Anyone with experience in the renovation business can tell a story or two about the pride of finishing a particularly tough job. At Bath Fitter, it’s no different. While our one-day bath remodeling process is smooth and professional, there are some homes where it’s inevitable that our estimators and installers are going to have to go the extra mile to get the job done. And at the franchise we’re featuring today, Burlington, Vermont, the weather also plays a decisive factor.
The Burlington territory extends to Lake Placid in the west; Lebanon, New Hampshire to the east; the Canadian border in the north; and stops just short of the last two counties in Vermont to the south. Some days, there is a three-hour drive to the job, each way. Last winter was especially rough.
At that time of year, “There are places in Vermont that we can’t get to,” says Charlie, the franchise manager. On one particular installation, Charlie reports, “We tried four times to get to a job.” The installers eventually had to wait until June – not only for the snow to melt, but for the muddy tracks to dry out enough to allow a vehicle to pass.
Of course, there is also the New England challenge of installing tub liners, shower bases and wall-systems in very old homes. Often they encounter what Charlie calls “George Washington plumbing.” Despite that, there are very few jobs that Bath Fitter cannot do. Charlie’s estimators and installers have extensive training and experience. They use all the resources available. “Skip,” an estimator – like all his co-workers – will take detailed photos and measurements of the space where the new Bath Fitter fixtures will be installed. If he encounters something in a home that looks unfamiliar, he can share this information with any of the other 165-plus Bath Fitter locations in order to find the product that is the perfect fit.
The Burlington franchise, opened in 1984, is one of Bath Fitter’s oldest, and it’s fair to say that over the years there’s probably very little that these guys have not seen. Charlie tells the story about a home where the staircase was so narrow that it was impossible to climb it while carrying the seamless wall-system that they needed to maneuver into place. So Charlie went outside, climbed to the top of a ladder, had his partner pass him the wall-system, and then Charlie hauled it inside through the third-floor balcony.
Sometimes installers find a home in which the bathroom wall is built of plaster stuck to chicken wire. All of this needs to be removed before they can replace it with Bath Fitter’s tough and elegant acrylic products. Needless to say, our “before” and “after” photos often show a dramatic change. We look forward to sharing some of these photos with you in future posts – not to mention more great bathroom renovation stories.
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