I knew I wanted to get with Téo as quickly as possible- even with the limited knowledge I had about such things, I understood the necessity of getting my construction projects scheduled before summer season hit.
So, I took some time roaming around Ditmas Park and Flatbush Mews, surveying ongoing renovations on houses that resembled mine. And I made sure to take note whenever I could pick up any clues about what contractors were responsible for the more impressive looking work. After a week or so of intel gathering, I decided it was time to loop Téo in.
We met over on Lincoln Road one Saturday afternoon in mid-May. I was standing on my rickety porch as Téo pulled up.
“I can’t believe you landed a house over here,” Téo called out to me, as he pulled in behind my truck. “I used to date a girl who lived over on Rutland, but then Lali turned up pregnant.”
I laughed and shook my head. That bit of unnecessary information confirmed some of my long-held suspicions about my friend’s relationship.
“Let me show you through the house first, then you can tell me what you think I need to do,” I said to Téo, as I unlocked the front door.
We toured all three floors as well as the unfinished basement, then I led him out to the small backyard.
“So, that’s my house,” I said. “I want to re-do it from top to bottom, then completely re-landscape and maybe get rid of that old garage and put in something functional.”
I glanced around at my domain- the one-car garage had seen better days, the yard consisted of patchy crabgrass and over-grown shrubbery and the whole thing was crying out to be fenced in.
“Okay, Hopeton,” Téo said gently, “you need to take this one step at a time, my friend. This is going to be a massive undertaking. You really have no idea what you’re getting yourself into.”
“I’m aware of this,” I replied. “But that’s why I have you here to advise me.”
“What do you have in your fridge?” Téo asked.
“A six pack of Dragon Stout,” I told him. “And half a bottle of Appleton Reserve in the pantry.”
“Alright, let’s go back inside and try to get this sorted,” Téo suggested.
We made our way back inside and sat around the kitchen table- it had come with the house and was one of the first things I planned to toss as soon as I was ready to get my own furniture in.
Before Téo had a chance to start advising me about the complicated world of Brooklyn contractors, I took a sip of my stout and asked him a question that had been weighing on my mind for quite some time.
“So, it’s almost graduation time for Mundo. Are you and Lali ready for it?”
“Yeah, the ceremony’s next week,” Téo replied, with little noticeable enthusiasm. “I’m happy he’s getting a degree in International Studies. Lali’s annoyed that he couldn’t even have managed to scrape out a cum laude at that school. But at least he got through it alive.”
“And I’m sure there’s a lot he’ll be able to do with that degree,” I said, angling my way into the real issue at hand. “What are your plans for him? Grad school? Are you going to have him come work for you?”
Téo looked at me sideways for a brief second, then down at the bottle in his hand.
“Lali and I are going to let Mundo do some traveling, then I’m going to sit down with him after he gets back.”
I left it alone, and the conversation turned back to my construction plans.
“First things you’re going to want to deal with are the foundation, that rickety porch you have, windows, door and the roof,” Téo explained.
I nodded. That made complete sense to me- shore up the structure before you make cosmetic updates.
“My guy is excellent,” he continued. “Not cheap, of course, but worth every penny.”
“Well, I’m ready to get going tomorrow if he’s available,” I replied.
“Let me give him a call,” Téo said. “If he can slot a crew in to start by end of June, beginning of July, you could get all of your outside structural work done by October and then pivot to inside for the winter. You also want to have someone come in as soon as possible to check out your boiler. I guarantee you’re going to want to replace it.”
“I’d really like to get going on the kitchen as soon as we’re ready to start work on the inside,” I said.
It was surprising how these feelings of home and stability and prosperity crept up on me so suddenly and so surprisingly, as I sat in the house that I owned- as I sought advice from a man who had known nothing but stability and prosperity. It was going to be a slow and steady process, but I knew it was what I was working towards.
“Where’s that rum you were talking about?” Téo asked, snapping me out of my reverie.
I stood up to get the bottle and some glasses.
“And listen to me,” Téo said in a serious tone. “While you’re still living in PanStar, do the upstairs first. Have them renovate your bedroom and bathroom. Make sure you have a nice guestroom and a little office on the second floor. Then you tackle the kitchen. Kitchens are always a time suck and a potential money pit. God knows what you’re going to discover when you start messing with the plumbing here.”
“It’s good that you’re able to walk me through the priorities,” I said, “because I want to get every single thing updated. I want to turn the attic into a proper third floor and I wonder if it’s even possible to turn that old root cellar into a proper finished basement, like what you have…”
Téo laughed.
“Yeah, just like I have over in Clinton Hill,” he said.
Téo poured himself a triple shot of Appleton and set me straight as he sipped.
“Let me tell you, Hopeton- you could renovate this house until your dying day, and it may never be done the way you want. So, use your logical brain- get a contractor you can work with, walk through everything with him, decide what you absolutely cannot live with and what you consider to be more or less functional. Once you get through dealing with the outside projects, and then you’re deep into bedrooms, bathrooms and kitchens- I promise you, everything else will turn into something that can wait for a later day.”
Téo was right.
I’d allow myself two years to make this house my own. Anything else after that would be filed under next phase.
