You could pull the permit under your own name, that'll relieve the contractor of any worries over an open permit in his name languishing while awaiting final inspections.

As to doing your own demo, the concern there could be that if he blocks out his schedule to start the work and you don't have the demo complete, he'll be twiddling his thumbs waiting for you to finish.

I'd recommend setting up an appointment with him for him to see the bathroom a couple of days before he is to start his portion of the work.

If this is not your only bathroom, you could do the demo early, have everything broom clean, then he can come by a couple of days before he is to start to inspect your work. He can then give you an "everything's fine" or he might give you a couple of more tasks to do.

It can also be an advantage to him as well, because the early visit will prevent any surprises when he shows up to start work.

Budgets are not unlimited, I understand your position. But I also see his point, in that this project will sort of have his name on it, yet it's up to you to properly finish the detail work for a project that he started.

Still, it's your house. It's your money. He can chose to work within the scope of work offered, or you can find someone else.

Thanks Mongo
We would rather do the finishing (the demo would not take much time to remove existing plumbing fixtures and tile) we just want him to create the stubouts. We'll be meeting with him in a week or two so we'll see what he has to say. I had thought about putting the permit in our name, it's just that waiting in line at the county office to get the permit can take not hours but DAYS

We've always done the majority of our own work, and on some projects we've had to interview a few contractors to find one who was relaxed about us doing some of the work.

We pull our own permits and fill in the appropriate contractors' names for the parts they'll be doing. Then, it's us who's responsible for scheduling the rough inspections and finals.

You'll definitely save a lot of money by doing that stuff yourself... good luck!

Don't try to convince a contractor of anything. If he isn't interested in doing the work you want, move on.

Basically, you are talking about becoming your own general contractor. You'll bring in sub-contractors to do specific jobs like roughing out plumbing and all the electrical. You'll be responsible for the permits and scheduling.

One other thing to consider, the smaller you break up the parts of your job, the harder scheduling becomes. Expect for your preferred dates to get bumped by some of the subs. They are going to be trying to squeeze your small job in between more lucrative projects.

Agree with l.w.o. , but at the same time there are contractors that will/like/and cater to DIY involvement.

Doesn't mean this guy is bad fellow. He simply knows what works for him which in the end allows him to deliver a known level of product and service to his clients. Many people forget (or don't know) that everyone is not a potential customer.

This is simply not a good fit, no harm in that.

Removing plumbing fixtures isn't necessarily as easy as it sounds. How old are the fixtures? How old are the pipes? What kinds of piping do you have? What is on the other side of the wall? What else is inside the wall? What's your plan if you accidentally break a pipe? 

I'm a contractor and I have learned over the years that sharing the work with the homeowner never goes well. Never. It has, without fail, ended up costing the homeowner more money because they thought they would save money doing demo, or ordering their own materials, or doing work that required an inspection that they weren't aware of. Not to mention coordinating all of the work in the proper order. (Don't put sheetrock up yourself because no an electrician cannot just punch a hole in and install an outlet where you want it. It's happened)

Yes, contractors need to make money. We all do. There is so much involved in a "simple" job that someone not in the trades is unaware of. That's the contractors job. The homeowners job is to know what they want done, practice due diligence on hiring an honest and skilled contractor and then pay the invoices on time. Period. In the end, I promise you, you will save time and money and headache.

Why are you commenting on a 12 year old thread?