I hate it when contractors don’t just admit they low balled a bid. They start cutting corners. No insulation or vapor barrier in a new exterior wall. DIY electrical instead of hiring an electrician. DIY plumbing. Sams Club paint instead of premium Benjamin Moore.
You get a crappy job just so he doesn’t run a $1200 over budget. Just be honest and tell me you’re beginning to run over budget. We’ll work it out. I rather pay more and get it done correctly.
And even if he was, right now this is business, not friendship (even if there wasn’t a dispute). If you were close friends you would have to learn to separate the two relationships if you wanted to maintain the friendship.
Also, I’m assuming he doesn’t have a lien, right? If he does make sure it gets removed at the end, if you don’t satisfy your debt, he might leave it on and you’ll be in trouble years down the road. I’d be surprised if it was the case, but it’s something to watch out for.
That’s correct, no lien. Moreover, after some research, we found that there was some stuff (like replacing the gas stove) which needs a city permit which wasn’t pulled.
He was supposed to have dropped off the final bill yesterday but never showed up. Not sure what happened there.
We had the opposite experience with a contractor. Big job involving new siding and windows. Contractor wrote the bid without going on the roof and looking at the chimney up close. He and an employee spent an extra couple days because of this. We wanted to pay extra, he argued that it was his fuckup. IIRC we ended up convincing him to take the money for material costs.
^My memory is shit.
I was thinking it happened a few years ago. Turns out it was less than a year.
That’s ok, I said something was 15% instead of actually 11% up above. Math is hard for me apparently.
The lack of permits makes me mad, because it’s an easy thing to do and skipping it has significant consequences for the homeowner. If he’s not getting the permits that he’s contracted to, then you can skip the “friend of a friend” worries and just focus on making sure you come out of the remodel whole and compliant. At this point, I wouldn’t pay him a dime until you see a notice from the city (not from him - you can’t trust him) that the permits have all been appropriately granted.
In your place, I’d call the city myself and find out exactly what needs to happen to get your permits in line. I would offer to pay everything that he has written authorization for, once those permits are issued. No more than that, and not a dime until the work is all legal. He’ll scream bloody murder about it, but he’s flat out trying to rip you off here. Don’t let him.
Denouement (hopefully): We got the “final bill” from the contractor which mention the $7500 balance that was agreed to then he made a list of things we owed him:
$500 for Cambria ‘upgrade’
$500 for tiling
$125 for sink part
$75 for caulk
He then made a list of the “extra” stuff he did for no charge, most of the items were actually what he had agreed to do in his original letter.
So really, we owe him $7500. We took both papers over to a neighbor who is also a lawyer for her opinion. She agreed that we don’t owe him anything more than the original amount. But in the interest of trying to smooth it over for our friend, we decided to write a check for $8000. Our neighbor gave us good wording to state that we disagree with any and all extra charges, but the extra is for the good work done and to mitigate any hard feelings with the “full satisfaction” at the bottom of the check.
Your dog has its own room?
Well, you’re a heck of lot nicer than I would have been, especially given the permit situation.
Don’t be telling people you paid for caulk.
(I stopped at my buddy Gilbert’s house one day after a trip to Lowes. I knocked on the door and his wife answered. I gently hit her on the upper arms with a tube of caulk I’d just purchased. I told her when Gilbert got home she could tell him I stopped by, smacked her a few times with my caulk, then left.)
Indeed. If the guy makes a fuss about wanting the rest of the money, I’d threaten him with going to the city over the permit. He does NOT want to get on their shit list, or they’ll be harassing him on every job he does. It’s also a hit against his license. I’m sure he doesn’t want to have to tear out everything he did, pay for a permit and inspections, and do a re-install on his own nickel.
$75 for caulk? I’d laugh in his face unless it was part of a change order, but even then, who the hell forgets to include those costs in their bid?
If there were upgrades and he didn’t tell you at the time that there would be an extra expense, fuck him. If you asked for the upgraded tile (or whatever), then it’s implied that you would pay for it, and the $500 you’re kicking in is warranted. If he did “extra work” without being asked, that’s on his sorry ass, not yours, and is irrelevant to the agreement.
Sounds to me like he had a bid bust and is now trying to extort it from you. Here’s a thought: next time check your numbers before you submit the bid, moron.