Jason & Susan

Related to the previous post on pet peeve of waiting for things to be done, there have been plenty of waiting around for our place to be finished. We started our zhuang xiu early February way before most people started their zhuang xiu. Matter of fact, we were probably the first to start zhuang xiu because keys were handed out end of January and Chinese New Year was from mid/end of February to mid-March (when most workers went home). Most people didn’t start until after mid-March but we started 2 weeks before CNY so that the central AC & floor heating could be done before CNY. The cement poured on top of the floor heating water pipes takes about a month to dry, which we wanted to coincide with CNY so there are no delays and our place could be finished ASAP. Our contractor estimated 3 months to finish, but because of CNY, it should be done by end of May. Typical zhuang xiu is about 2 months but because we have a larger 2-story place, he said 3 months should be enough.

Well, it is now middle of July and our place is mostly finished (except for a few living essentials) and ready to move in. We’ve been pushing our contractor since June. As mentioned in the previous post on pet peeves, never believe them when they tell you when something will be done. Deadlines hardly mean anything in China. Around end of May, our place looked like this:

It was not even close to being finished. Paint wasn’t done. Wooden floor was not laid. Cabinets weren’t even sanded or painted. Bathrooms were far from finished. The stairs weren’t done. Lights and outlets weren’t done. None of the faucets were hooked up. Walls had brown/black stains dripping from the ceiling. There were holes everywhere. The place was a disaster with pieces of wood, construction material, buckets of who knows what’s inside, wood shavings, tools, and trash everywhere. And we were supposed to move in end of June, after airing out the place for a month!

What was most upsetting was that every time we’d go over to check the progress on the zhuang xiu, there’d be only one worker there. All the other places would have 3-5 worker and they looked more finished than our place (even though we started a whole month and half before them!) So we cracked the whip on our contractor and told him to speed up the work. He said it’ll be done middle of June. (that’s 2 weeks to turn the place from the above picture to a finished product) Who’d believe that?!

Well, middle of June came around and there were some progress but not in any livable condition. There were a lot of problems. Some pipes were leaking. The paint wasn’t the right color (We picked a tan color and what we got was purple). Lights were not the right bulb, despite us telling them numerous times what we wanted. They put varnish only on “visible” parts of the cabinets, so a lot of the shelves and inside weren’t done. The holes on all the cabinets for adjustable shelving was grossly misaligned. Switches were put in the wrong place. Stairs were not done right. And the list continues on and on. It was a living nightmare. We were getting very impatient because Susan is resigning from SMIC School (after 6 years teaching there!) and we won’t be able to continue living in our current place. We thought we’d be able to stay until middle of August (when her contract ends) but the school wanted all the non-returning teachers to move out early July! There was NO WAY we’d be able to get our place ready, aired out and move in… so we had to beg to stay at our current place until end of July.

That meant, we really needed to crack the whip on our contractor. We gave them a deadline (end of June) that everything needed to be done and all construction tools/material out of the house. Our contractor said “okay”. (Gee, what other response were we expecting) Everyday, she had to call the contractor to make sure the work is being done… but still, the progress was extremely slow and there’d be one, maybe two workers, there. So one day, Susan resorted to yelling at the contractor (after being too nice all along) and within a week, almost everything was fixed. By end of June, the place looked decent and “livable” but still a lot of minor and essential things like setting up the water filter/softener system, running/hot water on all faucets, flushable toilets, random patches of wall without paint, sealants not finished, gas stove not working, shelves missing handles/holes, lack of window screens, etc…

Meanwhile, we couldn’t wait any longer so we started the airing out process - opening all the windows and putting tea leaves inside cabinets (absorbs odor). We also brought over fans and an air purifier (housewarming present from one of Susan’s former student) and changed locations every few days. We also started moving random items over and furnishing the place with miscellaneous. Last week, we moved over the piano. On Monday, we went to Carrefour and got bunch of cleaning supplies as well as some dry food to stock up our food pantry. Today, we’re going to Ikea to get some kitchenware and random decorative pieces. Tomorrow moving company is coming and we’ll be sleeping in our new home tomorrow night!

And we are still waiting for a few more things to be touched up on the house:

• One more shelf needs to be added to both the kitchen and dining room cabinets
• File cabinets in the study needs to be installed
• One of the light in the walk-in closet isn’t working
• There are two patches of mold in the dining room cabinets
• A hole needs to be drilled on the water cooler shelf
• Add a water pressure pump for the 2nd floor

That’s about it… but for the most part, the place should be “livable” now. (Hopefully…) We’ll let you know if we survive the first night in the new house.