We interviewed three contractors to work on our renovation plans for our house, two weeks ago, right after we bought it (literally the day of, in one case).
Two of those contractors have never even responded or communicated with us after their interview and walkthrough.
We still have been unable to get an itemized, fully-explained quote from the third.
We just interviewed a fourth contractor today and have appointments to meet with a fifth and sixth tomorrow, and a seventh on monday.
*sigh* I guess I should not be griping too much – after all, we have a house. Just a house without a kitchen at the moment…
captainreynoldsv(“This is exactly what I didn’t want. I wanted simple… Once, just once, I want things to go according to the gorram plan!”);
I’ve heard about something called Angies list
angieslist.com (I guess)on the radio. It’s a report on how contractors treat their customers, but I think it’s a pay site.
OR- you could see if Mike Holmes is available.
BTW- Your HTML tags link won’t open so I don’t know if the tag works.
We interviewed like 7 plasterers for our massive plaster job when we bought the house. We still weren’t 100% happy with the job. Still that’s likely as good as it was going to be.
is-what-it-is. No fun, but nice to have your own pad!
Kurt P: So that link actually uses some kind of HTML voodoo to make the information visible right above the text box – it does not so much open a new window, as expose a hidden part of this page. Not sure how it works, or if it works in all browsers – sorry.
As for Angie’s List, yeah, it is pay-to-use, unfortunately, but it might have been worth it.
Weer’d: Yeah, I really should count my blessings where I have them. And, lo and behold, it might actually work out with one of those first three contractors – should have a signed contract in hand by Sunday, and work started on Monday. We will see.
Remember these rules:
- A contractor is NOT your friend, he is your enemy. He has HIS interests at heart; he doesn’t care about YOUR interests.
- You pay him for work DONE, when it is done. You do NOT pay for work INTENDED to be done, when it is agreed that he will do it.
- INSPECT his work while it is in progress. He will try to hide his errors, which will become your problems.
- ENGLISH is the language you speak. If you don’t understand what he says, even if he’s speaking English, then he’s lying.
- DOCUMENT everything. Keep copies of everything. Get yourself a photostatic copier (I use a Canon PC430; such things are available for about $150 or so at Sam’s Club, Office Depot, and the like) and make copies of EVERY piece of paper you give him, in particular the checks by which you pay for things.
- Takes gazillions of pictures of EVERYTHING, daily, with a digital camera. Sure, there can be complaints that a digital photo can be altered, but can they ALL be altered so they ALL show the same fraud from all the angles? No, of course not. So take LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS of photos, as the photos tell the story, and the volume validates the photos.
Been there, done that. Hope it works for you.
Try this:
http://www.hgtv.com/holmes-on-homes/show/index.html
It may give you some ideas.
DJ: Thanks for the words of advice – this is our first foray into home improvement/renovation, and we are probably going to need all of that we can get. Thankfully, we will be able to go by the house daily, and I do have a penchant for random photography, so documenting and checking on things should not be too much of a problem.
Kurt P: That Holmes guy is interesting… It seems the rough-and-tumble home designer motif is back in style, and he certainly knows his stuff and what to look out for – thanks!
Oops. One more thing.
GET IT IN WRITING, OVER THE CONTRACTOR’S SIGNATURE.
An oral statement in the vein of, “Yeah, I’ll do that.” means nothing. He won’t remember it, or he’ll dispute it, but he won’t DO it. So, if he agrees to do it, then put it in writing, make him sign it, then give him a copy.
Truth. After going through a house-building process with my parents, I very rapidly learned the veracity of “If it is not in writing, it does not exist.” And, thankfully, having picked that up at an early age, I will not have a problem applying it, regardless of how much contractors complain about it
.
It sounds like you’re on top of things. I’ll get off my soapbox with the following:
“… regardless of how much contractors complain about it …”
You are PAYING for his services. HE works for YOU; you do NOT work for him. It’s YOUR money and it’s YOUR house, so his work is to be done to YOUR satisfaction. Thus, whether or not he LIKES what you want is irrelevant; what matters is what YOU want.
So, his proper behavior is, “Yes, sir.”
Don’t EVER let him intimidate you. Squash him like a bug the first time he tries, and rest assured, he will try.
Treat him fairly but firmly. Give him every opportunity to do right, but don’t let him get away with doing wrong.
Fair enough, DJ, and, as before, thanks for the advice. With this being our first rodeo, we are definitely going to be learning as we go, and any past experience shared will invariably save us the pain of having to go through it ourselves. Hopefully, at least.
I take it you have had a few… less-than-pleasant dealings with contractors?
I normally do everything myself, or with the help of friends and family. I’m a jack-of-all-trades, and master of a few. But, I once undertook to design a house and have it built. To make a very long story very short, the builder I chose appeared to be quite good, but the work I saw was the product of his foreman and crew DESPITE him, not BECAUSE of him. He was a pathological liar, was a textbook case of narcissistic personality disorder, and was fundamentally dishonest from the ground up to a degree one seldom ever finds anywhere, even among contractors or congresscritters. He was smooth and hid it well.
He stole from me, from all his clients, and from his friends, and then tried to escape huge debt through Chapter 7. His creditors included some of his friends and clients. A group of six, with me as the ringleader, opposed his grant of discharge in Federal Bankruptcy Court on the grounds that he did not obey the bankruptcy laws and rules. We proved he did beyond any doubt whatever; his own statements at the Creditor’s Meeting brought him down and we piled on. We won; he was denied a discharge. I went further and got two judgements against him on which I could collect, then pursued him as he went to another state and garnished wages. I obeyed the law to the letter and was never the slightest threat to him, but he knew I would never go away. Within a year, he had scraped up the funds to pay us off.
I’ll live in a dugout, as my grandparents did after they got married, before I’ll hire a building contractor again. If I can’t build it, I don’t want it. You should see my garden shed.
Unfortunately, I seem to lack the skills or even the wherewithall to calk around a window frame, so this is definitely beyond a do-it-yourself project for us (tearing down a wall, installing all new cabinetry, moving gas/water/electrical lines, etc.). That said, I can definitely understand why you would not work with a contractor again, after that disastrous mess… We will definitely keep your advice and experience in mind, and let everyone know how it goes… Thanks again for sharing it.
Happy to help. It would be a shame to let the larnin’ of that experience go to waste, wouldn’t it?
I look forward to hearing how it goes.