It would have been funnier if it wasn’t costing us so much money.
On Monday, the contractor and I went to that members-only showroom to pick up the tub-shower which had finally arrived on Friday. One small problem: Even though it is a three piece unit, it was shipped assembled as a one-piece and was too big to fit in the back of the truck. We could have disassembled it, but that would have increased the chances of damage during the ride home. Our only other option, since neither of us knew anyone with a pickup truck we could call on short notice, was to hire a mover. The mover would get the tub to us on Tuesday.
Not to waste the trip, we decided to pick up the bathroom cabinets which had been delivered to the nearby Home Depot about a week or two ago. We got everything loaded into the truck and brought it home. The contractor backed his truck up on the lawn as he had done many times throughout this renovation in order to save steps to the front door. The first thing the other contractor noticed when the doors were swung open was a hole in the box. Closer inspection revealed some serious damage (think: shattered) to the front corner of the vanity. This side of the box had been against the back of the forklift, so it was not visible when I did a quick inspection of the boxes at the store.
After making a phone call, it was arranged for Home Depot to accept the return. No problem. The contractor was going to take care of the return for me, but he had to be back at the store by 5. He tried to leave around 4:30, but our front yard refused to let go of the truck, thanks to the significant amount of rain that we had had over the past couple of days. A tow truck eventually had to be called and he was finally on his way home after 5:30. The trip to Home Depot would have to wait until Tuesday morning.
So, let’s examine the cost of this little excursion:
- Contractor’s labour rate times 1.5 hours for the trip to pick up the tub.
- Contractor’s labour rate time 2 hours at Home Depot.
- Loss of time on the actual job, prolonging the length of the project.
- Shipping charge for hiring the mover (about $140)
- Tow truck was free (auto club) but there is significant damage to the lawn which will require quite a bit of top soil and seed when the weather clears.
Hind sight being 20/20, I could have ordered the tub from a local business, rather than that member’s only deal, and it could have been delivered to the house for much less, saving us a trip. We could have planned on picking the cabinets up at Home Depot and called ahead. They could have had everything ready for us, saving us about an hour or so of waiting time in the store.
Live and learn.
I have been careful not to name the member’s only showroom up to this point, but I feel a rant coming on…..