Almost exactly 1 year ago the company I worked for was purchased and the new owners laid off 30 people, me included. To earn some money until I found something new, I posted an ad on Craigslist offering to help with moving etc. that night a woman contacted me and gave me directions to a condo in Century City (Los Angeles).
The condo was a 37th floor penthouse being remodeled for an ex-banker from Russia who scammed billions during the collapse of the Soviet Union. As for me, they hired me as a day laborer, mostly throwing away construction debris and helping the contractors move equipment and stuff like that, but eventually I morphed into an assistant to the foreman to help with documents and finishing lists.
One day the Russian Banker came in with his wife, (who was much younger and most likely some type of model) to tour the renovation. While he walked around, the interior designer had me walk with them and take notes on the changes he wanted made. There were 2 master bathrooms, and in his there was a type of pale white stone from India (can’t remember the name) that covered the walls. He decided it wasn’t white enough so he said to get rid of it and go with some type of Italian Marble.
He had the designer remove the already, newly installed, imported cabinets throughout the closets, hallways, kitchen, bedrooms, and maids room so he could have a crew flown from Italy to install them again for authenticity. He scrapped an onyx bar, only to replace it with another onyx bar where the grain was more to his liking, and decided to change a large closet off of his bathroom into a sauna, which required a completely new set of approvals and designs on an afternoon whim.
The designer said the original renovation was expected to cost 17 million, but they were already over 25 because of changes like that. The funniest thing about it all is that during the whole project, which was nearing the end of its second year, the owner rented a two bedroom condo ten floors below for $50k/month, which for the most part he never stayed in. About 45 minutes to the northwest in Santa Barbara he owned a mansion and a yacht where he stayed most of the time.
I was only there for three months, but it was crazy seeing $15k shower heads, 5 $10+k toilets, $500+k A/V setup, and a host of other things I’ll never be able to afford.
