Siding Screw Up, What would you do?

[hairyapple]

So the crew who did my roofing "also does siding" so I had them give me a quote. I was very impressed by the job they did on my roof and they came in pretty good on the siding quote so I decided to go with them. If had a few week delay on windows but I finally got them in and they started the siding yesterday. Well I get there and they are 75% done but they reveal is a 7" reveal, I wanted it to be a 5" reveal like my garage. This a a Latino crew that seems to be doing an average but far from exemplary job. Their solution was to pull it all down, rip each sheet to 6 1/4 and put it back up, the other option is I just live with it. I chose to just live with it, and I will be asking for a discount on what I pay to make it right.

The reason I chose this option is that I feel like they would have just rushed through it, cut more corners and potentially had the chance of screwing something up even worse in the process. I am torn about my decision. It looks good and most people might not even notice it. The addition has completely different siding than the existing house which has old asbestos siding that we opted to not rip down and replace at this time. We will possibly do that when we replace the old windows in the existing house. Another caveat is the houser next to my house burned down 15 years ago. In the process it melted the side of my house and they replaced the old siding with 7" reveal hardie. So when we do reside the older portion of the house the 7" hardie they put there will keep us from having to redo the newer side.

I have worked VERY hard on this addition and things have been going very smooth. This is the first kick in the pants situation I have had that has kind of upset me and not gone the way I wanted it to. First world problems I know! Oh BOO HOO my brand new 850 sqft addition has a 2" greater reveal than my garage.

Anyway, just venting. What would you have done?

 

[hairyapple]

So the crew who did my roofing "also does siding" so I had them give me a quote. I was very impressed by the job they did on my roof and they came in pretty good on the siding quote so I decided to go with them. If had a few week delay on windows but I finally got them in and they started the siding yesterday. Well I get there and they are 75% done but they reveal is a 7" reveal, I wanted it to be a 5" reveal like my garage. This a a Latino crew that seems to be doing an average but far from exemplary job. Their solution was to pull it all down, rip each sheet to 6 1/4 and put it back up, the other option is I just live with it. I chose to just live with it, and I will be asking for a discount on what I pay to make it right.

The reason I chose this option is that I feel like they would have just rushed through it, cut more corners and potentially had the chance of screwing something up even worse in the process. I am torn about my decision. It looks good and most people might not even notice it. The addition has completely different siding than the existing house which has old asbestos siding that we opted to not rip down and replace at this time. We will possibly do that when we replace the old windows in the existing house. Another caveat is the houser next to my house burned down 15 years ago. In the process it melted the side of my house and they replaced the old siding with 7" reveal hardie. So when we do reside the older portion of the house the 7" hardie they put there will keep us from having to redo the newer side.

I have worked VERY hard on this addition and things have been going very smooth. This is the first kick in the pants situation I have had that has kind of upset me and not gone the way I wanted it to. First world problems I know! Oh BOO HOO my brand new 850 sqft addition has a 2" greater reveal than my garage.

Anyway, just venting. What would you have done?

 

[HawkinsHollow]

I'm assuming there was no signed contract. If there was you could just refuse to pay or negociate a discounted price based upon the work not being done per the contract.
But with only a handshake agreement it's your word against the contractors word and you are at the mercy of the contractor when it comes to a discount

There was no signed contract. I haven’t paid a dime yet.

How does a signed contract help my negotiating power?

 

[scootr]

There was no signed contract. I haven’t paid a dime yet.

How does a signed contract help my negotiating power?

A signed contract is a legally binding agreement. Just like your loan papers on the house or truck.
The contractor may be willing to give a satisfactory discount.Ask real nice
Afterall in 2 weeks it's likely you will never notice the difference again.
And if he won't, and your done being nice, you can always suggest that may ask the better business bureau to settle the matter. In which case if the workers comp, insurance, and legalities are not 100% in order he may want to cut a deal. GL

 

[hairyapple]

As I mentioned earlier, on another thread, I was a residential contractor for 40 years. I dealt with a lot of subs although we did all the foundation and carpentry work ourselves. I made it clear what I wanted, if something started to go wrong I'd be there to get things back on track. When they were stubborn, I'd 1. tell them if they wanted to get paid the job better be up to my standards. 2. If they gave me any s..t, I'd throw them off the job then and there, forever or until tyhey decided to comply. 3. Any work that was done improperly came down. This included part of fireplace chimney when the masons decided not to follow the architect's drawings. I wouldn't accept warmed over materials either.
Tell them in no uncertain terms that they either make this right with new, not reworked and correct materials or pack it up and go. Stand your ground. Be honorable but get what you paid for.

 

[hairyapple]

Eh, that is a bad move. He could hit you with a mechanics lien, no need for notice, because he is personally know to the property owner. I would ask for either a discount. Take down and rip every piece jas several issues. One, they going to reinstall, it's probably gonna be in rough shape, a crap ton of labor, ect. If you get maybe 25% off Labor, I'd call that fair.

I told him I wanted it to match the garage. Water under the bridge at this point. Maybe I did not specify well enough.

For the record the main guy in this company speaks excellent English, so I don't think it was a language barrier thing. I think he just assumed we wanted it 7" revveal because thats what they do on 90% of hardie jobs. But as a sub siding a house 7 feet away from a garage done in 5" reveal I think HE should have made sure he knew CRYSTAL CLEAR what I wanted. His defense is that I said at some point I wanted 7". Overall they did an good job, EXCEPT I asked them to paint the cut ends and they totally ignored that request.

So the next question... do you think it is right to ask for a reduction in price tag due to the mix-up?

 

[hairyapple]

None of that matters. You had a verbal agreement, you stated what you wanted and he did not deliver. What would you do if it wasn't your house but you contracted the job for a 3rd party? Try to get your customer to accept it? A mechanic's lean these days in most states means nothing. They are no longer perpetual and if the mechanic wants a judgement he has to take you to court. Check that out with your attorney though, don't take my word for it.

 

[hosspuller]

On site owner supervision is a must. I was engineer in charge of a project. I told the crew using a trencher to stop and hand dig at a point where I knew a gas line was. I trusted them to stop and left. A few minutes later, hell broke out... they figured using the trencher was easier.... and cut the gas line. In hindsight, I should have stayed until the trencher was pulled and they had shovels in hand.

 

[grsthegreat]

Hardie siding is supposed to be painted on all 6 sides. But I’ve never in my entire life seen anyone actually do it that way. I hate the product and I try my hardest to convince customers not to use it. Luckily I only have to warranty it for 1 year and it takes longer than that to fall apart. Even if it doesn’t delaminate and fall apart which it does the maintenance of recalking and repainting is expensive. There’s a siding product that’s a hybrid with vinyl and fiberglass that looks as good as hardie and hold up much better. It doesn’t wrinkle like actual vinyl is prone to doing.

My house was hardie planked 28 years ago. I installed it, i did not paint the edges. I did however caulk EVERY horizontal and vertical joint. House has only been painted 3 times, and still looks great. No de laminations anywheres. No breaking down anywheres. Maybe the product from the 90s was better than products from today.

 

[grsthegreat]

But honestly, if the part that was resided after neighbors fire was spaced 7” already, i would have wanted the new stuff to match that. When you reside the garage, have it match the 7”. Or am i misunderstanding something.