OP
R. Deschain
Well-known member
Garage build update – I am going to rant a bit at the end:
1. The electrician has roughed in my panel, the meter box, and wire supply mast. He is now working with the city to schedule their time and I should have a power drop mid-next week. Really looking forward to having power!
2. The guys I had lined up to do the gutter work called and have changed their schedule twice before finally saying that my job is just too small and that they are just too busy. Another contractor has a $2500 min. There is no way I am paying that for 60 linier feet (2 strait runs of 30’) of gutter and two downspouts. $400 in material and 5 hours of work. F%@K that.
3. My garage contractor has quit. There is little I can do at this point besides shake my head in wonder and disgust. It has been a bumpy road from almost the start, but I figured that with a little bit of work from me it would all be OK. A “bit of work” turned into a part time job and time spent on the garage was time not spent on the house remodel and that made my wife grumble. In addition to the rebar work, slab prep/cure and the fire block installation, I had to install two forgotten kicker studs, tighten missed/forgotten anchor bolt nuts, added nails to the hurricane straps, supply subfloor adhesive, ask for drywall blocking, supply my own windows and roofing underlayment, buy a couple boxes of screws, and had to go over punch list items twice before they were addressed. The windows were installed incorrectly – I could see daylight in the corners of the windows and I asked that they be re-installed. When that was being done, my Hardie siding got cracked. I also found that instead of every 16” per code, the siding was nailed every 4’ in some locations. I called and the foreman came out. He addressed some issues but caused others. I then called the owner and he came out. He agreed with every point I had. They crew came back and while some items were fixed, others were not and new problems popped up. I let the owner know and this was his response:
“Unfortunately we've succeeded in messing up again. ____ had no excuse for why he didn't read my email, about taking the siding out from the bottom of the windows, and what they were thinking with the screws into the bottom of the fascia's. If they'd pre-drilled the holes it would have worked and been clean. I don't have anyone else in my employee who I could send down to make any corrections, and I don't think you would trust anyone I sent to do any more work. What I'd like to offer is to forego our final payment and let you clean up any items by your self. I don't like doing this, I really want to get the job done for you but we've already had three try's. I know you might not be as happy as you should be but I want to at least make you satisfied with _____________.”
I am not happy and while I agree that I don't trust his guys to come back a third time, the keeping of a few hundred bucks does not make it all better. Now, I either have to find and pay someone else or do it myself. Frustrating.
I have looked at this. Am I just an *******? Am I too picky or do I expect too much? I really have looked at this hard and yes, I can be an *******, but not in this and not with a single contractor or tradesman on my site. We provided lunches, Gator-aid, coffee, and beer for all the guys working. I made sure the honey bucket was cleaned twice a week. I talked to every contractor/tradesman that has been on our property like I would want to be spoken to and if I wanted something different or changed, I addressed it right then by ASKING and wasn't the least bit of a **** or know-it -all about it. I cleaned up the job site in the afternoons after I got off work to save them all time and effort.
Is needing someone to stick to a schedule, be on time, and not halfway do something too particular? I don't think so. Is asking that a contractor a least meet minimum code requirements, pull permits, and do the job they agreed to for the agreed to price crazy? Apparently so. I get it: all the contractors in Seattle are busier that a puppy with two peckers. That means that 1. they can be super picky about the jobs they take, 2. charge what they want, 3. if they **** up, no worries, there are three other jobs waiting.
1. The electrician has roughed in my panel, the meter box, and wire supply mast. He is now working with the city to schedule their time and I should have a power drop mid-next week. Really looking forward to having power!
2. The guys I had lined up to do the gutter work called and have changed their schedule twice before finally saying that my job is just too small and that they are just too busy. Another contractor has a $2500 min. There is no way I am paying that for 60 linier feet (2 strait runs of 30’) of gutter and two downspouts. $400 in material and 5 hours of work. F%@K that.
3. My garage contractor has quit. There is little I can do at this point besides shake my head in wonder and disgust. It has been a bumpy road from almost the start, but I figured that with a little bit of work from me it would all be OK. A “bit of work” turned into a part time job and time spent on the garage was time not spent on the house remodel and that made my wife grumble. In addition to the rebar work, slab prep/cure and the fire block installation, I had to install two forgotten kicker studs, tighten missed/forgotten anchor bolt nuts, added nails to the hurricane straps, supply subfloor adhesive, ask for drywall blocking, supply my own windows and roofing underlayment, buy a couple boxes of screws, and had to go over punch list items twice before they were addressed. The windows were installed incorrectly – I could see daylight in the corners of the windows and I asked that they be re-installed. When that was being done, my Hardie siding got cracked. I also found that instead of every 16” per code, the siding was nailed every 4’ in some locations. I called and the foreman came out. He addressed some issues but caused others. I then called the owner and he came out. He agreed with every point I had. They crew came back and while some items were fixed, others were not and new problems popped up. I let the owner know and this was his response:
“Unfortunately we've succeeded in messing up again. ____ had no excuse for why he didn't read my email, about taking the siding out from the bottom of the windows, and what they were thinking with the screws into the bottom of the fascia's. If they'd pre-drilled the holes it would have worked and been clean. I don't have anyone else in my employee who I could send down to make any corrections, and I don't think you would trust anyone I sent to do any more work. What I'd like to offer is to forego our final payment and let you clean up any items by your self. I don't like doing this, I really want to get the job done for you but we've already had three try's. I know you might not be as happy as you should be but I want to at least make you satisfied with _____________.”
I am not happy and while I agree that I don't trust his guys to come back a third time, the keeping of a few hundred bucks does not make it all better. Now, I either have to find and pay someone else or do it myself. Frustrating.
I have looked at this. Am I just an *******? Am I too picky or do I expect too much? I really have looked at this hard and yes, I can be an *******, but not in this and not with a single contractor or tradesman on my site. We provided lunches, Gator-aid, coffee, and beer for all the guys working. I made sure the honey bucket was cleaned twice a week. I talked to every contractor/tradesman that has been on our property like I would want to be spoken to and if I wanted something different or changed, I addressed it right then by ASKING and wasn't the least bit of a **** or know-it -all about it. I cleaned up the job site in the afternoons after I got off work to save them all time and effort.
Is needing someone to stick to a schedule, be on time, and not halfway do something too particular? I don't think so. Is asking that a contractor a least meet minimum code requirements, pull permits, and do the job they agreed to for the agreed to price crazy? Apparently so. I get it: all the contractors in Seattle are busier that a puppy with two peckers. That means that 1. they can be super picky about the jobs they take, 2. charge what they want, 3. if they **** up, no worries, there are three other jobs waiting.
Turned out to be a corroded contact and took about 2 minutes to fix. I got all involved with something else and about 10 minutes before I had to leave the house that evening with my wife, I went to drop the trailer and put the Jeep in the garage. Nope. The slave-side tower lock would not disengage. ****, the trailer was 6 feet in the air and not coming down. The Jeep had to go in, so I tried and low and behold, the Jeep fits in the garage with the trailer on the lift! Now, there is about 3/4" clearance between the spare tire and the garage door, but there is clearance! This means I don't have to kill myself unloading the trailer every time I use it and don't finish in a single day. I can just put both in the garage - safe, dry, secure, and warm. Happy day.
