I was in a house today talking about the homeowners desire for a new hardwood floor (which I’m betting they can not afford). The present floor is simply 1x plancks over 2×8 joists at 16″ o.c. spanning about 14′. A bit bouncy.
At first they seemed to indicate that the bounciness is recent, so I thought I should check out the crawl to see what might have happened (later she said that it has been bouncy for a long time (I suspect always!).
In the crawl I quickly come upon a patch of ground so wet that it is making noise while the water soaks in! Kind of disconcerting.
I finally realize that the black pipe above my head is ending near the side of the house after turning down to pour whatever comes through onto the floor. I trace it back to see it comes from the kitchen sink (the kitchen was remodeled about four years ago).
I got back upstairs and told them of the plumbing problem. Then I asked “Who put in the kitchen?”
“Lowes”
“Oh” Keeping a straight face.
“My daughter works there”.
I changed the subject.
LOL!!!
Rich Beckman
Another day, another tool.
Replies
Hi Rich,
Afford a new floor? You might be surprised. If that iswhat the HO wants, they may have been saving for just that. Years back I did dozer work for folks that I got wondering if there would be a payment problem. Was paid in full while I was loading up to leave.
As far as the water problem, did you advise them they might want to take card of that before doing the new floor?
Paul
Even if their daughter works there, in my view it would have been proper to tell them if you know of a safety and health hazard in their home.
Lots of people work at places they don't particularly like either because they need a job.
Way I see it, Rich, is that if you keep that face straight and don't advise them, you're going to lose it. HO - "oh, we had a contractor here the other day and he said nothing about it". So-o-o-o, they get the leak fixed, and can't afford your floor, so what - where's integrity gone these days. Ask yourself 'what's the highest thought?' Oh, and suggest remedies for the bounce, too, eh.
"I got back upstairs and told them of the plumbing problem."You guys need to read more closely. I would have busted out laughing when they said Lowe's...
Maybe they can get Lowes to do the floor when they come back to connect the plumbing to a drain, otherwise you could have a job coming up.
"You guys need to read more closely."Thank-you, try.Give me some credit folks!!I explained the problem, and they immediately grasped that it is serious. I would refuse to do the floor if the plumbing had not yet been fixed!! Obviously that is the first priority.
I was just trying to highlight the quality installations available from the big blue box.
Rich BeckmanAnother day, another tool.
Apologies are in order, Rich - I sent you a brickbat when l should have sent you a rose.
Pete
Yea I know what you mean bud..went on a job where the HD installed kitchen cabs for a client.... Doors werent aligned and the yahoo left the shims on top w/o cuttin them...
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I install kitchen cabinets for a couple of the big boxes. Other trades can recognize my work by it's quality. All face frames flush and joined to the adjacent cabinet face frame with 3 countersunk 2-1/2" trim head screws (GRK). Everything plumb, level and square. No excessive stacks of shims (1x on edge, scribed to fit, for badly out of level floors). Doors and drawers properly adjusted. Miters on crown and trim tight and glued. Granite guys show up and say cabinets are rock solid and dead-on level...they get to just drop the tops on (and they say that almost never happens even on their jobs for the high-end custom builders. So, beware of the broad brush.They pay me around $45/hr, maybe you should consider installing for them.Edit to add: I've taken 4 calls over the last 4 weeks to fix or finish the work of other contractors. Two were working for big boxes and two were independent contractors (one who usually does good work, but is over-extended). I don't think the % of poor work is any higher with big box contractors, IMO. A recent Comsumer Reports rating of Contractors shows that contractors have about a 50% approval rating with customers (usual problems are poor work, schedule, poor communication, and "overbilling"). Of course, I have long contended that HO's probably don't rate much higher than 50% in the view of the Contractors. I better go cut down a cabinet and install a microhood, or my rating is going to slip.
Edited 6/4/2005 1:47 pm ET by basswood
Holy, toot your own horn! Let's see some pics-proof's in the pudding.
Dustin T
Maybe I overreacted. I get tired of the big box bashing in general (they are a mixed blessing IMO) and bashing their installers is a regular feature here (and offensive from my vantage point--since I am one of those big box installers). All installers for big boxes aren't hacks, but you would get that impression on this forum. There are plenty of good tradespeople and hacks in both realms. I happily work for two different big box chains and the money and work are both good. Less overhead (they do the marketing, line up customers, collect $) and I just show up and do the work (less headaches in my experience). They keep me busy enough that I no longer worry about getting my other bids accepted (no more low bids). Now I can be selective in taking independent jobs and they are paying better too. I still do "my own work" about half the time. It is a good mix.Here are a few pics of some of my kitchen installs. I hope the pics are better than the horn blowing.Edit to add: I do my own curved framing, steaming and bending, custom laminating, metal edging & splash, built-up molding, tile, etc. This week I steamed and bent oak molding to install a stained-glass half-round window with an 18' circumference. The window by Stan Lindell was made from over 800 pieces of glass. I need to go back and take pictures of some of my better work. I'll post some more "work of a big box installer" in a week or two.Edited 6/5/2005 12:20 am ET by basswood
Edited 6/5/2005 11:36 am ET by basswood
Atta boy! Great looking work, and a nice variety of stuff in the pics too. Like I said---proof's in the pudding!
Dustin Thompson
PS-the big box, in general, is what it is-like it or leave it-no sense in complaining about it in an online forum. But people will waste time and do it anyways. Thanks again for posting the pics!
Thanks. You did make a valid point too (about the tooting). I looked back at my own posts...and they tended toward shameless self-promotion. My carpenters ego is perhaps too healthy.About big boxes, they are successful for the same reasons we are--they provide something the customers want. We have a small, local lumberyard that I do as much for as I can. If they kept me busy they would get all my business. I don't think this small player will go out of business anytime soon though. The owner is very smart. He buys and develops land, builds (with wholesale materials from his yard). Dare I post it here...the big boxes have not ventured into land speculation and development...yet (AFAIK).
Nothing wrong with knowing when you do quality work. I take pride in my work as well. Seems as though more and more lumber yard owners are taking the plunge into that area you mention, but as for the big boxes-we'll just have to wait and find out.
Dustin T
...the big boxes have not ventured into land speculation and development...yet (AFAIK).
That is actually a big source of income for them. They just do it with commercial, not residential properties.
Edited 6/5/2005 6:20 pm ET by dustinf
hey man, at least he used shims
That's what the plumbers call a 'low-cost greywater recycling system' or 'a groundwater recharge installation'. No Extra charge.
Plumbers get creative and the carpenters get picky. The guy get a little creative and you bust on him. ... LOL.
Once went to crawl under a house and found virtually the entire bricked in crawl space about 3" deep in raw sewage. Evidently a plumber had used a large power snake and when he hit a 90 they forced it. Pipe took a turn but the snake went straight.
HO claimed it had been a year or so and they really liked the plumber. He worked quick, evidently it was late on a Friday, and when he was done the drains ran more quickly than they ever had. They figured it was an Extra Good job.
I declined to go under the house. About three months later I got called back and, other than some evidence of lime, the crawl space was dry.
My apologies, Rich. I did not read your post carefully enough.
Wow, resolution with no flames? Classy, one and all!"A completed home is a listed home."
pikopete & WAYNEL5,LOL!!Apologies!! How am I supposed to harbor resentment against you for months on end and chase you all over the board to give smart assed nasty replys to your posts if you apologise!!Geez, now I gotta find a hobby.:)
Rich BeckmanAnother day, another tool.