We are finally making some headway with Hurricane Ike repairs, after many delays with insurance. First up, the garage door which was replaced with no problem. It's actually quieter than our original garage door ever was...so that's a bonus. Plus, it's just nice to park in the garage again. We've been parking in the driveway since September. My car prefers the garage!
Next, the roof. What a hassle that has been. We had a company all lined up but they would only complete the work if insurance would pay for a new roof. After meeting with the adjuster and contractor a couple of times, we were denied and had to settle for repairing the roof. So, we had to find another company to do the repairs. You'd be surprised how many companies don't return calls. You'd also be surprised how wide a range of estimates different companies will give you for the same amount of work. Or how quickly a company will drop their price when you politely say "no thanks"... I got the final quote reduced by over 50%. I do like to negotiate. They ended up scheduling the work when I couldn't be home, so Jeremy made arrangements to be home. They never showed...or so we thought. They were at the wrong house, repairing the wrong roof! Seriously. Jeremy eventually got them to our house and they made the repairs only they didn't complete all the work we agreed on so I had to call the company and schedule them to come back to the house. They came back later in the week, never knocked on the door to let me know they were there, just did some work and packed up. Luckily, I was home. I went out to check on the work and sure enough, they still did not complete all the work. I politely knocked on their truck window (they hadn't left yet, thankfully) and requested they finish the job. ;)
Next, the fence. We got a recommendation from our neighbors across the street. Again, insurance would not pay to replace the fence. They wanted us to replace certain posts but save the pickets and reuse them. It was not worth it to me so we opted to fork over the extra money and replace the whole fence. One neighbor quickly agreed to pay 50% of the cost of our shared fence (a small amount in comparison to the total cost) while the other neighbor said no. We really thought it would be the other way around. The neighbor that refused to pay has always been easy to get along with and not caused any problem (not with us anyway, she is a busy body and is always in everyone else's business). Anyway, we asked if they had a problem with us replacing the fence anyway and of course they said no. Who would turn down a free fence, right?!? So, the new posts get installed and the crazy neighbor lady (my new name for her) goes psycho. I could her hear yelling outside even though I was inside our house. She was obviously not happy about the fence posts...something about calling her lawyer and "they're going to have to pay to fix this" and "they moved the dog house", etc. All I know is the new fence is in the exact same place as the old fence although the posts are now 5' apart instead of 6' apart. We did not steal any inches from her yard if that is what she is insenuating. I watched her try to move one of the newly installed posts. I'm telling you, she's losing it. I waited for her to come over and talk to me but she never did and we haven't heard a word out of them. My theory is, her husband came home, took a look at the new fence, and told her it was 10x better than the old fence and they're lucky we paid for it. Idiots.
So all that's left is some sheetrock work in the garage. At least we don't have to deal with any neighbors to get that done. Next house, no neighbors.
Here are some pictures of our awesome new fence (almost completed - it is now finished). Now would you complain if your neighbor paid to build this? I think not.
Good neighbor.
No neighbor - backs up to a county road.
Bad neighbor.
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