Did we do right?

[Ky hills]

The joys of renovations. Having some hone renovations done, and let a man go before the job was finished. He had done a pretty good job on some projects but upped the price several times along.
He started a flooring project, and it was obvious that he wasn't doing it correctly. We stopped him and paid him for work completed. He wasn't happy, and wanted to finish or be paid the full amount even though he would not be finishing the job.
Had we allowed him to finish the whole job would have had to have been redone before long. We still will have to have the section he did done over and more new material purchased.
He says that we broke contract by not letting him finish and owe him the full amount.
We think we held our end of it, and if the job was not being done satisfactory that we had no choice but to stop it.

 

[kenny thomas]

Just tell him you had a contract for him to do the job correctly and he broke the contract. Tell him you are going to charge him any expenses you incur getting it done correctly and repairing the things he already messed up. He will then hide from you I bet.

 

[callmefence]

First of all raising the price after contract is a no go. As a contractor you don't do that. Even if it cost you.

On the other deal. The question would be was he doing the work incorrectly or just different than you think it should be done...big difference and common cause of conflict.

 

[osubuckeyes1234]

Agreed. I'm a contractor and once I give someone a price it's fixed unless the scope of work changes. That's means if I messed up on the bid I have to eat those cost on me. Not on the customer.

 

[Ky hills]

On the other deal. The question would be was he doing the work incorrectly or just different than you think it should be done...big difference and common cause of conflict.

Very valid point, I can see that happening with some people. That isn't the case with me, as I am pretty easy to get along with. When I hire somebody to do a job, I'm not standing over them telling them how to do it and questioning every step. I know some like that and I don't think thats right.
The way that this happened was that he had done a real good job taking up the old flooring which was a lot of work, but even then we had to cover the cost of renting a machine to take up the linoleum. Then when he started putting down the vinyl plank flooring it was evident that he was struggling to figure it out. Cutting the planks too short and making unnecessary cuts which wasted a considerable amount of material. Then taking it apart several times and breaking the edges of it to the point that he mentioned needing to glue it down because it wasn't laying properly in several places. He was complaining about having to put the underlayment down to and based on some previous things it looked like he was trying to position to up his price on the job too.

 

[D2Cat]

Take pictures showing what isn't the way you want it. Gather evidence just in case it's necessary.

 

[Ky hills]

Take pictures showing what isn't the way you want it. Gather evidence just in case it's necessary.

Yep, already did, just in case.

 

[Gobbler'sKnob]

The joys of renovations. Having some hone renovations done, and let a man go before the job was finished. He had done a pretty good job on some projects but upped the price several times along.
He started a flooring project, and it was obvious that he wasn't doing it correctly. We stopped him and paid him for work completed. He wasn't happy, and wanted to finish or be paid the full amount even though he would not be finishing the job.
Had we allowed him to finish the whole job would have had to have been redone before long. We still will have to have the section he did done over and more new material purchased.
He says that we broke contract by not letting him finish and owe him the full amount.
We think we held our end of it, and if the job was not being done satisfactory that we had no choice but to stop it.

I've seen folks get told to pack it up and get the crud off of job sites for the price raising thing alone, much less poor performance. I think you're 100% in the right and agree with Kenny, if you bring up his end of the contract you won't see him around too much.

 

[Brute 23]

I had a guy paint the entire interior of my house. We looked it over, he bid the job, we made a plan to shuffle stuff as he worked. I was doing shifts so it worked out good. Got a text saying it was done. When I got home he had not done the closets. He said that was not included.

I tried to work with him because it really wasnt a lot of money. It wasnt good enough for him and my last words were basically... finish the job correctly if you want to be paid and that I would spend every last penny I have making sure he understands what keeping up his end of a deal means.

Its extremely frustrating dealing with people like that.

 

[TexasRancher]

You did good to get out from under him quickly and safely. Lots of red flags here...but the biggest and MOST DISTURBING was he wanted "Full payment" instead of accepting your feedback. Any good man proud of his work...will stop immediately if the customer is not satisfied and walk away if requested. Any bad man asking for full payment is a man without empathy....a dangerous man.

 

[Ky hills]

You did good to get out from under him quickly and safely. Lots of red flags here...but the biggest and MOST DISTURBING was he wanted "Full payment" instead of accepting your feedback. Any good man proud of his work...will stop immediately if the customer is not satisfied and walk away if requested. Any bad man asking for full payment is a man without empathy....a dangerous man.

Yes, thats what we thought too. We weren't sure about hiring him in the first place, but were needing to get some work done before our busy season for the BnB starts and its hard to find anyone reliable around here to work.
You are right, there was no understanding in him, all he could say was it wasn't right for him not to get all his money. He got angry when he quoted $300 to patch a small spot on a ceiling where water had come in by the chimney. My wife said she should have fired him for that. It was like he thought he was entitled to charge whatever he wanted and we were obligated to agree.
The conversation yesterday went around and around in circles, and i finally just said we're through talking, either take the money that we agreed that we may owe or leave it, but that we are not paying out anymore.

 

[Brute 23]

At least he did the hard part of removing the old stuff. You may be able to diy the new floor in?

 

[Ky hills]

At least he did the hard part of removing the old stuff. You may be able to diy the new floor in?

Yes he do that part. I'm not physically able to do projects like that. We have a friend that does building and remodeling, and found out that he was available and he already has most of the job done now.

 

[Brute 23]

Yes he do that part. I'm not physically able to do projects like that. We have a friend that does building and remodeling, and found out that he was available and he already has most of the job done now.

Glad it worked out.