The long wait

From the Summer of 2005 we continued meeting and negotiating on getting a final price agreed upon, but eventually things came to a standstill. Henry was unable to come up with a final price and contract for several months. In January of 2006 we threatened to pull out of the project, which prompted some quick action by David to get things started. He agreed to get Henry to produce a contract by April 1, and he would also get the permit started from the county. We did get the permit on April 1 as promised, but the contract took several more months of prodding and complaining. Finally, in the fall, Henry came through with a contract. But there was a catch.
This was the first project in which Henry was acting as a general contractor, since he had always been a sub-contractor in the past. This meant he didn't yet have a contractors license, and couldn't sign a contract for installing the tea house. He could still build it in his studio, but he wanted to separate the contract in two parts: Fabrication and installation. This way the fabrication could proceed now, and the installation would happen very soon in the Spring, once he had obtained his license. We very reluctantly agreed. This was a decision that would cause many sleepless nights in the future. Most of the cost was going into the fabrication, so if for any reason he didn't follow through on the installation, we could have a serious problem.