One Last Look Back
Thanks to all who acted upon the notification of my post. I really forgot how therapeutic this activity is for me. I knew I still had at least one reader, as my father called me almost immediately. The old adage, “time stands still for no one,” was brought to light when he said, “You started this project eight years ago.” That was a sobering realization.
It is now end of 2019.The next step was to find funding. I was never successful in getting funding for the restoration of my house. The purchase price was just $10,000, I had that in a bank account. Some banks denied a loan because they wouldn’t allow it to be used as collateral given its non-livable condition. At the time I was fully self-employed, so other banks denied citing my 1099 income was inconsistent (it had only gone up each year starting in 2014). I used retirement savings to restore my home.
With it fully restored, I sought loans again. I sought construction loans, given it was a new build, but banks would not lend for a garage project. I was advised to seek a HELOC on the house. PNC Bank granted me a HELOC, but due to the low appraisal value placed on the house, the amount was not enough to cover the building estimates I had put together.
I got the crazed idea to flip a house as a way to raise the shortfall. Hence the birth of Sista Girl with Skills, LLC, and the restoration of 3067 Sidney Ave., Ms. Inez. Between COVID-19, extreme rot and decay, and my refusal to settle for a simple cosmetic flip in the face of evidence that called for a true restoration, the project failed to yield the additional income I was seeking. I sold Ms. Inez in December 2022—almost three years of the eight.
In January of 2023, I decided to move forward with breaking ground on the garage. Between my home and Ms. Inez, I have had great experiences supporting businesses based in Camp Washington for some of my construction needs. Camp Washington Hardware is gold for that quick bit, brush, or bolt. Mike Hensley Plumbing has proven reliable for some plumbing repairs I’ve had. Baker, Bauer & Fish, now Baker Services, Inc., is my HVAC company of choice.
The foundation was the first item on the list. Based more so on a referral from another local Camp Washington business, I entered into a contract with Cedric D. Thomas, owner of Wood Fundi Paving, located just one block from my home. I relied heavily on that recommendation rather than doing the level of research I normally would. That was a decision I would come to regret.
It has proven to be the singular worst decision of my short general contractor career.
If I have developed any negative following as a general contractor, it may be due to my unwillingness to tolerate mistakes or what I perceive to be unacceptable work. If I find it, I seek correction immediately and, if necessary, I will fire a contractor mid-project. More often than not, when confronted with the work and the evidence before us, the contractor simply chooses to walk off the job. Unfortunately, I found myself in exactly this situation with Cedric. What transpired rocked me to my core and led me to question my ability to be a good general contractor.
I have a security camera installed on the side of my house. I originally placed it there because homeless people were living in cars parked on Stock Street, visibly doing drugs, having sex and engaging in other activity that had become a problem for the neighborhood. Footage captured by the camera helped result in their removal, and I never took it down.
My father was excited to learn that construction was finally underway, so I granted him access to the camera, allowing him to watch the progress from Florida. I jokingly let Cedric know that my father would be watching. Little did I know just how much damning evidence that camera would capture.
The problems did not reveal themselves all at once. They came one after another. With the signing of the contract I was required to pay “a non-refundable 1/3 payment of the total” before scheduling would take place. First ignored red flag. I was out of $8,400 with no work completed, I had never dispensed that large of a figure in advance and will never again. Weather caused some delays as he worked to dig for the footer. I needed to coordinate Cedric’s work with Neiman Plumbing who I had contracted with to perform the sewer and plumbing work. Pipes to allow for sewage and water had to be run in conjunction with the pouring of the foundation and before the pouring of the slab. Cedric made it clear that it was not his job to communicate with my other trades, so by the time I had Neiman scheduled there was going to be a few days of delay for Cedric’s team.
Cedric told me that delay was preventing him from completing the job and that he needed a second draw to pay his crew. I paid it—another $6,100. In addition, because at this stage I had no reason to question whether things were going right or wrong, I paid him another $2,200 to install the drainage system around the foundation. It had not been included in his original quote but was a requirement of the plans.
During the pouring of the foundation walls they experienced a major failure with their forms. They actually broke forcing them to scramble to rebuild the form before the concrete hardened.
What I believed was a foundation being prepared for the next stage of construction was anything but. Once my plumber arrived, questions about the preparation for the garage slab began to surface. The City inspector became involved and identified problems with the amount and type of gravel, the excavation and removal of roots and debris, and eventually issued a list of corrections required before the slab could be poured. This is when my trust and confidence in Cedric completely erroded and I decided I was not going to allow him to do anymore work, pour the slab.
I removed the gravel myself. Beneath it I found tree roots and metal cabling.
When Neiman Plumbing was digging to lay their pipes and later when a new concrete company I hired for the slab excavated the area properly, they unearthed huge chunks of concrete (the hardened concrete from the form failure), more cabling, tree roots and an entire tree stump. Two dump-truck loads of material had to be hauled to a landfill. Those discoveries led me to start combing through my Ring camera footage. What I found was enough for me to take Wood Fundi Paving to small claims court, seeking the maximum amount allowed: $6,000.
And we still weren’t done.
My father noticed that Cedric had failed to allow for the required drop-downs for the front and rear doors. I ultimately had to hire a concrete cutting company to cut the openings into the newly poured foundation walls.
There were also problems with the anchor bolts. Some were improperly located, some were angled, and others did not extend far enough above the concrete to properly accommodate the sill plate, washer and nut. To document the problems, I made a wooden jig marking the centerline of the wall and the minimum bolt height needed for installation, then photographed it beside each anchor bolt.
These were not cosmetic disagreements over how I thought something should look. I had construction plans. The contract required the work to be completed “per specs.” I had photographs, videos, emails, inspection records, the testimony of other professionals who examined the work, and the physical evidence that showed what I viewed as negligence.
Cedric’s response was to countersue for the outstanding balance and initiate a lien against my home. He even had the audacity to come to the house and tape the lien notice to my front door himself.
Cedric’s countersuit was thrown out, and I was awarded the full amount of my claim. To date, Cedric Thomas has yet to pay the judgment.
I have since discovered one more item that was done incorrectly, which I believe warrants a refund of all labor expenses. I am willing to pay for the concrete and materials used. Despite everything that was done wrong, I have no choice but to make the best of the concrete as poured.
I sought legal advice from several attorneys about pursuing the matter further. Their advice was that I would be throwing good money after bad, given the difficulty I had already encountered trying to collect the first judgment.
My confidence in my ability to do this project was shaken. I was paralyzed and afraid to go any further.
In the midst of all that drama, I was home for lunch one day and preparing to return to work when a van filled with members of Mrs. Laverne Ford’s family pulled into the driveway of the house next door. Mrs. Laverne had passed away several years earlier, and the house had simply sat empty. The neighbors across the street and I had taken turns maintaining the yard.
I introduced myself and asked what was happening. They were there to clean out the house, with plans to put it on the market that evening. I responded, “I have my life savings invested in my house. I would appreciate you giving me an opportunity to make you an offer before putting it on the market.”
What I was saying to myself was something different: I want to control what happens next to me. And, more importantly, I need a project that will help me restore faith in myself.
A week later, the garage was put back on hold, and I owned the house I named Ms. Velma, in honor of my maternal grandmother. I do plan to write about Ms. Velma and pay tribute to Mrs. Ford. If I never restore another house, that one will be my favorite. I sold it in April.
For almost three years, I’ve been staring at an investment of nearly $60,000 between the concrete, pre-plumbing work and permits. Do I abandon the vision, or press on? Many, many factors say stop. But when Clarence Burton of Burton Construction agreed to do the framing for me, it was enough for me to say continue on.
I have complete and total trust in him. Our paths first crossed during my first job at Swifton Commons Mall, where he built out many of the storefronts. Years later, he bid on the drywall for my house. His price was outside my budget, but given the performance of the crew I ultimately hired, I sure wish I could have used him. I later hired Mr. Burton to rebuild the porch of Ms. Inez.
His crew starts work on Monday. Once I’m under roof, I’m back in my wheelhouse and ready to make the vision a reality.
I asked ChatGPT to take my front elevation and turn it into a rendering of the finished project. Close enough, but I’m sure looking forward to seeing it look even better in person.
While the roofs were being replaced, I turned my focus on the elephant on the porch, the gapping hole on the right side of house that would allow you to walk into the living room without using the front door. It looked bad, but for some reason I got a sense that it was not a big deal to fix. The contractors I called thought otherwise and I was getting quotes ranging from $3500-7000. I decided to call the structural engineer that I worked with on my house. My instincts were correct. The corner post wasn’t even load barring. He told me to remove the rot and replace it with pressure treated wood that I wood laminate together to create the width and height I needed. Armed with that I did the repairs myself. It took two weeks of evenings and weekends, but it was thousands saved. 
green. Due to Covid the darker forest green, which I would have preferred due to it being the original color of house, was not available. Sherwin Williams had two greens that were close to my custom color, At Ease Soldier and Honed Soapstone. I pulled the companion colors for them and decided I liked the color combination of Honed Soapstone best. My exterior color pallet had been chosen; Moderne White, Aged White, and Subdued Sienna and my custom green.
They got to stay in the Janet Suite and I gave them a key, so they could come and go as they pleased. They arrived on a Thursday night after an eight hour drive. I was prepared with cheeses, ham, turkey, and a variety of chips; something light as I thought they’d be more tired than hungry. What Steve had a taste for was a peanut butter sandwich, so thankfully I had that in the pantry. Vicki joined him and had PB&J.
Saturday was hang out day for me and Vicki and Steve got to visit some of his car friends (he has a vintage Alfa Romero that he’s had in the 
Some friends say they are going to do something and others do what they say. My friend Joan falls in the do what they say category. She was the only non family member that performed physical work on my house without expecting to be paid. In my pre-electric days she or her husband Rick would come and change the batteries in my Simpli Safe security system if I was not able to do so. The batteries had to be changed every 3 days. She got down on her hands and knees to pull staples out of the floor and to clean the floors after the dry wall crew left them a mess. She painted walls. Many days she worked, since she had the key, while I was out of town on business travel. She called Sista Girl with Skills about hiring her for some repair work and projects at their new condo; her friend showed up instead.
The inspiration for my house interior design was the 2017 HGTV Urban Oasis giveaway house. I was pulling pics to prepare for my final post on that house when I noticed that the kitchen had blue gingham roman blinds at the windows. I had used blue gingham contact paper to line the shelves of my built-in, so I definitely wanted those for my windows. I emailed Missy the picture and she got back to me in less than 48-hours with a very expensive option. Of all her vendors only one carried that fabric and it was a vendor she called the Lexus of roman blind manufacturers. I was looking at $1200 for just those two windows, so that idea went bye, bye. I scheduled an appointment with Missy to come out on September 11 to show me other options.
and my desire to do something different than blinds. Missy made five trips out to her van bringing in fabric books, different shade samples. At my request she held samples in my window so I could go outside to see what would great people. I wasn’t feeling any of it. I guess I really didn’t know what a roman shade was or how it operated. In the price range of my budget the backs of them look terrible in the window as you see all the mechanisms that make them function.
With the plan to ditch the top and side shelves in my original headboard design, I needed to come up with something to get rid of the TV tray I had been using as a nightstand. My first thought was to buy something, so I started surfing various online retailers. Nothing I came across would compliment my headboard. I decided to check out Etsy, which is full of unique products made by independent
sellers. After just a few clicks I came across several sellers making floating nightstands, which instead of purchasing I decided to make. Doing so would allow me to use material that would match the headboard.
purchased more reclaimed wood from Building Value, but then I’d need to join several pieces together for depth. Then I remembered I still had the original shelves from the 1st floor bathroom linen closet. They are 12″ x 24″, covered in paint and contact paper. I bet myself that underneath was a solid piece of old pine and I was right.
