Garage Door Install Damage, Check Me Here...

[Spdstr280Z]

So, I had a local garage door company install my door and opener. I picked this company as they did the house, and tried to help out with the issues with the first version of this garage. Seems they didn't even install the door we had problems with, and were helping out as a favor to the builder, so I felt good about them and wanted to send this job their way.

Since my garage is cursed, they had significant issues with the job. Fortunately they did correct the install itself. The door, rails and opener seem to be in good shape now, however part of the original problem was they had a hard time locating the rafter. It looked like they made about a dozen holes on one side, just drilling until they hit something. They used some vinyl spackle I had laying around to cover it up, making it look worse.

When they came back to fix the install, they put some more mud or spackle over the holes, and I expected them to come back or send someone to sand and paint. Part of the fix to the install was actually moving the supports to the next rafter and shortening the rails, FWIW.

It has been a couple of weeks, I have been meaning to call, but life and work got hectic, so I have not contacted them. Today I get a call asking if I am satisfied with the repair, and if so, can I pay the remainder of the bill (terms were 1/2 in advance and 1/2 when I was "satisfied" with the install).

I told the caller (partner in the company) that I was waiting on the ceiling to be repaired and wondering when that would be done. He seemed to get agitated and essentially told me that his guys are not drywall people and things happen, it can be hard to find the wood sometimes. I asked if he thought this job was completed and if he would be happy with it. I also later asked him if he was interested in discounting the bill to just let me do it, or have someone do it. His offer was $25. In the end, I pretty much became frustrated and told him I would send a check just to get this behind me, at which point he hung up.

Am I being unreasonable here ? Yes, I do expect perfection, but will settle for acceptable, is this acceptable ? Confused here as to why I even have to ask for this to be repaired, if it were my company it would have been fixed without question...

 

[Spdstr280Z]

Missed the pictures...

When I first saw it...

After the "repair"...

Jason

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

 

[The Cobbler]

I think the $25 was reasonable. I know you take pride in your garage but to them it's just a garage. IMO, it's not that bad to get all stressed over. patch it up & paint it and call it a day

 

[Solpainter]

You think they would use a stud finder. But it's probably to high tech for a garage.

 

[cdestuck]

If your going to send him his check, take a pic of a stud finder and tell him he should make a small investment in one of these. Along with what your honest recommend will be on his company. Word of mouth talks.

 

[PoorOwner]

I don't have a good result using stud finder on ceiling if there is insulation above it.
But you can usually tell by knocking on it and looking for the mud tape, then use a pin sized drill bit to find the middle of the stud.
Typical installers will not do this.

It seems the house is brand new and you are expecting luxury car dealership level of service. This is just not going to happen, I suggest you get a drywall sanding screen to sand down the patch and hopefully the builder left you some paint, if not it looks like a typical flat white paint.

 

[PassnThru]

My first thought was - Wow - they spackled the holes!

I think this is why most of us do it ourselves. We have standards that are expensive to hire out. Right or wrong - finish it yourself. If you make them do it you won't be happy with the way they do it and the cycle repeats.

In the world of contractor disagreements this is hardly a blip on the radar. Fix it and don't recommend them to anyone. At the end of the day, that is the greatest power that you have over them.

 

[CJ7VFR]

Sorry to hear they didn't do such a good job for you. Maybe you can fix this yourself.

If you don't want to have to sand the spackle and make a lot of dust, you can try and use a damp sponge on the spots and smooth them down with that.

I do this all the time. I get a small bucket of water, a sponge, and some clean paper towels. I get the sponge wet, wring it out so it is just damp, and then wipe it over the spackle very gently.

I do this a few times, cleaning out the sponge every few minutes and using the paper towels to wipe up the surface where the spackle is.

If you do this right, you will end up with a perfectly smooth surface, no sanding dust, and no real clean up before you paint.

And since your garage ceiling is white, doing this will also remove most of the excess spackle, with only what is left to hide the holes remaining, and probably not that visible to the point where you might not need to paint it at all.

Jim

 

[Spdstr280Z]

I can, and will, fix it... Just the principle of the matter and how this guy handles issues. I do have high expectations, I don't know about luxury car dealer service, I drive a 98 Toyota and an 04 Nissan, sooo... But I do expect a good job when I am writing a check for it, full quoted price, no discounts, no favors, so yes, I expect it to be done better than I can do it. The initial install my 8 year old and I could have done better, and they beat the **** out of my ceiling and walls, and that's my problem. Does not seem right to me.

I did send the guy an e-mail Friday explaining a few things, as it did not seem that we could communicate on the phone. I asked if it would be OK if a plumber came to his house to install a sink and broke a counter top. Would it be OK because the plumber is "not a granite guy" and how would he expect that to be handled... No response today, so anyway, one more issue in the build at least behind me.

Thanks for the input.

Jason

 

[Richard Cranium]

Was the damage done hanging the first door opener or the new one?

 

[ford33]

It doesn't look that bad. To them it is just a garage but since you are a member of this forum you expect better. Honestly, I think you should just fix it yourself and be done with it.

Next time you have work done, write out the expectations and attach it to the work order or give it to the workman on arrival. If there is an issue, address it before they finish.

 

[Pointbock]

...they didn't even install the door we had problems with, and were helping out as a favor to the builder...

Now you know where their allegiance lies. They help out the builder, the builder sends more jobs their way.

Finding good help to hire is one problem, but supervision and instilling a company-wide expectation of quality work is another. One or more partners in the company haven't set the bar high enough or haven't been willing to hold people accountable for below-average work. On the other hand, the people that do good work are booked and they know they can charge for the quality they provide.

The repair looks too small to call out a handyman (and that's another experience that might not go too well) so I'd be fixing it myself.

 

[bczygan]

Hell NO! You are NOT being reasonable.

NO WAY I would be sending a check until the job was complete and to my satisfaction.

Laws usually require that you give the original contractor the opportunity to finish the job. Do so by certified mail, return receipt requested, Give him a reasonable time limit and then contract it out and use the money to pay for it.

Letting him get away with this, makes YOU the chump.

Bill

 

[Daedalus]

I use this thing way more often than the electronic ones. Speaking of which, I should probably buy an extra one. You can also just buy small round neodymium magnets to figure out where the screw/nail heads are.

 

[ordpete944]

Do not send them a check. Have another painter fix it and then send them the bill for it or deduct it from the final amount. That's just shoddy work and there's no excuse for it.

 

[Leaflessshadetree]

Unfortunately it's one of those cases that isn't worth fighting.
You can keep asking them to fix it. Sitting around all day waiting for them. Finding out that they had some emergency to deal with, the weather wasn't perfect, their distributor shipped them the wrong spackle...
You could spend time writing letters documenting everything, talking to lawyers going to court.......
In the end you will be ahead by just taking the $25, fixing it and moving on.

 

[dfiler2]

I agree with just fixing it and moving on, it's not worth your time. My question is on the number of holes, it appears they found a rafter at the 3rd or 4th hole from the bottom in the pic, why did they put in another 16 holes an inch apart to find the second rafter?

 

[Spdstr280Z]

Was the damage done hanging the first door opener or the new one?

The problem was actually the tracks, they were originally installed out of level, and not aligned with each other. There was around 5 inches difference between the two tracks if I remember correctly. The majority of the damage was done during the initial install. To clarify, when I say original install, I mean around a month ago, with this rebuild, not back when they tried to adjust the problems for the builder a couple of years ago. Yes, my garage is cursed...

Jason

 

[Spdstr280Z]

My question is on the number of holes, it appears they found a rafter at the 3rd or 4th hole from the bottom in the pic, why did they put in another 16 holes an inch apart to find the second rafter?

This is actually only one rafter, guess it is a valley rafter in this case. Can't tell you why it was handled this way, after the 4th or 5th hole I would have tried something different. Well, I would have done something different altogether, but...

Jason