Did you ever get bad vibes from a contractor?

[grinningghost]

Our pool installers just showed up, and DH says he's got a bad feeling about them. In his words - "they seem like scumbags".

 

[stacilee]

Quick ! Get rid of him! call the General Contractor or owner of the company and express your concerns!
I had that sort of feeling last year when we were having the famly bath gutted and totally refurbed. The gen contractor was "busy" so he subbed it out to an IDIOT. I should have said STOP right on the first day. He didn't do anything right. Now a year has passed, the gen contractor is out of business (and moved to another state) and I just had to pay $650 on friday to repair a leak in my kitchen ceiling that was caused by the sub cont.'s laziness and ineptitude.
The ceiling had to be cut open to get to the leaking waste pipe. The plumber showed us the problem. The guy that put the new tub in did not reconfigure the waste drain to meet up with the new tub drain and just jammed the pipe in there crooked to "make it fit". All the threads were stripped and the pipe had split down the side. I guess he figured it would hold "for a while".
All this trouble because he didn't bother to go to the hardware store and buy $30 worth of new fittings to do the job right!

I should have listened to my instincts.

Good Luck.

 

[CajunDixie]

If you send them home then don't expect your pool to be done this summer. Did you hire this specific company? Did you get references? Are they bonded? All things to think about before you have them show up on the job site.

 

[pkasbohm]

I had a bad feeling about this guy that one of my SIL "friends" she wanted him to add our bedroom on downstairs. He did an o.k. job but screwed up our trim board and our closet doors and didn't want to come back to fix them. He charged by the hour which i think a lot of contracters do, but he would take personal calls and sat in my back yard of 1 1/2 hrs. talking to his wife on my time and then charged me for it!!! Needless to say i was furious and will not hire him back and not recommend him to anyone! He racked up quite a bill with him standing around, talking on his cell phon, and talking to my sil. He knew i wasn't very happy but i had no way to prove how many hours he actually put in--NEVER AGAIN!!!!!!!!

Pam

 

[grinningghost]

Originally posted by CajunDixie
If you send them home then don't expect your pool to be done this summer. Did you hire this specific company? Did you get references? Are they bonded? All things to think about before you have them show up on the job site.

Well, they're still here and seem to be doing an alright job. They were the company the pool dealer recommended. They claim they had no complaints at all last summer. Maybe they look worse than they really are. As long as the pool is done right, I'll be OK.

 

[Rippington'sFan]

You can't always judge a book buy it's cover right?

Hey... you have to watch out for clean cut, smooth talking individuals also.

I'm not saying the job will be done right or wrong but if this crew was recommended then "maybe" and "hopefully" the job will be done right for you. Have some faith!
Best of luck with the project.

 

[Divamomto3]

I wish I got the bad vibe from the contractor that finished my basement for me. Instead I got a good vibe, a reasonable quote, and 4 months worth of headaches!

 

[Dancind]

Originally posted by pkasbohm
He charged by the hour which i think a lot of contracters do

My DH is a licensed and bonded General Contractor, and I can promise you that a lot of Contractor's DON'T do it this way. DH spends a lot of time generating quotes for potential clients, and if they then want the work done, it is fixed price unless the client changes their mind about something. Next time, call some real Contractors (ask around, you'll be surprised how many people you know have used a contractor), and ask them to give you quotes. Especially on a job like a room addition, it will save you money in the long run, and you will be much happier with your project.

 

[CajunDixie]

Next time, call some real Contractors

Just because a contractor charges by the hour doesnt mean they arent a "real" contractor. DH is an electrician and when he does jobs for his boss yes they usually bid a set amount. BUT they then have to add on extras because the architect may not have added in everything that is required. For example on a school DH did the architect did not have wiring in place on the blueprint for each of the televisions for the classrooms. It's not the electricians fault the architect left this out so they counted adding all the televisions as an extra in order to get paid.

 

[FroggyinArk]

ok gotta throw my 3 cents in here. As a contractor, owner of a home repair and remodeling service, and with over 20 yrs experience. I'll give you an estimate, I refuse to give you a quote. i will give the worst case price, and then we record the hours on a daily calender by the person that worked, be it 1 2 3 4 how ever many of us there are that day,, each is listed at the end of the job, barring any changes or additions, we will add the hours price it out, and the customer payes the lower of the two numbers. if the labor goes over we eat the overage, if its under, then the customer gets a discount. and we are more than willing to have the customer double check the hourly sheets.
on to appearancees: would you let a 5 ft 105 lb woman remodel your house? my wife has 5 yrs experience as a carpenter and remodeling specialist, she is the best sheet rock finisher i know,, slower than some but better finished product. shes a good cabinet builder, acn out hang me with ceiling tiles, can out paint most men i know, and when she walks up shes ussually covered in paint splaters, may have torn spots in her jeans and dirty knees, her hair may be a mess and she may look bad,, but,, she also looks like she has been working and knows shes going to get dirty. i have a problem hireing ppl who show up and dont look like they would get dirty. my jeans are stained up, and so are hers, because we actually get in there and do the work. we refuse to hire it out, even after my wreck she still has me come to jobs and give her my oppinion and ideas and guidance, shes not scared to do it,, today she is finishing up a big deck and a set of steps, tommorrow and wed she'll be changing out a total of 4 doors and on monday she'll change out the 5th. she was going to change the doors on our house this week too, but cannot get the unit she wants here in town so we'll have to make a trip over to lowes, an hour away, one night to get her door unit she needs.

pleaes base your oppinion of a contractor on his work, if you have a feeling of unease, ask him for references. we have a list and most decent ones do to, of satisfied and happy customers.
if they re fuse referencecs, check with your local building material suppliers and or other supply stores they can ussually tell you iuf a contractor, or crew is reliable or not.

sorry its such a long post but this is one of my pet peaves i hate being judged on appearances, and believe me i a rough looker at times ( see the picture threads)