I did fix the ceiling. At my cost. Extra cost. And I moved on swiftly. Because when you are building there is little room for mopping around with your feelings. I did mention that building is not for the faint hearted. So you tuck in your feelings and keep them tightly guarded in your pocket, your handbag, wherever it is that they will not get the better of you. And prepare for the next setback.
Well it did come sooner than I expected. I hired a very skilled fundi to come and fix the wood on the tread of my staircase-Pleasant man from the lakeside who knew all the right things to say. He kept time to a fault, spoke impeccable English and was a breath of fresh, coming so soon after the Plumber, who couldn’t care less for a decent conversation. He came in as highly recommended from the pleasant gentleman who sold me the high quality wood. Mr. Cool came in and took all the measurements as required, making creative recommendations along the way. I was blown away and thankful that I was finally dealing with a professional. He gave timelines that he adhered to. He fixed the stairs beautifully and before he completed the job, convinced me that he could also fix my wardrobes as well as the floor that had been destroyed to fix the other floor that had been destroyed by the collapsed ceiling. What a blessing! So I gave him the job and he got his team to come and fix the wardrobes in one of the rooms. The jobs were running concurrently. Then one day, long before the job was completed, Mr. Cool just didn’t show up. We were set for a site meeting only for him to stand me up and stop picking my calls. I don’t know about you but that frustrates me to the core. Eventually, three hours later, he picked up my call and gave some lame excuse about what had held him up. A few days later he sent me several texts explaining that due to some unavoidable circumstances, he was unable to complete the job but would give me a very good resource to complete the job to my standards. The ‘good resource’ did turn up and went on to explain that the reason that his boss/friend would not complete my job was because he had gotten a more lucrative offer in a leafier part of the city. He went on to add that I needed to understand that for them, it really mattered the location they worked as they got more business connections as a result of this. I asked him whether this meant that my house was in a lesser part of town, to which he responded, “Sio hivo madam”. Well, turns out Mr. Good Resource had more words than work to churn out in a day.
He drove me up the wall on the very first day. I mustered all the patience I had to put up with him. Eventually the stairs were completed but there was the job of replacing the floor laminates in one of the rooms which had been destroyed during the collapsed ceiling fiasco. (The Setbacks). Unfortunately my original supplier had run out of the color and quality I had earlier used in the room. Seeing as the room was half way done, I had to source for the material from another supplier. He assured me that he knew of a certain supplier on Mombasa Road who has the exact shade and material of the material required. So I asked him to bring me samples of the different wood pieces to enable me make the selection before he could proceed. Well he was six pence none the wiser. He went ahead, sourced for the material, paid for it and came and fixed it before I even had a chance to see it. And then he waited for me to come and applaud him. That weekend when I visited the site, I screamed in shock when I saw what he had done-fixed grey laminates side by side the beige ones that were already there. He looked at me and asked me if I was okay. He kept on insisting that the two colors were the same and he did not understand what the problem was. I lost my cool and fired him on the spot. I asked him to leave my site immediately, to which he retorted that he wouldn’t leave without his money. I picked up my phone and dialed one of my friends explaining to them that I had a fundi who wouldn’t leave my site. He panicked and hurriedly left. Yet again, I broke down and cried. I am yet to fix the floor with one color to date, but I will find ways of getting creative about it. Back to my friend from the lakeside-two months later I learn that the house that he had fled to work in “which would earn him more money” belonged to a good friend of mine. When I met her we had a good laugh about it. Recently, two years down the road, he tried to reach out again- to apologize for the unpleasant experience, but I guess the damage was already done; there’s a place in life for forgiveness without reconciliation. And well, fundis do have a conscience after all!
Lesson #6: Keep your guard up in all instances. Even in construction, there are smooth talkers who never get the job done, whether they are skilled or not. I really wish I had a way of letting you know how to sniff them out.
NOTE: The main objective of this blog is to share advice and insights based on real life experiences, in order to encourage you and hopefully, make your construction journey easier, more meaningful and help you avoid the pitfalls that I walked into, because I didn’t know better. For more information, reach out to us on mjengochronicles@gmail.com.
Mjengo Chronicles 