Going through a whole home renovation. Currently working on the pool. It had developed some cracks in the deck which was putting water under the house. The water under the house caused condensation in my living room. Only reason I'm remodeling the pool is this water issue. It's a complete clusteruck. They broke one of my skimmers cutting the cantilever in preparation for coping installation. They cut too much of the deck for the coping installation. The coping job is garbage, horrible cuts on the stones. The tile went on directly after and about 25-30% of that will have to be redone. The coping may need to be redone 100%. My foreman, who is in charge is near a heart attack dealing with all the problems. I've picked up nails, cleaned/fixed a driveway oil stain from one of their trucks. Found cigarette butts, bud light tops, a druggy bag, they have damaged some small areas of my newly installed fence. Found monster energy drinks and red bull's just tossed into the pool/spa. Picked up their trash out of my neighbor's yard. Total cluster duck.

That's the back end. The front end, sales, on anything from siding, windows, tile work, paint work, electrical work, plumbing work, oh my goodness, you'll get straight robbery quotes. Makes used car buying look like a box of kittens.

Then when work starts you have to be your own foreman, regulate, bitch, constantly in someone's ass. So you spend big money AND have to constantly watch, micro-manage, etc. Can you tell I've been at this for years now? I end up spending 6 months on every single job to find a decent co tractor, and even then, like right now, getting fucked.

Perhaps the sale price is the contractor doesn't have any work lined up for a few weeks and is willing to give you a better than normal price to keep his guys on the job and getting a pay check.

I think most service contractors are generally weasels. The last time I had a plumber here, I asked him to take a look at a faucet where the hot water stopped working. He checked it out, and 5 mins later came back with a quote for $250 to replace the cylinder.

Some quick google-fu resulted in an order to procure the defective cylinder for $29.

$50 would have been reasonable for the part (on his truck) and the 15 mins to do the job.

I thanked him for his time, and sent him on his merry way.

quote:

Originally posted by 41:
If we have a hail storm around here, contractors come out of the woodwork's with all kinds of ways they can get you a new roof or siding for the insurance deductible.

Ha, yeah. I was actually on my roof when one stopped by last year. He was standing in my driveway shouting up to me to ask if I'd like my roof inspected for damages. I politely said with a smile on my face, "thanks, but looks pretty good from up here".

There is a company called All Good that constantly runs add with his annoying high pitched daughter. Spring special 40% off. I almost called them for a roof price just to see what they would say but didnt want to waste my time.