Is Rural Living a Hobby?

[JasperFrank]

Always had to have the "talk" with contractors. Which goes "This job is time and materials. I expect your best work." if I see people cutting corners and not doing things right, they get paid up till that time and fired. Any good contractor will be willing to switch to time and materials instead of bid.

 

[JethroB]

I have hired contractors three times in my life and hope never again!

Shortcuts etc. whenever they think they can get away with it.

Yes to the shortcuts. I caught him a few times and pointed it out. He hemmed and hawed but came around. I wrongly assumed he understood ‘level’ when putting in floor joists.

 

[Solitary Man]

Yes to the shortcuts. I caught him a few times and pointed it out. He hemmed and hawed but came around. I wrongly assumed he understood ‘level’ when putting in floor joists.

You hired the wrong guy. We are professional builders, and always chuckle seeing what people get when they go cheap.

 

[3 Horse Ranch]

Scares the heck out of me. She's one of those who only drives A few feet ahead of herself. Lots of unnecessary, abrupt braking.

My ex drove like that too. She would approach a stop light or stop sign and brake at the last minute. It was cured when we changed insurance companies and I plugged in one of those monitoring devices for three months. Every time she would hard brake it would beep and it was posted online for the insured to see. After the device was removed her driving habits had changed foe the better, and they never did revert back.

 

[JethroB]

You hired the wrong guy. We are professional builders, and always chuckle seeing what people get when they go cheap.

^^^. What tradesmen, dealer, salesman, etc. would claim otherwise? They wouldn’t be in business long if they didn’t rate themselves highly. Big turnoff when I hear one putting down the competition. Never indicated it was cheap.

 

[Solitary Man]

^^^. What tradesmen, dealer, salesman, etc. would claim otherwise? They wouldn’t be in business long if they didn’t rate themselves highly. Big turnoff when I hear one putting down the competition. Never indicated it was cheap.

Ok. Then it was your fault for not using due diligence to discover his knowledge of what "level" is before he started the project. In this business, one is only as good as one's last job; no need to disparage the competition, word gets around.

 

[California]

Last contractor I hired was a plumber, recommended by neighbors, to replace the underground water mains from the well to the barn, house, garden. Time & materials. Not a large project. He seemed attentive as we walked this simple project.

Then the contractor's employee arrived without the contractor, and without the materials needed. He said the single instruction he got was to "follow me around and do what I said".

I asked where is the DitchWitch I thought had been agreed on, he said he was told to dig the ditches by hand. We got an hour into digging and gave up. The route was all tree roots and I couldn't get my backhoe into most of where the trenching was needed. I went and rented the DitchWitch and we did within the 4-hour rental, what could have taken him days by hand.

He told me he was being paid $25/hour. While the contractor, who I thought would plan and lead the project, was charging me $75/hour for this guy.

I don't expect to use that contractor again.

 

[ultrarunner]

Happens often… the guys doing the work given little support.

 

[Oaktree]

^^^. What tradesmen, dealer, salesman, etc. would claim otherwise? They wouldn’t be in business long if they didn’t rate themselves highly. Big turnoff when I hear one putting down the competition. Never indicated it was cheap.

Tough to find good tradespeople in rural America, lots of hacks who own a paintbrush and know where they can borrow a ladder who call themselves painters. Feel free to substitute the equivalent for a different trade.
The good ones are generally quite busy, but are still at the mercy of finding good help.

Then add in the customers who are either cheap, micro-manage or keep changing their mind as to what they want.

 

[jjp8182]

Then add in the customers who are either cheap, micro-manage or keep changing their mind as to what they want.

...and add in how many also don't know a thing about the trades so pass on referrals based upon feelings rather than knowledge of the quality of work..... (or lack thereof)