Do you have a contract?

yes, but it doesn't specify the stairs in great detail (like # steps, tread or rise size).

At some point you are going to accept that you have blown your money on these eedjits, does that make you an eedjit too? A lawyer would say that as the ratio of steps and risers is (excuse the flippancy) set in concrete it is not unreasonable to expect someone who does this kind of work to know how to do it. Pay them nothing, get then off the site. As an aside, is there a husband about the premises?

yes, there is a husband, but this is my project & the one dealing with the contractor. I am too nice about things, but hubby tends to get unconstructively angry with issues like this. I'm asking for responses to their "fix" so that I can be assertive with them! making sure I'm not off the mark, what do I know about concrete or standard practice, eh?

I had not intended to be sexist beanie, far from it. These are the facts, segue pls,anything other than the facts ma'am ain't going to work. The only reason I mentioned a husband is because you know, the guy thing.

I would take pictures, measure and go to the building permit dept and ask questions. free professional advice

Rule number one: If someone completely screws things up when starting from scratch (the best of circumstances), do not have him take on the challenge of fixing it under the worst of circumstances. Too late for Beanie, but others should remember this.

I definitely agree with Laag on this one; if the contractor screwed it up the first time, it is highly unlikely he will do any better the second or third time. Unfortunately you have learned a lesson here, and it pays to get good references and check them. Had you also been shown examples of his past work?

In general it is important to be consistent with riser and tread measurements, but these can vary between sets of steps if separated by a landing, and the tread widths can vary if the walk is curving or zig zags up a hillside rather than a straight run.

It would have been better to have been more precise with your criticism of his first effort, by spelling out that all riser and tread measurements were to be redone to a consistent measurement, and to have indicated all of the steps which didn't meet this criteria and were to be replaced.

If it makes you feel any better, I am also dealing with a landscape project in a garden I am landscaping, where the homeowner selected his own contractor to deal the steps/masonary work, and it was shoddy work from day one. I kept telling the homeowner he should have the guy stop work and fix it, but he bought into the guy's spiel that it would be okay when completed. Bottom line, it all got ripped out and is being replaced by another new contractor.

My feeling is that this was all preventable if the homeowner had been willing to have it designed in plan with proper levels and measurements, rather than winging it. I should have insisted he let me do so, but for multiple reasons it didn't happen this way. My crew did also need to redo all the imperfect subsurface drain lines and gravel backfill behind newly built wood retaining walls on this same job site, as they didn't connect to the existing outfall drain lines, nor were they located deep enough at the base of the walls. I was shocked at how incompetent the original contractor was, and the client faced paying several thousand more dollars just on drainage and backfill work to get it right.

So it definitely pays to check references, and never hire a contractor based on the lowest bid, or at the very least, know something about proper construction methods and be around to inspect the work as it occurs.

Well, I've done a little more research that gives the International Building code saying that stair risers should not vary more than 3/8" between the largest & smallest (for interior stairs; didn't find info for exterior but can't be too different). don't know how to post pdf. The fix he did does not address a 1/2" to 1" variation in the bottom three risers, wasn't the right way to do it (b/c of weak points where old & new meet), and not what we'd agreed (he did the quick & easy for him).

So I'm going to have to fire him tomorrow. Hate confrontation, but hate even more the thought of paying beaucoup $$ for shoddy work.

Ink, I actually presumed you did not intend sexism, didn't imply it in my response; but I wouldn't put it past the contractor. Perhaps HE assumes i don't know better & won't call him on it. But there are more than enough problems in fact with the work, without assuming he's trying to rip me off, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.

sigh, wish me luck.

I'm with Ink on the guy thing, if I understand him correctly. It may not be that you need the husband to do this for you, but to use the existence and alleged expectations of the husband to successfully convey anything to this guy. "My husband and I expected that the variance would be within... and that ... would be corrected."

KarinL

karinl: you understand me correctly.

You are assuming that the community has adopted IBC and applies it to stairs in walkways. It is not necessarilly the case.