Back to the contractor drawing board
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Sigh. I thought I had a good guy lined up to refinish the basement. He was recommended by a friend, so i interviewed him and we came to an agreement. He was to have his guy start Saturday with framing, but then he needed half the money up front to buy all the supplies. Well, $5K can buy a LOT of 2x4s and sheetrock. He was supposed to come by this afternoon. Then he calls and says he forgot to come by before dinner and got talking to his son, would 7:30 be OK. I said yes. Then 7:30 comes and goes and no sign, so he texts and asks if 8:30 is OK. At 8:45 I texted him saying we need to revisit tomorrow. He hadn't left the restaurant until after 8:30.
Two fatal mistakes... first, asking for money up front when it was far more than was needed for supplies, then jerking me around. I hate nothing more than someone not respecting my time. Now instead of a good resource I have no confidence. It's a shame and could have been avoided by a little punctuality.
“I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.” ~Winston S. Churchill
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Hopefully you have not paid him money yet.
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Contractors are a nightmare. We had somebody walk away with some of our money. We came to the conclusion that it would be more stressful than it was worth to continue chasing it for the amount it was. We ended up paying a lot more than we would have to use a professional deck company instead. They showed up on time, did the work on time, and gave us exactly what we wanted, but it wasn't cheap.
We decided to use a local guy to do our kitchen and dining room floor - by local I mean he lives four doors down the road. We figure if he's so close by he's less likely to mess us around. Watch this space....
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I don’t think the guy is dishonest exactly, I think he’s a contractor trying to keep juggling his projects and he’s a little behind. He needs money to keep his operation afloat. It’s not uncommon among contractors at all. I just don’t want to do it with my money.
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I don’t think the guy is dishonest exactly, I think he’s a contractor trying to keep juggling his projects and he’s a little behind. He needs money to keep his operation afloat. It’s not uncommon among contractors at all. I just don’t want to do it with my money.
@Mik said in Back to the contractor drawing board:
I don’t think the guy is dishonest exactly, I think he’s a contractor trying to keep juggling his projects and he’s a little behind. He needs money to keep his operation afloat. It’s not uncommon among contractors at all. I just don’t want to do it with my money.
We spent a lot of time talking about this stuff with others who went through similar situations, and I think a lot of the time the problem is that the skills required to fix up houses are completely different from those needed to organize and run a business.
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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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Sigh. I thought I had a good guy lined up to refinish the basement. He was recommended by a friend, so i interviewed him and we came to an agreement. He was to have his guy start Saturday with framing, but then he needed half the money up front to buy all the supplies. Well, $5K can buy a LOT of 2x4s and sheetrock. He was supposed to come by this afternoon. Then he calls and says he forgot to come by before dinner and got talking to his son, would 7:30 be OK. I said yes. Then 7:30 comes and goes and no sign, so he texts and asks if 8:30 is OK. At 8:45 I texted him saying we need to revisit tomorrow. He hadn't left the restaurant until after 8:30.
Two fatal mistakes... first, asking for money up front when it was far more than was needed for supplies, then jerking me around. I hate nothing more than someone not respecting my time. Now instead of a good resource I have no confidence. It's a shame and could have been avoided by a little punctuality.
@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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Here’s what I told him:
“ 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. ”
I was hoping he would see I was trying to help him in the future. Here is his response:
“ 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 schedule”I made the right decision. I've never seen a project start badly and get better.
“I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.” ~Winston S. Churchill
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I’ve never really spoken of it here, but I’ve probably 25 yrs of “renos” I’ve 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 I’m now starting a 2nd new house build. I can’t say any of these renos were for “aesthetics”, but I’ve had to deal with architectual and interior designers (more trauma). I’ve not done a kitchen, TG (I’d 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. I’m at the point now where I need to meet (to size up) the site supervisor before I sign b/c he’s 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 can’t get the contractor to give me the time line & schedule, if he doesn’t have an estimator or can’t 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.
