porch completed: sort of

  I was promised my porch would be finished today.  Only a half day was needed or so I was told.  The worker (as in one) showed up at eleven.  A couple of hours later another worker showed up.  I think my wife's phone call had something to do with that.  Anyway it was a little after eight when the workers left. 
   As you can see a corner is incomplete and there is a  small block of wood on the outside of the column.  I have no idea what that is for.  There is an identical unfinished block  on the other side of the porch with the safe little piece of wood on the outside of the column. 
  You may have noticed the calking around the wood.  I had the worker do that.  He was going to leave a 1/4 inch gap around all three columns (the one in the middle was framed out and finished.  There are several rough spots on the trim where the nails were beaten in.  Instead of using a piece of wood or cardboard to lay over the nail heads before pounding the nails in to prevent the dents and dings they just hammered away. 
  Another flaw which I didn't take a picture of is a long piece of trim that was put up in sections instead of as whole piece.  The trim on the right side of the porch was put up as a whole piece but the trim on the left was put up as two pieces.  On the end there is an almost inch gap and there is a 1/2 inch gap in the middle between the two pieces. 
    Of course the gutters will not be replaced until Thursday.
I had a bad feeling when on day one the crew forgot to bring a ladder and had to borrow mine.  They borrowed an extension cord without permission and today had to borrow another.  Let's not mention the trampling of a newly planted rose bush or the laying od the trim and gutters in the middle of a flower bed. 
  I'm glad I had the porch done.  Besides the functionality of it, the porch adds character to the house.  I was hoping for a little more attention to detail but the thing that bothered me most was the "I don't care about you or your problems" attitude of the contractor especially since he is fully aware of my wife's medical problems.  He should have been more patient and should have shown more caring