Kitchen situation

Since I've been without a kitchen for over a month now, on the advice of a (lawyer) friend I sent a letter to Home Depot today asking for an "allowance" for living under these conditions for so long due to Home Depot's dropping the ball. We'll see what happens with that. (I don't see anything happening in the kitchen this week either.)

On May 4, I signed a document at Home Depot titled "What to Expect: Kitchen Installation." It reads, in part: "Permits may be necessary to obtain and will be the responsibility of The Home Depot Authorized Representative." Home Depot's general contractor had almost two months to obtain necessary permits before they demolished my kitchen on July 2 (the date they chose). Now the general contractor is just getting around to obtaining its permit. On Friday I signed and had notarized the application for the permit and also the necessary Notice of Commencement and FedExed them to the GC. They got the documents this morning. Now the GC has to fill them out and present them to the City. I have no idea how long it will take for the city to issue the permit. No one from Home Depot called me today.

Meanwhile the permit for the electrical work has been obtained (also just recently). But the electrical contractor can't proceed with its work until the GC has its permit in place. And the new cabinets and counters can't be installed by the GC until the electrical work is done.

What a f---ing mess.

Yesterday I talked to my kitchen designer at Home Depot, who is not really involved in the expediting process (they have a kitchen expediter). She said that only recently the City of North Miami has changed its policies regarding permitting (to increase revenue?), that in the past a job like mine would not have gotten so tangled up in the process. She said that Home Depot hasn't yet put procedures in place to deal with the new policies. (It's about time.)

She said that my difficult situation is probably the first they've encountered since the policies changed. She was very apologetic. I told her I was writing the letter and she gave me the name of the person in the store to address it to. (I also sent a copy to Home Depot headquarters in Atlanta.) (I should have mentioned in the letter that I was writing a blog on this remodel, for all to see.)