Dealing with Contractors

[Brons2]

I had about $45K of work done to my house last year - I had gutted it myself down to the studs and rewired it myself, but I hired a contractor to do plumbing, insulation, walls, floors, doors, trim, kitchen, countertops. I painted myself after they applied the texture, and I'm still working on painting the trim and doors.

I have a punch list of about 10 items that need to be fixed, including no hot water at the kitchen sink. Now that the contractor has received his last payment, he's nowhere to be found. Moved on to paying projects, I guess.

 

[wander2039]

Isn't just the small guys. Had a rather big job at work that a rather large electrical company had 2 months to complete. Finally had to call out our regular contractor and they're going to have it done in a week. And everything will work correctly the first time which is a plus. Someone had the bright idea to hire the lower cost versus our regular contractors. So far 1.5 million in RFI's.. guess that didn't work out after all!

 

[rjundi]

Originally Posted By: Brons2
I had about $45K of work done to my house last year - I had gutted it myself down to the studs and rewired it myself, but I hired a contractor to do plumbing, insulation, walls, floors, doors, trim, kitchen, countertops. I painted myself after they applied the texture, and I'm still working on painting the trim and doors.

I have a punch list of about 10 items that need to be fixed, including no hot water at the kitchen sink. Now that the contractor has received his last payment, he's nowhere to be found. Moved on to paying projects, I guess.

Always hold a contigency to make the contractor come back especially if not known reputation locally.

 

[Drew99GT]

I had a breakthrough today. Found a good roofing and gutter company. The sales guy actually did an estimate down to the price of caulk! No payments required, even for materials, until the job is completed. Mind you, I thought I was contacting the cream of the crop before but they wanted deposits from my initial insurance check and would not give me an itemized estimate. They were trying to get the most out of the insurance company.

Hopefully the masonry dude gets his act together.