I hate #!@#&*( Contractors

[Grannyknot]

BTW - how does a roofer forget a roof jack and leave it on a roof? This is still bugging me.

he just forgot 1? I can understand leaving more than 1 if he planned on getting back up there.

 

[b-boy]

he just forgot 1? I can understand leaving more than 1 if he planned on getting back up there.

Just one. It's bright yellow. I saw it 30 seconds after I pulled up to the house.

 

[brettwasbtd]

Just one. It's bright yellow. I saw it 30 seconds after I pulled up to the house.

Wanted to make sure you knew he was here

One option in the future is to call like 10 contractors and say I am doing a walkthrough at x time on x day. Then go over the work with all of them that show up and ask for there bids.

Sounds like you are handy and your money would have been better spent taking unpaid leave to do it yourself. Sorry for all the problems

Were you the guy with the concrete sidewalk issue earlier?

 

[SharonaZamboni]

Wanted to make sure you knew he was here

Ha! My porch guy's siding brake has been on my front lawn for two days, and other tools in my shed for a month. I guess I could just lock the shed if he stops showing up

 

[b-boy]

Were you the guy with the concrete sidewalk issue earlier?

Yes - I did have the issue with the concrete sidewalk last Fall. As you can see, I have really bad luck with contractors.

 

[Hammy71]

It's not just contractors......getting anybody, to do anything, anymore is a pain in the arse. From the kid working at the grocery store, to the drywall guy that never comes out to do an estimate, to Congress..... Quite depressing.

 

[Rhumbline]

If it makes you guys feel any better, I oversee million dollar construction projects and I've got the same problems.

An $800k project might seem large until that paving contractor gets a $45 mil contract with the DOT. He'll send someone out to our site once a week to push some dirt around to justify the pay app.

We have a few GC's that we work with on a regular basis, and they treat us well, only because we will be bidding out over $150 mil in projects over the next few years. Sometimes even they get forgetful.

 

[Kharnynb]

Maybe finland is very different, or maybe it is because i work at a vocational school and they will find out all different levels of hell if i get annoyed, but i've never had a contractor be late, let alone not call or do bad work...

Now they aren't cheap as such, but competetive for the region.

 

[b-boy]

Well, I've officially been screwed over by my flooring guy. He was supposed to refinish my hardwoods on Friday. He says there was a death in the family. He's going out of town, and has no idea when he'll be returning. He won't give me an estimate of when he can do the work. He's given me so many excuses so far, I don't believe a word of it. He'd already canceled several times. I told him that this weekend had to happen because I'm moving in on the 21st. We held off moving, because we wanted to get these floors finished prior to moving in. I've been chasing this guy for 2 months.

I have to move in this weekend. None of the floors are done. I have put all my furniture somewhere until I can get another guy in to do the work. The house has to be empty. I'll probably end up renting a few pods. Looks like I'll be sleeping on a mattress on the floor for a month or so.

I found another guy, but he can't do the job until the end of September. He's a younger guy with his own business. He only restores floors and woodwork in old homes. He seems to know what he's talking about. He knew wood species, and construction specifics about the house based on it's age.

I got a kick out of talking to him. His first words were "I want to let you know that I'm not a ********* contractor". Apparently he used to work for a guy who would line up work for the month, knowing he couldn't do it. The guy needed to make x dollars per month. His goal was making x dollars in the fewest number of days. He'd work until he hit that number, then he'd just stop. Anyone still in the queue got screwed over. The whole process would start over the next month. Since there were always new calls, he always had work. If he got stuck, he'd call the people he screwed over, apologize, and try to talk them into letting him do the work.

He also told me a story about his own home. He hired a roofer who showed up, tore the old roof off, and left for 3 days - no tarp. There was a huge rainstorm and his ceiling caved on. Real nice!

 

[ncbrewer]

I used to be a project engineer (functioned as project manager) for a large chemical plant. A contractor rep once told me that fighting with a contractor is like wrestling a pig in the mud. After a while you realize the pig likes it.

 

[DrunkleJon]

2. Hire 1 general contractor. Let them collect bids from their subcontractors and give you a firm price. Do not do a cost + agreement. If they insist on a cost + agreement, move on to a new general contractor.
3. The general contractor should be responsible for making sure the subs come to the site, not you. They are also responsible for keeping the job on schedule, not you.
4. Never pay upfront, unless materials have delivered. Contractors have credit, lines of credit, and often payment terms with their suppliers. There should never be a time you have to give a contractor money and trust that they are going to go out and spend it on material.

All of this will probably lead to getting a final price that is more expensive than subbing it out all yourself, but you'll have a finished project in a reasonable amount of time, without all the headaches. Anyone who tells you the above advice doesn't apply to residential construction doesn't know what they are talking about.

#2) I used to work for a commerical GC, hard bid will definitely save you from contract price creep. Though contractors hate hard bidding jobs.
#3/4) YES! Good God Yes!

And a higher price is worth it when the job gets done on time and budget.

BTW - how does a roofer forget a roof jack and leave it on a roof? This is still bugging me.

Its a donation to you for him being a d*ck and jerking you around

Well, I've officially been screwed over by my flooring guy. He was supposed to refinish my hardwoods on Friday. He says there was a death in the family. He's going out of town, and has no idea when he'll be returning. He won't give me an estimate of when he can do the work. He's given me so many excuses so far, I don't believe a word of it. He'd already canceled several times. I told him that this weekend had to happen because I'm moving in on the 21st. We held off moving, because we wanted to get these floors finished prior to moving in. I've been chasing this guy for 2 months.

I have to move in this weekend. None of the floors are done. I have put all my furniture somewhere until I can get another guy in to do the work. The house has to be empty. I'll probably end up renting a few pods. Looks like I'll be sleeping on a mattress on the floor for a month or so.

I found another guy, but he can't do the job until the end of September. He's a younger guy with his own business. He only restores floors and woodwork in old homes. He seems to know what he's talking about. He knew wood species, and construction specifics about the house based on it's age.

I got a kick out of talking to him. His first words were "I want to let you know that I'm not a ********* contractor". Apparently he used to work for a guy who would line up work for the month, knowing he couldn't do it. The guy needed to make x dollars per month. His goal was making x dollars in the fewest number of days. He'd work until he hit that number, then he'd just stop. Anyone still in the queue got screwed over. The whole process would start over the next month. Since there were always new calls, he always had work. If he got stuck, he'd call the people he screwed over, apologize, and try to talk them into letting him do the work.

He also told me a story about his own home. He hired a roofer who showed up, tore the old roof off, and left for 3 days - no tarp. There was a huge rainstorm and his ceiling caved on. Real nice!

Ask for your money back.

And early in this thread you asked about why some bids were so much higher than others. The really high bids are what they throw out when they have more work than they need. If they are fully committed and throw out a balls to the wall ridiculous bid and someone agrees to pay it, sure. Otherwise its not them turning you down.
I am sorry you have been having such a fun time of it all.

 

[b-boy]

Friggin' guy showed up, put 1 section of gutter up, slapped some shingles on the bay windows, slopped some caulk around my chimney and left. He was probably there for an hour.

He's still not done. The bay windows look like crap. The shingles covering the hip rafters are flapping in the breeze. I can see the exposed nails from the ground. There is another section of gutter missing, and still no downspouts. I can guarantee my roof still leaks around the flashing.

Oh - and there's a roof jack in the middle of my roof. Looks like someone forgot it.

I'm guessing this will buy him another week, while I continue to chase him to finish the job.

Wow - can I pick em, or what?

Yup - I called it. My gutters and roof are still not done. It's been 3-weeks now. Tracked the roofer down yesterday. Claims he can't finish the gutters because he is out of gutter end-caps. They are on back order. I reminded him that this was the same excuse he gave me 3 weeks ago, and that I find it hard to believe he can't get 1 gutter end cap in 3 weeks. He got a little porky with me. He still won't give me a date though.

 

[DrunkleJon]

No gutter endcaps? I would take a drive down to home depot or Lowes and buy him a few. Excuses, excuses...

 

[Kharnynb]

yeah, All the contractors around here know that I am on first name basis with the teachers and examiners and will have their grades and work evaluations at hand.

If someone screws me over, they can explain to the city architect why they should be allowed to keep their license.

 

[Grannyknot]

yeah, All the contractors around here know that I am on first name basis with the teachers and examiners and will have their grades and work evaluations at hand.

If someone screws me over, they can explain to the city architect why they should be allowed to keep their license.

Interesting to hear that Finland doesn't employ the good ole boy network. It is working so well for us here in the US.

*end sarcasm*

Honestly, construction, contracting, & the building industry in the united states is completely screwed up. It has the most F-ed up laws of any industry in my opinion. On the large scale commercial side of things, you have the exact opposite of the home construction and remodeling side of the business. On large commercial projects (& especially govt) owners can get away with highway robbery. Liquidated damages for projects that fell behind at no fault of any of the contractors or subs, demands to meet specifications that just cant be met, endless & needless paper trails for anything you can think of, ridiculously long payment terms (90 days is pretty common), the list goes on and on. The issue is that it costs so much money (& time) to fight for your rights that most people don't do it, which has lead to a generally accepted practice of the owner taking advantage of the GCs & Subs because they know they can't or won't fight it. Subcontractors have it the worst, because when the poop starts rolling downhill, the GCs just pass it on down, and the small subs are always at the bottom with nobody but their own employees to pass it on to.

The government wants to create jobs, so they pump all sorts of money into infrastructure & building projects, but refuse to address the reasons why commercial subcontractors keep going out of business and creating more unemployment.

 

[Kharnynb]

Helsinki or another big town is different, there you see a lot of sketchy contractors, often with estonian labour, who will take the piss with you if you let them..

Over here, you screw people over, you won't be in business for long, the gossip network will kill you off faster than you can imagine...

 

[b-boy]

Still waiting for my roofer to show up. It's almost 4 weeks now and the gutters are still 1/2 done and the roof jack is still on the roof. Looks like it might be small claims court time.

I just left him a voicemail. I gave him until EOD tomorrow, or I'm calling my lawyer. We'll see if that does anything. I'm guessing not.

Any advice? I took pictures. I will get an estimate to complete the job and make any repairs to the roof that are not correct. Anything else?

 

[kombat]

On a related note, does anybody watch "Catch a Contractor," on Spike? Love that show.

I can't believe how unprofessional some of those guys are.

 

[DrunkleJon]

I always liked Holmes on Homes. The crap(work) some contractors pull is amazing.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

I always liked Holmes on Homes. The crap(work) some contractors pull is amazing.

I liked it more for;

"Because the show is a television series, costs for the homeowners, who are likely to be strapped for cash due to the previous contractors' mistakes and/or frauds, are kept to a minimum (10% to 20% of the cost of repair). Some contractors hired on the show have even donated time, materials, and labor to help homeowners in need. The remainder of the work is funded by the TV production company (and indirectly, through the Canadian government, by tax credits), but in some cases, Mike Holmes personally contributes funds towards the repairs."

 

[kombat]

My wife and I love Mike Holmes. We occasionally use his catchphrases in our household.

"Sweetie, can you get me the packet of paprika from the cupboard?"

"There's a bunch of pasta and other spices in the way. F--- it, it's all coming down!"

 

[Punity]

Feel sorry for you plight, luckily my FIL is my contractor on most jobs, I cant believe that people in business conduct themselves that way after watching my FIL deal with customers over the years and sometimes bending over backwards to make them happy when they are dissatisfied and even referring them to other people who might do the job better then he can. Id be following those contractors of yours all over the town until they did their damn job.

Hope it works out for you man and you can always return that jack of his through his windshield, he might have forgotten he left it there and would appreciate you bringing it back.

 

[johngaltsmotor]

In the future you could likely call the local building inspector instead of just the BBB. I know many people skirt permit requirements, but they would know the guys that actually get jobs done and inspected soon after pulling the permits. They'd also be in daily contact with them to know who actually works and who just tries to collect a check.
When I had my driveway concrete poured the first 2 guys wanted 50% down. The 3rd guy looked at me when I asked about a down payment. "I've got credit all over town. You pay me when you're happy." Needless to say, when their own money is on the line they get the job done quick and correct so they can get the check. They should easily be able to float $5k for a week between material delivery and installation.
For any larger project find a GC. It will cost more in construction costs, but save you in Xanax and blood pressure meds and hotel stays when your house is unlivable.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

In the future you could likely call the local building inspector instead of just the BBB.

I would not expect a response to this.

1.) Most are far too busy making the inspections.
2.) I would expect there to be a policy against making any recommendations. Both from a potential liability standpoint (well you told us to use them) and/or from a parity standpoint.

 

[johngaltsmotor]

I would not expect a response to this.

1.) Most are far too busy making the inspections.
2.) I would expect there to be a policy against making any recommendations. Both from a potential liability standpoint (well you told us to use them) and/or from a parity standpoint.

I could see that. I guess it depends on the size of the city. We're only around 14k and he schedules inspections for mornings and is in the office every afternoon reviewing submittals and handling permits. They love to see me walk in with a set of actual prints (instead of a stack of random scratch paper) so they might be a little more forthcoming with me.

 

[Grannyknot]

I would personally stay as far away from the local building inspector as possible.

 

[b-boy]

I would personally stay as far away from the local building inspector as possible.

I feel the same way. I don't like them in my house. They like to poke around while they are there. Some things are best left un-poked.

 

[b-boy]

In the future you could likely call the local building inspector instead of just the BBB. I know many people skirt permit requirements, but they would know the guys that actually get jobs done and inspected soon after pulling the permits. They'd also be in daily contact with them to know who actually works and who just tries to collect a check.

I'm pretty sure this guy didn't get a permit for the work he did.

In fact, someone pulled up to my house in a pickup while he was working. The roofer went nuts. Ran up to the guy apologizing about how he didn't know he needed a permit, and that he'd get one first thing Monday morning.

The guy who stopped looked a little confused. He wasn't even an inspector. He was a neighbor who just wanted to introduce himself. It was pretty funny to watch.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

I'm pretty sure this guy didn't get a permit for the work he did.

In fact, someone pulled up to my house in a pickup while he was working. The roofer went nuts. Ran up to the guy apologizing about how he didn't know he needed a permit, and that he'd get one first thing Monday morning.

The guy who stopped looked a little confused. He wasn't even an inspector. He was a neighbor who just wanted to introduce himself. It was pretty funny to watch.

Ha. Reminds me of my early days working for some small GC's. Inspector pulls onto the jobsite, you hear a faint call of "La Migra" and suddenly lots of contractors are hurridly off to lunch or something.

 

[Brewenstein]

Soooo....how's it going?