We return to the Rudolphs to find them still standing in the wreckage of a job that was supposed to be “six weeks, tops.” Instead, it’s October 2020, the kitchen is still a construction crime scene, and Borg’s excuse factory is running three shifts a day.

The mysterious Brothers Tran have vanished. Again. The windows still leak. The contract still doesn’t exist.

Just when it seems like momentum is building, Borg’s latest “solution” shows up carrying red flags, backdated invoices, imaginary property ownership. The Rudolphs are forced to say the quiet part out loud: they are worse off now than when this all started. But wait - the insurance cheques actually clear. Real money hits the bank. Hope flickers. Borg scrambles. Isaac returns demanding payment like a landlord in flip-flops. Tempers flare. Lines are drawn.

In the midst of the chaos, we also pivot to that rare quality that the Abandon House! guests all seem to have in spades, in spite of it being absent for the majority of the fiasco: competence.

Kenny and Shari welcome Michael Fournier and Doug Reid from SAIT (Southern Alberta Institute of Technology), creators of Trades Take 10 and educators who actually explain how things are supposed to work. Together, they unpack:

• Why the skilled trades shortage is very real (and very fixable)
• How apprenticeships are equivalent to university degrees — without the soul-crushing debt
• Why soft skills matter just as much as technical ones
• How trades can be a launchpad for any dream (including rock stardom)
• And why the future of housing depends on training people who actually know what they’re doing

It’s a rare bright spot in a saga defined by demolition dust and broken promises - proof that good people still exist in the system, and that not everyone asking for money is running a long con.

Next time: Sidehustle Joe and Mad Man Moreno descend upon the castle - and if you thought the last batch of pirates were bad…honey, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet. Go sell crazy somewhere else!

This podcast is the official companion to the book series of the same name Abandon House: How to Survive a Home Repair Fiasco. Book 1 is available wherever you buy books, and at this link: https://www.amazon.com/Abandon-House-Survive-Repair-Fiasco/dp/B0FJYRFYKT

Abandon House! is produced by Jess Schmidt: https://www.jessdoespodcasting.com/

Our editor is Morgane Chambrin: https://www.morganechambrin.com/

The Abandon House! theme song was produced by Jeff Gerke with music and lyrics, vocals and guitar by Kenny Rudolph: https://abandonhousepod.com/

Additional music graciously provided by Eden's Journal: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC28z4W9e04lGdr0GWL-DK2A