The Hawk Mechanical team arrived this morning with tools in hand to install the new water heater.
This will be a 40 gallon, gas unit and sits inside in my laundry room.
They first had to rip out part of the top part of the closet that it sits in so that we could have access to the top of the tank if necessary for maintenance. Luckily, it came apart easily and with ease so that the carpenters will have no problems making a cover access door.
There was a bunch of replumbing needed to hook up the new unit. New connection pipes and overflow valves to be installed to the outside of the house.
Once they finished up, he had me come out there and gave me instructions on the new unit. If you ever have to have new appliances or wiring etc done in your home, be sure to talk with your repair people to know exactly what they did so if you ever have to have future work done, you can be knowledgeable when you speak to whoever does your work.
This unit has a little glass pilot light window that you can look through and check to see if the pilot is lit. No more having to lay on the floor, remove a tiny access panel and peer in there and have to take a match to light the pilot. Now all I have to do is turn some levers, and hit a button and it will relight automatically.
Since this unit is now up on a stand, 18 inches off the floor, there is also a drip pan and relief valve so that if necessary water will not only drip into the pan but also be directed outside with the new overflow valve.
He also showed me where the valve was if the water gets too hot and instead of blowing the unit sky high through the roof, it will trip this emergency valve and water will go out the overflow valve. He also showed me the valve at the top of the tank where if necessary, we can turn off the water coming into the tank and where the gas valve shutoff valve was if we need to shut off the gas. Living in Oklahoma, where natural disasters do occur, you should know how to shut off all your utilities if necessary.
Thank you Hawk Mechanical for doing another awesome job!
Showing posts with label subcontractors. Show all posts
Showing posts with label subcontractors. Show all posts
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Another Step Towards Completion!
Well today marked the final day for the Red Hot men to be here!
What a great couple of guys and they do terrific work.
They popped in here about 10 AM or so this morning and were finished about 3 PM
Today they had to get back up into the hot, insulation itchy attic and run the wiring for the patio area and the garage work. Outlets needed to be installed and light fixtures as well as a new plug for the garage door opener unit. The sad part is, I was told that the electric opener unit itself is broken and needs to be either repaired or totally replaced and the door itself is hanging up on the track because of the center arm to the opener and the side hinges don’t want to turn the right way to make the bend to go up!
If we end up having thunderstorms tomorrow, which it looks like we may well have, I probably will have a crew of carpenters here doing some work. They would be able to work out on the patio, because it has a roof over it and install the outside siding that needs to go on the new wall they put in. They could come inside and cut the dryer vent hole and also the access panel area that has been decided upon for the closet where the water heater will go so that we can have proper access to the top of the tank if it needs repairing.
There is also a small area of sheetrock work that needs to still be done on the living room wall and then a repair area in the bathroom which got damaged during this remodeling.
As things stand now, it will probably be Saturday before the roofers can get here because of rain predictions; otherwise it will be Monday or Tuesday.
The new double pane windows should be here sometime early next week and we should be able to get them installed in a day if the weather holds out for us later on midweek.
Then there will be a small amount of gutter work to be done and painting and we will be finished!
I truly feel we will finish up long before our deadline date. These workers have been absolutely fantastic!
The General Contractor has several other jobs going at the same time, another here in Norman and at least one or two others up in Woodward. He is juggling crews around so that all of the subcontractors follow each other in logical order and there are no delays in work schedules. The unpredictable weather we have had this month is the only real hindrance. Much to everyone’s surprise we have had an abundance of thunderstorms this August and normally this is Oklahoma’s driest month!
I know most people don’t like remodeling jobs but I have to tell you, I have gone through several as well as build my own home in Texas and this has by far been the easiest one so far.
Some things that you will need to look at when choosing a contractor:
1. be sure that they are licensed and bonded in your state.
2. Ask for references of past work they have completed and contact the people about their workmanship and promptness in completing the job.
3. Find out if your contractor will be doing all the work themselves or if there will be subcontractors that you will also be working with. Make sure that all are licensed and bonded.
4. Find out if any special permits are needed in your city and if they will obtain them or if you will be required to obtain them.
5. Have a contract which you both will sign and have copies off, showing the work in detail as to what is to be done for the amount of money you will be spending. Have a starting date (work must start within X amount of days of signing this contract) and work must be completed within a given period of days. You may want to add a couple of extra “bad weather days” into the contract depending on the time of year the work is to be performed.
If you have a General Contractor with Sub-Contractors
1. be sure that any changes in the contract be they wanted by you or by the subcontractor, need to be approved and cleared through the General Contractor.
2. If for any reason you are not satisfied with the work of any of your sub-contractors, you need to contact the General Contractor to settle the problem.
I have made it a point to ask each of the subcontractors for one of their business cards which I will be keeping on file. I will also be writing a note, to Monte my General Contractor at the completion of this job discussing with him about each of his subcontractors and their work. At this point in time, I have already talked to him about Hawk Mechanical and Red Hot Electrical as being top notch in professionalism of personal manor and quality of work. I also told Monte that I have already written them up on my blog and his carpenters, roofers, gutter company and painters will also have promotion here also. I am looking forward to working with each and every crew because if what I have already seen is any indication of the types of people Monte has working for him, they will also be top notch!
What a great couple of guys and they do terrific work.
They popped in here about 10 AM or so this morning and were finished about 3 PM
Today they had to get back up into the hot, insulation itchy attic and run the wiring for the patio area and the garage work. Outlets needed to be installed and light fixtures as well as a new plug for the garage door opener unit. The sad part is, I was told that the electric opener unit itself is broken and needs to be either repaired or totally replaced and the door itself is hanging up on the track because of the center arm to the opener and the side hinges don’t want to turn the right way to make the bend to go up!
If we end up having thunderstorms tomorrow, which it looks like we may well have, I probably will have a crew of carpenters here doing some work. They would be able to work out on the patio, because it has a roof over it and install the outside siding that needs to go on the new wall they put in. They could come inside and cut the dryer vent hole and also the access panel area that has been decided upon for the closet where the water heater will go so that we can have proper access to the top of the tank if it needs repairing.
There is also a small area of sheetrock work that needs to still be done on the living room wall and then a repair area in the bathroom which got damaged during this remodeling.
As things stand now, it will probably be Saturday before the roofers can get here because of rain predictions; otherwise it will be Monday or Tuesday.
The new double pane windows should be here sometime early next week and we should be able to get them installed in a day if the weather holds out for us later on midweek.
Then there will be a small amount of gutter work to be done and painting and we will be finished!
I truly feel we will finish up long before our deadline date. These workers have been absolutely fantastic!
The General Contractor has several other jobs going at the same time, another here in Norman and at least one or two others up in Woodward. He is juggling crews around so that all of the subcontractors follow each other in logical order and there are no delays in work schedules. The unpredictable weather we have had this month is the only real hindrance. Much to everyone’s surprise we have had an abundance of thunderstorms this August and normally this is Oklahoma’s driest month!
I know most people don’t like remodeling jobs but I have to tell you, I have gone through several as well as build my own home in Texas and this has by far been the easiest one so far.
Some things that you will need to look at when choosing a contractor:
1. be sure that they are licensed and bonded in your state.
2. Ask for references of past work they have completed and contact the people about their workmanship and promptness in completing the job.
3. Find out if your contractor will be doing all the work themselves or if there will be subcontractors that you will also be working with. Make sure that all are licensed and bonded.
4. Find out if any special permits are needed in your city and if they will obtain them or if you will be required to obtain them.
5. Have a contract which you both will sign and have copies off, showing the work in detail as to what is to be done for the amount of money you will be spending. Have a starting date (work must start within X amount of days of signing this contract) and work must be completed within a given period of days. You may want to add a couple of extra “bad weather days” into the contract depending on the time of year the work is to be performed.
If you have a General Contractor with Sub-Contractors
1. be sure that any changes in the contract be they wanted by you or by the subcontractor, need to be approved and cleared through the General Contractor.
2. If for any reason you are not satisfied with the work of any of your sub-contractors, you need to contact the General Contractor to settle the problem.
I have made it a point to ask each of the subcontractors for one of their business cards which I will be keeping on file. I will also be writing a note, to Monte my General Contractor at the completion of this job discussing with him about each of his subcontractors and their work. At this point in time, I have already talked to him about Hawk Mechanical and Red Hot Electrical as being top notch in professionalism of personal manor and quality of work. I also told Monte that I have already written them up on my blog and his carpenters, roofers, gutter company and painters will also have promotion here also. I am looking forward to working with each and every crew because if what I have already seen is any indication of the types of people Monte has working for him, they will also be top notch!
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