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This was a different experience that I'd like to share and get some opinions. I hired an excavator to do the clearing on the lot. I spoke to him about a week and half before he would be able to do the work. We agreed that he would start Monday of that week or later (10 days) weather permitting. I told him that would work because my family is closing the week before he would start. I also told him I would touch base right before. When he did the estimate, I gave him an approximate square footage on each side over the phone. I did not get to meet him at the property but told him if hired him, I'd meet him there to walk him through everything before he started. We wanted to keep certain trees and I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page. I contacted him on Saturday to see if he would be starting Monday. He told me we have most of the lot cleared and just have some brush to burn.
That being said, I was surprised he did not call me to confirm or say I can come in sooner. Some things changed and I needed to discuss it with him beforehand. The house needed to be turned the other way because of setbacks so we needed to change the area where it needed to be cleared. We looked at the work he's done so far and it looks good where he cleared it. We needed it to be cleared 30 feet more to the right though which I was going to explain once we met up. Here's the kicker, he started the day before we closed on the property!
Anyhow, we need an additional 30 x 60 cleared for the house and septic. It has some trees and brush. He cleared an area that didn't need to be cleared but we can deal with that. I am sure he's going to ask for more $$. If he called me before to tell me he could get in sooner, I would have explained this. I really wanted to meet before any work was started. We never signed a contract and we still plan to pay him the amount we agreed upon. My family didn't budget for more to do clearing, just what was agreed. What do you do in a situation like this?
Or maybe this is his plan...do what he wants when he wants.
Tell him here's the problem.
You said to start on such and such a date. He did not do this.
He began work even before you owned the house. This is not a good thing. This was very dangerous. If the deal fell through...who would pay him.
You told him you would walk the lot with him because there were trees you wanted to keep. He destroyed those trees. Now you will have to buy new ones.
Now, if he agrees to finish the work on your terms you will pay him suchandsuch. (less than original if you want)
There is a mobile home going on the land. I have an estimate to clear the lot, remove debris and grade it which was emailed to me. I did originally put flags out there but things changed. I live out of town so I didn't move the flags. Either way, he did not contact me to let me know he was going in sooner. I didn't sign any contract either. I was planning on discussing all this with him when I told him I would touch base with him right before the week he was supposed to start the work. Now there are trees knocked down which I didn't want and there is not enough cleared on the other side.
You meet him as planned today, but don't go in with a frustrated attitude (even though you rightfully are). Meet him with a positive expectation that he will be willing to fix this on his dime.
I'd say something like, "Wow! The work that you've done looks great! The issue is that you said you would call me before you started. Unfortunately some changes had to be made to what needs excavated. If you would have called me first we could have discussed it." Then explain what has changed. Ask, "How are we going to resolve this?" Go from there.
Sometimes contractors will just show up for lots of reasons. They tend to do their own thing based on weather, family obligations, they wake up and feel like working, another job was cancelled, etc.
I've had contractors do work like that before. When I nicely explained the situation to them, very often they would correct the mistake that was theirs on their own time without charge. Typically I will pay them something to fix it, but it depends on how big of mistake it was.
You meet him as planned today, but don't go in with a frustrated attitude (even though you rightfully are). Meet him with a positive expectation that he will be willing to fix this on his dime.
I'd say something like, "Wow! The work that you've done looks great! The issue is that you said you would call me before you started. Unfortunately some changes had to be made to what needs excavated. If you would have called me first we could have discussed it." Then explain what has changed. Ask, "How are we going to resolve this?" Go from there.
Sometimes contractors will just show up for lots of reasons. They tend to do their own thing based on weather, family obligations, they wake up and feel like working, another job was cancelled, etc.
I've had contractors do work like that before. When I nicely explained the situation to them, very often they would correct the mistake that was theirs on their own time without charge. Typically I will pay them something to fix it, but it depends on how big of mistake it was.
I agree with you. I already told him the work he did, looks awesome and I was glad he was able to get in sooner. I also told him what I said about getting a hold of him right before he started so I could've discussed the changes. He paused for a long time and didn't know what to say. He finally said, we will need to meet up and discuss this further. Fingers crossed all goes well.
We didn't get to meet up because he was busy with other jobs. We did talk on the phone. Not what I wanted to hear. His response was "once the brush pile is burned, I consider myself done." He said I already removed my big machine from the job. He is not willing to clear more. I haven't paid him anything at this point but I am not happy with his response!
Last edited by beckycat; 07-27-2018 at 01:18 PM..
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