Add to that the inexplicably dumb decisions that get made by some subs. In my case, it's always the electricians. I know they are just doing what they are told, but when they are told something that's just plain wrong--and why wouldn't anyone see that--can't they ask the homeowner for confirmation? Wouldn't that be easier than having to change the wrong thing? Don't these guys ever USE a kitchen?

Boxie, OMG, you and I have the same GC!!! All this sh*t boggles my mind. Not to mention these strange men are sometimes using my bathroom...I have proof, if ya know what I mean. arrggghh! I just keep telling myself it will be over soon. My GC did tell me something before we started that I try to keep in my mind. He said, "you have to break a few eggs to make an omlette." Well, he's "broken" plenty of eggs, and now I'm wondering just how tasty his omlette is gonna be when it's done!

I feel your pain-darn them for not getting out a vaccum! I have cleaned more then ever before in my life-and I swear it NEVER fully gets clean before they are back at it again-I too and only doing a remodel! Annoying.

Yes, the bathroom thing is just another reason I think I should check driver's licenses before they enter to verify their age. I refuse to even go in there. If the dirty path that they track down my hallway carpet is any indication of what I'll find in my hall bath - I am afraid to enter. Thankfully, we do have housekeepers who have been my only sanity - and even thought this is thought to be a construction site, it helps tremendously that they come here every week to help clean up the mess that these men create.

You should have hired female workers - I'm sure they'd be a lot neater :-)

Politely inform your GC, that you will be forwarding your housecleaning service bill TO HIM.

I agree, it is incredibly disrespectful (and lazy).

Boxiebabe--The reality is that you are living in a construction site and construction sites are messy places. And a lot of DIY'ers frequent this forum...hardworking people who not only make a construction mess but then have to clean it up themselves without the benefit of housekeepers.

So, do the sensible things--Cover up your furniture, move the pet food and call the housekeeping service & have someone sent over every evening.

First I will say that I really like my GC and his 2 sidekicks. Then I will say that they do clean up to a point. The drywall dust and sawdust has bothered me so much that I have called in the cleaners that clean up after fires. For a lot of money they did a so-so job. It boils down to me. No one else seems to see the dirt that I see. It is taking forever to clean this place up. I refuse to have the movers bring our stuff back until the rooms meet my expectations. Our stuff has been in storage for over 2 years. We do have some furniture - purchased new. It is in the finished rooms that I have cleaned. I don't even remember or want the old stuff. DH has a fit when I suggest just having the movers sell it off the truck.
Some of the things that I saw that really bugged me were -
We feed wildlife - we are on acreage in the country. One day I looked out and a roofer was taking a leak in the corn - I mean a pile of shucked corn that was on the ground for birds, squirrels and turkeys. He had to see that his feet were in a corn pile. Another time I saw laborors throwing all their lunch trash in a ditch that was part of the ground water heat. I just couldn't handle our place being used for a dump.

You're right CiLantro - about many folks not having benefit of housekeepers. However, not to be misunderstood, I too am one of those "hardworking people". I have a home based business, which means that I am still trying to make a living while living in this chaos. I clean up around here every night. Last night is just what I felt was beyond a usual mess.

(Also, everything WAS draped - but the GC took it down when he thought that the messy stuff was over with. The little measurement oopsie made more mess than I am sure he was prepared for).

I knew what I was in for when I "signed up" for this remodel. Sometimes things just get overwhelming and I've seen others "vent" on here.. guess I just figured it was my turn. I appreciate this forum for not only the good technical advice, but also enjoy being able to hear about real people's stories and challenges.

Thanks for your insight.

Wow, what a mess.

I think that this is one of the things to talk about with a contractor before a project begins that tends to get overlooked - namely, "What kind of mess can I expect, and what measures are you (contactor/subs) going to take to contain and mitigate it?" I believe that contractors here are required to provide a porta-pottie on site before work begins.

I would pull the contractor aside pronto and tell him to hang some plastic sheeting to contain the dust, and ask him to make sure that the work site is picked up before the last crew leaves for the day. Our contractor promised to leave the site "broom clean" every day on an outdoors project(his performance was less than stellar, but that's another issue).

I also wouldn't hesitate to address the entire work crew and tell them that if they can't hit a target the size of a toilet bowl, then they need to clean up their own p!ss off of the floor, because their mama don't live here to clean up after them. Animals soil the floor. Adult human beings should deal with their own excrement, or wear Depends. I don't know if you have Angie's List in your area, but the p!ss on the floor issue is one I'd definitely be including in my review of the work done and recommendation for or against the contractor.

You can feel free to quote me on that. Maybe they'll be relieved to be working for you, rather than me and show some common human decency with regard to the waste products of at least their own bodies.

B

Boxie, I hear you! The source is different, but the feeling is the same. GW is a wonderful, supportive place to vent. You go girl :)

One suggestion for significantly lowering the construction costs was for me to do the clean-up every night. Rather than giving the GC your cleaning bill, do you think he might reduce his fee? Maybe take pics of the mess.

About dinner, I wonder if you could do double duty one night or put something in a slow cooker in the morning before the dust starts flying. At least one task would be done for the day.

Good Luck!
Cotehele

Oh boxiebaby, I could have written your post.

I am four months into this, construction started the Monday after Thanksgiving. It's touched every inch of the house, inside and out. I lived there through it, even when half the interior was re-drywalled.

Now I am at the end of my tether. I am sick of vacating the house by 730 every morning, especially so on weekends and on days when they don't show up (rare, but enough to matter). Sick of the mess and cookie crumbs and dirt and doors being left open and unflushed toilets. Sick of having to take baths instead of showers until the tiling is finished. And to top it all off, I have a nasty cold and I think I should not be at work, but I don't want to go home, since the only piece of furniture that's not in the unfinished basement is my bed. And there is no door (yet) from my bedroom to the master bathroom (where all the tiling is happening this week).

I will say that my very sweet builder has had a cleaning service come through the house several times and they did a fabulous job.

Hang in there ....

Oh, I understand, BoxieBabe. I'm just more tolerant of a construction mess because it's usually me who made the mess. But it does get trying over the long haul. Just grab onto the fact that it WILL be over, that you'll have a wonderful new space and, maybe think about taking a room at a nice hotel for a couple of days for a reprieve and a fresh perspective!

Our contractors were actually pretty neat but I know what you mean about drywall dust. It gets everywhere.

It helps if you:
1) insist that they cover your floors with dropcloths. If they don't bring enough (ours didn't) provide some old sheets or tablecloths for them to use.
2) Cover all the furniture. If you use your own covers you can make sure that they are clean enough to be on your furniture. Contractor dropcloths can be nasty.
3) Turn off your ac/heat or if it must be on, cover the vents with cheese cloth.
4) If they don't vacuum, ask them too. And ask them to bring their own shop vac. Your home vacuum is not meant for that kind of messy work, you'll ruin it if you use it.
5) Close the doors to any rooms that do not need to be accessed by the contractors.

Good luck!

Awhhhh Flatcoat - yours makes mine sound like a dream project. I can't even imagine putting up with all of this, AND being sick. I understand what you mean about leaving at 730 every morning. Mine doesn't show up until 8, but there are some mornings that I just don't want anyone around that early. But, I suck it up and deal with it. One thing that I made clear from the beginning though, NO WORKERS ON THE WEEKEND. I know myself well enough to know that after 5 days it during the week - that would be enough and that I'd be ready for a little down time on the weekend.
You poor thing! I hope you feel better very soon.

Guess it was a good thing for me to post this, because I was able to vent... and gave a few others a forum to vent a little too. :)

I want to say (because if I don't I'll feel guilty!), that other than the mess issue - my entire project and my GC have been just about perfect. We have had no really bad mistakes or scheduling issues - that and he's got a heart of gold and is a very nice man.

Hubby spoke to him this morning, and he was very apolgetic - and totally accepted responsibility, not trying to push it off on to someone else - or making it seem like I was just being picky.

I knew we picked the right guy - guess a little open communication on my part would have been better - rather than letting it build and build, and blowing a fuse last night. LOL

Just gotta keep my eye on the prize.

Thanks you all for letting me blow off a little steam, and for sharing your stuff too.
I feel better. :)

Awhhhh Flatcoat - yours makes mine sound like a dream project. I can't even imagine putting up with all of this, AND being sick. I understand what you mean about leaving at 730 every morning. Mine doesn't show up until 8, but there are some mornings that I just don't want anyone around that early. But, I suck it up and deal with it. One thing that I made clear from the beginning though, NO WORKERS ON THE WEEKEND. I know myself well enough to know that after 5 days it during the week - that would be enough and that I'd be ready for a little down time on the weekend.
You poor thing! I hope you feel better very soon.

Guess it was a good thing for me to post this, because I was able to vent... and gave a few others a forum to vent a little too. :)

I want to say (because if I don't I'll feel guilty!), that other than the mess issue - my entire project and my GC have been just about perfect. We have had no really bad mistakes or scheduling issues - that and he's got a heart of gold and is a very nice man.

Hubby spoke to him this morning, and he was very apolgetic - and totally accepted responsibility, not trying to push it off on to someone else - or making it seem like I was just being picky.

I knew we picked the right guy - guess a little open communication on my part would have been better - rather than letting it build and build, and blowing a fuse last night. LOL

Just gotta keep my eye on the prize.

Thanks you all for letting me blow off a little steam, and for sharing your stuff too.
I feel better. :)

Don't know if you get any BBC shows, but there was a hilarious one on last night (I had to leave for work shortly after it started, so I didn't see much). With Colin and Justin, it was called '20 Things We Love to Hate About Builders'.

One of the many things that irked me about our window installers (and OMG the money we spent on new windows!!!), is that they left them filthy and with all the stickers still on. As it was early on in our reno process, I complained but didn't insist that they clean them, though I did hand one of 'the boys' a dampened miracle cloth and got him to do the outside of the greenhouse windows (they came a few months late), and he sort of had a chagrined look on his face, like 'what do I do with this?' :>)

The granite guys somehow got black all over the RISERS of my carpeted stairs. I have new carpet ready to be installed, but am waiting till my granite gets replaced, cuz I can see it will probably happen again! (You don't want to be fiddling with covering stairs with potential trip-ups when 5 guys are carrying a hunk of stone).

Boxiebabe: I know how frustrating your life is right now. What you're going through is stressful and exasperating, but you must keep telling yourself that it will end someday. However, you must endure a measure of intrusion in order to achieve your goal.

During our kitchen semi-remodel, one of the workers who installed our counters and also one of the guys who put down our floors evidently suffered from IBS--severely! The guest bath, which is also DS's bath, was like a Grand Central Station situated smack in the middle of a sewage treatment plant. DS was not happy.

Treat yourself well during this time, and get out of the house when you can. Hang in there!

Awhhhh Flatcoat - yours makes mine sound like a dream project. I can't even imagine putting up with all of this, AND being sick. I understand what you mean about leaving at 730 every morning. Mine doesn't show up until 8, but there are some mornings that I just don't want anyone around that early. But, I suck it up and deal with it. One thing that I made clear from the beginning though, NO WORKERS ON THE WEEKEND. I know myself well enough to know that after 5 days it during the week - that would be enough and that I'd be ready for a little down time on the weekend.
You poor thing! I hope you feel better very soon.

Guess it was a good thing for me to post this, because I was able to vent... and gave a few others a forum to vent a little too. :)

I want to say (because if I don't I'll feel guilty!), that other than the mess issue - my entire project and my GC have been just about perfect. We have had no really bad mistakes or scheduling issues - that and he's got a heart of gold and is a very nice man.

Hubby spoke to him this morning, and he was very apolgetic - and totally accepted responsibility, not trying to push it off on to someone else - or making it seem like I was just being picky.

I knew we picked the right guy - guess a little open communication on my part would have been better - rather than letting it build and build, and blowing a fuse last night. LOL

Just gotta keep my eye on the prize.

Thanks you all for letting me blow off a little steam, and for sharing your stuff too.
I feel better. :)

OK, sorry for the multiple posts, it said that it didn't take the first 2 times.

I just have to say the title of the post just struck me as hilarious. I could just see you shooing everyone, DH included, out with a frying pan in hand.
Glad the vent helped, especially glad that the GC got a talking too and took it well.
We have a refacing starting in a couple of weeks and they've PROMISED to be very neat and clean up after themselves. We'll see.

- D

A lot of us have felt just as you do right now . . . we lived through several remodels before tearing down our 75 year old house and rebuilding. I've read horror stories about workers who couldn't find a corn pile so used the corner of the house -- inside and/or out! Can you imagine??

I agree -- drywall dust is just awful . . . we've sold this "new" house and are renting it from the buyers until May 1 -- we gave the buyers permission to install an elevator while we're still here. We've moved almost everything out of the storeroom (second floor exit of the elevator) but the first floor entrance is in the garage, which means we must move lots of things out over the weekend and park cars outside until the drywall is done -- starts Monday. The workers have been very considerate, but I'm going to be in a mess, and it's not even my place anymore !!

Hangeth thou in there . . . it will be a distant memory someday. Glad you have a place to vent!

I hate a mess and construction guys can really do it!! Fortunately or unfortunately we were the "construction guys" making the mess at our house. When I read the title of your post I had to laugh because at more than one point in our DIY remodel I was praying for people in my house other than DH and me. Doing all the work AND cleaning up the mess is tough at times. Although we did try to minimize the mess and clean as we went. I am seriously considering hiring a professional cleaning service for at least one thorough cleaning when we finish the bathroom remodel. It would be such a treat to have someone else clean up MY mess!

Go ahead and vent all you like, Boxie. We all need it sometimes!

Oh boy, I have about 3 more weeks until I am in your situation. I am so not looking forward to that part of the project, but cant wait until my kitchen is done!!!!