when and how to cut contractor loose?
BathroomBlues
9 years ago
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9 years agodebrawnelson
9 years agoRelated Discussions
the contractor's cut
Comments (15)We GC'd our own home. We made a three bad sub decisions, but we made a zillion great decisions, too. One was shopping for appliances, lighting, sinks, and fixtures. We bought almost all of our appliances from an eBay dealer that has a tremendous business. They brought them to our house, too. When the guy delivered our appliances arrived, he had just delivered almost the exact same appliances to another lady about 15 miles up the road from me. He wondered if we knew each other. She apparently peruses GW, too. :) Anyway.... I bought the lighting for our home for 25% of what it would have cost me retail. Let me rephrase that statement. I save 75% OFF RETAIL. About 95% of all lighting was from Seagull Lighting Outlet. Instead of over $16,000 plus tax and shipping, I paid $4,200 plus a flat $165 to ship and no tax. Do the math! I also bought plumbing fixtures online from an eBay dealer. I forgot to buy the Jacuzzi tub faucet and impatient DH was demanding I go to HD to buy one. I made him come. He was in serious sticker shock when he saw that I could buy the SAME faucet online for about $60 which including shipping and had I ordered it through HD, it would have been closer to $300 for one tub faucet special order. When he realized what the entire matching set would have cost for our master bath, he waited two days for the items to arrive and never said another word. Bath fixtures, door knobs, entry sets, Toto Jasmine toilet seat and toilets, hot tub, ...and more... ALL came from eBay dealers at REMARKABLE prices. A friend's husband owns a plumbing company and offered to get plumbing discount for me for fixtures, Toto toilets, etc. I saved more shopping solo that she could provide. I kid you not, her husband now uses the sources's I found for some of the Toto products. When you hire a GC you usually do a 'cost plus contract', all in one deal with a flat fee (turn-key), or percentage of the entire cost of the project is paid to a GC. There are other types of contracts, but these are usually your most common for remodel, building, etc. You need to glean your contract to see exactly what you agreed to pay him for. I prefer cost plus because there's no incentive to cut corners. I want quality work. If you want to provide and incentive to move faster, then that's a horse of a different color. Anyway you slice it, it is hard work doing the shopping and leg work and you should be rewarded by saving yourself money. These are hard times and he should be, and probably is, very grateful for employment. Don't be shy about your position. He's not stupid and understands exactly where you're coming from....See MoreWhen should I pay contractor for sink fabrication
Comments (10)Hi miles661: I've already paid $7,000 (two installments of four installments) for the project which is $9,800 overall. I paid for the granite slabs separately, directly to the retailer as required by my contractor. He was due to install the granite today but has since pushed it back to Friday but says when he brings the granite today he wants me to pay for the fabrication that was carried out i.e. one sink cutout, there's no other fabrication. So my concern is that I'm paying for this fabrication which he measured without seeing it in place -- I would prefer a lump sum after the granite is installed (which is the next payment milestone). I don't know whether he's done a good job or not. (And I would like the additional incentive to be sure he doesn't no-show again. He's already 30min late...) Thanks...See MoreWhen do you let a contractor go
Comments (9)if it is helpful, I can post up the contract. @midcenturymodernlove What is crazy is we haven't given them a hard time about THEIR mistakes or about how long this has taken. As long as it is done right. But know the owner is somehow determining that all the sloppy work that was done is somehow my fault. @M V Much of it is sloppiness. Or forgetfulness of what was requested. I kept track of everything with pictures and notes, but haven't presented them to the owner of the company yet. For the reason explained above with midcenturymodernlove. We have some solo contractors we work with that could finish the job if need be. that is the point I was at today. For instance in this picture.. it was my fault for not telling them to move the molding before tiling. Why should I have to tell them that. Isn't it common sense.? They consider this a change on my part. @GreenDesigns Just a basic contract. We asked for time frame.. he said he would get it to us. Months in to the project we realized that was a lie. They have been paid 3/4 of the total to date. Recently they tried to get us to make the last payment or part of it,, and we flat out declined until everything was done. There are no mention of changes. None of my changes were changes to anything in the contract. It was stuff like.. " Can you make the shower control higher" While walls are open. There were NO DESIGN DOCUMENTS AT ALL. This is what irked me the most. During the contract phase he told us we would have a designer to help us. Then when it came time to put walls up they said they would only have the designer come in AFTER we choose were to put the walls and how to part the space. They are licensed, don't know if we have copies. Same with insurance. Don't know about bond or the rest @inabunker We should have cut this off early when we saw the warning signs. @Anthony Perez NO manager on site at all. The workers showed up around 7:30am on their own. SOMETIMES, if we were lucky the so called manager would come at 10 for about an hour. It was evident there was no management to me... once we had to fight with the contractor to accept they had to fix the joists and take down the wall they put up. We told them to contact their boss and verify. So instead of the manager overseeing and finding mistakes, I would. Which wasn't a problem. i informed them and let them now.. However, now I regret it.. because all of those fixes are being blamed as changes on my part... or incorrect things I instructed them to do....See MoreContractor cut into trim to make room for backsplash??
Comments (76)A few questions: Did anyone read the OP'S post seven times at five am to attempt to clarify her issue? Did anyone post a drawing of what they surmised the issue to be? Was the poster criticized by me, or by any other Pro? By gen pop? No. Her situation definitely was criticized, and she was encouraged, time and time over to post a photo, and it was clearly stated in a hundred ways spoken or implied "not your fault"....... Gen Pop ( some ) seems extremely curious as to why any Pro has time to even follow such a thread. Which begs another question: Do you think MD's read trade magazines from the AMA in their specialties? Hair dressers may possibly spend leisure hours looking at.........hair? We may even get stuck in an emergency room for HOURS leading to two days, (as did I ), tending family, and feel the need to amuse ourselves. We are not robots, folks. We do not "work" 24/7. We take breaks, We eat, sleep, and play like the rest of the population. If we've been feeding, housing, and caring for ourselves for decades via our respective design endeavors, we have well earned the right to call ourselves that which we are. Last fact in this thread? The only "bashing" that took place here had zero to do with the plight of the unhappy OP. It's the relentless knockdown one poster to another. Mostly gen pop to pro. It's a humorless and prickly attitude pervasive in society; one where any verbiage not delivered with heavy whipped cream and a cherry, is less than suitable for consumption and woe to the speaker.. Baby bottles and a diaper will soon be in order....See MoreUser
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