Page 54 of Haunted Nights & Savage Sins
At least he’s doing it.
“Come, the contractors are here.” Cormac gets up from his seat, holding his hand out for me to follow along with him.
I follow at his side out the front door of the large house.
There is a crew of eight people there, one standing to the front. He is the one who puts his hand out for Cormac to shake.
“Good day, sir.”
“Good day. I’m Mr. O’Sullivan, and this is my wife, Mrs. O’Sullivan.” Cormac shakes his hand quickly before introducing me.
“I’m Mike,” the man says, looking to me quickly before focusing back on Cormac. “You called about some roofing work that needs to be done.”
“Yes,” Cormac replies, his eyes darting from Mike to the seven other workers who are standing around looking at the expanse of the large home. They’re curious. It makes sense. Based on what Cormac has told me, no one in this town has made it past the gate. Even the deliveries are left down there.
“So...” Mike starts, probably feeling a little awkward with Cormac obviously casing his workers. “Do you want to let me see where you need the work done?”
“Actually, you all will be working with my wife. She’s more than capable, and this is her project. Any questions you have, you can direct them to her, and she’ll get it taken care of.”
I step to the forefront, acting as a bit of a buffer between Cormac and the strangers. I feel him relax slightly. All of the men stop what they are doing and look to me. “That’s right. You’re stuck with me.” I joke, and the group of them chuckle.
I turn and press a soft kiss on Cormac’s cheek. “Go on back to work. I’ve got this.” He hesitates for a second before he nods once and turns, going back in the house.
With him gone, I quickly give Mike the breakdown of what’s been going on with the roof and the fact that the crew will not be allowed in the house without security and only when necessary, say bathroom visits and medical emergencies.
I bring Mike inside and show him the obvious places. Of course, he lets me know he won’t be able to give me an accurate estimate until they get up on the roof. Typical and expected. Even I don’t know the extent of the damage from down here.
I’m impressed by how quickly he gets the gear set up, scaffolding and ladders. They obviously have come prepared for a large job.
I did a bit of research on the company. They had a good reputation in this town and the surrounding areas, but I haven’t seen any new reviews, which means they might be lacking steady work. The company is a full contracting business, which means they do roofing, walls, concrete, brick, electrical work... everything.
I’m hoping the lure of steady work will be enough to get this job done as quickly and efficiently as possible.
About an hour later, Mike comes down from the roof after going over every inch of it to let me know the damage.
“So, how bad is it? Can it be salvaged?” I question but put a finger up to stop him before he has a chance to answer. “Let me warn you, if you tell me you want to tear the whole roof off and put on a new one, I’ll send you on your way now.”
He grimaces. “Honestly, it would be better to do just that. It doesn’t look like this roof has seen any upkeep in years, maybe decades.”
“I’m sure it hasn’t. So what options do you have for not tearing the entire roof off?” I wait patiently for him to go over what he can do.
Basically, he’s able to do some pretty extensive patchwork, but within the next five years the roof will definitely need to be replaced in its entirety.
I figured as much, but I’ll have to work Cormac up to that. “Fine, what’s the estimate on the patchwork option?”
He gulps. “Like I said, it’s extensive. For it to be done right, I’ll need different materials.”
More expensive materials, he means.
“I’ll have to check with the warehouse, but it’s looking to be near fifteen to twenty thousand dollars if you go with asphalt shingles, but if you want to keep with the existing material of slate, it’ll push it up to a minimum of forty.” He doesn’t let me get a word in, probably realizing just how expensive that actually is. I’m sure he is used to working with people in lower income brackets.
“Though, we could simply start with the most damaged parts and do it in sections as the resources become available for both parties.”
That would take longer, definitely not what I or Cormac wants.
“No, we’ll do all the patchwork at once,” I say, finally able to speak. “And to make this more worthwhile, if you can get this all done within a week, I’ll bump the price an extra ten thousand dollars.”
His eyes widen, and I swear he’s seconds away from drooling.
