Unfinished projects

[naptownCr]

Ok guys and gals

Let's be honest about finishing projects at home.

How many of you take a project to the point of functioning for its intended use and stop.

How many finish most of the details


How many are anal retentive and don't stop until the last tiny detail is complete and it is perfection as you would do for a client?

[Workaholic]

Ok guys and gals

Let's be honest about finishing projects at home.

How many of you take a project to the point of functioning for its intended use and stop.

How many finish most of the details


How many are anal retentive and don't stop until the last tiny detail is complete and it is perfection as you would do for a client?

At work I am anal
At home I get distracted on some projects. On others it is imperitive that I get it done.

[Blue]

i half ass stuff until 30 days before the for sale sign goes in the yard then i have 6 guys work like an army to get it ready. this is our 4th one and the wife always wants to stay after it's done!!

i doubt secretarys like to come home and type. i hate dragging airhoses through my house during dinner.

[ChrWright]

Guilty guilty guilty...

For a client, every last detail has to be perfect.... There's never enough time for that at home... and work on my own stuff frustrates and infuriates to no end...

[naptownCr]

i half ass stuff until 30 days before the for sale sign goes in the yard then i have 6 guys work like an army to get it ready. this is our 4th one and the wife always wants to stay after it's done!!

i doubt secretarys like to come home and type. i hate dragging airhoses through my house during dinner.
Last house I lived in I did basically nothing to until I bought an new one and had to get the old one ready for sale

House before that I put a large addition on it but the last coats of paint and mantles etc didn't go in until the for sale sign went up

Guilty guilty guilty...

For a client, every last detail has to be perfect.... There's never enough time for that at home... and work on my own stuff frustrates and infuriates to no end...

Bad enough to roll out extention cords and air hoses every day. do do it on a weekend and for no money really sucks.

If only our wives/ significant others paid us mabe the story would be different

[Mike(VA)]

Also guilty as suggested. I not only start and finish projects to about 80%, but I start several one right after another, or sometimes at the same time. Drives my wife nuts. She can't understand the necessity to have several projects going at the same time. Allows for more tools! She also can't understand why I just don't go work on them every waking minute.

Ok, enough for now. I have to go start building shelves for the garage.

[Allrounder]

Things only get done at my house for one of two reasons:

1. The wife finally gets so fed up that she goes on a :mad2: yelling tirade until I do it.

2. Client wants something done that I'm not 100% familiar with, so I need to experiment or try something out on my own guinea pig house.

I have one piece of base moulding in my bathroom that is cut and ready to go and leaning against the wall, just need to throw a few nails in it. It's been sitting there for about 2 years now. :rolleyes3:

[Silvertree]

I redid my family room last winter.

To do

Prime and paint area around cable outlet install.
Floor transition strip in entry.
Touch up and paint a couple of ceiling areas less than a few inches big.
Nail one piece of base, its already painted and in place, never nailed is all.

See 98% `done in January.

[Decoman]

I stop doing projects around the house now until I take time off and do it from start to finish. The only exception is when I finished my basement at least I was able to shut the door and not see it wasn't done :)

[fez-head]

Great thread - I am copying this so my wife knows I am not the only one :surrender:

[Silvertree]

This is why Handyman businesses can thrive. Right?

[Bender]

I have a 1972 BMW2002 that has needed a drive shaft since 1996:o
But I'm gonna get to it one of theses days...

[Eieio]

This is why Handyman businesses can thrive. Right?

My wifey had a competitor come out and bid a bathroom remodel and left me the quote on the kitchen table. That really got me into gear.

[buildpinnacle]

1. Started painting the exterior in 2002 and am almost complete.
2. Gutted my Kitchen in Oct 2007 and still have no doors on cabinets or paint
3. Closed in my carport in 2006 and still have no flooring
4. Gutted the paneling out of wifeys office in November and finally finished it a couple months ago
5. Tore out some of the deck railings to build a lattice cover.....still in demo stage
6. Tore out some decking to check the foundation several months ago...foundation fine still need to put those boards back.
7. Installed travertine in family room couple years ago...still need transitions
8. Painted entire house about a year ago...still need to put casings around doors in family room, hang fixture over island, swap out back door.

Believe it or not, I have more. I'm pathetic.

[Decoman]

1. Started painting the exterior in 2002 and am almost complete.
2. Gutted my Kitchen in Oct 2007 and still have no doors on cabinets or paint
3. Closed in my carport in 2006 and still have no flooring
4. Gutted the paneling out of wifeys office in November and finally finished it a couple months ago
5. Tore out some of the deck railings to build a lattice cover.....still in demo stage
6. Tore out some decking to check the foundation several months ago...foundation fine still need to put those boards back.
7. Installed travertine in family room couple years ago...still need transitions
8. Painted entire house about a year ago...still need to put casings around doors in family room, hang fixture over island, swap out back door.

Believe it or not, I have more. I'm pathetic.

Thats a pretty big list of things to get done...

[Bender]

Ahh screw it. Lets go drink beer:2thumbsup:

[ChrWright]

My wifey had a competitor come out and bid a bathroom remodel and left me the quote on the kitchen table. That really got me into gear.

WOW.... very subtle... :smash:

:laugh3:


My wife called me one afternoon during a particularly rainy day to tell me the ceiling was coming down in our great room--from a very long standing leak around the chimney I'd been putting off fixing.

I came home to a pile of insulation and drywall and a surprisingly calm wife. To say I was embarrassed and ashamed is an understatement. Everyday I build beautiful things for other people yet my own house was something I'd be making fun of if it weren't mine. :thumbsdown:

Over the next two months I completely renovated my kitchen and great room and re-painted the whole house.

We are all slaves to pain and pleasure... and much more likely to act from the alleviate the former than gain the latter.

[WarnerConstInc.]

The fun part is making it functional, after that I get bored at home.

My whole house is an on going project. Started the exterior right after we bought it.

Still have about 50% to go and by the time I get the outside done I will probably have to start over.

I have a section of counter top on some 2x4's, thats my cabinets.

Our bedroom is a storage and plaster patching mess.

All the carpet is pulled except the piece under the tv stand (too many wires, too heavy).

Our bathroom needs re-done, I need to add another bath first.

All you guys, stay away, it is a mess but, it is HOME.

I wont mention the garage. All I know is that I need way more space than 1400 sq/ft. Who would have thought?

[RCP]

I finally got my house painted last year, of course it was during a slow week, hubby and the crew put it on their time cards!:rolleyes3:

[ChrWright]

The fun part is making it functional, after that I get bored at home.

My whole house is an on going project. Started the exterior right after we bought it.

Still have about 50% to go and by the time I get the outside done I will probably have to start over.

I have a section of counter top on some 2x4's, thats my cabinets.

Our bedroom is a storage and plaster patching mess.

All the carpet is pulled except the piece under the tv stand (too many wires, too heavy).

Our bathroom needs re-done, I need to add another bath first.

All you guys, stay away, it is a mess but, it is HOME.

I wont mention the garage. All I know is that I need way more space than 1400 sq/ft. Who would have thought?

How about that kitchen floor? Got the wood planed and dimensioned up yet? :grin:

[Strat HD]

My wifey had a competitor come out and bid a bathroom remodel and left me the quote on the kitchen table. That really got me into gear.

My wife has threatened to do this. Fortunately I have held her at bay.

[Msargent]

I have my kitchen that started to get done 90% now, bathroom 70%, living room needs 1 sheet of drywall fixed exterior still needs to be repainted because she doesnt like the color she picked out!. at work whole different ball game and I am always hearing" YOU WOULDNT DO THAT AT WORK WHY ARE YOU DOING THAT HERE":surrender:

[WarnerConstInc.]

How about that kitchen floor? Got the wood planed and dimensioned up yet? :grin:

I, uhhh, decided that, uhhh, well....

I went I borrowed my friends silverline drum sander so I could work on my bedroom floors upstairs, was going to keep them painted but, I got bored mixing durabond and started to do a little sanding on the floor and decided that I now wanted to stain the floors.

I think I will go play golf now.

I am CADHD.

Carpenter attention deficet hyper-active disorder.

Got to focus, on my golf game, this afternoon.

[naptownCr]

My wifey had a competitor come out and bid a bathroom remodel and left me the quote on the kitchen table. That really got me into gear.

Talk about a hint!

Last night we has a serious downpour. The wife comes running into the man cave yelling that there is water comng out of the recessed light over the kitchen penninsula. I go rrunning to the attic to find it's the vent collar over the master bath that has had to be replaced since we moved in.

quick fix that will probably last for several years duct tape aluminum foil to guide the water into a drywall bucket.

[Allrounder]

My wifey had a competitor come out and bid a bathroom remodel and left me the quote on the kitchen table. That really got me into gear.

My wife left the phonebook open to the pages with other remodel co's after I gutted our bathroom and hadn't begun to replace anything 4 months later--I got the hint quick!!

[JasonW]

Guilty as charged!

I let a lot of details go on my own house that I would never consider letting slide at a customers house.

All my clients say to me, "you must have a beautiful house" lol

[Derek Stevens]

Ok, so when I got married, my wife had her own version of a pre nupt. If i started any project, didn't finish and then started another, she has the signed right to bring in a contractor to my house to finish the first, unfinished project... She has never implemented the agreement, though I will say, there isn't a SINGLE thing that has been completed without the loan docs for the new owner being waved in my face... example.. I do pretty well with building custom anything... cabinets etc... I have in my kitchen, HOME DEPOT boxes, that I half assed faces on...and the doors are not yet there, the ones I did hang are such crap they are warping, and there is no finish on any of them...though I do have some of the finest drywall screw drawer pulls you could ever want to see... so, yeah, guilty.

[Handyman Service]

Damn, what is wrong with us. My wife won't enjoy reading this, but I am going to make sure she does. Then I can blame contractoritis for the unfinished projects.

This is why I got away from the big jobs, I had this same problem with the customer's jobs. I was a 98% guy, I would get it to the point that 98% of the people would love it and then I could not seem to stay attentive enough to get to 100%.

Same thing at home, I can make a list, but it is not necessary, we all know there are several items on it. I will say this (and I think my wife will too), since I redid my business as Handyman Service, and only do small jobs, I have freed up a ton of time and completed projects to 100%. Both mine and all of my customer's.

I love the people that start all the projects at once, they usually have to call us to complete at least one or two of them. How funny that we are all like this, actually, it is kind of sad.