quite frustrated..as I don't have time to dick around
with them forever, I offered to help them, but not to babysit while
they nailed one foot to the floor. I've told them ideas, where to
shop, the necessary steps to achieve the look they want. (of course
they want it all rock bottom, but that takes some thinking and
planning, anyone can have a great looking kitchen if you spend a lot
of money)
My question to the group, what would you do? I do not want hard
feelings, as we are friends. This is the first time I've ever worked
with them. And what would I say?
My big problem is with the husband. I just for the life of me, cannot
engage him, it is just superficial babbling that I get from him...my
husband says he is just using his "game face". Game face for what?
The wife tells me one thing when it's just she and i, but when she's
around her husband, she parrots him.
Perry
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Posted by Joe on May 15, 2008, 3:52 pm
cajunpaisley wrote:
> I am a carpenter. Not a contractor. I've offered to help a friend re-
> do her living room floors and kitchen.
> The wife tells me one thing when it's just she and i, but when she's
> around her husband, she parrots him.
> Perry
>
further proof that no good deed goes unpunished.
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Posted by cajunpaisley on May 15, 2008, 3:59 pm
> cajunpaisley wrote:
> > I am a carpenter. =A0Not a contractor. =A0I've offered to help a friend =
re-
> > do her living room floors and kitchen.
> > The wife tells me one thing when it's just she and i, but when she's
> > around her husband, she parrots him.
> > Perry
>
> further proof that no good deed goes unpunished.
"further proof that no good deed goes unpunished."
I had to chuckle at that, because when I come home and relate the
day's
events and jibberish to my husband, that's exactly what we say.
I'm afraid at this point, that if I finish helping them, then they are
not
going to be happy with ANYTHING, and if I don't finish helping them,
then
I'm a jerk...so, I feel like I'm in a lose/lose situation..
Perry
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Posted by Joe on May 15, 2008, 4:16 pm
cajunpaisley wrote:
> I'm afraid at this point, that if I finish helping them, then they are
> not
> going to be happy with ANYTHING, and if I don't finish helping them,
> then
> I'm a jerk...so, I feel like I'm in a lose/lose situation..
> Perry
on top of all that because they are not paying going rate they obviously
don't see the true value in what you are doing for them. I'd try to
find a good ending place where the job doesn't look half done and back
out gracefully if possible.
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Posted by evodawg on May 15, 2008, 7:10 pm
cajunpaisley wrote:
> I'm a jerk...so, I feel like I'm in a lose/lose situation..
> Perry
You are in a lose / lose situation. Get out NOW you are not appreciated!
They are taking advantage of your good nature. DON'T LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN,
YOUR WORTH MORE!
--
"You can lead them to LINUX
but you can't make them THINK"
Running Mandriva release 2008.0 free-i586 using KDE on i586
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