I have lived in my house in Cincinnati for 6 years. At times, things break that are beyond my area of expertise, and I need a contractor.
Late last year, my gutters failed. Leaked bad into the basement from poor drainage, chewed up aluminum, non-seamless...time to go. Found a place, agreed on timing/scope and price. They said it will take "An afternoon at most."
Came home Wednesday to the existing gutters GONE. Thought, no problem, they will be back tomorrow to install the new ones. Thursday comes, no new gutters. Call on Friday and ask when they would be out. They said "Sorry, Tuesday."
So it's Saturday and pouring. Water is coming straight down and I have the Ohio River and it's tributaries flowing into the center drain in the unfinished basement. Cat is pissed cause she won't ford the Ohio River to go tinkle. Don't blame her.
Walk across the yard to find the old gutter hangers everywhere in the grass. Hit those with the lawn mower, and they go flying into my neighbor's window, hit me, or worse...hit the neighbor kids. That would be the demise of my 30 year old Lawn Boy too.
No money has changed hands. They were supposed to be reputable. Maybe I expect a higher level of service.
Cool... bad contractor stories.... ok....
So I have these floorboards. And they need sanding, staining and polishing.
Sanding goes well.
Staining goes well.
First and second coat go well.
He does the third coat and coats himself out. I check it out after it has dried and OMG it is terrible. There are visible dribble marks, looks like he went across the grain, color distortions, it looks like sh!t. Where there had been some bubbles which he said would buff out is now exposed floorboard with a single coat, looks like polka dots. As I said, sh!t.
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-jbkKsC4ITbQ/Tvlenv9EdLI/AAAAAAAAA48/2oTde-jEyIg/w461-h345-k/IMG_2899.JPG) (https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-_z6qLB8Sg-A/TvlesHDO-vI/AAAAAAAAA5E/qKhMj8NbKJs/w461-h345-k/IMG_2900.JPG)
(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-uQWKdCx9LmQ/Tvld5XHnASI/AAAAAAAAA38/_AVL5uMD5BU/w410-h308-k/IMG_2892.JPG)
I get him in to discuss the defects - after having a discussion with the chemical supplier. What he has done is used a different chemical for the final coat. It is not compatible with the previous two chemicals and has reacted badly. He has also put too much hardener in and it has started to dry before he could apply it smoothly. He looks at it and remarks it looks half done and what he could do is do another coat and it would be called a Cottage Look.
I tell him, calling it a cottage look does not change the fact it looks like sh!t. It is sh!t by a different name. He has nothing to say except, can he be paid at least for the stairs (which are beautifully done) while he arranges his schedule to book in repair work. Sure, I got no problem with that. So pay him for the stairs. He won't answer my calls after that, then calls me back a week later but I had decided I didn't want him touching my floors again, so I get another fellow in who works Magic on the floor - redoes the stairs for free to match his new outstanding work - and who restores my faith that there are good tradesmen about.
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LATER
I am recommended some painters. They subsequently gouge my new floorboards, splatter paint on them, leave some splatters and wipe up others with Turps without finding out if it is compatible with the top coat on the floor (it is not), scratch the crap out of my bathroom tiles and chip downstairs tiles WTF!
I get quotes for repairing the damage they did, present it to them and tell them it will be coming off from what I owe for painting. They say, "you know how if you have a car crash you get other quotes..." I tell them, "in construction the person who originally did the work is the one who repairs it not some relative of yours or some sh!t". They come back with, "Can't you claim it on your insurance and we'll pay the excess?"
The painting they did was good. The protection of things not being painted was not. They got maybe one third of their money. They didn't like it but tough titties.
Michael
What you did was correct mister. It is the only way tradies learn to do their jobs properly. Money talks and I bet you on the next job those painters have everything covered with drop sheets. As a tradie myself I can understand that damage can be accidentally done, piant can be spilled. You either let the builder/owner no about it or you get it fixed. The worse thing you can do is leave it and hope they don't notice.
One thing though for next time when you renovate a house though. It is all ways easier to get the painters in before floors have to be polished even if they paint the walls and leave the skirts then return after the floor polisher has been through to finish the skirting. Just my 2c.
It seems they thought of it as a New Paint instead of a REpaint.
As I had a LOT of internal walls cement rendered and had to wait before painting them, the idea was other work could be carried out in the meantime to Save Time. A fully Competent painter would have covered everything and not gouged my floors or chipped my tiles and would have added Extra Padding onto the ladder feet as I had asked of them repeatedly and told them repeatedly to Protect My Floors.
I even had paint in the grout lines in the middle of the floor - WTF! I'd said to them, "So, if I had a black leather lounge in here it would now have white spots on it would it?" There were other words as well about it being a REpaint, how they Could have actually used Additional drop sheets - I even had a roll of builders plastic to be used to cover floors which was not used by them - and how, despite my repeated reminding of protecting my floors (which they fully acknowledge) they did not. So no excuses really.
If I'd not had to wait for the render, I would have had the painters in first as you suggest. Otherwise I would have had nothing going on for a month while the render cured. Of course, in the end it has Cost me time. So in hindsight it Would have been better to wait out the month. But who woulda thunk I could end up with such incompetent painters from a recommendation. C'est la vie.
The sparkies I've used, plumber, downstairs tiler, upstairs bathrrom guy, 2nd floorboard guy, chippy, renderers, have ALL been Brilliant. Just one bad floor guy and some painters who didn't listen.
Michael
Granted I've had some good contractors. Had 2 separate plumbing incidents late at night that were awesome! One involved a supply pipe that I could not figure out how to weld, the other my sister clogged tge sink with potato peels. No clean bottles (I have kids) and no clean dishes. Was stuck, and they came through. Just these gutter people are a bit lazy and poor planning.
mister that looked like dribbles on the floor. most noticeable by stairs. had it been me, ( the tradie, really no way to undo that, except to eat it, and redo it from the beginning. eat it means, pay for teh spuppllies. out of the planned profit. if it was my fuckup, it would have to be my fixit. not your fixit, nor anyone elses.
Contractors aren't the brightest usually, therefore you find these stories all the time. This is why I do all my work myself. If I don't know how to do it I learn. I have installed bathrooms, floors, drywall, electrical and more. Just follow code, and have an eye for detail.
Quote from: john on April 15, 2012, 10:58:49 PM
Contractors aren't the brightest usually, therefore you find these stories all the time. This is why I do all my work myself. If I don't know how to do it I learn. I have installed bathrooms, floors, drywall, electrical and more. Just follow code, and have an eye for detail.
Unfortunately in Australia most of this stuff is illegal to do yourself hence getting contractors to do it. In saying that though, I also do most stuff myself ;)
Quote from: codajastal on April 15, 2012, 11:03:48 PM
Quote from: john on April 15, 2012, 10:58:49 PM
Contractors aren't the brightest usually, therefore you find these stories all the time. This is why I do all my work myself. If I don't know how to do it I learn. I have installed bathrooms, floors, drywall, electrical and more. Just follow code, and have an eye for detail.
Unfortunately in Australia most of this stuff is illegal to do yourself hence getting contractors to do it. In saying that though, I also do most stuff myself ;)
Yeh there is a reason for that.
Quote from: yamahonkawazuki on April 15, 2012, 07:09:56 PM
mister that looked like dribbles on the floor. most noticeable by stairs. had it been me, ( the tradie, really no way to undo that, except to eat it, and redo it from the beginning. eat it means, pay for teh spuppllies. out of the planned profit. if it was my fuckup, it would have to be my fixit. not your fixit, nor anyone elses.
Yama, after such a botch job there is No Way I wanted that guy touching my floors again. So I took the money he was going to get paid and paid it to someone else. Same cost.
Michael
Quote from: codajastal on April 15, 2012, 11:03:48 PM
Quote from: john on April 15, 2012, 10:58:49 PM
Contractors aren't the brightest usually, therefore you find these stories all the time. This is why I do all my work myself. If I don't know how to do it I learn. I have installed bathrooms, floors, drywall, electrical and more. Just follow code, and have an eye for detail.
Unfortunately in Australia most of this stuff is illegal to do yourself hence getting contractors to do it. In saying that though, I also do most stuff myself ;)
is your countrys lawmakers on teh piss?, saying youy cannot paint your own house, stain your floors, etc? wtf. hell in most locations you can BUILD your own house here in the us. some locations w/o a contractors license, and where required, its not expensive. i have a 30ft hallwy 4ft wide. pulled up all of the carpeting. exposing hte wood floors. going to restain again this summer. ( animals ruined it ) besides, i didnt like the finish. house is rough but solid. so outside is pretty. hell wiht insides Eh?, i can do each part of inside as time and health allows
Quote from: yamahonkawazuki on April 16, 2012, 03:36:45 AM
Quote from: codajastal on April 15, 2012, 11:03:48 PM
Quote from: john on April 15, 2012, 10:58:49 PM
Contractors aren't the brightest usually, therefore you find these stories all the time. This is why I do all my work myself. If I don't know how to do it I learn. I have installed bathrooms, floors, drywall, electrical and more. Just follow code, and have an eye for detail.
Unfortunately in Australia most of this stuff is illegal to do yourself hence getting contractors to do it. In saying that though, I also do most stuff myself ;)
is your countrys lawmakers on teh piss?, saying youy cannot paint your own house, stain your floors, etc? wtf. hell in most locations you can BUILD your own house here in the us. some locations w/o a contractors license, and where required, its not expensive. i have a 30ft hallwy 4ft wide. pulled up all of the carpeting. exposing hte wood floors. going to restain again this summer. ( animals ruined it ) besides, i didnt like the finish. house is rough but solid. so outside is pretty. hell wiht insides Eh?, i can do each part of inside as time and health allows
If you build it they will come AND TEAR THAT FUCKER DOWN
If you want to do your own floors or paint your own house, no probs.
If you want to do your own electrical, you've got probs.
Everything here is built to a code. If you start with an empty block and begin building, the Building Inspector will need to check the work periodically. The slab is build to engineer specs based off a soil test. The frame is inspected to make sure it is built to spec - and - has the required bracing. Etc.
Michael