don't feel bad. you did the right thing. if he's running a bz someone should be answering the phone. he could hire someone to do that if he can't.

it would have showed in his work.

I think you got lucky.

You did the right thing by listening to your gut!!!! I'll take a stab in the dark and say his vacation story is BS. I remember reading a post here where someone's contractor had a grandmother die 3 times. :)

If he doesn't call you back for the estimate, do you think he will even show up for work?

This is the type of guy who will put a hole in your ceiling, then make a million excuses about why he can't come back to finish it.

You did the right thing. We had a friend do lighting and drywall work. His drywall work is POOP and we look at that ceiling every day in disgust that we didn't hire a PROFESSIONAL to do it. Now we have to have it all redone.

thanks folks. It doesn't bode well to my mind if someone is so unreliable when they're TRYING to get your money. I wondered how much worse it would be after the fact. I'll just remember to never hire anyone I know from now on. I'm done with that. This is my last lesson on that one.

And thanks for the comments... it helps quite a bit actually.

Really, you did well. I hired a not-quite neighbor for a job since he seemed as good as the other guys. Yeah he stunk, and I can't diss him online because I see him at the kids' school and he'll know it was me.

(On the other hand I had the best dam* GC ever who was a close neighbor. But I knew he'd make my house look good because he had to look at it every day.)

I think you did the right thing too. He might well be able to make the right changes while doing the job, or he might do it the way he thought best, regardless of what you wanted.

I've been waiting on the brick layer since last Thursday. He's an acquaintance from way back, has done excellent work for us before, but this not showing up stuff drives me nuts, even though it seems pretty typical from our experiences and from what I've read here.

Friends make lousy employees, and employees make lousy friends. I am friendly to the GC who is working on my house, but we aren't buddies and if he WAS my friend I probably wouldn't hire him (because I expect professional results, and if I don't get them I push until I DO).

You made the right call. A contractor is sort of like a short term employee - a consultant, if you will, and having a little emotional distance is good.

You escaped by the skin of your teeth.

I have a really nice electrician hired for my job. Nice as pie amounts to nothing since he hasn't finished the work. My drywall was finished in March and he could have finished any day since then. Instead, he comes, connects a wire and leaves. Now he says he is coming tomorrow to finish. It's my daughters graduation and we'll be having guests over afterwards, but I'm not canceling on him. I'll just smile and say how glad I am that he is finally finishing - too bad if it puts him on the spot.

I guess what I am trying to say is that its business. You made your decision based on good reason. Maybe you are saving yourself future headaches. Good Luck!

I did something similar. After 4 estimates for plumbing work decided to go with this guy that seemed to know is stuff but wrote a sloppy estimate. He agreed that he wasn't the best estimate writer and we set a time where he would come over and we would rework it. He didn't show up. I called and left a message. He returned my call 10 hours later saying he was stuck out of town and forgot his cell phone and I should just write it however I saw fit and he would sign it.

I never called him back and never heard from him again. I figure that if you accept that behaviour in the beginning, it just sets you up for more disappointments down the road.

Nap:
Yeah, I agree with that. I always have told my girls "you teach people how they can treat you." I'm glad I nipped it. I think I'm just regretting not nipping it after the 3 wk wait. I'm getting too old for crap that irritates me. Especially when I'm PAYING for it.

Dilly: That stinks. I'd never handle it as graciously as you seem to be. I'd be doing the Medusa thing by now.

Marcolo: I believe you are right.

Engineer: Yup. I knew that and forgot. I've actually only personally known one incident of friends doing well in a business venture together for the long haul.

Fori and Marti: exactly the scenario I want no part of. That not showing up crap makes me crazy and I don't get it. WTH does someone want to run their own business for if they aren't going to benefit from happy customers and excellent word of mouth? It's so stupid.

Iget on well with my drywaller and he constantly mentions the lack of business training that they receive in trades. He said that after trade school and aprenticing, you know your skills but the main skill you need is actually running a business, the trade skills are secondary. To many of us in business or with business training, communication and managing a client's expectations may seem self evident but its not. The lack of business skills hurts both clients (with experiences like this thread) and the tradesman in both lost business and mismanagement of the business they do win.
I am coming to believe that there might be a good business opportunity helping trades guys with the business and communication aspects of their jobs.

Caspian

I'm getting too old for crap that irritates me.

I hear ya. That and that alone is a good enough reason to 'fire' him. And really, he hadn't even started, so nobody loses.

Good luck with the next guy!

LOL! You shouldn't feel bad...he should feel bad. Now, he's trying to make you feel guilty. If he spent that kind of time DOING HIS JOB...he'd still be working for you!!!

Seriously, you did exactly the right thing. You're going to have to watch every person you hire (like a hawk) and make sure they do the job, do it right, and do it in an appropriate time limit. You have to run this project like a business...it's not a welfare program or 'employ a friend' week.

That being said...if you find someone who does a wonderful job, shows up on time and gets things done right...let us all know! That person will probably have all the work they can handle, if they get good reviews on the GW :)

I don't even count that as "firing" him...you never even got to hire him.

Glad you listened to your intuition. Sometimes people don't listen to that little whisper they hear....

Bee

you dodged a bullet, count your blessings. i made the same mistake and hired a neighbors husband to do my tile backsplash. while his work was good (professional tiler with > 20 yrs experience) and in the end the job turned out fine, he was a PITA to deal with. high maintenance, delays before he could start, complaining etc. was so glad to get that over with and i learned the same lesson - never hire "friends". i would have booted the guy long ago except for the friends part. never again.

i also think back to my disaster cabinet maker. warning signs were there but i ignored them. if it looks like a skunk, smells like a skunk... run!

You did the right thing. Don't feel bad. You're saving yourself more headaches down the road. Never a good idea to hire friends. We got referrals for plumbing, electrical, drywall etc. from our contractor who we trusted completely. We figured he works with these guys--he doesn't want to be held up by someone who isn't timely, doesn't show or does lousy work.

You totally did the right thing. Either this guy is totally unorganized, didn't care about getting the job or was taking advantage of your friendship. Be glad you moved in another direction before you got in deeper with him. I hope the new guy does a great job for you.

Just by his flip reply I'd count my blessings he's off the job. Congrats for being wise and not caving to pressured feelings of obligation or loyalty. That is what sunk me in my past projects... I'm proud of you!

Good grief I hope the new guy does a good job, too! Yikes. I feel like he will or at least his actions thus far have set off no red flags. I don't know how some of you people can handle the stress of this stuff over and over and for months! My DH is DIY'ing most of this (with the help of his HS bestfriend who shows up 75% of the time he says he will, lol) so we haven't had this ongoing GC stuff to deal with.

My hats off to you that have had such a long run of baloney with these type of people.