On Tuesday morning August 16th I went to work just as usual for the past 7.5 months. I got up at 5 AM, had my coffee and yogurt and watched NBC Nightly news with Lester Holt from previous day as part of my every morning routine. That’s how I mentally prepare for yet another shitty day dealing with all these people at that warehouse while assembling those LGS wall sections and trusses. Just making enough money for food and expenses to survive that grey era of my life. Just waiting and waiting for them funds from subsidy for insulation to arrive. Not knowing for how much longer I’ll need to do this job.
So last year in December, after all those delays and the stucco fiasco I finally put that first condo up for sale. I haven’t had enough money to finish the parking lot and the terraces along with bunch of other things. So I decided to put that condo up for sale as it was at this unfinished rough condition. I was prepared for whatever. I had zero expectations. But I had to do it. Had no other options. Of course it would be much better if I finished all 3 condos and everything but I just ran out of funds. Being forced to take other jobs to survive. And I put all the progress on the house on hold.
I chose nice Remax real estate agent Veronika and she made the listing happen. It was winter. Snow. Cold. But she managed to bring some people in for showings on regular basis. 2 – 3 showings per week. We even set up for an “open house” event with some refreshments. But nothing. No offer. No buyer. Just bunch of nosy people. And then the war on Ukraine happened. And everything went to even deeper shit. Just as the Covid sort-of-ended and the mandatory face masks in stores were canceled etc., the freaking war started. Panic. Banks started raising the interests. I’m fucked. I will never sell this place. Mortgages started getting unaffordable for people. Real estate values rising. I mean, who can actually afford to buy a house these days?
But in the meantime sometimes in mid January this year I realized that the guy I worked for, Petr, is also licensed energy specialist who could have potentially file my subsidy for insulation application. So I decided to give it yet another shot and asked him if he could look at my shit to see what can be done about it. Because the previous specialist refused to make changes to my application, claiming they are loaded with work and terminated the contract last year. And that happened after I provided them with all the invoices and shit. Totally unethical. So after this, I’ve been looking for another specialist who would make those changes for me, because I wasn’t able to finish all the roof and floor insulation. So it needed to just get removed from the application and recalculated. So I found one person who was willing to do it for me but once I saw his pricing and how he wanted to basically rip me off, I decided to not proceed. He also offered some shady practices that instead of adjusting my application he would just fake some invoices for me to avoid making those changes.
So after this I pretty much gave up the idea of getting the free money. I told myself I don’t need this fucking money anyway. All I needed was to sell the first condo and use those money to finish the rest of the house.
But then I got this job and my boss Petr offered the same thing. He was like “Yeah yeah, email me what you got” So I emailed him all the paperwork and he offerer also to not make changes to the application and he would issue me some fake invoices for the rest of the jobs that I have not finished instead and that way I would get the full subsidy amount (minus the sales taxes that I would have to reimburse him back for). He said he was backed up with work (back in January) but he promised he would have it ready to file by the end of February. I was like OK, let’s give it a shot. I won’t find 575,000 CZK just laying around (about $25k in American money)
So I kept working at the warehouse. Telling myself, that while I’ll be waiting for him to prep the thing, I’ll at least use my time here for a maximum. I hauled ass at work making as much money as I possibly physically could. Tons and tons of material went through my hands. Assembling wall sections and trusses. And I used that money to build those terraces around the house. Basically all the money I made I put back in the house. Sometimes there were too many people assembling and I literarily had to fight for every single kilogram of metal so I meet my goal.
Alright so time been passing by. January, February. I’ve been killing myself. Destroying my carpals. But I knew that soon I will have them terraces paid off and eventually I’ll receive them subsidy funds and I’ll be out of there.
So the end of February approached and I started trying to get in touch with Petr, asking him, when is my application gonna be ready? It was really hard to get in touch with him not answering phone calls or messages. And once he responded after several days it was always “I’m busy I’ll get back to you next week, next week.”
I was getting really frustrated. Stressed out. So I couldn’t really count on anything he said or promised. So I waited and waited. Worked and worked. Trying to not get angry. Trying to understand that he’s a busy man. Week by week. Couple more months passed. March, April.
Sometimes during March Veronika, my real estate agent, notified me she found me a serious buyer. That was like the best news but also very frustrating at the same time. Because now that I decided to finish the subsidy for insulation application I couldn’t sign the fucking sales contract because the property couldn’t change owners before the funds gets paid out. Because I didn’t know when Petr will actually have it ready for me and when I’ll be actually able to file it and cash it out. So I pushed him and pushed that I really need to file that application so I don’t lose them buyers. This was mentally very demanding period..
So finally 2 months later after he promised, by the end of April he finally printed everything out for me and exactly on April 27th I finally filed my application for subsidy for insulation with the Ministry of environment. At the same time I also signed the sales contract on that condo. I felt a little relief. Like something is finally happening towards my goal. Like against all the odds I’ve been going through, against all these variables I can’t influence, that finally I’ll be able to move on.
So we gave the sales contract 90 days to close, because we weren’t sure how long it is going to actually take for me to receive the subsidy money. So the closing was set by July 31 2022. All I needed to do now was just to keep waiting. Just be patient and wait and wait. So I took it little easier on me at work. I’ve been gradually slowing the pace down and cutting the hours shorter. Being back home by lunch time. Making significantly less money, but had more time to recover. I even bought a road bike and started riding little bit and started working out at the workout spot by the river. Working on my handstands and muscle ups. Getting back in shape. Eventually my wrists stopped hurting and swelling from work.
And I waited and waited. May, June. Still nothing. Every week I’ve been expecting an email or a phone call from the ministry, but nothing. My patience been running out. So after another 2 months of waiting I decided to email the woman who’s been handling my application and she called me back the same day.
On the other end of the line there was this desperate woman. Unable to solve problems. Apparently this job position was too much for her. She started complaining on the phone in such a desperate tone, that the way we mailed her the paperwork she’s absolutely unable to process it as it was. She complained that it was just an utter mess. Unable to make sense out of all the invoices and transactions. Complaining she has no idea what belongs to what.
I was like “and you’re telling me this after 2 months of waiting?” I mean she literarily just glanced at that paperwork that day. I was getting furious. First of all, I couldn’t understand that the “specialist” I’m paying didn’t prepare the paperwork as it was supposed to be even though I provided him all the paperwork. He just failed me totally. But I was determined to correct all the issues, since I’ve got this far after 2 years of hell. I got this. So I told this desperate woman that I don’t know why she couldn’t make sense of the invoices when it was supposed to be all paired by numbers with the bank transactions. So I re-organised all of the invoices again on my computer. Dozens and dozens of invoices paired with transactions and what purpose the building material was used for. I made it as clear as I possibly could. I mean Petr should have done it but he failed at it. And I emailed her all the invoices again in PDF form.
And waited… then I received another email from her that there are wrong information and numbers and material codes etc within the application too. I’m angry again because Petr was supposed to correct those. I don’t understand any of this shit, that’s why I hire professionals.
All these issues made me learn a lot about this stuff. I learned how to correct all the discrepancies myself. Had to had whole bunch of other statements issued from manufacturers and shit. Whole bunch of additional paperwork needed to get submitted. The hell was never ending. I was getting good at it.
But there was yet another problem. I needed Petr to just sign it and stamp it. I got all the paperwork ready for him and just needed the fucking signature. But nooo. He fucking left for 2 week vacation even though I told him in advance! He made me wait for another 2 weeks, man! I’m working at the fucking warehouse on and on. Assembling shit for him while he cruises his Volvo around Swiss Alps. I was going nuts! This relationshit is going crazy. I work for him. He works for me. Like who is working for who here?
Time been running out. My buyers getting nervous too because they needed to use that mortgage they’ve been pre-approved for. The mortgage rates went up like crazy, but they been still locked at a low rate and needed to spend that money. So it was another 2 weeks to wait for “specialist” Petr to come back, stamp and sign them papers, then file and then wait again. Only God knows for how long. So I asked my realtor to extend the sales contract by another 30 days till August 31st because I don’t know how much longer this is going to take. So then the miserable woman from Ministry of environment finally called me that everything pans out now and it will be ready for disbursing the funds soon. So we went ahead and signed that sales contract closing and waited and waited….
Which brings me back to the beginning of this post. So on that Tuesday morning August 16th, the day started just like all of those grey days. I was at work assembling a wall section. The process didn’t go well because them designers sitting at the office by the computer and designing these walls make mistakes on regular basis. But we – the crew at the warehouse rather correct the issues on the spot than to go through them and have the wall re-designed and have the LGS profiles rolled out again. That process takes longer than fixing it ourselves. So we grab a saw or a drill or pliers and bend the fucking sheetmetal so them holes line up.
So I was battling with one of them walls bending 3 layers of sheetmetal so I can rivet them profiles together and once I finally achieved required result I screamed “I’m a victor, I’m a victor!!!” At that moment I didn’t know yet that I was a double victor.
As I grabbed my phone to write down the completed wall section number in my notes to get paid for it, I see my bank notification on the screen screen. As soon as my face ID unlocked that iPhone I now saw what I’ve been waiting for all these months. “amount of 575,000 CZK has just been credited to your account”. I couldn’t believe this shit. It actually happened! So I screamed again:” I’m a victor, I’m a victor!!” but this time for reals. I’m out of here, man! No more assembling walls for someone else!
So I said good bye to all the guys I’ve been working with for the past 7.5 months. That moment finally came! I’m leaving this place! Now I have money to continue working on my house. Finally I can finish the rest.
This financial injection of about $25k is allowing me to finish off lots of work. I immediately ordered materials for finishing the decking and filling in and covering the walls separating the condos. Acoustic walls. That’s what I’ve been working on for the past 2 weeks. I also have a crew lined up for finishing the goddamn parking lot. Just waiting for the weather to clear up. But more about that next time.
And believe you me, I will post another video update on YT once I have more time. It will be painful for your ears and for my mouth, because I have not spoken English for a while, but I’ll do it. I have not died just yet. The real redemption mode is coming up. Now I just need to wait for the register of deeds to process the owner’s changing hands, which takes here in Czechia “only” 30 days. It is not an instant procedure like in USA. So “just” 30 days separates me from cashing out the 5MIL CZK (about $200k at current exchange rate) for the first condo. After all these months. Years even. You know, actually, November is gonna mark 3 years since I started working on this house. 3 years for Christ’s sake!
I don’t know what I would do without me 😀.
Stay tuned. Peace.
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