The Amazing, Flying Contractor
As April nears, we find ourselves waiting for yet another contractor. Aside from our own inexperience, the factor that has cost us the most time and money is contractors. Our first contractor spoiled us. James Wyche was awesome. Our roofer was very good as well. Since then it has been down hill.
My in-laws recommended two fellows named Keith and Mike. My wife's step father knew Keith from work and thought that he could cut us a good deal. Since money was short, we decided to give them a try. Bad idea. In the course of three months, they came to work maybe three or four times. The work they did sucked. And, mysteriously, our yard and house began to fill with beer cans. So, we fired them. Actually, Mike quit after my wife gave him an ultimatum.
We tried to get James Wyche back, but he'd moved back to Texas since he could make more money there.
Scarlet tracked down a contractor named Tony Anderson. Tony Anderson was awesome. He is legendary among contractors in our area. In one week he fixed everything that Mike and Keith had screwed up and finished the two additions to the house (a master bath and a bath-laundry-pantry addition off the kitchen).
Several months went by as we worked on the house. We intended to finish the house ourselves, but it soon became apparent that we wouldn't finish on time. We needed more help. My wife hired her cousin (second cousin?) to finish the exterior of the house. This included doing all of the soffits, repairing old siding, siding the additions, building a new front and back porch, and other such tasks. Up to this point, we had paid all of our contractors by the job. For those of you that are considering working with contractors, this is the only way to go - NEVER HIRE BY THE HOUR! But, we did since he was family. In my wife's cousin's defense, he did good work as did his subcontractor - it just took forever. And, at about $1,500.00+ a week, we just couldn't afford them. Moreover, the longer they worked on the house, the slower they went. And, they could not or would not give us an end date. So, we let them go too. They finished the porches (almost) and did some work on the siding, but that was it.
Then we found a new contractor. He came out and gave us an excellent bid (apx. $2,900.00 to finish the house's exterior) and said that he could do the entire job in about two weeks. We hired him. A couple a days went by and we hadn't heard from or seen him. We called his house to find out what had happened to him. The day after he gave us the bid he fell off the roof of a house and broke his back. That was nearly a month ago. We saw him few days ago at Hastings in Russellville. He said that he ought to be able to start this week, but that it was taking him a little longer to finish the last project than he'd expected. A broken back was slowing him down. I'm amazed that he is able to work at all.
My in-laws recommended two fellows named Keith and Mike. My wife's step father knew Keith from work and thought that he could cut us a good deal. Since money was short, we decided to give them a try. Bad idea. In the course of three months, they came to work maybe three or four times. The work they did sucked. And, mysteriously, our yard and house began to fill with beer cans. So, we fired them. Actually, Mike quit after my wife gave him an ultimatum.
We tried to get James Wyche back, but he'd moved back to Texas since he could make more money there.
Scarlet tracked down a contractor named Tony Anderson. Tony Anderson was awesome. He is legendary among contractors in our area. In one week he fixed everything that Mike and Keith had screwed up and finished the two additions to the house (a master bath and a bath-laundry-pantry addition off the kitchen).
Several months went by as we worked on the house. We intended to finish the house ourselves, but it soon became apparent that we wouldn't finish on time. We needed more help. My wife hired her cousin (second cousin?) to finish the exterior of the house. This included doing all of the soffits, repairing old siding, siding the additions, building a new front and back porch, and other such tasks. Up to this point, we had paid all of our contractors by the job. For those of you that are considering working with contractors, this is the only way to go - NEVER HIRE BY THE HOUR! But, we did since he was family. In my wife's cousin's defense, he did good work as did his subcontractor - it just took forever. And, at about $1,500.00+ a week, we just couldn't afford them. Moreover, the longer they worked on the house, the slower they went. And, they could not or would not give us an end date. So, we let them go too. They finished the porches (almost) and did some work on the siding, but that was it.
Then we found a new contractor. He came out and gave us an excellent bid (apx. $2,900.00 to finish the house's exterior) and said that he could do the entire job in about two weeks. We hired him. A couple a days went by and we hadn't heard from or seen him. We called his house to find out what had happened to him. The day after he gave us the bid he fell off the roof of a house and broke his back. That was nearly a month ago. We saw him few days ago at Hastings in Russellville. He said that he ought to be able to start this week, but that it was taking him a little longer to finish the last project than he'd expected. A broken back was slowing him down. I'm amazed that he is able to work at all.
posted by John | 9:50 PM
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