Patience

Our old barn needed a new roof, badly. We wanted a roof that preserved the character of an old barn, so we chose not to go with the modern, easy sheet metal roof. Originally, it had a cedar shake shingle roof, but it was replaced with asphalt shingles in 1980. We wanted the shake shingle look but didn't want to use asphalt again because they don't last as long as they say, and the warranties are usually worthless. So we chose to go with Decra steel shingles that look like shakes, but have a 50-year warranty.

We chose an experienced local contractor who gave us a good bid, and in August of 2005 he began the work. The barn also had a cupola on it that for aesthetic reasons we wanted to replace. The old one could not be saved, so we ordered a new one.

With the roof 95% finished, waiting for the new cupola to come, scaffolding still on the roof, the contractor pulled off of the job near the end of August 2005. Months pass. Unanswered messages left on his business answering machine and his cell phone. The winter passes. More messages and finally a returned call. A date is set to resume work in the spring, but rain is predicted and the date is cancelled. We wait to be rescheduled. And wait. In August of 2006, I send a 1-year anniversary card. I get a call back and a promise that a date will be set. Winter passes. In March of 2007, I send a letter with a 30- day ultimatum - finished job or we talk to our attorney. Finally, a phone call and a date.

Today, April 30, 2007, he and his crew show up and install the cupola, finish the roof, reinstall the lightning rods, re-roof a small nearby outbuilding, and are finished by 4:00. Why it took him 20 months to come back to finish a one day job we'll never know. He apologized, but offered no excuses. But it's done, and the scaffolding is finally off the roof, and it looks nice.




Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, (Hebrews 12:1)