Covering Up

In other news, according to the last update we got, we are only weeks away from getting the screen behind our house replaced. Last I heard from them (a couple weeks ago) they said still on schedule for the first week in August. Of course, it was originally scheduled for March. And I wouldn’t be surprised if it still ends up not being August. And of course, we are not the only ones:

Pool screens awash in delays
(Scott Blanke, Florida Today)

There are more than 36,000 swimming pools in Brevard County, including the one in Melissa Wells’ back yard in Palm Bay. Like many of her fellow pool owners, Wells is waiting for a screen enclosure to be built around her pool.

She put up a fence in her yard so she could use her pool while she waits for a screen enclosure, but it’s not the same.

“You can’t go out and swim at night without getting attacked by mosquitoes,” Wells said.

Homeowners across Brevard County are having to wait months longer than usual and pay thousands of dollars extra for swimming-pool screen enclosures, as screen contractors have been overwhelmed with work because of last year’s hurricanes and Florida’s housing boom.

The situation has created a lot of unhappy customers.

We’re locked into “last year’s rate” by contract. They better not try to change that. Brandy has been most upset by the many month delay we’ve already had. I’ve never been too concerned about that, cause I expected it. Now the price on the other hand… this is supposed to be entirely paid for by money in escrow from the previous owners. If they try to change the price by one penny, then I’ll be quite annoyed. I think they are locked in though.

One of the things the article mentions is how some of the screen builders who signed up too many people (like ours obviously) are themselves getting screwed because they are locked in to only recieving last year’s prices while their own costs have gone up considerably.

I guess I feel for them somewhat. On the other hand, I don’t care so much that I’d want to pay more. :-) Just get our screen on, so we don’t have to worry about bugs and leaves.