What do you do again?
I still work for peanuts, a measley $60k a year. Yes, you read that correctly.
that’s rare. You better hang on to them.
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WTF is wrong with contractors?
- Thread starter SilentStalkr
- Start date
Maybe I should feel lucky no contractor will return a call for my small amount of work.
Electrical: nope, not interested in hanging 2 fans, several new ceiling cuts, potentially more work in the form of a new panel for a mini-split since mine was built with ZERO spares.
General "Handy man" - nope...nobody will call back about multiple door replacement - freaking frames are so messed up from contractor house, the gaps just let air in at will. With winter coming I'd like to get that fixed.
But, hey, if you're not planning on spending 10K these folks do not want your business.
Electrical: nope, not interested in hanging 2 fans, several new ceiling cuts, potentially more work in the form of a new panel for a mini-split since mine was built with ZERO spares.
General "Handy man" - nope...nobody will call back about multiple door replacement - freaking frames are so messed up from contractor house, the gaps just let air in at will. With winter coming I'd like to get that fixed.
But, hey, if you're not planning on spending 10K these folks do not want your business.
Funny so many say it's so hard to find good labor, but I've been spending the last month interviewing for construction jobs and apparently there's a surplus of applicants.
Just finished two interviews, 5 tests, and a 5hr day (unpaid) with a company that wanted to "try me out" before throwing an offer out. Never even called, just emailed me that they chose someone else. Now I might not be as strong as when I was younger, but I've definitely gotten smarter and way more responsible. Also never been fired or quit a job without notice. Apparently I need to move to a different state.
Just finished two interviews, 5 tests, and a 5hr day (unpaid) with a company that wanted to "try me out" before throwing an offer out. Never even called, just emailed me that they chose someone else. Now I might not be as strong as when I was younger, but I've definitely gotten smarter and way more responsible. Also never been fired or quit a job without notice. Apparently I need to move to a different state.
Oh, does that bring back memories of when we built the house 20+ years ago. Brick work guys on work release complete with bail bond cards, 32oz slurpies full of vodka, then at the end of the day............a kegger on my property! I asked them to leave and not return and just prayed they didn't kill somebody on the road. Contractor wasn't happy with me.
They probably would look like a God-send in today's world...............
It’s really hard to find help people aren’t going into the trades like they used to at least that’s the case up here in New Hampshire.
If you live in New Hampshire and need some work shoot me a pm! I’m a tile setter
If you live in New Hampshire and need some work shoot me a pm! I’m a tile setter
I’ve been on the contracting side of this. Yes there are a lot of dumbasses that fuck stuff up and I’ve fixed a lot of that stuff, but I’d say 75% or more of the issues are people being cheap. Whether they don’t want to pay for top level labor or they want to cut corners on the project to save money. There are plenty of contractors out there that will do it right and if they do fuck it up they’ll fix it without something having to be said to them. No you’re not hiring that contractor for $20/hr though like a surprising amount of customers think they should be paid. Try more like $200/hr so you end up at like $2K a day in labor for a good contractor and helper. Most people think that’s insane and that’s fine, they can pay some shit contractor and then hire the good one to come fix it when the shit contractor fucks it up.
I got so tired of dealing with people and the hard labor that I got out of it. Now I sell kitchen and bath hardware and don’t deal with nearly the same level of retardation on the customer or employee level and I don’t work hard at all these days. It’s nowhere near as hard to find people competent enough to sit at a computer and do that work, or pull inventory from shelves and stick it in a box.
My dad and brother still do construction, mostly home development but still take on some remodel jobs if it’s a big job and just from talking to them I can tell you that the quality of subcontractors and helpers has undoubtedly gotten worse the last few years. Nobody shows up and if they do their brain doesn’t arrive with them, they take 10x longer to do the job then they should and they bid it for, then bitch that they’re losing money being there because it’s taking them so long, they put shit in the wrong place, put the wrong shit in the right or wrong place. America is currently running on a low IQ.
I got so tired of dealing with people and the hard labor that I got out of it. Now I sell kitchen and bath hardware and don’t deal with nearly the same level of retardation on the customer or employee level and I don’t work hard at all these days. It’s nowhere near as hard to find people competent enough to sit at a computer and do that work, or pull inventory from shelves and stick it in a box.
My dad and brother still do construction, mostly home development but still take on some remodel jobs if it’s a big job and just from talking to them I can tell you that the quality of subcontractors and helpers has undoubtedly gotten worse the last few years. Nobody shows up and if they do their brain doesn’t arrive with them, they take 10x longer to do the job then they should and they bid it for, then bitch that they’re losing money being there because it’s taking them so long, they put shit in the wrong place, put the wrong shit in the right or wrong place. America is currently running on a low IQ.
I'm forced to do everything myself, except for the major excavation, and some plumbing (only because I don't have the time to research building code for plumbing).
I'm the type of person who does things right the first time. Even higher paid contractors, with good references/reputations sometimes piss me off because they can't follow simple instructions.
I'm a firm believer that if I'm paying for the job, it needs to be done 100% my way, not what you think is an easier way to do it.
For example;
Tell the contractor to sort through and select the higher grade lumber that has straight grain and fewer knots for areas that require structural strength. Come back and they are just grabbing lumber off the stack that I culled and put off to the side as rejects because of severe checking, warping, and numerous knots.
Tell them to use hot-dipped galvanized nails when attaching the bottom plate of the framed walls to the sill plate. Go to the job site, and they are using regular steel nails. I'm paying by the hour, but they're still too lazy to follow my instructions because they'd rather use a nail gun instead of pounding galvanized nails with a hammer.
Tell them to wrap the house in Tyvek, come back the next day and the house is wrapped in cheap woven polyester wrap. I don't get it? I'm paying for the materials, why can't they follow simple instructions? Foreman tells me, it's the same product. After a few words with them, they are redoing it in Tyvek, and took a loss in materials and labor for not following simple instructions.
So, not to unload on contractors, just an honest question? Why do you feel your work requires $150+ an hour when there are other skilled professionals (some with degrees and high level certifications) who charge much less for their labor and services?
I'm the type of person who does things right the first time. Even higher paid contractors, with good references/reputations sometimes piss me off because they can't follow simple instructions.
I'm a firm believer that if I'm paying for the job, it needs to be done 100% my way, not what you think is an easier way to do it.
For example;
Tell the contractor to sort through and select the higher grade lumber that has straight grain and fewer knots for areas that require structural strength. Come back and they are just grabbing lumber off the stack that I culled and put off to the side as rejects because of severe checking, warping, and numerous knots.
Tell them to use hot-dipped galvanized nails when attaching the bottom plate of the framed walls to the sill plate. Go to the job site, and they are using regular steel nails. I'm paying by the hour, but they're still too lazy to follow my instructions because they'd rather use a nail gun instead of pounding galvanized nails with a hammer.
Tell them to wrap the house in Tyvek, come back the next day and the house is wrapped in cheap woven polyester wrap. I don't get it? I'm paying for the materials, why can't they follow simple instructions? Foreman tells me, it's the same product. After a few words with them, they are redoing it in Tyvek, and took a loss in materials and labor for not following simple instructions.
So, not to unload on contractors, just an honest question? Why do you feel your work requires $150+ an hour when there are other skilled professionals (some with degrees and high level certifications) who charge much less for their labor and services?
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I just finished a pool I did for half price for a Karen and her tight-ass 'do it yourself' simp husband. He just finished building a house for that ungrateful, bi-polar b*tch that made the mistake of going off on me when we turned on the pool equipment, marking the end of the project.
The house looks like it was built by a 'tard or tight ass DIY'r. The chinchy fuck didn't treat the boards on the outside decks with sealant and they're already listing and curling up or even pop a string line and saw them straight on their ends when he was done.
Instead of hiring some mason to lay classic Texas limestone on the front of a new house, he screwed on sheets of rubber 'rock in a box' of some weird looking fake ledgestone I've never seen before. Dumbfuck Nebraska turd probably just looked online for the cheapest faux rock and said 'Ooh, I like that color'.
DIY tight-asses can fuckoff.
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That reminds me of a job I did for a couple lezzies and ended up walking off of. They were doing a full main level remodel and the Ford ranger driving one was a “contractor” by trade and wanted to do a lot of the work themselves to save money. Why they didn’t do the whole thing themselves if she was a contractor was beyond me and why she chose to do most of the more complicated tasks was also puzzling, but whatever, we weren’t going to turn down the job.
Much of the work overlapped ours and had to be done in stages or done for us to continue and she was supposed to be doing it at night. Many times I showed up and work wasn’t done that was supposed to be, and when the work was done it was absolutely butchered. The first time we just did the task because it took a few hours and it’s not worth sending a crew home for the day over. The second time it happened I let them know I would be billing them for our time to do what was supposed to be done prior to our arrival so that we could continue on with the project. That ended in a big fight but I just deducted it from their payments and billed it on the next.
The final straw was a wall in the kitchen. They wanted cabinets ordered before the start of the project to speed it up so we couldn’t wait for framing and walls to be done and went off the architects drawings (which they had hired). This dumb bitch either decided to move a wall nearly 2’ from the drawings, or fucked it when she framed it. Wanted us to either eat the cabinets that couldn’t be used at that point and reorder more, or us to move the wall on our dime. Fuck that. Walked off the job, kept their deposits and the cabinets since it still didn’t cover the labor and materials already used on the job. Was going to let it go but they decided to file a lawsuit since they thought we owed them all of their money back, PLUS the costs to hire another contractor to finish the job, which they lost and we won the counter suit and got paid for everything. Epic.
Our company's bread and butter is millwork and casework (gov't, K-12, and post secondary mainly), as I read that I immediately knew how it was going to turn out lol.
forgot
construction especially non structural (paint, decks etc) has ZERO barrier to entry
every decent worker bee can go buy a paint brush and a nail gun, and open his own company tomorrow
that dilutes the workforce and creates another barley skilled contractor
and because people look for a deal instead of saying.... wow a proper construction job is 60% materials 40% labor
they take the lesser amount trying to save money and where do the contractors save money to give that lower price
either sub standard materials or substandard workmanship
construction is like any other trade (doctor, lawyer etc) you the owner has to be involved and your own advocate/gc/QA from day one
construction especially non structural (paint, decks etc) has ZERO barrier to entry
every decent worker bee can go buy a paint brush and a nail gun, and open his own company tomorrow
that dilutes the workforce and creates another barley skilled contractor
and because people look for a deal instead of saying.... wow a proper construction job is 60% materials 40% labor
they take the lesser amount trying to save money and where do the contractors save money to give that lower price
either sub standard materials or substandard workmanship
construction is like any other trade (doctor, lawyer etc) you the owner has to be involved and your own advocate/gc/QA from day one
I had a manhater pull that 'I want ALL the money I paid you refunded' crap. She wanted to re design the pool I contracted to design and build for her and wanted my guys to take tons of rockwork up we installed and moved to a different place 'to see if she liked it', like some bossy wife telling movers to move a couch around a living room, and if she did she would pay me. Yeah right.
I told her it didn't work that way and she fired me, which is good because then it voided my warranty. I built a free retaining wall with my backhoe to shore up backfill on a raised pool deck elevation and she said I owed her to rebuild that. My lawyer asked her "You want him to repay you for a wall you never paid for?"
She texted me, 'We dislike each other immensely'. I texted her back, 'Thats one thing you've said that wasn't a lie.'
It’s not ideal but it usually works out as long someone doesn’t want to try to spec 120” of cabinets for 120.5” of wall space without wait for buildout, and everyone does what they’re supposed to do within a reasonable margin of error, or shit isn’t changed on the fly after the drawings. If you plan a few inches of filler (prefer not to use any if possible) and nobody is stupid, the job is fine. The stupidity error is hard to overcome though.
It's society, and the folks available to do manual labor. They absolutely must be overseen or that's what you get. This is exactly why we don't do anything but build new custom homes. It's not worth me having to be there to supervise any small jobs, though it's a lot easier and faster money, to do any smaller jobs you have 2 choices. You can do what these guys did, and just send guys somewhere with instructions that won't be followed to a T, or you can not do it, and only do the size stuff that allows for you to be on site while all critical operations are done.
Been building new homes for 20 years. I can absolutely assure you that it is NOT like it used to be. Yes that's always been an issue but it's just nothing like it used to be. Everyone that works for me has been with me for more than 10 years and some for 15, so I have it much easier than others who don't have that strong relationship. At the same time, for helpers and all of that, those guys have to have some help and they can't just pay unlimited amounts. It's awful right now.
If anyone is in the N Idaho area and is looking for someone with their head screwed on straight to work, let me know.
My employer mandated the vaccine in direct violation of a federal court ruling. So I am looking for a job.
6 years in Special Operations and 4 years after that running projects that involved millions in USG property so I show up on time and know how to work.
Can weld, use pretty much all common tools, run heavy machinery, etc.
My employer mandated the vaccine in direct violation of a federal court ruling. So I am looking for a job.
6 years in Special Operations and 4 years after that running projects that involved millions in USG property so I show up on time and know how to work.
Can weld, use pretty much all common tools, run heavy machinery, etc.
I've been in the commercial GC world for 20 years or so and it's a shit show right now. Tons of money in jobs but ultimately comes down to whether trades can perform, and that pool of worker has dried up something awful.
The groups than can make it happen are doing very well, but if you dont have solid long term relationships and a mutual understanding of performance it's a very tough road. Then, if you can pool the right team, it demands price premium that's very difficult to quantify to inexperienced owners and developers. It's a sticky wicket.
The groups than can make it happen are doing very well, but if you dont have solid long term relationships and a mutual understanding of performance it's a very tough road. Then, if you can pool the right team, it demands price premium that's very difficult to quantify to inexperienced owners and developers. It's a sticky wicket.
Good luck, if you were in NW Colorado, I could use the help with a building project.
I don't know that I've ever seen a painter that wasn't stoned.
It's one of those jobs that they tend to smoke some weed and just focus on doing the same thing over and over and over and over. Honestly I'd probably have to be high to do something that boring all day.
Electricians and plumbers are generally decent in most places where they're required to be licensed. It takes a decent amount of ambition and brains to complete an apprenticeship and pass a journeyman test. Guys that washout of the apprenticeship generally end up in roofing or painting.
We are struggling to find any decent help. Last 3 apprentices we hired 1 is half assed, other 2 I fired within a week.
It’s SLIM Pickens out there right now. I put feelers out for help all the time. I can’t hire anybody, not even a helper. I’ve come to the realization that it’ll be me and my dad, till he retires. It’s our name on the side of the truck so we’re the only two people that care enough to do the job I’d want to put my name on.
Subs are hard to find too. I typically only sub 3 things on jobs, plumbing, roofing, and drywall. And I use the same 3 subs all the time. My roofer is $350/sq for a new shingle job with no tear off, but when he says he’ll be there Thursday, guess what? He shows up.
What do you charge per sqft typically For a new build? Just out of curiosity.
For us I’d say somewhere in the 10-35 square area. 10 square is a good size addition most of the time and 35 square is a midsize home or big ranch.
A square of shingles is 100sqft so 1000-3500 sqft of roofing.
people are just lazy not just them but all people only doing the least amount of work to get a job done .
Most people in labor jobs are idiots, these days. Used to be you learned to pay attention and do a job, as spec'd, or else your career was short lived, in that field. Now, the idiots just know one speed, one mode, etc. They are extremely limited in their abilities. There is no critical thinking, or thinking outside the box. Society and the public education system has engineered people to be this way, by teaching to pass the standardized tests and giving participation trophies. There are no consequences for errors, anymore. We've successfully bred a generation and a half, of useless embeciles.
Hell, 20 years ago I had so much trouble finding a good helper/apprentice/extra hands, that I gave up.
Every single one I had hired back then cost me more to fix their fuckups than I could bill for.
To me, there are 2 categories.
Craftsman
Worker
The Craftsman understands, the worker scratches his head......even trying to get the jist of this post.
Every single one I had hired back then cost me more to fix their fuckups than I could bill for.
To me, there are 2 categories.
Craftsman
Worker
The Craftsman understands, the worker scratches his head......even trying to get the jist of this post.
We have fewer craftsmen, every day. American youth just don't care anymore about trades and skills. It's one of the great ills of American society. In my area, most skilled carpenters, brick layers, tile setters, etc., are south of the border immigrants, who do fabulous work. I know a guy with zero construction ability, who got his contractors license and subs out everything to Mexican crews. The contractor takes the job order, estimates it the job using online calcs, delivers and hauls off the refuse. Then he signs off on the job, collects the check and pays the Mexican laborers, while he goes to his non construction desk job, during the day. No local, American labor is involved. The Mexican crew makes good and the contractor makes way better, considering the number of hours he actually put into the job. I know one contractor (no experience) makes a minimum $3k per roofing job, for maybe four hours work.
Most of you guys on this board are probably like me....well, some anyway.
You can weld, and are probably certified, you can do framing, electrical (I only do up to 480, forget the scary shit), do roofing and flooring, have a masters cert in automotive, maybe some engineering, definitely some finish work, paint and body....etc etc etc.
How many kids can do 2 of those things well ?
Even 1 ?
When I was 12 years old I asked for (and got) a job at a local muffler shop cleaning up and fetching shit for the guys.
They taught me how to weld oxy/acet, and stick, and do pipe bending and trick cuts for tight bends....shit like that.
Heh,I also ran across the street to get them beer at the liquor store (I was invaluable in that aspect
).
I do not know a kid under the age of 18 that even thinks about working, and the ones that do just want the money without doing shit for it.
You can weld, and are probably certified, you can do framing, electrical (I only do up to 480, forget the scary shit), do roofing and flooring, have a masters cert in automotive, maybe some engineering, definitely some finish work, paint and body....etc etc etc.
How many kids can do 2 of those things well ?
Even 1 ?
When I was 12 years old I asked for (and got) a job at a local muffler shop cleaning up and fetching shit for the guys.
They taught me how to weld oxy/acet, and stick, and do pipe bending and trick cuts for tight bends....shit like that.
Heh,I also ran across the street to get them beer at the liquor store (I was invaluable in that aspect
).I do not know a kid under the age of 18 that even thinks about working, and the ones that do just want the money without doing shit for it.
I was just thinking the same thing.Most of you guys on this board are probably like me....well, some anyway.
You can weld, and are probably certified, you can do framing, electrical (I only do up to 480, forget the scary shit), do roofing and flooring, have a masters cert in automotive, maybe some engineering, definitely some finish work, paint and body....etc etc etc.
How many kids can do 2 of those things well ?
Even 1 ?
When I was 12 years old I asked for (and got) a job at a local muffler shop cleaning up and fetching shit for the guys.
They taught me how to weld oxy/acet, and stick, and do pipe bending and trick cuts for tight bends....shit like that.
Heh,I also ran across the street to get them beer at the liquor store (I was invaluable in that aspect
I do not know a kid under the age of 18 that even thinks about working, and the ones that do just want the money without doing shit for it.
My oldest son will bust his ass for a few dollars. He's 13. He changes brake pads and oil, belts and even a starter (with a little help from dad.) Last weekend I had him up on a ladder painting the house with a spray gun. Most of it actually found its way onto the house.
Sometimes I catch myself thinking that he's not exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer. Then I look at my nephews and the kids in the neighborhood and feel comfortable that he's going to be far more successful than I am, if for no other reason than the quality of his peers in his age group. The bar is low. VERY low.
I really don't do it that way. I work in deposit plus straight percentage and my clients all see everything 100%. My houses right now are running from 210- $250.00/sq.ft heated and cooled but they also typically have 300-500 foot water lines and 2-3k sq.ft. of covered outdoor space.
I also have some that are more but they are legit high end builds.
It's because for my entire life all I heard wad "you have to go to college" and skilled labor was looked down on, and we have imported our labor foe 40 years. You can't build a culture of competence like we used to have doing that.
When I started building custom homes 20 years ago, ALL of my skilled labor (framer, masons,painters, trim carpenters, cabinet maker, flooring, ) were almost always Grandfather - who owned the company and wore a tool belt so to speak but directed more than worked. SON- Who was the head guy for the crew. Grandson- who was working and learning, and then they'd have another 1 or 2 that their family had basically adopted so they went into the family business as well.
3 generations on a jobsite for any given trade was VERY common. These men knew what the hell they were doing too! They took pride in their work and they made a good living doing it too. The Masons and the Concretw guys were almost always 100% black guys, and the same family orientation of the crew. They were freaking masters too! I could meet with the granddad and draw a few things out, and talk to him about what I wanted to do.... and he could just do it. ALL of it, and he'd do it and complete it. When he was done, the fireplace would draw perfectly, and be a work of art.
We've lost all of that. It's gone now. Now, the skilled labor is so in demand, that they get away with stuff they'd never be able to before. They also don't know their trade. They can run a saw, and they can use a nail gun, but they don't really know what they are doing, nor do they really want to. I know more about most of the trade work than the subs do, which really isn't supposed to be the way it is. That's the whole idea of "sub contracting", but you damn well better know these days or you will just get what they know, and that isn't enough for my clients.
It's unfortunate, like so many other things we've given away in this country. People need to keep that in mind when they bitch about the cost of building. Good work isn't cheap and cheap work isn't good.
The problems start early. Kids today are stuck staring at video games. Every kid of our generation built forts and tree houses. The penalty of falling from a tree house was pretty high, so we tended to make things strong and enduring (even if they looked like they were built by a drunken blind man). We learned how to plan and get the best use of the materials (we could barely afford as kids).
Some of us built electronics from radioshack or heathkit. We learned electrical concepts and even some electronics in the process. We built moving stuff, like soap-box cars and sleds. We typically had involvement in the garden. We did odd jobs around the neighborhood for a few bucks (mowed lawns, repaired fences, etc). We were active with our hands. We made stuff.
This is not true of the younger generations. If you put a hammer in their hands, it may be the first time they have touched one (other than to hang some "sportsballbat team poster").
They never had the same foundation, and as such, it is now a hill too high for them to learn later in life.
Some of us built electronics from radioshack or heathkit. We learned electrical concepts and even some electronics in the process. We built moving stuff, like soap-box cars and sleds. We typically had involvement in the garden. We did odd jobs around the neighborhood for a few bucks (mowed lawns, repaired fences, etc). We were active with our hands. We made stuff.
This is not true of the younger generations. If you put a hammer in their hands, it may be the first time they have touched one (other than to hang some "sportsballbat team poster").
They never had the same foundation, and as such, it is now a hill too high for them to learn later in life.
what pisses me off is when I hire a contractor and pay him big money for professional results.
and then a couple of fucking retards show up at my door, with no boss in sight. If I wanted fucking retards to show up at my door, I'd put an add for them in craigslist. But if I'm paying money for professional workmanship, the cocksucker better not send fucking trainee retards to my house.
and then a couple of fucking retards show up at my door, with no boss in sight. If I wanted fucking retards to show up at my door, I'd put an add for them in craigslist. But if I'm paying money for professional workmanship, the cocksucker better not send fucking trainee retards to my house.
One thing I really loved about those fuckstains I did hire...
I would tell them "go ahead, but if you get stuck, or don't know how, or even question what I've told you, sit down, take a break, have a smoke....whatever, but don't go any further. I am happy to pay you to do nothing instead of making mistakes that I have to repair later.
Seriously, just stop.
I'll be there to answer anything I can as soon as I can".
You'd think they would be happy getting paid to do nothing.
Nope, every single one proceeded to fuck shit up.
You would think they would be happy to sit on their ass and get paid for it.
No, that required thinking and understanding.
Inappropriate behavior for today's youth.
I would tell them "go ahead, but if you get stuck, or don't know how, or even question what I've told you, sit down, take a break, have a smoke....whatever, but don't go any further. I am happy to pay you to do nothing instead of making mistakes that I have to repair later.
Seriously, just stop.
I'll be there to answer anything I can as soon as I can".
You'd think they would be happy getting paid to do nothing.
Nope, every single one proceeded to fuck shit up.
You would think they would be happy to sit on their ass and get paid for it.
No, that required thinking and understanding.
Inappropriate behavior for today's youth.
I've heard, seen, and experienced extreme disappointment with contractors before. So much so I hate even trying to get a bid anymore.
I'm not exaggerating here, just saying - but I wanted a 8'x12' slab pored off the back of my bedroom. One idiot gave me a bid for $12,000 and the other bid from another guy was $5500.
So instead I decided to build a deck myself out of treated lumber and trex decking. A PITA because I don't know what I'm doing but nevertheless it turned out pretty darn good. Watching videos on deck building helped. It cost me about $1400 at retail prices from Home Depot. I'm retired so I do have the time.
That got me on a role so I started residing the cabin myself. I even installed a new window on the side of the cabin. Once again I had to learn things the hard way which takes twice as long or more compared to a skilled craftsman.
I was a house painter for 44 years so I at least know how to do that part. Even if I did go a bit wild, lol.
If my place doesn't burn down from the wild fires I should be done before winter.
I'm not exaggerating here, just saying - but I wanted a 8'x12' slab pored off the back of my bedroom. One idiot gave me a bid for $12,000 and the other bid from another guy was $5500.
So instead I decided to build a deck myself out of treated lumber and trex decking. A PITA because I don't know what I'm doing but nevertheless it turned out pretty darn good. Watching videos on deck building helped. It cost me about $1400 at retail prices from Home Depot. I'm retired so I do have the time.
That got me on a role so I started residing the cabin myself. I even installed a new window on the side of the cabin. Once again I had to learn things the hard way which takes twice as long or more compared to a skilled craftsman.
I was a house painter for 44 years so I at least know how to do that part. Even if I did go a bit wild, lol.
If my place doesn't burn down from the wild fires I should be done before winter.
This!
We know. But most if us busting 60-90hrs a week don’t have the time.
seriously, dude? ok.
I get the impression that you're too busy answering calls on your cellphone to get any work done while you're on the jobsite. Thankfully you have retired and I wouldn't have to ask you to leave my property.
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yeah, but some contractors have a mentality that they are doing you a favor by accepting your job, and so you owe them the consideration of poor workmanship, wasted afternoons talking on their cell to other potential clients, "forgetting a part" and having to run out to get it while still charging time and material, and then refusing to correct something that they fucked up.
that's why you stick with the good contractors when you find them. but unfortunately there are 5 turds for every good craftsman.
Getting smaller stuff done by a pro has become impossible. Seriously, if you find someone who will do small jobs, they are not a pro. Pro's don't do that because it's just not profitable to do it. The only times I do anything other than build custom homes drawn for my clients, is when it's a client that I've built for. Once I build for someone, there generally just won't deal with anyone else no matter what it is or what it cost so I tend to do stuff for them that I wouldn't otherwise do, outside if that absolutely not.
Here's a pro tip.
There is not a single crew that will show up in either a doctors smock, or scrubs.
No matter the skill level, the guys have probably been laying down in nasty insulation in your attic, or have just finished ripping out the drain lines in your nasty bathroom.
DO NOT judge that book by it's cover.
Oh BTW.
You're probably the guy that gets all angsty when the contractor doesn't pick up the phone.....hence so many issues with the phone eh ?
lol, I have no idea what you are talking about there.
the best stone mason I ever met had maybe 3 fingers on each hand and walked around with a beer stain on his shirt and his ass crack hanging out. but the guy was an artist with repointing old stone houses and matching the courses of 250 year old field stone walls onto an addition so that it looked like it was all done by the same person.
On the other hand, I have dealt with cocksuckers who thought that you owed them for lowering themselves to accept your job, and felt that gave them special privileges like sending the new guy up the scaffold where you presumably couldn't see the mess he was making. or skimping out making the joints egg-shell thin so that they pop out within 10 years and have to be redone.
You haven't lived until you've done project management at a nuclear power plant. Find help that can pass an FBI background check, pass the psych eval, pass drug tests and is smart enough to pass the radiological controls classes (includes some physics). Then deal with the paperwork to actually do the work, you can't change a lightbulb without a ten-page procedure. Then deal with a brigade of QA and QC inspectors. Of course, just because it's a nuclear power plant doesn't mean their staff is any brighter. I got called out for one job done ten years earlier because there was a failure that was somehow my fault as a design issue. Turned out that the plant had never initiated the maintenance procedures and that the failed equipment hadn't been lubricated in ten years. That particular plant had always been a massive pain in the ass to I was more than happy to rip them a new asshole. Just one of many, many, MANY things. After a few years I gained the reputation of doing excellent work while being extremely difficult (vicious asshole) to deal with. Helps keep morons at arm's length. Plenty of educated idiots in the word, too many.
Man, I ain’t hiring no fools off of Craigslist. I’m hiring based off of word or mouth recommendations, people highly recommended, good references, yet in some cases when they get here they somehow are not what the others hired apparently.!Stop hiring fools off Craig’s list
I will say this, after 20 years and hundreds if houses and home owners to go with them, one thing I've learned is how important the "Fit" is.
Communication and trust is the absolutely most important thing in this scenario, with any decently expensive project. Sometimes, two people just can't communicate well with each other. Its not that either is any particular problem or difficult ect.... it's just that sometimes two people don't "Fit" well with each other.
For either the builder or "contractor" (which I am not), or the home owner. The FIT, is critical. If the Fit isn't right, don't do it. You will just regret it.
Communication and trust is the absolutely most important thing in this scenario, with any decently expensive project. Sometimes, two people just can't communicate well with each other. Its not that either is any particular problem or difficult ect.... it's just that sometimes two people don't "Fit" well with each other.
For either the builder or "contractor" (which I am not), or the home owner. The FIT, is critical. If the Fit isn't right, don't do it. You will just regret it.
