Good! It will go better now. Even if it stretches out to more time, in the end it will be better.

Glad this piece of the saga is behind you.

I agree with pinch_me -- everything's got to go better now. Even if you end up incurring some costs (and I agree that you shouldn't) I think you will consider it money well "spent" if you don't have to deal with that jerk. Good for you and your DH for standing tough. (And kudos to your neighborhood security guard for anticipating trouble!)

So sorry that you had to go through that ordeal, though!

Good riddance! This is exactly why I always pay with a credit card. Many have quite good dispute resolution systems. Wishing you better luck with the rest of your remodeling adventure!

very pleased to read this!!! you guys did NOT need him in your life in ANY capacity!!!

Glad to see he is gone!

Good for you! I had been lurking on your earlier thread and was feeling your angst over this whole matter. You definitely did the right thing by ending his reign of incompetence and bullying! Best wishes for satisfactory resolution of the deposit issue and for a clear remodeling road ahead!

Don't forget to contact the BBB and the Attorney General's office. His behavior (including not leaving a note, when he hit the neighbors mailbox post) is unacceptable...and others should know this, before hiring him. Hopefully you can help someone else avoid these same problems!

Good for you...you didn't back down and you resolved the situation. That guy was a jerk and I'm glad you don't have to deal with him, anymore :)

Beathing a sigh of relief for you that you don't have to deal with Mr. Jerk anymore! If you belong to Angie's List, be sure to report you dealings with him there to save others from dealing with him. More kudos to your security officer for calling the police--wish they had given Mr. Jerk a ticket for driving recklessly in a residential area!

Wishing you the best of luck in your credit card dispute and a smooth road going forward on your build.

Good call, in my view. Time to put it behind you!

sounds like you made very good decisions and handled it very well. smart to involve the security officer, too.

i think it was wise to rid yourself of him. he sounds like bad news all around. funny, i wonder if he brought his kid for "protection insurance"; did he know dh would be back?

well done, breezy. :)

Although what you did sounds good, the cost to reframe will most likely be on you. not to make light of it, but in the grand scheme of things the $240 is a minimal cost to have everything right.

I'm going through a whole house remodel, I just got my fireplace installed. the first one delivered wass dented, they had to come back with a replacement. It was framed per the manufacturer's diagram, the fireplace store did a site inspection and signed off on it as fine, and they still had to cut into the framing that was installed per the manufacturers drawing.

thoughtout the remodel there have been a number of issues like that where things don't work out as they should do to diagrams being wrong, communication getting mucked up and or the architectual plans were missing something that in the field was actually necessary.

its kind of like the running your own project tax. you budget and plan for things going smoothly, as planned and with minimal waste. however it almost never runs that way.

if we weren't running this ourselves, that would be paid by the construction company, which in turn is paid by me. The thing is, that risk that the cosntruction company takes comes at a high price tag.

I'll also say, these construciton guys are sometimes rough around the edges as well as tempermental. Doesn't make it right, but sometimes you have to jolly them along even if you want to hit them.
you shouldn't have too much of a problem finding a Napolian dealer, they have very few restrictions on who sells them which is both a good and bad thing.

I agree that the $240 will be well spent to not have to deal with and patronize this guy any further, and to have such an important piece of your overall puzzle, both structurally and design-wise, done right.

He's probably not used to working with people who have neighborhood security at their disposal, which most of us (I think?) wouldn't. Nice that you had that back-up and had it ready. Nice to know your security people took this seriously for you, too.

This was an interesting lesson for that man's son? Quite an example to set for him. Be a jerk unless the police show up...

Sorry about the food-poisoning! No wonder you've been quiet. Yuck.

Thanks folks! I really appreciate your support, kind words, and suggestions through this ordeal. I'm still trying to clear this guy completely out of my system. I still get an odd pang of wanting to call him up and yell at HIM! It'll pass.

I'll be sure to file a complaint with the BBB and the Attorney General's office. The letter I wrote to my credit union to dispute the credit card charge (using a c.c. through this reno JUST for this purpose!) will work nicely for these complaints.

Ironcook--Interesting thought on his bring his son. He did know DH would be there. Probably knew DH would be p!ssed at the way he treated me.

Chris--I expect there will be troubles during this process as I've never had any GC experience. Even if we have to pay the reframing costs, which I'm sure we will, I'd rather do that and be rid of this guy. We're still saving 10's of 1000's of $ with me being the GC. And I was trying to jolly this guy along. It didn't work. If he had been half-way courteous to me I would have tried to work with him.

Rhome--Having a security guard makes it sound like I live in a fancy development. I certainly don't. Most of houses are plain 70's builds with little charm, but we are built around a small, private, non-motorized lake. The neighborhood board must have decided decades ago that it was worth paying someone a little salary to monitor the lake and the rest of the parks here to keep non-residents, who don't pay to maintain the facilities, out. Food poisoning has thankfully passed.

We had the only other Napoleon dealer (an HVAC) company come to give us an estimate on the same fireplac last night. DH went to meet him as I was not in the mood. Funny, this HVAC guy actually apologized to DH for the way Mr. Jerk treated me!! Can you believe that??!!?

Good luck. just to clarify, I was not meaning to imply that you should have dealt with him(he sounds like he went off the deep end), more-so that some contractors require special handling to an extent, but not that extent

Hi Chris. I understand what you are saying. I'm definitely going to over explain and hand-hold more than ever now just to quintuple check that everyone is on the same page. And I'm practicing my patience now more than ever with subs.

i'm glad you're rid of him. i'm sure he's use to getting kicked out ...or if he isn't he SHOULD be. i'm sorry this happened, but better to figure these things out early rather than ...twenty nine months later (!).

i really wish i knew our contractor was a stupid dog on day one!
i'm sure you'll find someone to replace him and all will be well in the world. again, you really lucked out. i truly believe this!

keep us posted, please.

Thanks Kate. And I'm sorry you've had to deal with your contractor. You've got such a big project on your hands!

Funny, everyone I tell my story to in my construction-related travels this week says they've heard about him and what a jerk he is. Why didn't anyone tell me?!?? I don't get how this guy stays in business. Must be because a fp is a one-time purchase so he doesn't care about how he treats you.