On April 22nd our windows saga finally ended when our village performed their final inspection and everything passed.
But we have to back up to December 2022 when we realized one of our master bedroom windows was broken. We knew that meant in 2023 we’d be replacing all our windows and patio door since they were 30 years old.
In the spring of 2023 we received a few window quotes and ended up going with the guy our next door neighbor used when they replaced all their windows and patio door. His price was half that of every other company. If our neighbor hadn’t recommended him I would have been leery, and it was a little more frustrating communicating back and forth since he wasn’t with a big company with a fancy contract, but in the end he and his two guys did good work and everything was installed mid September 2023. The windows have warranties, so all was good. Or so I thought.
The problem came when the village inspected the windows and failed one of the front bedrooms because the egress on that window wasn’t large enough for emergency evacuation, partly because a) code had changed since the original windows were installed and b) the new vinyl windows have larger frames that eat into the space. Our only option was to replace the window with a casement type (instead of double-hung), but since it was at the front of the house we opted to replace both windows (even though the other room had a second window that stopped it from failing inspection) as it didn’t make sense to have mismatched window types so visible.
Since he felt partially (more like wholly, since he handled the permit) responsible, the installer removed the old windows and installed the new ones for cost (ie paid for the new windows but not for labor). We were able to sell the two double-hung windows (and quickly) to recoup some of the extra unforeseen cost. Even with all that, everything was still way cheaper in the end, but it was definitely a long drawn out process that caused a lot of stress. I’m just glad it’s over now, and while I’m not loving the casements (I don’t like dealing with the crank to open and close them), we didn’t have much of a choice.
I suggested to our association management company they warn future residents of this requirement. Granted, if an installer followed the guidelines set forth by our village, this wouldn’t happen, but I think it would be a nice courtesy of the association management company given they have to approve window installation requests anyway. Might as well help the homeowner out instead of being a constant source of aggravation like ours has been.
Now we have to work on window treatments since our old inside mount blinds don’t fit in the window frame anymore. Ugh! It’s always something, isn’t it?
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Speaking of the shitty management company, every year they schedule a day for an outside company to come and inspect our fire alarms. We don’t get a choice in when this occurs and must be home from 8-4 for them to access all the alarms inside. They were scheduled to come on April 16th. By 1:30 pm they hadn’t been to the house yet and I was getting concerned, plus I had a vet appointment for Wookie at 3 pm (the latest appointment I could get for that day). I called the company to let them know it didn’t seem like they were coming out because a) they are usually out in the mornings and b) I hadn’t seen any activity in any of the surrounding buildings (who were also on the schedule for that day) and c) there was no truck in the neighborhood (I had walked Wookie around the block to confirm this).
I was assured they’d be out by 4 pm but I was skeptical (it takes awhile to do multiple buildings, plus I looked up the company and they are an hour’s drive from here so chances are they would be leaving the area by 3:30 pm to ensure they were back at their base office by 4:30 pm when they close). I asked the girl if she could please call the company and check if they were really still coming out and she said ok. She called me back five minutes later to say they were, and I asked her if she spoke to the company or her boss (our property manager). She said her boss. This annoyed me because I just had this feeling they weren’t coming, but what else could I do? Joe had to leave work early to take Wookie to her vet appointment while I stayed at home waiting for these people. Guess what? No one ever came to the house, so he missed hours of work he had to make up the rest of the week for nothing!
The next day I called to let them know no one had showed and the girl acted all surprised. Then about an hour later I got an email about the appointment being rescheduled. At this point I was furious. Someone lied. Either the girl I spoke with, her boss, or the company doing the inspections. I needed answers, and there just so happened to be an association meeting that night at our library, so we went. The property manager, and boss of the girl I spoke with, was there. When the topic of inspections came up, we wanted to know what happened. The manager explained he had touched base with the company that morning and they said they were still coming, but then at 1:30 pm he spoke to them again and they said they weren’t coming after all. As soon as he said the time I started shaking in anger.
I asked him when he assistant told me at 2 pm that they were still coming if he already knew at 1:30 they were not? The manager tried to say maybe she spoke to the company and I told him “no, she said she spoke to you specifically”. He didn’t say much to that, but what the hell? And why didn’t he tell her when he found out so they could field any phone calls or send an email to residents letting them know it would need to be rescheduled?
They expect us all to stay home all day on a weekday and have little regard to what hardship that might cause people. I don’t think they’d like it if they waited at home all day for nothing. If they had told me the truth at 1:30 Joe wouldn’t have had to miss work and make up time. It was his last week with his employer too (he got a new job), so the last thing he wanted to do was spend extra time there in the last few days.
I really cannot stand when people have no regard for other people’s time. And I really hate the property manager’s assistant. Not only is she a liar, she’s incompetent and I hope she gets fired and they hire someone with better communication skills (her emails are the worst).
Updated to add: our rescheduled date was May 13th and they did show up, but they wanted access to the attic which requires them to go into our master bedroom closet. I had bras drying in there, plus things I needed to move out of the way and it would have been nice to be warned about this new development (they never wanted attic access before). The guy tried to tell me maybe other companies skipped the attic but they always check. That’s bullshit because I’m the one here every year and it was the same company last year and they did NOT ask to go into the attic. I really hate both these companies for their piss poor communication.