Back to the contractor drawing board
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Have (had?) a contractor who's old school - licensed/insured/bonded, good work ethics, know lots of stuff and can get lots of stuff done. Reasonable charges. Most of the time he is a one-man-shop but sometimes he brings a partner. Done many projects with him. But he's getting old and may go the way of the Joe Biden. I haven't heard any official word that he's retiring yet, but I suspect it's already happening. I'm going to miss him and it will be hard to find another contractor like him.
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@Mik said in Back to the contractor drawing board:
It's a shame and could have been avoided by a little punctuality.
Perhaps it's a blessing that you caught the unprofessionalism early.
Since moving in a few years ago we've had a number of contractors come for odd jobs. It's easy to forget all those that were on time and did a great job, and it's easy to remember the negative experiences. For example, we had a custom bench made for an awkward space near the garage. The guy was awesome, did amazing work, but it took like 9 months before the project was finished, he just took forever to come around (like you said, juggling projects). And just now we had a billion brick pavers that needed rejointing, and like a n00b after the first day when they were 90% done I just paid them the whole amount, now I've been waiting for 3 weeks for them to come back and finish the last 10%. They'll do it, it's a young crew trying to make a good name, but they don't have the monetary motivation to hustle back.
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When we lived in the house, we had three major remodeling projects - Kitchen, family room, and attic. Every one of them was a "down to the studs in the walls" project.
The contractor that did them had a good reputation and we were thrilled with the work.
When we signed, the contract said (and I'm trying to remember the numbers): "10% of the price will be the downpayment. Upon completion of demolition, 40% of the price will be due. The remaining 50% will be due on completion of the job."
They were great.
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Hereās what I told him:
ā Yes, we will look for another contractor. I'll tell you why so you'll understand how I see it. Half up front for materials doesn't make sense to me. Then I felt pretty jerked around last night. The whole picture just eroded my confidence in getting a trouble free job. ā
I was hoping he would see I was trying to help him in the future. Here is his response:
ā Half up front isn't terrible by the way to pay for the material and to pay for my plumber and my framer that I'm going to use also wasn't trying to jerk you around when I said 8:30 and it was like 8:40 8:45 when I was going to get to your house you can only push your family and a waitress to hurry up so much at a restaurant no big deal I guess..
also you called me cuz you got my name from somebody that thought I did a pretty good job and everything so it's not like I'm some fly by the night guy just trying to come in... anyway have a nice day and I'll remove you from my scheduleāI made the right decision. I've never seen a project start badly and get better.
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Iāve never really spoken of it here, but Iāve probably 25 yrs of ārenosā Iāve coordinated & endured. And it was me, not my husband. Ist a full basement development, 2nd a basement bath & mechanical room redo, 2 major structural renos (real trauma), a dangerous laundry room redo, exterior work (a sloped driveway, retaining walls, a poured 14 stair entry with brick .. arch work underneath, 2 failing decks), simple stuff like, paint, hardwood stairs and floors, and Iām now starting a 2nd new house build. I canāt say any of these renos were for āaestheticsā, but Iāve had to deal with architectual and interior designers (more trauma). Iāve not done a kitchen, TG (Iād prefer to sell the house as is).
George and Ax mentioned these things, but researching a company, getting a written contract, having staged pricing are important. You hit on it with this present guy, but transparency, communication, being upfront and on time from the get go are key. Trust your gut. Iām at the point now where I need to meet (to size up) the site supervisor before I sign b/c heās really the leader of the band. I also ask what companies the contractor use as subs. I also need to know where they source their demo & cleanup people. Contractors are busy. I get it. But I want to know how many projects they have on the go, what & where these jobs are, where I fit in priority wise. If I canāt get the contractor to give me the time line & schedule, if he doesnāt have an estimator or canāt give me fixed staged pricing, I get nervous. I need these things. I also ask beforehand what the plan is when problems arise (structural, mechanical, plumbing, trades, supplies). Problems small or big always arise.