Construction Continues – Are We Done Yet?
When you are building a house, doesn’t it seem like it always takes too long to finish? I mean finished completely – walk in ready – turn key – no construction today folks – all done! Try building a resort in a foreign country on your own and you will probably go through a whole new set of emotions. There are a lot of words that come to mind regarding construction projects that I probably should not share with you! You will, however, learn patience, frustration, appreciation and accomplishment.
Once Ralston had that room for us to stay in, I couldn’t wait to finish more rooms and start having guests. But, you can’t have guests in a construction zone. Whoa, Baba, let’s concentrate on completing our building first before we bring in guests. Work was gradually progressing on the building. The labourers and the masons showed up every day. The plumber and the electrician would show up to do their parts when required. Every day the labourers were pushing wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of sand and concrete. Truck loads of sand, concrete blocks, bags of cement and all other forms of construction materials were arriving on a regular basis. Just as quickly as they were unloaded, the guys were hauling them forward to complete the walls of the main level. Those walls finally stood to the level we needed.
Now we had to complete the ceiling, the floor over the main level which would be a huge undertaking. Up to this point, all the concrete work had been done by hand. The concrete was mixed by hand, hauled by wheelbarrow and poured and hand levelled. Papa Poo did not want the floor to be done this way. He wanted it done fast so he sent Ralston on a mission to find a concrete pumper on the island. Ralston being Ralston, found someone, worked out a deal and hired him to complete the main level ceiling.
The men prepared the frame. The plumber and electrician set all the plumbing and electrical services up to the second level. The steel was set in place and we waited for the cement pumper. When it arrived, we had to be ready to go hard and that’s exactly what the men did. Everyone worked hard and at the same time were amazed at how quickly they had completed such a huge job. It was poured and levelled and then it was left to set. Timber shoring was set up and left in place for about a week. Ralston had gone into the bush himself to select long straight timber for the shoring. The hot sun and occasional rain shower helped cure the cement and it set very well. First level complete!
Now we could work on the second level. Wow, things were cruising right along. At the time, it did not seem like we were making great advances but looking back, we had finished building the first level – that was an amazing undertaking. Remember, all of this was done with only manual labour – no excavators, hoes or skid steers. We had powered hand tools, a chainsaw and Ralston refurbished a cement mixer. We eventually hired that cement pumper for the roofs. All in all it was hard physical labour, plenty of sweat and sheer determination that built Villa Jewel Resort.
During the times we visited we would make plans, discuss our plans with Ralston and continued to meet more people from the community. We discussed colors, flooring, furniture, staffing – everything. This truly benefited us, because Rally knew exactly what we wanted. If he found a deal on windows, doors or sinks, he would send us a picture and we would give him the go ahead. He knew what we wanted and stretched our Canadian dollar.
The plan now was to complete the second level and finish the two rooms above our room and the room next to us. We wanted to be able to bring family down with us to enjoy our piece of paradise and have them stay with us. Construction continued and we continued sending money. It is definitely hard to be in Canada and not physically be there at all times during construction. We had to learn to give up some control and that was a hard thing for us to do. We are very fortunate to have Ralston during this process. He made it possible.
Ralston and I still have one disagreement that neither of us has changed our opinion on – the size of the rooms. Ralston “Too big!!”. Me “Not too big!”
‘Never regret a day in your life; good days give happiness, bad days give experience, worst days give lessons, and the best days give memories.’
Enjoy your day,
Baba
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE A GUEST IN ONE OF OUR ‘BIG ROOMS’ – BOOK NOW!