# Have any dopers been swindled/screwed by a contractor? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 21, 2012, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-dopers-been-swindled-screwed-by-a-contractor/622661 "2012-05-21T22:45:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-dopers-been-swindled-screwed-by-a-contractor/622661/1 "2012-05-21T22:45:06Z")
Hi all! I am looking for stories of times where you’ve hired a contractor to do work at your home when rebuilding a basement or roofing, painting, flooring anything…you name it. I think that, unfortunately, this happens way more often than we wish it would and I’m trying to get in touch with people who actually have had it happen to them. Have any of you housing-dopers gotten screwed over by a contractor?? Thanks a bundle! Cups ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-dopers-been-swindled-screwed-by-a-contractor/622661/2 "2012-05-22T17:55:00Z")
We’ve had the worst luck with painters. Don’t have any stories to share. They just take on the work and quit half way through. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-dopers-been-swindled-screwed-by-a-contractor/622661/3 "2012-06-06T20:08:43Z")
Did you pay them before hand or had you not payed them yet? ---
**Author:** ![picker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/picker/32/13969_2.png) [@picker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picker)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-dopers-been-swindled-screwed-by-a-contractor/622661/5 "2012-08-02T17:41:00Z")
reported for spam, or at least shameless self-promotion. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-dopers-been-swindled-screwed-by-a-contractor/622661/6 "2012-08-08T02:53:48Z")
Man that’s even worse than what I was doing. Plus that’s exactly what my company does, and if anyone is spamming this message board it’s ME. This is MY HOUSE BITCH!!! ---
**Author:** ![SerafinaPekala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecae2f/32.png) [@SerafinaPekala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SerafinaPekala)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2012, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-dopers-been-swindled-screwed-by-a-contractor/622661/7 "2012-12-20T22:06:49Z")
We secondarily got swindled because the ppl from whom we bought our “totally remodeled and updated” 160 y/o Queen Anne got primarily swindled. Well, swindled may not be the right word. She was simply dumb enough to hire her BIL and got what she paid for: a shoddy job. Examples abound: The plumbing vent pipes in the attic were just “placed” together, not glued. So they leaked onto the floor and eventually onto the ceiling below. One of the bathrooms has a sink with a hot water pipe that freezes every winter d/t the pipes being on the OUTER wall and not insulated apparently. The hot water heater had the shut off valve on the pipe running FROM it, not TO it. Every time my REAL plumber comes to fix something they did wrong he just shakes his head. The “carpenters” must have been drunk or were just nearsighted: all the electrical outlets are tilting a different direction. Makes me dizzy if I glance at them even! ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2012, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-dopers-been-swindled-screwed-by-a-contractor/622661/8 "2012-12-22T15:18:53Z")
Nope. But then I was, at various times, a construction contract administrator, a quality control manager, a construction worker, a facilities manager, and the COO of a construction company. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2012, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-dopers-been-swindled-screwed-by-a-contractor/622661/9 "2012-12-22T17:34:05Z")
> [@feddup2](#): > > The “carpenters” must have been drunk or were just nearsighted: all the electrical outlets are tilting a different direction. Makes me dizzy if I glance at them even! the screws that hold the receptacle into its box go into a slot (elongated hole), take the faceplate off and loosen the screws at the top and bottom and move the receptacle vertical and tighten them. safest is to turn the circuit off (turn the circuit breaker off or unscrew the fuse). don’t put fingers or screw driver in deeper than the wall surface and you will be safe if you leave the electricity on. ---
**Author:** ![SerafinaPekala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecae2f/32.png) [@SerafinaPekala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SerafinaPekala)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2012, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-dopers-been-swindled-screwed-by-a-contractor/622661/10 "2012-12-22T18:15:10Z")
Thanks John! Will do! ---
**Author:** ![Caffeine.addict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f475e1/32.png) [@Caffeine.addict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caffeine.addict)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2013, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-dopers-been-swindled-screwed-by-a-contractor/622661/11 "2013-02-06T16:21:15Z")
> [@SerafinaPekala](#): > > We secondarily got swindled because the ppl from whom we bought our “totally remodeled and updated” 160 y/o Queen Anne got primarily swindled. Well, swindled may not be the right word. She was simply dumb enough to hire her BIL and got what she paid for: a shoddy job. Examples abound: If this counts, then we’ve had this as well. Everything the prior owner touched, I’ve redone. We are redoing the bathroom that he redid in 2003 and everything was either done wrong or crap. I don’t think that he put any kind of backer board under the tile so we’ll be gutting the bathroom. He didn’t use the right kind of thinset for marble or he installed it wrong, so the tiles are cracked and come up easily.