Morton ploe barn-How square should it be ????

[Bob_Skurka]

Actually, we settled it a different way. She was a first year lawyer with the firm, obviously inexperienced, obviously ill prepared for dealing with someone like me who has lawyers at his beck and call, and obviously without a clue as to the real world. So I went after her boss for the payment, via the collection agency, she was terminated and I considered the issue closed.

It pays to keep good notes! It is not often that lawyers or politicians lose their jobs, but when it happens it is a day to celebrate. And understand, I deal with lawyers constantly, and I truely like my lawyers. But I hate the "anything for a quick buck" type of lawyers.

Back to the real topic at hand, however, I still suggest that presenting good detailed notes to the Morton representative will be the best defense that Doc has to get his job re-done in a proper manner.

 

[Docsknotinn]

Bob, I think were a lot alike. We employ one of the largest law firms in the midwest. Some of our partners began with this group when it was one or two guys in a small office. Now there is over 200 lawyers in the firm and they take up half a high rise. I like the ones that work for us as well, but as you said, I too can do with out the fast buck types ( includuding my SIL ) . I want to be clear here so it doesn't look like I'm slam dunking Morton just yet. Any building project can easily get off track. We are taking the steady course and thus far everything has gone well. It can be frustrating but it remains a possability that my expectations may simply be too high. I don't think that's the case but we will see in two weeks when we meet with the Morton crew supervisor for the state. Right now I'm just making notes and giving them the opportunity to make it right. I understand the sales rep needs to CYA a little bit. That's to be expected. He is really a good guy and I find him easy to work with. I certainly could do with out the head ache and delay. Fast and accurate was a big part of the justification for the expense. Now I just need to try to be patient for a couple of weeks. Which really means my wife gets to listen to me P&M for the next two weeks. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[riptides]

And don't forget we like to hear the P & M stuff too....

Just kidding.

It just blows my mind sometimes what it takes people to get off their butt and simply give a proper explanation. What the heck is so hard about customer satisfaction? It is the whole process end to end. A lot of people seem to think that if one part goes OK, sales, then the whole experience was GREAT.
NOT.... Hello, you have issues with the barn. Hello Mr. Construction crew, Hello Mr. Salesman, wanna come out and LOOK. The end product has a problem. And OBTW, we are really not at the END yet. Someone is letting you know, before the END, there is a problem.

Grrrr.............

Sorry to hear of your troubles, hope it works out.

-Mike Z. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[RichNJKubota]

I've been reading with interest. The only thing I can add is that my non-Morton pole barn looks (and is) true and square no matter where you look.
Here in Western NJ we can get Amish crews to put up barns. In my case a non-Amish guy drove the pickup truck and operated the skidsteer w/post hole digger. Then the Amish guys built the barn all by hand without any power equipment like nailguns, etc.
Was truly a sight to see.
Hope you get the issues resolved.

Rich

 

[DannyD]

Maybe I am the back end of a horse, but your sales dud would have lied his last time right when he said the wood shrank.......... I dont mind a guy trying something stupid to get around something, especially when I know dag gummed good and well it aint workin, but this dud lied. He would be toast, period.

I would have been on the phone to his boss so fast his butt would still be in the barn while his head is kissing up to keep his position. We have a saying in my business, CCC.......confess you screwed up, correct it, and carryon. Lying about something I screwed up on gets me fired. Sorry to rant, but I dont like sales guys like this one. Bet he would be great at selling cars too!.

You deserve the building right, or take it down, or they walk off without accepting a dime............ You might want to remind them, the barn is the ONLY piece of advertising they are going to leave, and I am sure they want it right.

As I told you once, my barn is sideline builder built, but one of the crew builds bridges, he is just as proud of the work he did here are he is the bridges he works on that we drive over everyday. My barn is right, yours should be too.
This situation and the folks at Morton need an attention getter, me in your place, I would provide that very sternly!

 

[wroughtn_harv]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Of course when I hear that all I can think is I am paying more than I want to pay !)</font>

My dad likes to tell the story about the time he had a customer who wanted a discount after the job was complete.

Dad rolled up to the home and went in to get his check per agreement. Customer started picking at the fence. Dad listened for a minute. Then he stopped the customer in mid sentence.

"I'll have a crew in here in the morning to remove the fence" he said. "You're obviously not happy and I won't have an unhappy customer."

Dad headed for his truck.

Customer caught him and said they needed to talk about it. Dad told him that they'd already talked about the price before they made the deal. And now they were talking about the quality of the work. Customer wasn't happy, end of deal, as far as Dad was concerned.

Customer looked at Dad and said, "you're serious."

Dad said, "yup."

Customer went and got the check and then gave dad a lecture on how business was done where the customer came from.

Neither dad nor me have ever went there and that's one of the reasons.

Occasionally I'll subcontract work from a national company. As far as I know I'm the only one they don't hold retainage. They don't need it with me. And I won't go for it.

Some companies figure the retainage as part of the profit structure. Of course they also are the ones that hire the subs that assume they'll never get the retainage and work accordingly.

From my perspective negotiating down is wrong from the customer's perspective. It says the dollar is more important than the product.

It's also wrong from the contractor's perspective. It says they know their product isn't up to snuff and they'll reward the customer for finding flaws.

I like my dad's idea. A promise is made by both parties. Those promises are kept.

 

[Docsknotinn]

Re: Morton ploe barn-How square should it be ???? *DELETED*

Post deleted by Docsknotinn

 

[Docsknotinn]

Well the more I thought about it the more I agreed with Harv.
Right is right and that's it. I like the idea of dumping the ball back in their court. So I told them I wanted the beam replaced and the crawl space put right as per the contract. Their response is now they don't want to fix anything until the crew manager comes to inspect the building which won't be for a full two weeks. So now they are in breach of our contract and they are delaying the project. At this point because of their reverse stance and refusing to repair the items they said they would I could never reccomend Morton to any one. I will be turning this over to our advisors so I won't be able to say much more. I appreciate everyones help and input greatly.
I should add that the crew was not sub-contracted. They were however not given one extra stick of wood for miscuts or warped material. In fact they do not even leave 1 extra sheet of steel as all the other metal building builders in our area do. Pay more get less..... /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

 

[srs]

Dave, besides the 'head' guy from your state of Michigan coming out to see the barn did you ever contact the home office of Morton in Illinois? Or are you just going to see what is done first. Bet they would like to see how this building was erected. I'm assuming the Michigan inspector will let them know.

 

[Docsknotinn]

I did inquire at the head office. They said this fellow is the one they would turn the case over to. We have reached a agreement on the beam. They definitely did not want to honor their offer to replace it. I belive the amount is fair but it took a little wrangling to get there. On the crawl space we have now heard that engineers say it can be put on the gable. So go figure, its tuff enough on my end to keep track of some of this it changes so fast. We are still talking about that and really it is not at the top of my priority list as it can be changed any time after the building is done. We still need to meet with the Morton rep to look at the roof. We positively have a issue on one corner. Right now it is looking like some of the lumber used was warped. One problem I am really having recommending Morton is that when they send out the kit they do not give the builder one extra stick of wood. So any seconds, warped wood or miscut the builder is almost forced to use. Not what I would expect from a company that advertises they build with " Top Quality Materials ". At least as it stands now we can proceed with the concrete and getting the doors up. I was very worried about not only the elements on a delay but wildlife. We have a lot of bears and other critters.