Well….
The stucco ‘job’ turned into about 75% fiasco, and has been awesomely wonderfully crap. The front wall – of course, most visible – developed multiple large cracks within 2 weeks of being done. Or less. The stucco contractor proved absolutely wonderful to deal with after being paid (and agreeing to having money docked for the fact that his crew blew the A/C compressor units by leaving their scaffolding over them and not mentioning it in 95F temps and then stuccoed shut the drain from the pump, not to mention using the stones that had been relocated so as not to be covered in stucco as their concrete dump). It’s been 2.5 months and he finally came out to look at it for the first time since it was done. It took complaints to the BBB (who appear to be about protecting the business, not the consumer. Fantastic people who do nothing but delay the process) and continued pressure.
Even then, it’s our fault somehow that there are large cracks and chips. He did, finally, agree to fix it. We’ll see if it happens. I’m just shocked and amazed that he came out at all — and even more so that he actually agreed to fix it and didn’t just say ‘that happens when you go over bonded paint’.
Lets not even talk about the rest of the stuff the crew did.
Eventually, we will name said contractor. The work seemed good, but MAN getting anything out afterwards has been a nightmare. So close to feeling I’ve needed to lawyer up just to get anything out of him, but it seems he’ll make it right in the end. I just don’t want to jinx it my naming someone. (Later, my precioussss)
At least, in better news, we’ve had Andy’s Painting out to redo the fascia, beams, and soffits. It’s looking good — finally the outside of the house matches the upgrades we’ve made to the inside. Those guys seem to have been super-professional all the way around.