My dad is a carpenter. He has always taken a great deal of pride in his craft. By the time, I was old enough to work with him he was doing mostly finish work. I occasionally got to work with him when I was younger. But, there were always lots of things I was not allowed to do. Mostly, as it turns out, because I would not have been able to do them very well. Now that I am older, I really appreciate the fact that my dad took enough pride in a job well done not to let me mess it up. And I am sure his customers appreciated it even more.
Based on my experiences with my dad, I had sort of assumed that attention to fit and finish was a part of doing “finish” work. Not so much, it turns out.
We are having our kitchen remodeled at the moment and our new granite counter tops are not quite level and there is some spots that really should have epoxy that don’t. The new floor is beautiful, if you don’t look too close. However, if you do look close you will see that there is a lot of dirt, hair and who knows what else in the finish. Not to mention that mostly the planks are only marginally smoother now that the floor is “done” than they were when they were first brought into our house.
We are, thankfully, nearing the end of our kitchen remodel. I will be glad when it is over, regardless of the outcome. I am, however, really disappointed by the workmanship that has gone into it. I find this extremely frustrating, and not just because I feel riped off. Don’t these people want to do a good job and explore and refine their craft?
The answer is, obviously, no. I suppose that is because for most of them this is “just a job”. I have had quite a few different jobs in my life but none of them has been “just a job”. In fact, I have a hard time even imagining what that would be like.
It make me sad to think of these people spend so much of their time doing something that is not even worth doing well. But mostly it makes me angry that they are doing it on my dime. Perhaps, companies could just offer a “it won’t suck” upgrade to their normal bids and use real craftsmen for those jobs. I for one, would be willing to pay a bit extra up front for a job well done.