Contractor Vent

[wawa]

We have hired 7 different subs to do work on our house over the course of this renovation.

Of those seven there are TWO that I could recommend without reservations. two.

I was hoping the floor guy - who was supposed to start bright and early monday morning would make #3. We really liked him when we were getting estimates. Super responsive. But...yeah...no.

First I get an email friday afternoon telling me that the job he was currently wrapping up was going to go a bit late and he might not be able to get started till tuesday. I told him to keep me in the loop. Nothing saturday. Nothing sunday until mid-afternoon. (mind you...we spent all day saturday clearing off the wood floors (i.e. half my house) in preparation for this guy to start work). Mid day sunday I call him. Yeah...not starting till tuesday.

Ok. Make plans to meet him at the house bright and early tuesday morning.

Monday evening when we're on our way to our IL's house (where we're staying while he works on the floors) we get a call - the building manager of the condo he was working on threw him off the job for making too much noise too late at night. So he's still not done. Hoping to finish up in the morning and could we meet him at the house at lunchtime?

Ummm...ok? I tell him to call my cell when he starts heading my way - he estimates between noon and 2. 2:30 PM rolls around and I haven't heard from him - so I call. yeah...damp weather is holding up the drying. Not done yet. Can we meet him wednesday morning? Say 7:30?

Grrrr. Sure. Just make sure you text or call me if you're going to be late. We arrive at our house at 7:20. At 7:40 I get a text that he's running late (no shit capt obvious) and should arrive around 8:15. 8:30 I call him - "oh, I got caught in traffic, but I'm 5 minutes away."

What time does he finally arrive? 8:55.

Jesus fucking christ on a cracker.

I get that shit happens. But for the love of fluffy kittens STOP LYING TO ME ABOUT YOUR TIMELINES. Stop telling me what you think I want to hear and start telling me something realistic.

At this point he won't be done till early next week. Our IL's need their guest room back because GMIL is supposed to stay with them for the weekend. And we're losing the weekend that we were planning on having to get our living room trimmed out, painted and put back together.

:@ :@ :@

His work had better be amazing or else I am going to cutabitch.

[simpsongal]

I think a lot of the cash cow companies in this area just rake in the clients b/c they're actually well managed. I keep telling my electrician bro that there's serious money to made running an efficient, responsive remodelling business.

Sorry wawa!

[littlemisssunshine]

I'm having the same issues with my contractor! Drives me up a wall. I have no idea how people stay in business acting like this!

[FoxInFiji]

Wow sorry wawa! We have had nothing but bad luck with contractors as well. I was late to work this morning because I was getting calls from our flooring contractor guy who managed to loose our address and my cell number when he's supposed to have the HW delivered today. We're installing it and finishing it ourselves so at least we don't have to deal with anymore more bs besides that for the rest of this remodel.

That's why we usually end up going the "family friend" contractor route who we help for a discounted rate. That way when they disappoint us (and they will!) at least we're not paying full price for their lack of service. But we're lucky in that we know a lot of contractors with my father and FIL being in the industry.

[ssmjlm]

Reminds me of the time I went home early from work and expected to see the tile guys at my house. Except they weren't there and there was no sign they had been there at all today.

I have badmouthed that place to everyone I know for their crappy service and workmanship.

[bunnymendelbaum]

I hear you! This is my #1 complaint with contractors. Don't lie to me! Just tell me the real time. I won't be mad (well, a little), but less mad than you continually being later and later.

We have only hired out 4 things. We were very happy with our exterior painters. The floor refinisher was a disaster. The landscape guy: horrible. The plumber was good until he told us he doesn't want to do the rest of the work!

[wawa]

yeah our painter (just primed and did ceilings) and our HVAC guy were both great. The HVAC people in particular I really liked. They were fantastic with followups and were really really helpful and on the ball with getting the endless paperwork done in order to get our assorted tax rebates and credits and such.

But the well-driller sub to the HVAC people sucked donkey balls. The contractor who did our outside work was a giant pain in the ass to deal with (though some of his subs did good work - the roofers were fine. The mason was fine. Their finish work on the carpentry/drywall/etc was AWFUL though). Our plumber was seriously a dumb-ass (though responsive...he was always willing to redo the stupid shit he had messed up the first time around). Aaand I think you might remember my reaction to our drywall guys.

and now floor refinishing. If his actual work is good I'll be happy overall, but I think I need to have a talk with him about realistic timeline promises.

We've still got to find glass people for the shower. I really hope that one doesn't suck.

OH wait...there were more. We did really like the stone people who did our downstairs vanity (and are scheduled to come in and do our hall bath vanity top too). And our sales rep at the place where we bought all our bathroom fixtures is also awesome. But our tile sales rep? I'd spit on him sooner than buy something from him again.

It's amazing how hit or miss these things are. With the exception of the drywall guys and the painter (both personal recs from friends) these are all people we found on angie's list who have stellar reviews.

[pitterwoo]

every person I tell to keep me in the loop (I'm actually thinking about work here) never does. Never! It's like "keep me in the loop" is code for "don't worry about getting back to me".

Hope that he shows up and does a great job!

[wawa]

Nov 14, 2012 21:34:15 GMT -5 pitterwoo said:

every person I tell to keep me in the loop (I'm actually thinking about work here) never does. Never! It's like "keep me in the loop" is code for "don't worry about getting back to me".

Hope that he shows up and does a great job!

There must be some secret contractor language. Maybe "don't ever contact me using my phone, I have prepaid and like to save my minutes and texts" actually means "call me twice a day."

Perhaps I should try it.