Contractor jobs - working hours (house, buy, construction)

[nitynity]

What are the typical work hours for contractor jobs? I have a bath remodel project and the folks don't show up until after 10am. Is it normal? I think he might have other projects to oversee though he claims he doesn't.

[TheOverdog]

That's pretty normal. They probably has to make some calls and buy some materials before they come over to your place.

[nitynity]

Not really. All the materials are already purchased. Today, it was a NO SHOW. He states his truck has issues and needs to be fixed. But didn't let me know until I texted him asking his status. Now I am going back to work so i don't loose a day off. These folks don't have any courtesy to call and let the clients know if they don't plan to show up for whatever reason.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by nitynity

Not really. All the materials are already purchased. Today, it was a NO SHOW. He states his truck has issues and needs to be fixed. But didn't let me know until I texted him asking his status. Now I am going back to work so i don't loose a day off. These folks don't have any courtesy to call and let the clients know if they don't plan to show up for whatever reason.

Getting small jobs done is always a nightmare. The guy probably has several other gigs going and he's way behind on one of them. And of course it's possible he really does have car issues.

[Rakin]

I'll bet you took the guy who gave you the cheapest bid. Right?

[turf3]

Bill's Construction and Contracting.

Our Motto:

"We Never Show Up!"

[Katana49]

The last bathroom remodel we did, we hired a tile guy as the scope of the work was just more than I could handle in a timely manner.

The general contractor is a friend of mine, his primary business is roofing/outdoor remodeling work. He has an associate that he works with who does tile work, so through him, my friend also gets hired to do interior tile jobs.

So the associate comes over the first day, he speaks English very well, we discuss what I'm looking to have done, etc. His employee who actually does the work doesn't speak hardly any English. So we agree what needs to be done, he relays it to his guy in Spanish, and the guy gets to work, while my friend's associate leaves for the rest of the day, and just comes back at 5pm to inspect the progress.

The next day, the associate is back at my house, start date is supposed to be 9am. He's here, but his employee doesn't show up until 12:30pm... got drunk the night before and couldn't make it in any earlier.

No work got done until he showed up, because he was the one who had the tile saw in his truck. So now they are half a day behind after only the first day. 3rd day comes, associate doesn't show up at all, because his employee hasn't gotten far enough along to warrant it. 4th day, employee doesn't show up at all in the morning, also says it's car trouble (which I believe, because I spent over an hour after this job was finished cleaning up all the oil puddle stains on my driveway and street in front of my house.)

He finally gets a ride with the associate, who stays for the rest of the day on the 4th day because not much is getting done when he's not there. 5th day they finally wrap up like at 7pm a job that was only supposed to take 3 days.

My friend is pretty ticked that his business partner didn't get the work done on time as promised, as I also told him what was going on with the guys not showing up, etc. He also knows that I won't go with him for any future interior remodel, especially since even when the guy did show up, we had to watch him like a hawk so he'd actually do a good job.

[Rakin]

Did you pre pay him for any of the work? Bet you gave him some money so he could buy his materials.

[nitynity]

Yes, I chose to go with the lowest bid since the other two folks didn't make any sense. First guy(plumber) gave me a quote for $4500 for just replacing the shower tiles. Second guy(from a nearby tile shop) gave a $7500 quote for replacing tiles on shower floor/wall and the nearby tub wall. I told him I just want the shower replaced and not the tub area. Obviously he didn't like that idea, told me he will call back with a custom quote. Never heard back again. Then came the last guy (referred by our house cleaning lady - was her relative). Obviously he doesn't have a company but does these kind of work along with his dad. He quoted me $2500 for entire shower, tub wall and the floor tiles as well. I buy all the materials. Pretty good deal I guess.

Day 1 - He didn't show up until 10 am. I texted asking his status. He replied he's cleaning a church. Won't show up until afternoon. He had a contract for the past 10 years to clean some church twice a week. I am like ok, at least you could have told me so I wouldn't waste my half day leave waiting on him. He said SORRY. Showed up in the afternoon with his dad and started the demo.
Day 2 - Showed up around 10. He left after 10 minutes and had his dad do all the work, demo the floor, shower and install backer board.
Day 3 - No Show, texted him, again church cleaning. Showed up at 1pm. Finished demo, clean up and left around 4pm

Day 4(today) - No show, texted him, he replied, my truck is broken, need to fix it, my dad went to Mexico over the weekend to get his truck, won't be back until tonight. I will be there early tomorrow morning(hope so). Still no courtesy to let me know ahead so I don't wait for him all morning. Said SORRY again.

I don't know whats going on, may be his truck really broke down, or may be he got a new contract, went to do the demo to secure the contract, so the new client is stuck with him as well just like I am. I hope not. Fingers crossed.

I didn't pay him anything yet. But bought all the materials myself. So he has to finish the project.

[RoamingTX]

Was it really a good deal? You got 3 quotes for different scopes of work and went with the guy that doesn’t have a company, likely uninsured, and isn’t doing the job.

You should have done three quotes for the same scope of work.