– May –
Carl had always intended to do the renovations himself—after all, he’d bought the small house in part because it was a bit run-down, which also meant he’d gotten it for a comparable steal in the current buyer’s market, but two summers had already gone by and work had simply been too busy for him to ever devote much time to his plans. It wasn’t like the place was falling apart or anything, he would tell himself. The roof didn’t leak, all of his appliances functioned well enough. The inside and outside could use a fresh coat of paint and some better carpet, and the kitchen and bathrooms desperately needed remodeling, but at some point practicality had overwhelmed his ambition, and so he’d settled in, happy enough, figuring he would get around to it at some point.
It wasn’t that Carl was incapable of doing the work—in fact, he’d often helped his father with home remodelling projects when he was teenager, and still trying to prove to himself that he might be straight, which was funny, now that he thought back on it. Still, in his late twenties and with a firm, gym toned body, he actually enjoyed the idea of working on something like this instead of sitting in front of the computer all day long, like he’d been doing lately. Carl worked from home as a website developer. Running his own business could be stressful at times, but he was currently riding a pretty high wave which had given him the first chance to save some money in the last few years, and he really enjoyed working with his current batch of clients. Still, even though it was only May, he could tell it was going to be a beautiful summer, and the perfect opportunity to get some work on the house done. Unfortunately, his work was so successful that it was taking up most of his time, and it was beginning to look like he wasn’t going to be able to do the renovations himself. Still, the problems which had at first seemed charming were slowly developing into more of an eyesore, and it was that which provoked Carl to relent and hire a handyman to come and do some work on the house for him this summer, since it probably wouldn’t get done otherwise.
He certainly did his research when it came to contractors—he got recommendations from friends and work associates, he trolled review sites, he called around looking for reputable, hard working, drug free employees…and so when he ended up hiring Bud Johnson to do the work, he kind of surprised himself. He’d found one solid reference to Bud’s work online, and called him for a consultation on a bit of whim, and when Bud had shown up at the door, it wasn’t the kind of guy he’d expected. He was a bit shorter than Carl, but the way he stuck out his chest and with his fat gut stretching his muscle shirt taut, he gave off a certain sense of bluster and bullying that caught Carl off guard. Chuffing on a cigar that Carl kept forgetting to ask him to extinguish and smelling of stale beer, Bud wormed his way into the house with a warm handshake and a conversation that Carl just couldn’t seem to control. Bud talked a bit too fast, and by the time Carl had his thoughts formulated on one topic enough to respond, Bud had already assumed Carl’s agreement and moved onto the next.
“What do ya think of this color outside, pretty grim, eh? Good thing ya called me—no reason tah be the saddest house on the block, eh? How ‘bout Red? I’m thinkin’ red.”
“You know what this kitchen could use? Stone floors. I put some stone floors in the last house I worked on, and the owners loved it. I bet you would to! Sounds like a plan tah me.”
“This might be more than you were thinkin’ out here, but what about an awning for the patio? It would make it a great party spot—pop open a few brews, have a smoke with the buds, eh man?”
Still, for all of his pushy conversation, and the smoking, which started off as annoying and grew infuriating as Bud ignored Carl’s attempts to get him to put it out, he seemed knowledgeable and ambitious. In addition, it was just Bud working by himself, and he owned his own business, which Carl could more than respect, since he worked alone as well. By the end of the consultation, Carl had already agreed to hire Bud—but decided to limit him to working on the exterior paint for now, and if that went well, they’d see what they could do about the rest of his ideas. Still, Carl couldn’t help but be a bit concerned, and couldn’t shake the sense that he’d been logrolled some how. Still, he shrugged his shoulders and set up a few fans to try and clear the smoke out of the air in the house, and figured that if things went bad, he could always just fire him.
Renovations (Part 1)
Published
Stuck as Santa 