CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

[WanMan]

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So, during the past two years the wife and I out-sourced the basement construction work to various contractors that are natives of the county (and hence the state of Georgia). We felt that this would be the best approach, especially if they came recommended by suppliers. But two things are worth considering beyond the rough-in activities ...

The electrician did his rough in and after the drywall, finish carpentry, and painting they came back and did 90% of the finish work. The theater wall sconces were on hold because we hadn't picked the lighting fixtures out. By the time we came up with something the electrician got cancer and died. Then we discovered a wiring issue.

We had four lighting switches in the HT. One for canned lights, on for pathway leading into the HT. One for the wall scones, and one wired to a future use box in the ceiling in case we chose track lighting at the screen. Well, turns out they wired the left-side and right-side sconces in separate circuits and wired the ceiling box to ... who knows! And there ain't any recourse since the electrician unexpectedly died.

The plumber, like the electrician, was a local, came recommended, and conducted the rough-in work in the basement. He couldn't test the ejector pump because the electrician forgot to finish the electrical box at the pump's pit location. Ok, several months go by the market conditions get worse for him, and he closes up his business to take a job at Lowes (guess what department?).

Now there is an electrical box at the pump location, but the system is untested and I cannot find another plumber willing to 'have a look'. I think I am going to have to encourage someone to set some bathroom fixtures ahead of our schedule in order to get them to test the pump. I had tried to get someone to take a garden hose to the bathroom shower (basin is set and plumbed to ejector pump).

So, the moral of the story is you can try to protect yourself by finding natives of the land that come recommended to you, but not even that can prepare you for reality.

[jocrazy0]

Even worse... hire a friend, acquaintance, fellow church member, give them what you think are specific detailed instructions.... then realize they totally eff'd the job.... and they are a friend, and fellow church member. Then while casually mentioning there might be a problem with the quality of their work to another friend who had used them... find out your fellow hiring friend fired them for the same reason. Repeat that experience a couple of times, then feel like a total * because the dude, while being fair priced and fast.... has fast poor quality work.

Now if that isn't bad enough.... hire another son of a friend... and repeat.

I'm beginning to think that the major contracting company's "performance bonds" are the way to go..... but all that hold back has to be spelled out in a contract.... an item that most casual contractees (us) that deal with small contractors are not going to do.

Bottom line I suppose is... "you pays your money and you takes your chances".

Sucks to be a home owner sometimes.......

[CRT_Ben]

That sucks...stories like this are exactly why I'm halfway through finishing my basement by myself...even if I wanted to pay the money, which I don't, you're never guaranteed a decent outcome!

[Sparky015]

Very True. I'm always nevous when I hire a contractor. Unfortunately not everyone has the time and/or skills to do a full renovation like that, so the risk is inherently there.

[ronholm]

Stories like this are the reason guys like me never have a hard time finding work Sure... I have had my share of problems on jobs.. But... Never have I left a reasonable customer unsatisfied. Heck, even most of the unreasonable folks have went on to recommend me...

[Don534]

I'm a guy who used to own a lot of rental properties and therefore hired a lot of contractors. Unfortunately, that old adage, "you get what you pay for", is true. Everytime I hired a local small business guy they tended to be more incompetent than if I hired a larger company. Remodeling sucks!

[AnalogRocks]

[AnalogRocks]

[Curt Palme]

Well, on the positive side of hiring a contractor, now that Sparky and the dogs are gone, I had one hell of a mess/stench to clean up. I pretty much expected the carpets to be a writeoff, and was expecting to save schekels to put in new carpeting everywhere.

Called up a local carpet cleaning company, Citrus-O, whom I've had good success with, they came over and quoted $1600 to do the deep cleaning/scrubbing throughout the whole house. I cringed, told him that I had a budget of $700-800 tops, so I told him to deep clean the worst two rooms and do a standard cleaning throughout the rest, and I'd call them in a couple of months if the smell didn't go away to deep clean the rest.

He shows up the next morning, had reduced the pricing to $1200 and said he'd take a post dated check for 50% of it. OK, that worked for me.

He spent 7 hours in the house, and I don't even want to talk about the color of the water coming out of the carpet. Big yuck!

The smell throughout the house is... GONE! While the carpets are far from new, the place is now livable again, and I'm super happy.

I think part of the problem with hiring contractors is that people don't do research before hiring people. A lot of people go for the low bid (which as a sound contractor I never am), and then are all ecstatic for a couple of months that they got the low price... until they need followup service, or what they got done falls apart, and said contractor is 'too busy' to come back and do a warranty call.

Frankly, the last place I'd get a contractor from is meeting someone at a church or hiring a friend to do work. I also hate selling electronics to friends. Something ALWAYS goes wrong..

[Curt Palme]

Well, on the positive side of hiring a contractor, now that Sparky and the dogs are gone, I had one hell of a mess/stench to clean up. I pretty much expected the carpets to be a writeoff, and was expecting to save schekels to put in new carpeting everywhere.

Called up a local carpet cleaning company, Citrus-O, whom I've had good success with, they came over and quoted $1600 to do the deep cleaning/scrubbing throughout the whole house. I cringed, told him that I had a budget of $700-800 tops, so I told him to deep clean the worst two rooms and do a standard cleaning throughout the rest, and I'd call them in a couple of months if the smell didn't go away to deep clean the rest.

He shows up the next morning, had reduced the pricing to $1200 and said he'd take a post dated check for 50% of it. OK, that worked for me.

He spent 7 hours in the house, and I don't even want to talk about the color of the water coming out of the carpet. Big yuck!

The smell throughout the house is... GONE! While the carpets are far from new, the place is now livable again, and I'm super happy.

I think part of the problem with hiring contractors is that people don't do research before hiring people. A lot of people go for the low bid (which as a sound contractor I never am), and then are all ecstatic for a couple of months that they got the low price... until they need followup service, or what they got done falls apart, and said contractor is 'too busy' to come back and do a warranty call.

Frankly, the last place I'd get a contractor from is meeting someone at a church or hiring a friend to do work. I also hate selling electronics to friends. Something ALWAYS goes wrong..

[macgyver655]

I agree on selling to a friend or relative. I always try to avoid it. If they are super insistent and its not a big dollar item I will often just give it to them. And for larger dollar items I often say "this one needed a lot of repair and I'm not comfortable selling it to you".

[paw]

[Curt Palme]

Sadly, yes. I called it off.

[Curt Palme]

Sadly, yes. I called it off.

[paw]

Sorry to hear that Curt.

[rod]

you have to get references for sure. However, you still have to qualify them and ask about the jobs they did (compared to what you are asking them to do) and how they turned out. If they don't give references, run away.
I got a stellar reference from my neighbor's mother so I thought that was good enough. It was the first and last time I get a contractor in my house without asking for JOB references. It was a total disaster.

[WanMan]

Rod, having references, excellent work examples, etc. means little when one closes shop due to a down turn in the economy, or his helper mis-helps and he, himself, dies before he can fix.

[JustGreg]

[rod]