Sometimes relationships come to a breaking point. There comes a time that you cannot see eye to eye, and either you accept the issue or you find someone else. This is true in relationships with contractors too, and we are leaning toward the latter behavior.
The kitchen contractor did a great job and was very understanding about us living in the house at the time of renovation. He was a very nice guy that I shared a lot of interests with. However, he had a tendency to not estimate add-ons in advance. When I got the final bid it had exorbatent prices for the add-ons, and some things which I considered in scope, he considered out of scope. I got pissed, paid the final bill and bid him adieu. He gave us an estimate for finishing off the rest of the house, which again was extremely high. Needless to say, he did not win this job.
For the upstairs bathroom we had someone else come in to help. He did a good job, though everything took much longer than expected. He was great with trading scope and was nice to work along with. However, in the past week he agreed to work and the day of or the day prior has continually come up with reasons not to work. Of a potential 40 hours to work, he worked 10. I don't like someone commiting to something and then backing out. We need things done. We are having someone else to possibly help finish things up, so hopefully they work out better. If they do, we'll get to part ways with our current guy.
For better news, we are now proud parents of a beautiful yellow boy. I name him Dewey. 
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Contractor Woes
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9 comments:
It's definitely time to call it quits - hopefully our new guy tonight is a keeper. I'm so sick of the 'Christmas shopping' or 'my fiance needs me to do this' excuse. Still can't believe he didn't have the professionalism to at least call instead of text message. C'mon - that's like Berger breaking up with Carrie using a Post-it note.
Ugh. It's stories like this (and Dogs and Jen's "Cabinet Guy" saga) that make me glad I'm doing the work myself. I know it's not always an option, but there's a lot to be said for it.
As Gene said, stories like yours and Jen's make me want to hug Lawrence! While our jobs are more moderate than a whole room redo, this guy is always there when he says he will be, has the best attitude of anyone I think I've ever met, and always seems to have an alternate solution.
P.S.: I think I'm in love with your yellow boy!
Congrats on the new arrival, hopefully you won't break any labor laws putting Dewey to work.
I like the new saw. Congrats! I think a lot of people have similar opinions of contractors. It's tough to find someone that can see everything a job needs beforehand, and get it all done quickly.
Stories like this really give contractors a bad name. However, there are still good ones around you just have to look hard for them. Unfortunately it also means they are in high demand and you typically pay a price for it.
I take the time necessary to develop a detailed estimate with an associated scope of work. It's never perfect but we rarely ever sign change orders unless it's due to customer requests.
I wish you luck and I'm sure you'll find a good contractor at some point.
Is he Dewey Janine, peut-être?
Your contractor experiences remind me of our former contractor, which doesn't bode well for those guys. In the end I found that paying someone to do "close" to what we had created plans for, and "just a bit" over budget with "decent" workmanship wasn't in the cards. Plus why pay someone all of that money just to have to fix it in the end yourself?
Congrats on Dewey.
I so feel your pain with the contractors. The good ones can be hard to find, but they are out there!
Congrats on the addition to your family. We adore our table saw - it really makes certain projects a million times easier.
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