Why?
Firstly, we are working with a new contractor that we've never dealt with before. It takes as much time (by that I mean "never") for me to get used to his "bump-into-everything-in-his-way" type of free spirit, as it does for him to adapt to my "make-everything-perfect-to-human-eye" type of OCD.
Secondly, this morning just before the contractor tiled the floor, he wouldn't stop whining about the fact that he needed to be mindful of color/texture mix of the Carrara marble tiles. Our regular contractor always sorted the tiles for us to maintain a most consistent yet organic look. This time around we sorted all the tiles ourselves into different boxes ahead of time, and all we wanted our contractor to do is to pull different tiles out of different boxes for different areas in the room. But he wouldn't do it. So I had to offer my time (good that I was working from home today!) by handing him certain tiles for certain areas, and that calmed him down. Seriously, he couldn't afford my hour rates!
Lastly, this contractor nickle and dimed us on everything, or so as he explained, he didn't anticipate these costs. He would charge us an extra $150 just to put in the new baseboards; another $100 to buy PVC pipes for reconstructing the vanity faucet rough-in (our reno contract clearly states it includes all plumbing and installation of faucets!). When I questioned him on why the extra charge, he threw a tantrum by complaining how much time he had to wait to dispose all the wastes at the dump site for us and how I never thanked him for picking up the baseboards on our behalf. I don't mind paying petty cash like this (as a matter of fact, I always tipped my regular contractor), but in this case on principle I feel sick to my stomach that I have to pay extra.
If you are still reading up to this point, I thank you for sticking with me and listening to my rant. I will end my post with a picture from today's floor tiles.
I am traveling tomorrow so I won't be home early enough to take any pictures. I expect to be wowed by the time I get home. More updates to follow on Friday.