Terrible Tuesday last month - three jobs went sideways in one day

Started at a house in the morning where the customer had moved all their furniture but left a bunch of heavy boxes right where I needed to work. Had to stop and move 14 boxes before I could even roll out the pad. Second job was a bedroom where the old carpet had been glued straight to the concrete and I spent 2 hours scraping it up. Third place had a tack strip that had been nailed into a pipe and flooded the basement when I pulled it. Lost about $300 in billable time that day. Has anyone else ever hit a water line with a tack strip?

2 comments

2 Comments

wren6521mo ago

Used to think pulling tack strips was just muscle memory until I hit a water line exactly like that. That moment when water starts spraying everywhere and you realize you're about to have a really bad day. Definitely made me more careful about checking what's underneath before yanking anything up.

brooke4841mo ago

Oh man, that spray of water is a feeling you never forget (and definitely never want to repeat). It's wild how one mistake like that completely rewires your whole approach to a job you thought you had down cold. Now I find myself double-checking everything, even on jobs where I'm 99% sure there's nothing to worry about.