It Takes a Village: Contractor

My contractor hired some people who did a very good, though not perfect, job on the house. They essentially took a rundown, heavily water-damaged house, and:

- Created/modified all walls in the house
- Knocked down the wall between the tiny kitchen and the dining room, moved electrical wiring and piping back against the wall
- Put in a completely new kitchen
- Put in a completely new bathroom upstairs
- Transformed a weird den into a hallway and second bathroom
- Changed all windows in the den
- Removed all the dropped ceilings and leveled the plaster
- Sanded down the dubious wood underneath the carpets, and restored them to gleaming, shiny floors
- Completely redid the rotting roof (which the contractor couldn’t check due to the many layers of ceiling layers preventing access to the roof)
- Replaced rotting wood on the back porch
- Installed a kitchen island
- Added wood beams where the floor rotted out
- Replaced all light fixtures
- Did a heavy-up on the electricity (essential giving me more power than the previous owners had, since nowadays, people want to put in window air conditioners, have computers/ipods/blackberries which requires a lot more electricity)
- Roughed-in the old bathroom in the basement (which means removing the dirty toilet but replacing the pipes and preparing them so that if I want to recreate a bathroom, I can just add the toilet and shower without having to redivert piping and dig new holes in the floor)
- Restored a beautiful Petworth skylight in the bathroom
- Repaired two closets
- Painted all walls, front porch, and wooden balustrade
- Added carpet in the basement
- Replaced all appliances except the dryer

The work they performed was very good quality, and they rarely cut corners or used materials of inferior quality. I consider myself lucky, though I did significantly go over budget (mainly due to the addition of a second bathroom and the new roof).