How many engineers does it take ...?

In a perfect world we would have had a leisurely time frame in which to get the spa ready to open. Construction should have been scheduled for several months, not six or seven weeks. We should have had a few weeks, not three or four days, to get the finished space cleaned and set up prior to opening. And we should have been able to order equipment close to the end of construction and have everything delivered directly to the spa. Woulda, coulda, shoulda!

We realized a few weeks ago that we couldn't afford to wait until we had a firm construction end-date to start getting equipment shipped. For one thing, if we waited to order things, we were taking a chance that some items might no longer be in stock. For another, we were concerned that shipping could take longer than promised, which it turned out was a well-founded concern, and we would be forced to open without the necessary equipment. We made the decision to start placing orders and we figured we would just load up our living rooms, attics and basements with furniture and gear for the short-term, until the spa was ready to receive it all.

Shortly before we took possession of our first load of equipment, however, we began calculating just how much stuff we had coming. In spite of our initial optimism, we started getting a little twitchy about spending the entire summer living as if we were in an episode of "Hoarders." After coming to the conclusion that social services might arrive and take our children away for forcing them to live in the midst of a fire hazard, we made the decision to rent a storage locker to house the larger items that were on their way from all over North America.

Fast forward several weeks and we are now on our second locker and I am on a first-name basis with the manager of the storage facility. I have become good friends with delivery truck drivers. Recovering from a broken arm and dislocated shoulder, I have swallowed my pride and I have taken to sweet-talking these poor guys into helping me get the equipment neatly stowed in the ever-shrinking available space.

However, last week we got the delivery to end all deliveries ... 1600 pounds of equipment that had made its way to us from Atlanta. Three of the pieces were double-sided hairstyling stations with floor-to-ceiling mirrors on both sides. Seven years of bad luck multiplied by six just waiting to happen! The driver couldn't wait to get "all that glass" off his truck. The only problem - the units are nearly eight feet tall and the opening to the storage facility is six and a half feet high at the most. After inspecting the space, the truck driver looked at my husband and I and just shook his head, making it clear that his job ended when he got the stuff off the truck.

My husband is a strong guy. I had no doubt that he could muscle these pieces into the locker, tipped up on an angle to get them through the doorway. Luckily for us, though, he is also an engineer and his brain works in ways mine doesn't. I'm a big picture person, while he is all about the details. He quickly realized that if we tilted the units, the mirrors would crack on the bottom. That thought never occured to me! After a few moments of deliberating, we left the pieces in the hallway in front of our locker (we weren't really worried about someone walking off with them), snaked our way through rush hour to Home Depot and rented an appliance dolly. I won't say it was easy from that point on, but after much shuffling and tugging the equipment is safe in the storage locker. I'm just not sure we are ever going to get it out again!

Backwash? Ew!

The things they don't teach you in law school! I've had my hair cut hundreds of times and never once did I stop to consider what the chair I was sitting in to have my hair washed was called. Turns out it's called a backwash. Who knew? I thought backwash was the little chewed up pieces of food my kids used to leave in my glass after they just had to have a drink of whatever it was I happened to be enjoying.

Kate spent months finding the right backwash units. We worked with our designers to create a calm and tranquil room where our guests would be able to relax and enjoy a scalp massage, away from the bustle and noise of the hair salon. We picked out a system that met our vision and included it in our plans. Then we hit the first of several backwash snags - the sinks we wanted, which were going to be integrated into custom-built cabinetry, were three times the price we had been quoted. That wasn't in the budget. Plan two was beautiful stand alone units that were in stock and ready to be shipped from a distributor in the United States. Until the distributor wanted us to hand over copies every piece of identification and personal information he could dream of, simply because the products were going to cross the border. Hello, identify theft? Plan three, similar units sourced in Montreal from a supplier who spoke so little English his emails were a welcome source of amusement during the weeks we were communicating with him.

Last week the backwash units arrived and we opened one up to have a look. They are gorgeous, sleek black leather and chrome. I can't wait to see them installed. Which brings me to yesterday. The plumber needed me to make a call on the positioning of the units within the hair washing room. He needed to know if the chairs should be evenly spaced in the room, if we required space between the units so the hair stylists could walk around the chairs and how much leg room we needed. The pipes were being laid in the floor as we spoke, so there was no time to talk to someone who had dealt with backwash chairs before - I was it. I was suddenly the backwash specialist. So, I did what you have to do in law all the time, I looked at the problem, made a snap decision and then told them what I wanted convincingly so they wouldn't think I didn't have a clue what I was talking about!

If you had asked me two years ago to solve a backwash dilemma, I would have told you to just pour out your drink and get a new one.

Lawyers and owners see construction delays very differently!

I worked for years in litigation, first as a paralegal and then, after I started law school, as a summer student and articled clerk. Construction law is a such a broad area of law that they offer a distinct construction law class in law school, dealing with issues such as tendering, contracts, change orders and delays. Many of the lawyers I worked for in litigation had thriving construction law practices. People in the construction industry seem to be highly litigious - it seems very rare for a construction project to go from start to finish without somebody suing somebody.

Now I am seeing the world of construction from the other side - as an owner hoping to get a construction project over the finish line on time and on budget. Construction started yesterday and already there have been problems, which = delays! To a lawyer this would be potential business and the lawyer in me automatically thinks "Who is responsible and what damages can we get?" But the owner in me wants to scream "I don't care whose fault it is, somebody just fix it!"

The two sides of me are warring with each other. The lawyer in me wants to dig into the contracts to find out who should have done what, the owner justs wants to get the job done. The owner is going to have to win - one thing I know from experience is that as a lawyer I would be dealing with this problem years from now as it worked its way through the court system. But as an owner I have to get this problem fixed today, because tomorrow there are other contractors waiting to arrive and get their work done. I'll put the fight aside. For now.

Here are a few pictures to give you some "before" views of the space. We will update the pictures regularly so everyone can see the progress! Keep your fingers crossed that things keep moving along!

Check out the incredible renderings of our retail + reception space, hair salon, manicure + pedicure room and treatment rooms!

Welcome to From Law to Spa! Follow Kate and Cindy as they branch out from the legal world on a new adventure! Stay tuned for updates as we build a fantastic team while we navigate construction of our beautiful new spa/salon.