We've been finishing up a bunch of projects this week in anticipation of getting the house assessed to refinance our mortgage. In the closet that had the leak that started it all, I got around to finishing the mudding, while Kris finished painting a corner that had gone naked since we moved in almost three years ago. I repaired the wall from our new bathroom window and Kris painted it. I just got done replacing trim that the previous home owners seemed to have forgot. We hired someone to repair the wall damaged during our front door replacement. And then, we hired someone to fix the cracks and paint the high walls of our stairs.
Day one was promising with some cracks replaced, but others were missed. Day two included the missed cracks and sanding. I could tell they sanded because of the grime that was left behind. It was everywhere. No one closed doors to rooms that weren't being worked on, and it was obvious that no covers nor plastic had been placed at strategic locations. A chat with the painter revealed that they had in fact cleaned (at least that's what he said.) Nonetheless, I spent two hours cleaning up everything that was left behind.
This really makes sense given the outward appearance of our hired painter. Constantly smelling of smoke (you would think working in paint fumes would be enough) he doesn't carry himself like an organized man would. He nearly forgot his jacket within our house on a 10-degree night. Notes are lost or left at home. Paint colors are forgot.
Owning a home and keeping up with the maintenance teaches many lessons. The most recent is that if you interview a someone that doesn't look like they can keep their own house clean, chances are they won't keep yours clean either.