Ok, so I got a call from a homeowner with a 10 yr old house who’s had leaks at two chimneys since he bought the house. Pre-fab fireplaces with brick veneered chases. The back ( cricket ) sides have brick setting on lintels at the roof line. Needs to be thru flashed. He’s had every other “roofer” around smear a different type of caulk on the flashing and guess what? 10 years later and it still leaks. I gave him a price to thru flash, excluding the masonry work. He asked me to find a mason, add in the markup and present him with the total cost. I took a mason over to look at the job and he gave me a price for anybody else, but double for this guy. Seems he had a bad feeling. I present a new contract and the customer says “OK, but I want you to rewrite your contract to state that my house will be leak free for at least one year.” I say, ” find somebody else. I’ve used the same contract for close to 20 yrs and no one has asked me to change it.” He says, “no, come on, I’m serious. Change the contract and you can have the job.” I say, “Blow me” and leave. He has emailed me several times and called my office at least 10 times asking me “where do we stand on this project?” I wouldn’t refer this guy to my worst competitor.
Edit: I didn’t really say “blow me”. I thought those two words while I spoke several paragraphs that amounted to the same message.
Edited 9/3/2004 7:26 am ET by greencu
Replies
Well at least he's persistant!
Here in WA you have to warrant your work for a minimum of one year, so what he's asking is entirely in line with what I would have to do if I did the job. You mention that the mason had a bad feeling about the guy but did you have the same feeling? Not clear from your post why he oughta blow ya', but I know from your postings here you could easily handle the job. Why not just name a price you're satisfied with, based on his requirements, and fix the leaks? I'm not saying you're wrong, just that I don't see where he's outta line... yet.
I think I know this guy...how'd he get from here down to your neck of the woods, LOL??
Like the old folks used to say: always listen to yer belly button....
Dinosaur
'Y-a-tu de la justice dans ce maudit monde?
After all the failed repairs he's had done, I don't think he's being unreasonable. Asking for a warranty forever might be excessive, but leak free for a year is fair. In fact, your work has an implied warranty anyway, which basically says that your work has to be fit for use. In this case it means if he hires you to fix a leak then he has a right to expect that it won't leak. The implied warranty doesn't mean it has to look good, or be good workmanship, just that as a barest legal minimum it won't leak.
He also seems to understand that it will cost money to do it right and was perfectly willing to pay you all you asked for.
Maybe you don't like him and would rather not have the job, but from what you describe he hasn't done anything improper.
I tend to agree.
He may be a jerk for other reasons.......... but it isn't out of line to expect a one year warranty.
Most states it is the law regardless of if it is written into the contract or not.
I think there may be deeper issues here hence the feeling that the mason had.
Are you saying that you won't garuntee your work for a year, or that you know your work isn't good enough to last for a year?
I know better about your work, wish mine was as good, but that is what your post sounds like to me.
This guy has been burnt how many times? And he willing to pay to have it done right?
Please check your ego about your contract at the counter, you may find a terrific client with lots of work for you.
SamT
Dunno about why you have a problem honoring a simple request of warranting your work for at least a year. What kind of work do we do that we can't warrant at least for 1 year? Personally I'm so confident with my work that I guarantee a trouble free year, even state it on my contracts. when I used to be joe blo HO if someone wouldn't be willing to warrant their work at least some made me think they didn't know how to do the job right but was "gonna give it a shot."
I understand there's a lot of business out there so maybe you can afford to blow off a customer, but we are in the service business to service customers who need what we can provide. The guy is willing to pay for the work and for some reason he has a preference for you. If anything I think I might be honored that he finds value in me enough to be persistent. Give him the 1yr warranty. You're on BT as a fine builder, surely it's worth a bend to please a client.
I don't think a year is out of line, either.
In some circumstances.. if your warranty is not implicitly stated... it would be up to a court to decide if it went that far... do you want that? Just put a clause in, that complies with your state law and limits damages as much as is allowable. A lawyer should be able to write that up for he cost of about 1 hr... he/she probably has a boilerplate language already done.
I would consider modifying your contract to include a stated warranty policy... not because of this guy's request... but because of the limit on liability for you in the final analysis.
If you have a gut reaction that the guy is going to be trouble.... then don't work for him at all. But if the reason is because of the warranty request... I'd reconsider.
We warranty everything for a year. And if its something we did and they call after that we will at least take a look. So I don't think his request was out of line either.
But.........how he asked for it might be an issue or any number of other key issues that make the guy scary could have come up that we can't hear on the web. But I liked the "blow me". Always want to say it but never feel I can. DanT
I don't get it.
It sounds as if you quoted to repair the roof and the condition that is allowing the leak. Why wouldn't you guarantee your work for a year? If you didn't want the job, why bring in the mason? Why quote the job at all?
Did I miss something?
The awful thing is that beauty is mysterious as well as terrible. God and the devil are fighting there, and the battlefield is the heart of man.
- Fyodor Dostoyevski
OK, here's what my contract says:
ALL MATERIALS TO BE AS SPECIFIED AND ALL WORK TO BE COMPLETED IN A MANNER CONSISTENT WITH STANDARD INDUSTRY PRACTICES AND PREVAILING BUILDING CODES. ANY CHANGE TO THE ABOVE DESCRIPTION OF WORK OR TO THE SPECIFIED MATERIALS INVOLVING EXTRA COSTS WILL BE CONSIDERED A CHANGE AND WILL BE EXECUTED UPON WRITTEN CHANGE ORDER. THE OWNER SHALL MAINTAIN PROPERTY INSURANCE FOR ITS FULL INSURABLE VALUE. CONTRACTOR WILL PROVIDE LIABILITY AND WORKER’S COMPENSATION INSURANCE AS REQUIRED BY LAW. THIS PROPOSAL SHALL BE VALID FOR THIRTY (30) DAYS FROM THE DATE OF SUBMISSION. WORKMANSHIP WARRANTY TO EXTEND ONE (1) YEAR FROM DATE OF FINAL BILLING. PAYMENT IS DUE ON RECEIPT OF INVOICE. TWO PERCENT DISCOUNT IS ALLOWED IF BALANCE IS PAID IN FULL WITHIN TEN DAYS. A FINANCE CHARGE OF TWO PERCENT PER MONTH IS DUE ON UNPAID BALANCES.
Should I change it to suit one customer? I warrant my work for one year and often I go beyond that. I'm sorry the guy has hired the wrong people, previously. I can fix his problem, but I'm not looking for this type of work. He has other potential problems that I've not been asked to deal with and I'm afraid of getting hooked on them. He wants the words "Roof to remain leak free for one year" added. I was finishing up a 15 hour day last night and this guy is wearing me out, so I was venting. Rereading my original post, it probably came off wrong.
Now it makes sense :~)
The awful thing is that beauty is mysterious as well as terrible. God and the devil are fighting there, and the battlefield is the heart of man.- Fyodor Dostoyevski
Wish you had posted that contract quote the first time. Now I agree with you.
Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell'em "Certainly, I can!" Then get busy and find out how to do it. T. Roosevelt
Should I change it to suit one customer? I warrant my work for one year and often I go beyond that.
Exactly. Your reputation is by far the most valuable issue here. He challenged it by requiring more contract. Even if you didn't have the 1 yr in your contract.
I've been in similar situations. My suggestion is for the prospect to go back to the person who referred me and ask how I do business.PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
"I see." said the blind man to his deaf and dumb daughter, as he picked up his hammer and saw.
SamT
Thanks fer not giving him MY number...or did you?
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations.
Trust your instincts. Things like that are hard to explain in print.
I can think of times when I thought something wasn't quite right and did the job anyway. A couple of times I was wrong and they became good customers, but on the average, percentage wise, I would have been ahead.
It sounds like he's trying to get you to guarantee the entire roof, not just your flashing job. If you want to bother with him at all, (I'm not sure I would) you might try explaining that you only guarantee YOUR work.
Dave