Pick Your Battles - House Contractor Rant

[Beltzington]

Over the last several weeks I have spent over $14K remodeling a house purchased for my elderly parents to live in. Because I am in a hurry did get it finished I hired contractors to do work I could do myself and also figured professionals would do a better job than I could. Other than the HVAC replacement done by someone I have used for years, this assumption has proved false, the plumbers who did do a good job finishing the shower rough charged me $240 for less than one hour of work and $20 dollars in parts, having been quoted $90/hour when I hired them when I asked why the extra I was told they charged from the time they left and returned to the shop, so I paid them $90 for a one hour drive. The sheetrock guy I believe purposely tried to use standard drywall after I told him I wanted blue board in the bathroom, left his workers unsupervised when he told me he would be onsite the entire time and then when I asked him to come back and finish skimming 10 of tape left undone he explained they never mudded tape that would be behind the shower surround. The tile guys did a beautiful job laying the pattern but the slope of the walk-in shower still has me wondering if it will drain into the drain or out into the bathroom floor they also did a very poor job of cleaning after grouting. Lastly the shower door installers did not arrive when I was told they would be here, did not call let me know what was going on and while I am very happy with the glass shower door install I just noticed they gouged the freshly painted drywall in three places when they were moving the doors.

None of these contractors were the low bids, all of them were employees of the company not outsourced, and two of them were recommended by someone I know very well. It seems you can't pay someone enough to do a top shelf job anymore; all they seem to excel at is cashing the check. The entire approach of the owners is tell you what you want to hear, do the work as cheaply and quickly as they can and make the customer find the problems and come back and fix them if absolutely necessary.

Is this the general state of affairs in the remolding world or is it just me? Should they have to fix every minor issue or do you just fix it yourself and forgo the headache?

 

[kcflhrc]

I cringe every time I have to hire something done. I will work all day to save $100. I have been pretty lucky so far, biggest thing was a new roof and they did a fantastic job. Way outside my ability and I have no idea how they made any money. There were 5 guys there for 4 full days working from sun up to sun down and the bill was $11,250.

 

[roadhunter]

When homeowners decide to be General Contractors. LOL

You can save the fees charged by a GC if you choose to do it yourself but all those headaches come along with the responsibility. GC's are essentially just contractor babysitters. Making them do the job right, making them show up, clean up, etc....

Contractors have earned their reputation.

 

[Thall303]

I cringe every time I have to hire something done. I will work all day to save $100. I have been pretty lucky so far, biggest thing was a new roof and they did a fantastic job. Way outside my ability and I have no idea how they made any money. There were 5 guys there for 4 full days working from sun up to sun down and the bill was $11,250.

View attachment 490954

Nice home and yard

 

[kcflhrc]

Nice home and yard

Thank you, it has been 3 years of nothing but remodel and repair. I think the house had the original 1970 carpet in it.

 

[Raspy]

I'm afraid your story is not uncommon. Somehow, you have to find people you can trust or communicate well with, or that have a fine reputation with trusted neighbors and friends.

Unfortunately, you can't spell out everything in a contract that might include common sense, politeness and ability.

If contractors are good, they are probably busy and then they are stressed. They too, are relying on their employees for good behavior. When contractors are not much good, they can easily talk a good game.

Paying someone from portal to portal is not uncommon and it sometimes seems too expensive. Get quotes for the entire job, not just the hourly rate. To give them some credit, being in business is complicated and expensive. Employees can be very difficult and they are always being paid if they are on the clock, whether they are on the job or not. Then there's insurance and other overhead that must be factored in.

Never pay in full until you are satisfied with the completed work. Mistakes, like gouged walls are not your fault and you should not pay for them. If you have to bring the painter back to fix the gouge from the door guys, you can subtract the extra from the door guy's bill.

Finally, if you hire all the subs yourself, you are the General Contractor and you set the tone for the entire job. If you hire a general and pay him, you can force him to set the tone for quality and he must answer to you for the final product. Then you don't have to deal with all the individuals who are in a hurry and don't know you. Choosing a higher price and thinking that will give you a better outcome is a false comparison. Higher end equipment will be more expensive, but better workmanship isn't. When you try to tell a professional how to do his job (taping joints for instance) you are inviting conflict.

It seems in your case, at least partially, you had a different idea of how the work was to be done than the professionals you hired. I often see this where someone expects me to do something their way and I have to explain it must be done my way to get the outcome we all want, and it must cost what I bid because there is more to it than they realize. But, I have also seen contractors try to shortcut work on my house and it left a lasting impression where I sent them on their way and never had them back. I've also recommended people stay away from them.

Contractors don't realize their most important form of advertising is word-of-mouth and that that comes form communication and caring about your work.

 

[ch1ch2]

Is this the general state of affairs in the remolding world or is it just me? Should they have to fix every minor issue or do you just fix it yourself and forgo the headache?

Yes this is it.
Construction is one job most convicts can get.
There are some great people in construction...... but, they are very hard to find and usually charge a lot.

 

[JRobyn]

I am a perfectionist so I like things done properly. That's a big part of the reason that I did a huge chunk of our house finishing. I did contract out the sheetrock, tile, hardwood, DWV plumbing. My contractors were all VERY well recommended and respected in the area. Most of them were associated with the high-end builder we used to frame and dry in.

All of that is to say that my "subs" were not perfect, but pretty da*n good, and that's ok with me. The thing I have come to realize is that to do it the way I LIKE (perfection) takes a HUGE amount of time, a luxury that contractors cannot enjoy if they intend to survive. They MUST be as quick as possible, and that usually leads to just a bit of non-perfection;-)

 

[PJSprog]

We are starting a huge remodeling project at our house in a couple of weeks. Even just the events leading up to getting a final start date have been an incredible eye-opener for us. If any of the companies I've worked for over the years were as lax about communication and on-time-delivery as these contractors - all of whom are considered top-tier in our area - they would have been out of business in very short order. I am amazed at the lackadaisical attitude that seems to pervade that industry. Our original target was end of August, got moved to September, then to November, and now the week after Xmas. I mean, how do you get your scheduling so wrong? Four months?! Our upstairs kitchen has been torn out since July in anticipation of this. It's definitely frustrating.

Lessons learned. Should we ever do this again, we'll definitely do it through a GC.

 

[downsizingnow48]

I worked as a residential building contractor in southern California, doing mostly remodeling. Remodeling is more of a learning experience, always a new situation. I learned a lot about the trades and even more about people. People are the hard part. Still enjoy the work. I do everything myself except roofing and HVAC. This morning: