I think Good Fellas contracting knew a good thing when they saw it and decided to make sure they did a good job. It was good for business for them. They got to work indirectly with The Donald. They got free advertizing. And since their team won, they look even better. GF Contracting made a great business choice.
Lazy Taco Eater Contracting looked just like all the horror stories you hear about contracting. Wasn’t finished on time, didn’t look good, they messed up about as much as they fixed. Kevin picked a bad one, but LTE Contracting was recommended. I would say they need to learn from Clark Howard and shopped around and buyer beware.
I think they’re like doctors or computer programmers or mechanics, or any group with skills that the rest of us don’t have. Unless you’ve done the work yourself, you don’t know how much it should cost or how long it should take to finish or how difficult it is. And the contractors know it, and some of them take advantage.
It would have been fun to watch if the teams could have used Extreme Makeover Home Edition people, or Habitat for Humanity.
Sandy is starting to look a little better. She’s a hard worker and a good team player. Plus, I think she does have a pretty good design sense–not edgy or sophisticated, but she is able to make things look nice. I don’t think she’s CEO material, or even a nice person, but she’s decent, at least compared to most of the other people who have been on this show.
She succeeded on this task by having good instincts as to what types of projects would significantly improve the desiriability of the house while still being reasonable to do in such a short time frame. She also communicated well with the contractors, laying out what she wanted them to do without bombarding them with nitpicky details. And most importantly, she allowed people to just go ahead and do their jobs. To me, that’s a sign of good management–taking advantage of your workers skills and inherent desires to do a good job. Plus, she took the opportunity that she was given with the second set of contractors.
So, while she’s still on my “don’t like” list, I give her a lot more credit than I do Ivana or Maria.
Thanks to CCL and Captain Amazing for pointing out my calling Rob John. Of course, that just further accentuates how forgettable he was.
I’ll miss Raj. But not much. His failure – or outright refusal – to bring Chris into the boardroom after Trump practically offered him the silver platter to put Chris’s head on was enough all by itself, even ignoring all the mess with the house. Which was just sad. I have to say Sandy did a surprisingly good job of pulling it all together. Who knew the girl had it in her?
I think the theory is that these post-war houses have very small bedrooms. You might not even be able to tell which one is the master. So if the average buyer only needs three bedrooms (2 kids + parents), then it would add value to the house to have two small ones for the kids and one big one for the parents. Rather than having an extra small room.
Good point. It might have worked better for Raj if the new big room had looked better. It was big, but it ugly. It didn’t appear to be finished, and the small windows didn’t help.
He tried to do too much, maybe, in too little time. Finished big bedroom and finished extra bath would have helped.
All I have to say is that The Apprentice is a game, not a job interview. How else can Trump justify keeping Maria and Ivana but firing Pamela and Raj? Pamela’s firing was an all out screw job and despite Raj’s mistakes, he was still one of the smartest and most talented people on the show.
The apprentice is a show I’ve only just started to appreciate, as I’ve only recently got a TV. I wonder if Mr Trump is going to make Sandy sit out the bridal shop test? Or have her as a judge?
I also think Mark Burnett is directing Trump’s decisions every step of the way. There is very little “reality” here; these are not businesspeople, they are actors, including Trump himself, who is playing the role he was hired to play, reading the lines Burnett gives him. (Sometimes more obviously than others, like the clumsy boardroom voiceovers.) Mere entertainment, nothing more.
I commented to twickster last night that I think Trump tries to fire whoever has the biggest blabbermouth each week. Bradford talked himself into getting fired, Stacy wouldn’t shut up, Raj was almost as bad in the boardroom, and Chris should have talked himself out of a job.