The GC took out the backsplash when he submitted the invoice. He spoke to me on the phone and I asked him if he could find someone else to do our backsplash, he said he would but then never followed through with that. He dropped off the invoice when he knew I wasn't home. And there were no penalties on our invoice. There have been no more tiles ordered, even though I wanted the backsplash at Kato she doesn't seem to want to order it. I've since been working with a tile shop and they've been very helpful. And, I never signed any contracts or was told about a design fee, in fact when I went to Kato for the tiles she had called me and asked me if she could meet me there. She also came to our house one time with granite selection and a few backsplash ideas__again, I didn't ask her or expect her to come to our house. She now thinks I should pay her$250 for these two times. LOL I am a fair person but I'm not a fool! I'm on a teacher's salary and I think it's ludicrous for someone to think they're worth $80 an hour when they botch the job and order the wrong tiles!

My thanks to all - even those of you who have asked me to examine my contribution to the problem. Believe it or not, it is my nature to start from a position of equality - equal respect, equal understanding, equal expectations. I was raised to be fair-minded in the extreme (just ask my kids! or my parents, for that matter) and more often than not I am hurt by looking at others and thinking I am looking in a mirror, which may just be human nature, I don't know. I am far from perfect, but I do hold myself to high standards, the least of which are promptness, honesty, and clarity in what I can deliver professionally. I know every job suffers from unforeseen delays, mistakes, and errors in judgment. Sh*t happens. I was pretty understanding in the beginning. Maybe TOO understanding. I'm beginning to think MY mistake was not being tough enough. The problems with this job all resulted from sloppiness - failure to measure properly, to take time to level, to put down drop cloths or protect new appliances when sanding, to take careful notes or pictures with that phone you're busy checking your email on. I do believe those expectations are fairly entry-level, if you want to be a contractor. To everyone at GW - learn from my mistakes! When my island top came in without the overhang, or my granite counters were off-level, or the plumber insisted the water pressure was always weak (turns out he didn't flush the line), or the custom cabinet came in a foot too short - a foot! and this was the second try! - these were not examples of someone opening a wall in an old house and finding the wiring needed to be redone. When my contractor didn't think it was important to show up, as days became weeks, because he was at his closing or doing his walk through or visiting his other jobs, these didn't seem like 'common occurrances' that I should overlook. Maybe I should have been clearer at the top of the post, but I don't think 'well-managed' would be the way anyone would describe this job. Even, at this point, the contractor. And I do count my blessings. I know it could have been worse. But I'd hate to have my performance described in those terms.

You're essentially removing him as the general contractor of the job if you hire individual trades specifically and remove the supervisory fee from the contract. That would leave you totally responsible for your subs that you hire, including the headaches and quality control. If your granite sub drops the slab on your new floors, and shatters the stone and breaks the floor, it would be your problem to work out about replacement slabs, replacement floors, and replacement labor. He has to coordinate the different trades around yours. He has to coordinate installation requirements with a third party that doesn't really report to him, or listen to him. That 20% says that he supervises those guys just like the ones he hires. What would give him real supervisory power would be if you asked him to use those contractors as his subs, and let him pay them instead of you. People listen to those that write them a check and not so much to those who don't.

Vegiegardnr- Did you talk to you flooring person about thier hours? Not that it really should need to be any of your concern what it takes to run their business as long as you get the finished product that you are paying for (and of a reasonable quality), but there probably is a lot more to it than you seem to assume. You saw work from 10:30 -4:30 and decided that was lazy. There could have been other work that is necessary to their job that was happening during those "lazy off hours": Meeting other potential clients for quoting work, billing and paperwork for jobs done, billing and paperwork to pay supplier accounts, getting quotes or filling out forms for insurance and/or licensing, filling out forms for employees or past employees that need employment verifications for loans/apartment renting/new jobs, picking up materials for jobs or tool expendables, servicing of their truck or equipment that they use to do the work, researching and/or buying a new piece of equipment, going to a class about a new floor surfacing product, etc.. Based on how you present yourself here it seems you don't view contractors as human beings that "just might" be working hard to try to do good work. There are bad guys out there in all fields of work, but most contractors do not deserve the assumption that they are all just trying to find ways to overcharge and be lazy. Or maybe in your experience those are the only ones you've worked with - because as others have pointed out, contractors look at their potential clients in terms of risk of loss/stress/hassle/not getting paid/not getting sued, and the good self respecting contractors who have a good reputation and referral base don't need to take on risky/unpleasant work and probably steer clear of working with someone with those attitudes. Maybe next time - still protect yourself with reasonable due diligence, but treat the contractor as a human, ask (a reasonable amount) of polite and non judgemental questions if you don't understand where charges come from or why things cost what they do. Maybe then you'll have a better experience with your next contractor and start to shift your views away from assuming they're all bad.