My second floor bathroom
I never thought that I'd be posting a photo of my bathroom - unless it was a joke or as part of a house-wide tour - but this was what led me to the whole “Don't move” post yesterday. You see, yesterday I had my Pre-Delivery Inspection (PDI) which is meant to give the home-buyer a chance to see their new house before moving in... identify any small (or large) building defects or errors on the part of the builder. This is what I found:
While it might not be obvious at first, here is the problem. The walls are white, the floor tile is white/grey, the bathtub tile is white/grey with blue/grey accents, the counter is blue, the cabinets are white... and (as of yesterday) the sink, toilet and tub are all tan/bone. I didn't pay for the bone sink, toilet and tub. I wanted white fixtures to match the walls, floor tile, tub tile and cabinet. I probably don't need to tell you that removing the bathtub from a completed bathroom is a big job.
My PDI was supposed to last about 90 minutes. It took over 2.5 hours to complete the inspection. Considering the less dramatic things that were identified - wrong hood fan in kitchen; walls not painted; missing arch (which actually looks better square and will be left as is); few odd scuffs and marks on doors or counters - the house is looking pretty good. I'm happy with the colour choices and such. If they've painted everything today for my move tomorrow, then I'd think that's the big one. Almost anything else on the list could be done after I've moved in without too much hassle for either party. But what to do about the bathroom?
Obviously the builder's first response wasn't, “Sure, we'll tear apart the bathroom for you” it was, well... one of shock really. They said that they hadn't heard the wrong fixtures being installed before. After some negotiating and discussion, the builder asked me to come back in a few hours so that they could paint the walls tan to match the fixtures in the hopes that it would bring the room together. When I returned in the mid-afternoon I had another look at the room. While I couldn't deny that it was better, I still couldn't see past the white cabinets in the room, or the tan/bone toilet sitting on the white/grey tile. It just didn't sit right with me. While they continued to try and tell me how this wasn't as bad as I thought, I just kept thinking, “Well, maybe if I did this... or that... could I paint the cabinets maybe?” and so on.
For those of you who know me, you probably know that I don't like to cause trouble. If there is a compromise to be had, I'll try to find it. But in this case I knew that I'd walk past this room every day and cringe; showing it to people over the next few weeks would be hard; knowing that visitors are having to shower in this mixture of tan and white... (okay, perhaps I'm getting a little dramatic with that last point), but as much as I hated to do it: I asked them to switch everything for the white fixtures I'd selected nine months ago. After having looked at the room for 30min in the morning and another 30min in the afternoon, it just didn't feel right to me; in large part that gut-feeling helped make my decision. I tried to be open-minded about it, I tried not to think about it between visits, but I might be here for a few years so that was that.
Today I dealt with the lawyer and had that sorted out. Over the last few days I've managed to sort out hydro, gas, water, cable, internet, and to a certain extent, phone (but that's another story for another night). Tomorrow is the closing, so I'll find out mid-afternoon if I get the keys or not. It's all set on my end, and I have no idea if the builder could keep me from closing at this point, but nothing seems for certain with this whole process.
I hope that this was a semi- balanced explanation to my initial reaction yesterday. This blog is supposed to be about my experience with this move, so I wanted to say something, but at that time (just after I came home from the house) I was afraid to say too much or start naming names. That said, I'm guessing that I'll have more to say about this in the coming weeks... you know, when they actually switch the fixtures.
While it might not be obvious at first, here is the problem. The walls are white, the floor tile is white/grey, the bathtub tile is white/grey with blue/grey accents, the counter is blue, the cabinets are white... and (as of yesterday) the sink, toilet and tub are all tan/bone. I didn't pay for the bone sink, toilet and tub. I wanted white fixtures to match the walls, floor tile, tub tile and cabinet. I probably don't need to tell you that removing the bathtub from a completed bathroom is a big job.
My PDI was supposed to last about 90 minutes. It took over 2.5 hours to complete the inspection. Considering the less dramatic things that were identified - wrong hood fan in kitchen; walls not painted; missing arch (which actually looks better square and will be left as is); few odd scuffs and marks on doors or counters - the house is looking pretty good. I'm happy with the colour choices and such. If they've painted everything today for my move tomorrow, then I'd think that's the big one. Almost anything else on the list could be done after I've moved in without too much hassle for either party. But what to do about the bathroom?
Obviously the builder's first response wasn't, “Sure, we'll tear apart the bathroom for you” it was, well... one of shock really. They said that they hadn't heard the wrong fixtures being installed before. After some negotiating and discussion, the builder asked me to come back in a few hours so that they could paint the walls tan to match the fixtures in the hopes that it would bring the room together. When I returned in the mid-afternoon I had another look at the room. While I couldn't deny that it was better, I still couldn't see past the white cabinets in the room, or the tan/bone toilet sitting on the white/grey tile. It just didn't sit right with me. While they continued to try and tell me how this wasn't as bad as I thought, I just kept thinking, “Well, maybe if I did this... or that... could I paint the cabinets maybe?” and so on.
For those of you who know me, you probably know that I don't like to cause trouble. If there is a compromise to be had, I'll try to find it. But in this case I knew that I'd walk past this room every day and cringe; showing it to people over the next few weeks would be hard; knowing that visitors are having to shower in this mixture of tan and white... (okay, perhaps I'm getting a little dramatic with that last point), but as much as I hated to do it: I asked them to switch everything for the white fixtures I'd selected nine months ago. After having looked at the room for 30min in the morning and another 30min in the afternoon, it just didn't feel right to me; in large part that gut-feeling helped make my decision. I tried to be open-minded about it, I tried not to think about it between visits, but I might be here for a few years so that was that.
Today I dealt with the lawyer and had that sorted out. Over the last few days I've managed to sort out hydro, gas, water, cable, internet, and to a certain extent, phone (but that's another story for another night). Tomorrow is the closing, so I'll find out mid-afternoon if I get the keys or not. It's all set on my end, and I have no idea if the builder could keep me from closing at this point, but nothing seems for certain with this whole process.
I hope that this was a semi- balanced explanation to my initial reaction yesterday. This blog is supposed to be about my experience with this move, so I wanted to say something, but at that time (just after I came home from the house) I was afraid to say too much or start naming names. That said, I'm guessing that I'll have more to say about this in the coming weeks... you know, when they actually switch the fixtures.
