In over my Head

This remodel on the old house is giving me grief.

I'm in over my head.

We hired my nephew to help him make some money and to save us some.

But he's only one person and the scope of work has drifted.

He heads back to school next week and has told us he will not be able to work this weekend.

The paint will not be finished...
***
I hired a sink repair man to touch up some old sinks.

He told me that to pull out the old sink from the cabinet would be a headache.

I let the fear of a problematic sink fastener get the best of me and with out doing all my homework, I pulled out the whole vanity. In doing so, it tore up the cabinet.

We could have put the old thing back in, made some repairs and replaced all the plumbing and been done with it.

Instead it's sheet rock repair, patch the floor tile (which is a special tile), purchase a new base and sink top.

I realize why I wanted to change it all out.

I wanted the integrated counter and sink top like we have at the new house.

Not the best thought process.

The base trim is not complete.

The tile work is 90%.

The oven is on order.

The vent-a-hood will be too small for the upper cabinet, but that will have to do.

The new vanities will get here tomorrow and I will begin to put things back together.

The carpet will be installed next week, and things will look better.

In the mean time, I have blown my budget.

I will approach the bank after we get a contract on the house and see if I can get the house reappraised for more. This will allow me to pull more money from the home equity and pay back the short term loans for repairs, thus lowering the monthly expenses for the house.

What is painted needs some touch up here and there but it looks good.

***
If I could do this all again...

I would hire professionals.

They work purposely to minimize the scope of the job and the faster they finish it, the more money they make. They also have the resources and experience to make those costly decisions disappear.
If there is a conflict with quality of work, you can dock pay or hold a check and they won't like you any more or less.

Hiring family limits possible remedies.

You also can't fire them if need be...
***
In the end, I got scared and ran my expenses up...

As we uncovered 30 years of neglect, we found more and more hidden problems...

To paraphrase Zelda, "when we do this again, let's buy a house that won't take much work".

I agree.

I'm in over my head.
***
I can do this.

We can do this.

We will do this.

And it will be a nice place for someone to live...