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What is the worst thing a contractor did to you, lately?
Or if you are a contractor, what did you do to a client on purpose?
Just wondering…needed a change of topic in the big shceme of things. Ad lib if you want, I’m not really going anywhere with this.
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The most recent is I had hired a neighbor to help out on a small job in my house. He's a finish carp and was looking at a two week hole in his schedule. So I helped him out.
He helped me out by cutting a set of exterior doors 1" too short. Also, he insisted on using his new fangled jig to cut the mortises. So I told him to go at it. Of course he blamed the jig when I found the jambs didn't line up. He offered to purchase new wood for the jambs but flinched when I told him it was $120 for the jambs. And he was in the midst of installing the threshold inside out--that is, backwards--when I came home for lunch (I was working next door.) So, down come the jambs to unscrew the thresh. (But I screwed up by cutting the new oak thresh 3/8" too narrow.) Lots of fudge on this job.
Other than that, just fine.
*Now you know why he was out of work.
*Your reply got me thinking. I'm thinking about the difference between those carps who may have 20 years in the business doing the same thing versus those who have 20 years doing anything and everything.
*I had a carpenter do some work on my house last year. I wanted to do T&M, but he absolutely insisted on fixed, saying it was fairer to me. He never came out to the job after his first visit, but had his forman and some other crew here. After the third "change order" that basically said "this is harder than we thought" we split ways. I paid him just about everything he asked, but refused the last $1500. I stopped at $22K on an originally quoted $15K contract, and I had NO CHANGE ORDERS (that is, I never said, do this instead of that), it was an old house, and he was not prepared for the difficulty of unplumb walls, etc. AND he never communicated to his forman what I asked of him, so some of the "change orders" he was asking for at the end was re-work (i.e. having to replace the FJ siding they installed when I expressly, and in writing, speced select pre-primed).He seemed like an honest guy, so to this day, I have never figured out if he was a con man, or if he is just a really bad estimator / business man. I think his main problem was never coming back on the job site.
*Rich - guys who make a career out of one aspect of our profession are not "carpenters". They are "framers", or "trimmers", or "roofers", or "foundation guys", or "flat workers", or...you catch my drift, I'm sure. Truth of the matter is, very few folks even think of themselves as "carpenters" anymore. It's a phrase that gets used less and less as the division of labor goes deeper and deeper. I've even heard of big housing tracts where one crew, all they do is frame and stand walls, then another crew comes along and "rolls" joists, and on and on.
*I had to get my wood floors refinished since they were mine in my house and I had to wait 24 hrs between each coat and it took 3 coats I did all the prep and sanding . i paid a guy (good money cuz i wanted it done right) to stain and finish the floors about 400sq ft worth. Took the wife and kids on a vacation for about 4-5 days. came home and was very disappointed in how it turned out. that was May and im still trying to get him to come back and rescreen and refinish the floors. Its funny cuz I knew the guy for a while and when i ask him what job hes working on or just in general conversation he's always bad mouthing other contractors and people in the trades. Well he can do that to me any more. reminds me got to call him again and see when he can come. i think I'll end up doing it myself it'll need just one coat do and take the wife and kids camping this spring.
*I turned a G.C. onto a job and told him that all I wanted was the framing, siding and roofing. He said that was fine. So after about two months I go by the job site to see how its going and its allready built. When I asked him why he didn't call me he said that he found somebody to do it cheaper. Man ,I was pissed . If I knew he was gonna do that I could've called two or three other generals that would've used me. Now when he calls me I give him bids that are double what I normally charge or I tell him that I'm too busy.
*David, that's classic!blue
*Was a carp short one day, and one guy recommended his uncle. Said he had 30 years experience. So he stood around most of the day, talking, running for doughnuts and telling other guys what to do. Finally, I told him to mould some exterior pilasters where the old moulding had rotted out. This was maybe a total of 24" around 3 sides. About an hour later, I went to look for him. He had run through an 8' length of moulding re-cutting the mitres, still didn't have a decent cut. There had to be a dozen nails in each piece of moulding and I found him gunking caulk over everything. We all stood around watching him, like watching a train wreck. This was the only thing he did that day, which I immediately pulled off and redid it the next day. At the end of the day, he asked for a full day's pay. I paid him, thanked him for showing up, and immediately threw his number away. The guy who recommended him apologized profusely. I took it out on his hide just for fun.SHG
*" At the end of the day, he asked for a full day's pay. I paid him, thanked him for showing up, and immediately threw his number away. "Class act.The ONLY way to deal with an idiot like that, pay 'em, thank 'em and spread the word.
*This isn't a horror story, more like horror avoided.We are building a log home and hired a local guy who came highly recommended to put in the foundation. Well, he sends a couple of guys over who don't have our foundation plan and have no idea what they are doing. They formed up some total junk and had it held together with rocks and a few pins. The foundation didn't match the house. Walls wouldn't have fit on what they formed (this is a log home, so it's kinda critical!). It failed the inspection miserably. Our inspector said it was the worst foundation he'd seen in 30 years. It was bad. Thankfully, no concrete was poured. Thus, horror avoided.So, we wrote the guy a check for the materials on site and a little extra for labor and asked him to leave. We carefully took apart everything they did and made sure we returned everything that was theirs (pins, etc.) We weren't out to get this guy, just didn't want him working on our house. That was about 2 1/2 weeks ago.Our footings were poured yesterday and came out perfect. Inspector was thrilled with the forming and complimented us on how good it looked. He was shocked when we found out we'd taken matters into our own hands and done it. With help from some guys who normally work on commercial projects, we formed them ourselves. They coordinated the pour yesterday and were the key to this whole thing. Never in my wildest dreams did I think we'd do our own foundation, but it sure came out nice. A GC who is doing the houses around us joked that he was going to hire us to do his future houses. Let me just say that I'll do another foundation when hell freezes over. :-) Paula
*Had a friend whose main water supply was leaking in his front yard. The guy couldn't figure out why his three year-old copper pipe would be leaking. Dug down to the leak and found a nail-hole and a rusted part of a nail in the 1" soft copper pipe. It appears as though the plumber was either ticked-off or looking for future repair work and drove a nail into the pipe knowing that it would eventually rust out.
*Many ways for a nail to get into a pipe accidentally.
*I'm having a 3200 sqr ft. all ICF home built in Colorado. The floors of the house are structural concrete, formed using a product called Lite-Deck - a EPS and steel forming system. The GC on the project hired a concrete flatwoork crew that used a short piece of 2 x 4 with a mark on it at 4" which they dipped into the concrete as they were pouring it, to set the floor level - no screedboards were used to level the concrete. I saw what they were doing and told the GC he needed to stop them and make them use screed boards or at least wet screeds, if he hoped to have the floor level. He proceeded to tell me I didn't know what I was talking about - they were professional and knew what they were doing and the floor would be level. Needless to say, the floor was poured 1" out of level with humps and dips throughout the 1222 sqr ft. suspended structural slab. I have the GC in court now - he claims it's not his fault, that I'm being too picky and the floor really isn't that bad; the judge has seen the floor and isn't buying it. Can you say, "bend over"?
*I had some loose bricks on the top of my chimney and had a "mason" come over to repair and repoint the bricks.Came home from work and a good foot and a half was missing from the chimney.The "mason" called that night to ask me to send him a check. I said "when are you coming back to finish the job?"He said "It IS finished." I went upstairs and stuck my head out of a window for a better look. The "mason" had knocked off the loose bricks and slapped some concrete on the top of the remaining bricks.Went back downstairs and told the SOB that he wasn't getting paid anything unless he came back and put the chimney back the way it was. He refused. He didn't get paid.
*A couple posts ago, about the water leaking in the front yard, the plumber should have kickplated the front lawn!
*I posted a response yesterday but it got lost. So here's the story...copper pipe installed on top of a sand base and covered after inspection that day by another layer of sand. Dirt backfill over the top. No mechanical compaction (soil was too wet). Nail was at a 45 degree angle from the top. There is no way for sand to exert enough pressure on nail to penetrate pipe. Try picking up a handfull of sand and pound in a nail. I'm not trying to hijack this thread but I stand by theory of sabotage by unhappy plumber.
*The one about the chimney got mne to thinking about a homeowner horror story. I did a reroof about ten years ago and the center chimney at the ridge was in very poor condition. He elected not to rebuild it at the time so I wrote him a written report detailing why he needed to rebuild it. Mortar missing, no liner, CO gaseds in attic, etc. I also observed to him that his foundation was failing at the fron tof the house and needed repair. A year later, while driving by I noticed that he had somebody working on the foundation. Another year or two goes by and he calls me about a leak at the chimney. "Did youb e3ver have it rebuilt?" NO, not yet.I went up and re tacked the lead falshing and caulked it. It was obvious that when the foundation work was done, the house was lifted about an inch and a half or so. The lead was all puckered out and jammed. I billed him for the repair and started calling him for my money. He said that his roofer in boston had told him that he would stand behind his work for five years so he expected the sdame of me, regardless of the fact that it had nothing to do with the quality of my work.Every time I see him now, I smile and ask him if he's still screwing working people out of their money.
*A mason I knew in Missouri took on building a chimney for a customer that had a reputation of finding "reasons" to not make final payments to contractors. When he reached the top of the chimney, he mortered a piece of glass between two of the liners. Sure enough, when he went to get his final draw on the chimney, the customer would not pay him. He went on sending a bill each month. Finally, when it turned cold the customer called him up, cussed him up one side and down the other, telling him that he had done a terrible job on the chimney, that it would not draw. Buddy goes over, makes the guy pay twice the final draw amount(in cash),climbs on the roof and drops a rock down the chimney.
*Long ago, in a land far away, from a friend long dead. Rubber ball down the vent stack and a bit of concrete too. Never got his money but said it was worth it. Joe H
*Not to hijack the thread, but I am about to build a house. I am in the process of getting bids. I have specked out faucetts to brick. How can I proceed so as to be fair to my builder yet not get a disaster? I know the guy. He is a honest, good man. I want to be fair, I want to be prudent and contracturally protected. Any suggestions?Thanks,Frank
*Concrete in the vent stack eh, I watched a crew shovel a few down the main trap in a basement once. Ah the good ol' days....makes ya kinda smile don't it???
*Frank,Sounds like you already know who is going to build the house so sincce he's honest, why this talk of 'bids'? It implies that you are getting several prices from different builders. Why not just find his estimate and get him started. There is no custom house that has ever been built exactly as planned because of owner initiated changes so a bid means nothing anyway.
*In the early 80's my partner and I used to do tennent improvements in shopping malls. We had two regular accounts, but we were young bucks always looking to take on more work. So one time we contracted for the framing and drywall in this one store, not one of our regulars, with payment due upon completetion of our work. Well, we had a few stores to do in that mall, so after we presented our bill we were still doing finish work in an adjacent space and sure enough, these SOBs start giving us the run around about when we'd get paid. After about three days of "tomorrows" and "right aways", my partner, who is built along the lines of a fork lift, and I go next door and explain in no uncertain terms that if we don't have a check first thing in the morning, we are gonna tell every sub in that mall that "so and so" doesn't pay their subs and you'll never get your store built. The next day, our check was there. Then, maybe 3 or 4 months later, we got a legal notice in the mail saying the GC had gone bankrupt and if we had any claims against them, we should file them. Turns out, we were the only subs on that store that DID get paid. That's as close as I've ever come to getting stung. Been lucky that way.
*A buddy of mine used to be a customer service rep for a large sub-division builder. He gets a called from a lady who says there a big hump in the middle of her kitchen floor. When he goes out there, the floor looks fine. She says just wait a minute. Sure enough a minute later the furnace kicks on and up rises the floor. It seems the installers forgot to cut out for the hot air vents.
*I love the hump story. You should have told her the house was built over a cemetary. Woooohooooooo!
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What is the worst thing a contractor did to you, lately?
Or if you are a contractor, what did you do to a client on purpose?
Just wondering...needed a change of topic in the big shceme of things. Ad lib if you want, I'm not really going anywhere with this.