From The Contractor’s Book of Excuses:
“Don’t forget to add ten or fifteen percent for your general contractor,” somebody told me. “They’ll supervise everybody and make sure the work gets done right.” When we added that fifteen percent, we were over budget. It was more house than we could afford. My mind flew back to the arched window of the attic. The graceful columns framing the living room. The magnificent mantelpiece in the dining room. “Nonsense.” I said. “Who needs a general contractor? How hard can it be, anyway?”
Contractors, God love ’em.
Plumbers, painters, carpenters, electricans, roofers, handymen. God bless ’em, they can be just as inventive as Walt Disney, given half a chance. And we did — for ten hectic weeks in 1994, we had dozens of people swarming in and out of our battered old four-square house in Birmingham’s bohemian Southside. Keeping up with who did what and where with whom was a full time job and more. After a while, we just had to laugh.
The best of those moments are captured here, in a quirky little 7-1/2″ square (used a tape measure, thank you ma’m) format. Buy them here, and you’ll get an autographed copy. Plus, if you’re lucky, the carpenter will set his coffee cup on it, or the painter might splash a little paint…
Buy it now and we’ll keep renovating…
$11.95