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Are all contractors shiftless?


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I do all my own work on my house. Not because I want to or because I'm too cheap, but because it's too damned hard to get someone to return phone calls or show up.

When I wanted my bedroom floor refinished, I called one outfit. Left a message. He never returned my call. Called a second guy. He called back, came and looked at the job....then jerked me around for weeks about when he could get to it. I gave up on him and asked at the lumberyard. They gave me someone's number, telling me "He's a little goofy, but he's good...." I called. After much phone tag, it turns out that the number they gave me was his sister and he doesn't live there anymore...or something. :wacko:She gives me his son's number. Son shows up, does the job (nice work, too). I pay him. Cash. I ask him to give me a price on the hall and the kitchen. He does, I say "Cool. Let's do it." He tells me he's going out to have his rotator cuff done and will be out of work for a while. "Perfect! I'll have to move out for three days while you do this part, so it'll have to wait until it's warm enough for me to go up to camp. So when you get straightened around, let me know" He never called back. I finally found someone else to do it.

I wanted a well pump put in, at camp. I called a guy. He came out, looked the job over and gave me a price. "Ok, let's do it". He tells me he's busy opening up camps and won't be available 'til June. "No problem. Let me know when you can fit it in". That was last June. Still haven't heard from him. Gonna end up doing that myself, too. Sad part for him is that, had he done good work on the well, I had a bunch of other work I would have had him do, too.

I need my chimney repaired and the foundation parged . Can't find a friggin' mason anywhere. Someone at work says he knows a guy. I call him, leave a message. Two weeks later, he calls back. Wants to come and look and will call me back the next day. That was two weeks ago.

Washer started acting flaky. I called the guy who owns the lot across the street. He comes and looks. "Oh, it's the motor. I've got one". Comes back. "Nope, not the motor, must be the capacitor. I've got one..." Comes back. "Nope, must be the circuit board. I'll have to order one..." A week goes by, he tells me it's on backorder. Two weeks. Three weeks. Four weeks, I'm going to the laundromat. Finally give up, say "Let's buy a new one and when the part comes in, we'll fix the old one and sell it". I finally went online....and within TWO MINUTES, I had found two places that had the part. :angry: Then I called an appliance parts place about 25 miles from here. They say "no, but we can have it in three days". I tell the repair guy. He gives me a song and dance about not wanting to go "all the way out there". "Fine, I'll go get it". I order it. A week later, they tell me it's in. I decide to pull the old one and take it with me, to make sure the new one is right. I do. I come home with the part, look at the washer and say "WTH, I'm this far along...." and put the new one in myself. I tell him I've done this, and he can stop by and do the calibration...and I'll pay him for the time he's spent. He never shows up.

....and it's not just me. One of the guys I used to work with said he called six different outfits, trying to get his driveway done. The one that got the job was the only one who bothered to return his phone calls.

Must be nice to have that much work that you can afford to turn away money... 

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Back in the 90s I repped a company based out of Philly. The factory came down for a week & we BSed about a lot of crap. 

Anyhoo, he wanted a screened in porch built off the back of his house. Contracted with a Mennonite company. Good price, good references, etc.

They showed up when they said they were going to, worked steady to noon, brought their lunches, went to work right after lunch, declined any offers of tea/ice water/etc. from the guy's stay-at-home wife, cleaned up every day @ 5,  and finished on time and on budget. 

While they were putting it up, the rep noticed that they were using 6x6 posts instead of the 4x6s listed in the quote. Rep sez what's up? Contractor says lumber yard was out of 4x6s & waiting for them would have put me behind. Rep says let me pay you for the difference. Contractor says no, this is on me. 

 

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WTH kinda house you live in that you need all this done?

yes, contractors can be flaky. The reason most of them are contractors is they  can't work for a real construction company. Few social skills. Which makes it easier for schluubs like me to stand out. The guys you are dealing with are just looking to cover the rent and some beer on Friday.

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I've heard dozens of horror stories from friends on shady contractors.  Our neighbors had a contractor demand 100% payment up front and never finished the job and she can't track the guy down now...  When we had our kitchen done we went through Home Depot.  Yeah we paid more than going with bubba's kitchen remodel but...  They were professional, did a fantastic job and even did a couple of small fixes not quoted for free and they finished on time.   I can't speak highly enough of their work.  Now the hack tile man that did the back splash (me), well that's a different story... 

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Just a note from the other side - many contractors are very choosy about who they do residential work for. I can tell you many horror stories about private clients not paying for work performed. And the really  crappy excuses they come up with. Mostly, they contract for a Vega and when the finished work isn't a Cadillac, they cry foul.

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My sister and I have a favorite contractor who works hard and fast when he's on the job but his prices are very good, he's very busy  so he's always juggling a couple different jobs at a time.  Sometimes it's taken a couple weeks to get a job started and several days of no-show between starting and finishing. But he warns me of that to start with.

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6 hours ago, maddmaxx said:

I call a company

There are no companies around here. There's a roofing company and I hired them to do part of my roof. They did a great job. 

But anyone else is just a name that "a guy" is DBA'ing. All of the folks I hired -or tried to hire- had company names.

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6 hours ago, RalphWaldoMooseworth said:

This is yet another reason to just say no to home improvement.

You're missing the point here. I'm trying to delegate and pawn the work off and can't! 

Some of it is "optional" but some of it is "...well if I don't do it now, it's going to bite me in the ass even harder, later".

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4 hours ago, ChrisL said:

I've heard dozens of horror stories from friends on shady contractors.

My best buddy, when I was growing up was an assistant manager in grocery stores for 20+ years. I helped him build one of those pre-cut storage sheds and he was lucky he could find the pointy end of a screwdriver.

He's a contractor now.

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There was a contractor here that left the state when a city project he worked on went to shit. He built some dugouts and bleacher covers for the city ball diamonds. The first storm that came through the whole thing collapsed at every ball diamond.

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One of my friends is getting a new roof put on hos house.  The contractor says "Oh we can have that done in a week."  That was 4 weeks ago.  Current excuse is that the shingles are on back order.  Like anyone is stupid enough to believe that.

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9 hours ago, jdc2000 said:

One of my friends is getting a new roof put on hos house

That was the only bright spot. I had the roof on the addition done. I told the guy "since it's a small job and I'm not in a huge hurry, you can use it as a fill-in job, if you want". 

It took them a bit to get to it, but I came home from work one day...and had a new roof. Sweet. I only found one piece of shingle about the size of a quarter and one nail. They even straightened up MY crap that I had lying around for my porch job.

Guess who's getting the call when it's time to do the main roof?

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