Every now and then we hear of ones horror story on BT, be it a Big Box or HO or even, as in this case, a contractor. But I need to shed some blame also on the HO for being kinda stupid. This is one contractor though I wish I could find so I could…well, that’s illegal.
Got a desperate call from a HO Saturday night…she found me from my card I gave her 2yrs prior. The HO is a married woman, husband is a Prosecutor in Western PA so isn’t home much. She’s elderly, 60’s. She contracted with some guy back in April to build her a bathroom on the first floor in advance of major spinal surgery in July, knowing she’d be unable to walk to the upstairs bath anymore. The HO explained she needed her shower operational and that her contractor up and walked off the job this past Thursday when she was not home. Left her high and dry.
HO explained that this contractor would take his time willy nilly building this bathroom. To build it he was to remove the upstairs CI tub, relo it to the new bath, and install a new whirlpool tub in place of the CI tub he removed. The relo’d CI tub was to become a tub/shower so she could shower. Well I went over to at least install her shower to the valve assembly. She said that was all that needed done. I get there and the tub is surrouinded by painted DW and Wainscoting, no protection from water or nothing. Told her can’t put a shower in that, the DW will decay soon enough and the wainscoting was that MDF variety that would deteriorate with water.
So…she says well can I install her whirlpool and make it a shower. I go upstairs to look at it and was greeted with a mess. Demolition had begun, he never completed it, floor all tore up, pipes all hanging out, electrical wires exposed. Holy cow. On top of that he wasn’t no where near ready for the whirlpool and now it’s in the way of completing any demolition, plus it won’t fit necessitating the need for even more demo than he had started. What a freaking mess. It’s a horror story out of hell.
Her husband comes home, greets me, explains they know they got into a bad situation. He all but begged me to please rearrange my sched to pick up where this guy left off. They’re desperate as she had the surgery and needs a shower badly. The woman, with her age and all, didn’t know what was happening to her until it was too late. She didn’t know she couldn’t put a shower in her downstairs bath due to the DW and such until I told her. I recommended a tub surround as a quick fix. To add insult to injury the quality of this guys work would have me running as far south of him as I could get. Just blatant shoddy work and his answer to every defect was to caulk it. Caulk all over the place and yet none around the tub where it’d be needed most. Go figure. His suspended ceiling work, god what a mess. His trim work, holy cow, what a mess.
Now the HO bears some responsibility in that her husband paid the guy $1900 for phase 1 before phase 1 was done and gave a downpayment to start phase 2. They’re out of $3800. They should have known better. They should have known when the guy did the tile job that this guy was a charlatan. In what was an otherwise flat floor he did a tile job that resulted in the floor being slightly concave now and tiles are set in the adhesive at varying heights, he didn’t mallet one single tile to make them even across the plane of the floor. On top of that he made the adhesive so liquid and thick that he’d press the tile in and the adhesive would scrunch up between the edge of the tile. The adhesive in essence became the grout. there is no grout!!!!! No room for it either!!!! Told them to go get a dremel and grout tool and carve out all the glue, they’ll be there til they’re 80yrs old doing that job as they used the small 1″ tiles.
Told them I can’t help them, my sched will not free up to where I can do the job or any part of it immediately as she needs and I feel absolutely horrible that I can’t. I feel so bad for the woman, she didn’t know or understand, was taking the guy at face value thinking she was getting what she asked for. She said he never consulted with her. She told him what she wanted and he said it’ll be done. She since learned the contractor was in jail a few times which explained why he left for days and never showed up when he said he would. To her credit she did say to him that he cannot fix all the errors she pointed out and get a shower working soon to not come back. Well thurs he came, got his stuff and is now gone. Believe me, her complaints were very reasonable. None of us on here would dare do the work this guy did so she wasn’t a PITA HO, she just was asking for things to be done so they looked right. She’s a sweet darlin little old lady who jus didn’t know any better with a husband on the road a lot.
If I can help her and do my boy scout duty I will, she’s in an awful situation, just awful, both bathrooms need overhauls, it’s that bad.
Replies
Where's the job?
Maybe someone from here could bail her out, or at least knows of somebody who might have the time.
Could make you look like a real hero!
Still, it's absolutely infuriating to hear of jerks like this taking advantage of people... let alone sweet old ladies! Don't you wish there was just a little more justice in this world sometimes......like 28oz Estwing justice!
Hey I like the 28oz Estwing justice....been wanting to buy one of those now I gotta real good reason to :)
The job is in Camp Hill PA....suburb of harrisburg PA.
I want the job despite all its cons I'd want to do it because I see this lady was taken for a ride and am sympathetic to her because she has a number of debilitating illnesses. I met her 2yrs ago, I did a 200amp upgrade on her neighbor she asked for my card in case she'd ever need work done. Her house is cluttery, but..she's elderly with diseases as verified by her neighbor whom I got to know pretty well. She said she went digging thru all her clutter and bam, she found my card. She remembered me upon seeing it.
Unfortunately I got other clients that have been patiently waiting on me to do their jobs and some I already pushed back and they won't push back anymore, so I"m on the hook and can't offer flexibility she needs. Uggh, I hate this cuz this is why I WANT to be in biz, to help others, earn a decent living....
Forgot to mention in my orig post...he built them a deck also. You'll NEVER guess what he used as decking over the joists.......PLYWOOD sheets. and they're REGULAR plywood sheets to boot with nails sticking up all over the place some as high as 1/8". I tell you, every time I think I've seen it all I see something else that makes my brain hurt even more. Unbelievable.
Her husband being a prosecutor won't go after him, be throwing good money after bad after he found out who he was dealing with. He was so angry Sunday he got up and left as we spoke because I was going over cost with him.
Oh, I forgot to mention, she found this guy from Handyman USA......<gasp>.
"Oh, I forgot to mention, she found this guy from Handyman USA......<gasp>."
I did a google on that. Got lots of hits. About 1/3 of them refer to Handymanusa.com which is a DIY site. They really don't have any referals. But it does have a place to put listings, but it is very limited.
About 1/3 linked to Service Magic.
And the remainder where different individual handyman companies and the franchise operations like Case.
If it was a referal type of operation they usually offer some type of guarantee, but very limited. One I saw indicated that would pay another $500 to fix the problems.
But in any case it should be reported to them. Maybe they will do a better job on their referals.
hope she now understands it probably all gotta come out first ...
and that the real cost is probably gonna be 3 or 4 times what the low baller she went with said it would.
Jeff
Buck Construction, llc Pittsburgh,PA
Artistry in Carpentry
Yeah, Jeff, she understands that, which is why her husband got more furious the more we talked.
Right now there is a big triangular shaped whirlpool tub smack in the middle of her bathroom floor upstairs. It's a beast and it's in the way of everything. That needs to come out so ther is room to work but no where to put it. Only thing to do is remove it back down the steps and store it outside and god knows how heavy that thing is. Be a lotta work just to move that thing outta the way let alone getting it installed.
Given that the HO is a prosecutor he can't get some attention from the local authorities. Prosecuting people taking advantage of the elderly is usually good for votes. Some police would likely enjoy making this guys life a living hell until he has an attack of conscience and returns the money.
Given his criminal record and likely parole status I would think that his PO or the local prosecuting attorney would like to know about this situation. If he is using his time out of jail to rip off elderly HOs this would have some bearing on his status and future.
What a dilemma. I feel bad that you cannot help them, I feel worse for them. I do a lot of work for the graying generation (which I am fast becoming one of : ) and can empathize with your feelings. I hear these tales often, but this one takes the cake. It's guys like this one that cause mistrust on the rest of us. Let's face it, the business has been dragged through the mud on the news, villified by the media, exposing some of these guys for the crooks they are. Unfortunately, it gives every one else an undeserved black eye. The country is filled with people who need work done, who crave to trust someone to do a quality job, be there when they said they would, and take resposibility for their actions. Word gets out you are that type of contrator, you will not want for work, as you have indicated.
Good luck and best wishes for the couple.
Reminds me of this guy who built a shed for us over our portable sawmill. It stood for one year, then, on a sunny, breezeless day it fell over on top of our mill, severely damaging it. The name 'Frank' is ruined for me. The story above reminded me exactly of what his work was like.
Man, that really stinks.
It sounds like that other contractor ( and I'm being generous with that title), just got in over his head and didn't know how to get out. I've been the second carpenter a few times in situations like this, and the customer is always a bit gun shy after being taken the first time.
I know what you mean about feeling bad because you can't help them; its tough not helping nice people who need a hand.
Just remember there's only 24 hours in a day and you can't be in two places at once.
Re: "Just remember there's only 24 hours in a day and you can't be in two places at once."
Had a boss who stayed so busy, this guy lived a breathed his work and seldom went home. He used to say: 'Only 26 hours in a day and I can only be in two places at one time.'
If you knew him it fit.
A lot of his problem was that he was avoiding a bad situation at home and redirected his energy into his work. He also had a problem saying no. He is a good guy but he was always disappointed when his employees lacked the same dedication. He would, without consultation or request, try to send you 60 miles out at 5PM on a Friday to replace a seldom used receptacle, half hour billable, at regular rates.
It wasn't uncommon to drive for an hour to do a unspecified job only to find out it was a minor job without any rush. HO comes out and tells me that he told my boss it could wait. Oh well that's why we got so much OT.
Yeah, I know a guy that will work 7 days a week and wonder why I don't want to.
His son used to work for him but finally gave up and got a job with another contractor with ( relatively ) regular hours.
The son told me one of the last straws was when he had tickets to a Sunday afternoon Mets game (after not going to a game for years ) and his dad told him he couldn't go; they had to work that Sunday.
My father did that...
Not in school or doing chores... Working...
Nothing to do to speak of... Hire me out and he kept the monies...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming.... WOW!!! What a Ride!
I was lucky with my dad.
He ( usually ) worked a 40-45 hour week, and got me doing the same when I started with him.
He would say something like customers who won't wait for you aren't worth having.
Having a life outside work was important to my dad, and its important to me, too.
Ah, yes. I know the type well. Phone conversation with a vendor:
"He went to lunch? LUNCH?!!! In the middle of the day?!!!"
;-)
-- J.S.
Well the good news is....I found another contractor who can help her, a good man I can trust. But he'll only do the job if I shift my sched around and help him since he's retired and doesn't want to be stuck with the whole job. I think I can do that and will work on it.
yep, 24hrs in a day, that's why sleep is such a waste of time :)