This time has been our peak “GC-ing” as we’re only using a few contractors, but they are almost all in the front portion of the project. This has kept us busy from the minute the alarm goes off (and sometimes before- those contractors start texting at 6:30 AM!!) until 11 or 11:30 PM.

Jim has been taking the brunt of this, but I occasionally have to call one or the other of them and am the general keeper of the To-Do list that is helping us keep all these plates spinning. Usually every morning, during lunch, and in the evening we give each other progress reports on calls/emails/texts sent or received and any new information we’ve found out.

Since I’m notoriously TERRIBLE with names, this has been a bit of a mental gymnastics to keep their names straight. It isn’t helped by the fact that I’ve met like 2 of them. So I often confuse them and thus, give them nicknames. As you do.

Thus far we have:

• Kaelob (he’s easy to remember and a frequent flyer with our permitting saga)
• Electric Frank- electrical inspector
• Dave aka Fabio (it’s hair related)- surveyor
• Dave- owner of the foundation/excavation company
• Walter- operator of excavator
• Jeff- foundation wall foreman
• Mike- fireplaces
• Kyle- doors & windows
• Zak- mason
• Zach- truss contact
• Elmer- framer
• Ryan- CAD operator
• Rory- lumber materials salesperson
• Tony- plumbing inspector
• Tom the termite man
• Arlen- central vac contact
• Reuben- builder of the garage and a hilarious texting conversationalist

Aren’t they all just running together in your head and becoming a confusing pile of boy names? I can really only keep Reuben, Elmer, and Kaelob straight in my head. And Kyle and Zak get swapped almost EVERY conversation. At least, so far, there are only two duplicates.

So you might be asking what about girl names, don’t you have a few contacts who have girl names? Three.

• Esther- she cuts the checks from the construction loan
• Beth and Stephanie- considerate employees at the brick supplier who put up with my many requests for samples and addresses