The Garage Dream
My husband and I have always kept our vehicles inside the garage. When we moved to Idaho five years ago, we were not able to keep our truck garaged due to the truck being too wide to fit through the doors of the 106 year old building, and were forced to leave our brand new truck outdoors exposed to the harsh extremes that is Idaho weather.
This year, things changed for us and we were able to refinance our house and build a garage to cover our truck and camper. It needed to be tall in order to lift the camper off the truck and set it down. When we asked for bids from different contractors, we made it clear that we needed fourteen foot doors to get the truck and camper through. My husband drew the footprint out for a 25 by 30 foot building. We did not need anything on the interior done as my husband would do that work. Four walls and a roof - we'll do the rest.
The first bid we got was right in our price range, the contractor had a good reputation and had a crew that could build it in a week or two. When I asked what kind of deposit he required, he said none. He said he wouldn't ask for any money until the project was complete and he could fit it in between his big projects. Great, we thought, let's do it. It will be built and done before bow hunting season - perfect!
Three weeks went by and we had heard nothing from him. Concerned we would not get our building built in time, we got impatient and I called another contractor to give me a new bid. He had a Christian symbol in his business name and my husband and I are big on helping others. His bid was a little cheaper than the first guy - this should've been the first red flag.
When sitting down to sign the contract (we had signed nothing with the other contractor), we noticed there were no doors listed in the bid. He said, "You asked for four walls and a roof." No, we asked for a garage - who asks for a garage without any doors? That should've been our second red flag, but we gave him the benefit of the doubt as he could start right away. What kind of deposit did he require? The entire cost of the materials, which was the bulk of the bid. Red flag number three, however when I called around, I learned this is normal for Idaho.
It only got worse from there. After the first day, we inspected the work and discovered the first wall did not have boxes that were 16" on center. In the construction world, this measurement is vitally important as it affects everything else in the build, such as installing the sheeting and siding, then on the inside, installing insulation (that is made in 16" widths for a reason), and cabinetry - you have to know where you can land that nail. Not only that, because he made a mistake there, it encroached on the space my husband had specifically detailed between the old garage and the new - making the four foot space into three. My husband intentionally made it four feet in order to make it easier for future maintenance on the building.
I could go on and on from here. I have ten pages of detailed notes of what this Christian man did to us. He stole our dream, our entire summer, my husband's entire bow hunting season, etc., etc. It took this guy ten weeks to build the garage and everything that man's hands touched was done without care about the result. Every day, at the end of the day, he wanted a pat on the back for how good it was and we couldn't do it. He did not listen, he did not know what he was doing and what is the worst, he did not care. He lied, manipulated us, couldn't keep help, I got complaints from my neighbors about his yelling at his workers and his big display about praying on the job simply turned my stomach. He even tried to bully us and pit my husband and I against each other.
Our home was invaded by strangers to use our bathroom and we had no peace or place to get away. If we left, work on the job stopped - our neighbors reported to us. He took draw after draw of funds until he was coming to our job for over a month with no money from us - we had to draw a line. We kept forking out money for the garage doors, the man door, this and that, we had to borrow and charge to cover everything to get the job complete.
My husband and I are both disabled or we would have built it ourselves. In hindsight, I know we could've done a much better job, saved ourselves a lot of money and heartache. My husband had to help the contractor several times just to help keep the job going, and then would pay for days of pain in his knees and neck. During this whole stressful mess, we lost our beloved sixteen year old cat and the pain was incredible.
The job was started July 23rd and was finally finished on September 22nd at 7 pm. The contractor took the last of our money and as I looked at the building, heartbroken it was built so shoddily, but glad it was done. I looked up at the sky and the setting sun was behind some clouds making a beautiful sunset when all of a sudden the clouds broke, making an opening the exact same shape of the Christian cross symbol in the contractor's business name. I stared in awe for a moment before I heard the words ever so softly whispered, it is finished.
My heart melted and immediately relaxed and I grabbed my husband and showed him that cross. He knew what it meant too and turned to try to get the contractor who claimed to love Jesus see this cross in the sky. My husband could not get the guy's attention and when he did, the cross was gone before his eyes could lay on it. I knew at that moment that beautifully lit cross in the sky, was a sign meant only for us.
It is finished! Thank you, Jesus!
>^,,^<
