Bathroom Update

got a call from the contractor a few days ago asking her to be home at 3pm yesterday to sign off on the bathroom. Corinna and I called bullshit on this right away, looking at the work left to be done in the bathroom. I advised her to call the company before she left work so she didn’t waste any of her time. When she did, they were “running behind, but should be done around 6pm”. I left work a little early so I could be home at ~5pm to have a word with the contractors. When I got home, the owner, site manager, and plumber were there, surprised that I came home.

They started off saying they hadn’t finished, and that they’d have to come back to finish the access panel for the water shutoff as well as the radiator. I took this opportunity to add the chase they were on contract to install to box out the steam main. They looked at me like I had lobsters crawling out of my ears. My temper flared instantly, as I knew they had convieniently forgotten about this work. I calmed myself down (“He took a duck in the face at two hundred and fifty knots”) and pointed them to the original sales agreement which specifically mentioned either moving the steam main into the wall or boxing it out. I was originally concerned when I saw the plaster guy doing the walls but not boxing in the pipe, but I remembered someone mentioned they usually use some kind of panelling for those tasks. But I honestly think they were trying to not do the work, which pisses me off.

I’ve continued to updated the photos of the job, but don’t be fooled by the titles, “Day 15” is not elapsed time, but worked time. This wednesday will be the 4 week mark since the beginning of this job. “Day 15” doesn’t count weekends or the several days (one stretch was 4 days in a row) that they didn’t do a god-damned thing.

3 thoughts on “Bathroom Update

  1. Fire them and replace them with what? Not only were these the only guys that got back to our calls when we were originally looking for a contractor, but there was a several month backlog that we had to wait for before they started. I’ve heard this is pretty common in the area.

    4 weeks without a bathroom has sucked enough, let alone another several months…

  2. A contractor rating site is not a bad idea, assuming you can handle the prospect of pissing off guys who carry heavy tools around…libel may be the least of your worries in that case.

  3. Now THAT is a great idea.

    Our contractor has since been arrested and is being held in jail for grand larceny. He only stalled and screwed around with us (his lackeys or we did most of the work and the bathroom wound up being almost done right), but he stole 40K from a retired couple (their life savings) and did no work for them. Then he was hired for a bank job, added a zero to the check and fled to North Carolina. The cops tracked him down. The lawsuit that we’re part of is over 50 people large.

    And Dateline just did a segment on this very thing Sunday night.

    I don’t think honest contractors exist.

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