I Hate dealing with contractors!

[Summer2018]

I feel your pain. A new roof is one of our next projects, and I am dreading the whole process.

We just completed a bathroom renovation. We had a contractor come out to give us an estimate, and we never heard from him again. We found another contractor through Tile America who did amazing work, but communication was a major issue. He wouldn’t get back to us for days. One day the workers left without notice and didn’t come back for a couple of days. No communication. Living without a downstairs bathroom for 9 days was challenging, but the results were worth it.

Next are new hardwood floors throughout the first floor. Here we go...

 

[ronandannette]

One of the big issues is labor prices have gone up dramatically in the last 10 years for hard manual labor, the days you could pick up guys off the corner for $10 an hour or long gone. I have a friend who does asphalt, I think he is paying more like $25, and the workers comp for those types of jobs is crazy high. Lot of people saying we do not need these unskilled laborers, good luck with that idea

Being in the industry, I’m irked by your implication that people doing these difficult and strenuous jobs (most of whom are a far-cry from "unskilled") should be paid below minimum wages and receive no benefits. Why?

It's also amusing to note that while contractors are stereotyped as dishonest, customers don't mind paying under the table as long as it's cheaper for them.

And so tiresome that customers who have next to nothing for expertise in the scope of work they're hiring for always seem to think they know better than the opinions and advice they're getting from professionals. They don't know exactly why or how, but they're just sure the contractor is either inept or underhanded. And don't even get me started on HGTV "experts" who have seen 3 episodes of Flip-or-Flop and think they can tell qualified professionals how things ought to be done...

 

[cinnaminny]

It's also amusing to note that while contractors are stereotyped as dishonest, customers don't mind paying under the table as long as it's cheaper for them.

Excuse me? If you read through you would see we paid them through quick books. They don’t like to pay credit card fees. I have a warranty and a receipt for my roof you don’t get that paying under the table.


It’s so weird to accuse people of unethical behavior just because they paid cash. Last time I checked that wasn’t an illegal form of payment.

 

[wenrob]

Excuse me? If you read through you would see we paid them through quick books. They don’t like to pay credit card fees. I have a warranty and a receipt for my roof you don’t get that paying under the table.


It’s so weird to accuse people of unethical behavior just because they paid cash. Last time I checked that wasn’t an illegal form of payment.

I also have a receipt and warranty for the services I’ve paid in cash. It costs them 4% to run credit/debit which they either have to eat or pass on to me. By knocking 1 or 2% off my bill for paying cash they’re still saving themselves money. My kids school asks for cash for the same reason.

 

[ronandannette]

Excuse me? If you read through you would see we paid them through quick books. They don’t like to pay credit card fees. I have a warranty and a receipt for my roof you don’t get that paying under the table.


It’s so weird to accuse people of unethical behavior just because they paid cash. Last time I checked that wasn’t an illegal form of payment.

Apologies if your particular post was a bad example. I've deleted it from my post. Curious though how a simple 4% savings on the part of the contractor (credit card fees) equated to them giving you "thousands" in discounts. That must have been an expensive roof.

 

[cinnaminny]

I don’t know how they work it out. I just remember it went from nearly 20,000 to around 15,000.

 

[china mom]

Being in the industry, I’m irked by your implication that people doing these difficult and strenuous jobs (most of whom are a far-cry from "unskilled") should be paid below minimum wages and receive no benefits. Why?

It's also amusing to note that while contractors are stereotyped as dishonest, customers don't mind paying under the table as long as it's cheaper for them.

And so tiresome that customers who have next to nothing for expertise in the scope of work they're hiring for always seem to think they know better than the opinions and advice they're getting from professionals. They don't know exactly why or how, but they're just sure the contractor is either inept or underhanded. And don't even get me started on HGTV "experts" who have seen 3 episodes of Flip-or-Flop and think they can tell qualified professionals how things ought to be done...

I appreciate your response and your sentiments. The reason I hate dealing with contractors is exactly because I don't have any expertise. I don't mind car salesmen because before I go in, I have researched and know what I want, what options should cost, how much the dealer is making on my purchase but most importantly, that the 2019 Toyota Sienna with these options is exactly the same car at the other dealership so I know I can choose based on price alone.

On the other hand, here I am talking to contractors about something I know nothing about and each one offers a different roofing product and different warranties. My quotes so far have been between $17,500 and $26,000. One offers a 50 year roof with a ten year warranty. Another offers a 30 year roof with a 20 yer warranty. One offers a five year workmanship warranty but has only been in business for one year. Will he be in business next year?

The scariest part is that the roof warranty (whether it is 10, 15 or 50 years) is voided if the roof was installed wrong. So, we are back to trusting the contractor to do it right.

Once I find a contractor I like, I usually love them and try to keep using them. Unfortunately, the last roofer I used won't come to my area.

I absolutely love the guy that did my bathroom remodel despite the fact that I very likely overpaid. I brought him back to add a porch/handicapped ramp and I am sure I overpaid but he is really god. It turns out that he subcontractor the roof and that contractor came out and so far has the lowest bid. If the guy I trust has been using her for years, that says a lot to me.

I think I found my roofer.

 

[desamnik]

We are in the midst of a remodel on a home that had water damage from Hurricane Florence. Signed w/ the contractor on December 18, 2019. Paid 30% of 100K remodel. We were told 3 months for the job. problem with that was we started the 3 months at the date they got the check 1/5/2019. We are almost 6 months from that, with progress really just starting on June 6th. So much for spending most of the summer there. We used a kitchen company for our design and cabinets. We paid them 60% at the placement of order, cabinets arrived a month ago, we "had" to pay 30% for delivery of said cabinets, now they tell us they can't install them until AUGUST! We haven't been able to look at them, since they are all in boxes, no idea if we have the right color, etc. We can't open them since there are so many people in and out working, we don't want them to get damaged. So we owe them a minimal amount of $, they are in no rush. We should have looked at that a little closer when we ordered them. Be careful to leave a decent size balance for completion of the project.

 

[DisneyHardin]

Funny to see this today, when I’ve got a crew here doing a new furnace & ac. I handle all the home improvement projects & repairs. My DH works 10-12 hour days so nothing would ever get done if I had to wait for him. I have never had anyone ask to talk to my DH. Well, wait, that might not be true. I think when we redid the family room, the contractor & I laughed about him not caring about the design or finishes. All he cared about was how long would it take & where his tv would be in the meantime.

But also, I have never haggled a price. Maybe I am naive, but my DH wouldn’t do it either. Give me your best price & we’ll decide.

I'm like you - handle all the home repair sort of stuff at our house too. We are getting new HVAC on Wednesday. The salesman was here this morning going over everything with me and I liked how he handled the fact that my DH wasn't home. He said "I'll give you a minute of privacy if you need to call your husband to talk about any of the information I just gave you." I thought that was nice - he went outside for a few minutes and I did call DH to give him the "bad news" of how much it was going to cost and when they would be able to get it done, etc.

 

[Pooh2]

We paid $8,000 for an 1200 square foot house about 5 years ago (got a reference from friends).
One section of the house is pretty flat and used rolled roofing.
My husband paid him, then a few days later climbed the roof to take a closer look.
The material on the flat part of the roof was not attached to the roof.
Took 3 months and threatening small claims for him to come back and correct his work.
I'm with OP, contractors are not fun!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Just had to chime in here - yesterday I answered the door, and it was a pest control service looking for new customers. I told him we didn't need his services, as we already had one.

He asked to speak to my husband......... First time that's happened to me in quite a while (many auto service people had trouble listening to me when I'd drop my car off for service before I was married).

Guess what - my husband told him the same thing.

 

[hereyago]

Just had to chime in here - yesterday I answered the door, and it was a pest control service looking for new customers. I told him we didn't need his services, as we already had one.

He asked to speak to my husband......... First time that's happened to me in quite a while (many auto service people had trouble listening to me when I'd drop my car off for service before I was married).

Guess what - my husband told him the same thing.

You are nicer than I am. Because I would have laughed as I closed the door.

 

[RedAngie]

Just had to chime in here - yesterday I answered the door, and it was a pest control service looking for new customers. I told him we didn't need his services, as we already had one.

He asked to speak to my husband......... First time that's happened to me in quite a while (many auto service people had trouble listening to me when I'd drop my car off for service before I was married).

Guess what - my husband told him the same thing.

You should have replied "She's not home right now. She'll give you a call if we're interested."