So not to bring up my own old thread....
Turns out I fired this excavator. Not for hitting the post or barn door. But for not being communicative and not showing up when he said he would.
We waited until mid June for him to do final excavation. He came and looked at the job and said ANY little bit of mud and he could not do final. So we called some contacts and got another excavator to come look at it. He said easy to do even with some mud. Just push the mud out of the way.
We had a hill on our property. That hill has not been lowered by taking the top off to put dirt where we needed it. Actually he dug a big hole with a back hoe. Then pushed dirt off the top of the hill to fill it in when he was done. Guess where the mud ended up? Yep, bottom of hole.
He came out on a Sunday (with a friend to help) to do the job. I think it was the fact that I offered CASH that sealed the deal.
In any event he started on a Sunday in July at 9 a.m. and worked until about 7 p.m. Paid cash and he was out the door. Job looks fantastic.
Cost was within 10% of what the other excavator had quoted, so no worries there.
Needless to say Sunday night I got to send an email to the "bad" excavator telling him he lost the job. That was fun to send.
The bad excavator was also to deliver sand for footing for the riding arena. Well I found a different supplier to deliver and spread for 60% of what the "bad" excavator wanted just for delivery.
So I was getting screwed.
