A 1927 Craftsman Renovation - pt. 2

We lived, in that decrepit, leaky, fishbowl for TWO years before working on it.

We had another baby on the way.

Had a lot of materials for a lot of different projects.

But no tools.

No experience.

And no babysitters.

So we had to hire it out…

In a time when contractors were so scarce they never bothered to answer calls and somehow could charge whatever they wanted…

We were lucky we found one.

His employee was a Realtor with me and highly recommended him.

So we brought him by and oh man he saw our entire vision.

He did encourage us to not touch the foundational part but to just frame it off… and to heck with the permits…

If that wasn’t the biggest red flag 🥲

He said he NEEDED HALF DOWN

I was so confused, I already had most materials so what would he need half down for?

“To get on his schedule”

So we did.

As just two poor kids, we scrounged up $20,000 (with a bank loan) and took our toddler and one on the way, to our grandparents house a few blocks away.

We couldn’t fix up the house…. We needed him.

And you know what?

He never showed up, not even once.

For MONTHS this constant battle went on and on until finally an attorney friend really helped us out and encouraged us to blast him on social media.

First of all, that’s not my style but I gladly did it because who is this guy!?

Facebook. Google. The BBB. You name it.

The story was the same, he took our money and ran. And yes, we did have contracts, which is mostly why this was so frustrating!

In the end, his partner paid us off and quit business with him.

And in a legal fight we agreed to never speak his name again.

But we got our money back! And in total desperation, we listed the house in this condition.

Would you have tackled such a project??

Get ready for the craziest whirlwind in part 3!

xx,

Mercedes