Tricky Near the Finish Line

Today was a day of plumbing woes (not to mention taho woes but that's for another blog that's not at all bloggable) but solvable woes that are part and parcel of the construction fun.  The Quezon City project, the one that just started, has water lines we need to either connect to the tenant's line or the building owner's line, each with different cost implications, pros and cons that would simply need the client's decision.  The Makati project, the one that's just a few days away from being finished had a plumbing conundrum that had me stumped for a while but it was happily resolved before going home.  

The plumber and I may have had a misundertanding in the beginning on what method to use for heating the water and we ended up with something that was unacceptable because the future occupant of the master's bedroom will have to go to the other bathroom just to turn on the hot water.  I wrongly thought that there would be hot water at all times.  Anyway, the other problem was the water pressure on the top floor was weaker and we had to get a multi-point water heater with built-in pump to compensate for this.  The water is still not as strong as I want it to be but the more pressing puzzle was turning the heater on and off conveniently since it was situated below the sink.  The solution?  Use a three-way switch in both bathrooms that would allow either users to conveniently turn on the heat.  The drawback?  The electrician will have to chip into the wall and will take three additional days of work.  Still, it was the best and most economical alternative out of all the others we discussed. 

To make myself feel better, I took pictures of my favorite parts of the bathroom that turned out the way I wanted.

Truly, it gets tricker near the finish line.   More challenges crop up than in the beginning since there are different layers of work and more suppliers involved as the project progresses.  Another lesson I learned today is I have to persistently call (or assign somebody to do this) the suppliers to deliver on their promises or else there will just be one delay after another.  People give dates to make you think that they can deliver quickly but it doesn't happen that way.  You have to follow up, follow up, follow up.  For instance, this aluminum sliding glass door installer, I will just hide under a blanket my disappointment and sleep it off.