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Ok the contractor has gone all sorts of shady and we may end up firing him today.
Yesterday he called in sick. That was fine, people get sick! He was sick one day last week too, and we understand that and don't want him working sick. This morning, he called B early in the morning and said he was too sick to come in, but was sending his employee in to do the drywall mudding. That guy came in and started work, and almost as soon as B left, F shows up. He always waits until B is not home to have these pushy conversations with me, and I suspect this morning it was intentional, because . . .
He informs me he is not going to paint the master bedroom. He says that painting was not included in the original estimate and that I said I would paint. I showed him his estimate where he wrote that painting was included. I acknowledged that I said I would purchase the paint, but that he was hired to do the painting. He changes his tune and says that he only meant painting the places where he drywalled. I point out that he is drywalling in the bedroom. He insisted that we never mentioned painting the whole bedroom. I know that we did, because B forgot to bring it up and so I did, and he was all "Oh yeah, I forgot about that. We want this whole room painted white." So now F says he's not going to paint my bedroom. He says it will take too much time and that he thought I was going to paint.
F also tells me that drywall in the laundry room was not part of his original estimate. i say that it was. He says it wasn't. it's already done so I am guessing he's trying to push me into giving him more money, which I am not going to do.
Then he tells me that they are going to mud, texture, and paint today. (The master bedroom joint compound was already applied on Wednesday, so it is dry, but they were going to mud the third room and then texture and paint both rooms.)I tell him that the mud has to dry for 24 hours before texture. he tells me it takes 20 minutes, then a little while later says 2 hours. I tell him I was here on Wednesday when the master bedroom was mudded and I know it did not dry in 2 hours- it wasn't dry until the next day. So now he agreed to not texture and paint today. But why do I have to tell him this stuff? I don't think I should even have to argue with him about this.
Throughout this job I have communicated to him that it is very important to me that the texture of the new wall repairs match the texture of the pre-existing walls. He assured me he could match the texture. Today he asks me to come in the room and starts telling me that he doesn't know what the texture is like and maybe he can't match it, etc. I re-iterate that it is really important to me that it matches. "I don't know how they made this texture, he says, and I say "Oh, it looks like a slap brush to me, see the brush imprints here and here and here?"
I told him that the paint store closes at 5pm and that if C, his assistant, is done before 5 I will be able to go to the paint store and buy paint. I show him the white paint that I have for painting the closet and he says "This paint is old." I tell him "It's 2 years old. It lasts for 7 years in air conditioning. It just needs to be stirred up. Do you have a paint stirrer?" It turns out he does not have a paint stirrer and doesn't even know what one is- he has never worked with paint that was not brand new and freshly shaken.
I think we may end up firing him, which means we will lose money. We paid him half of the money for the whole job up front, and he hasn't completed ANY of the jobs he agreed to do. The total quote was $3250, and each job was individually priced out. The yard was $800, and it is not done. The drywall and painting (including the closet door enlargement) was $900, not done, and he's refusing to paint the bedroom. We gave him a deposit of $1625.
ETA 3:30pm: Ok, Carlos, F's assistant, is blowing texture onto the walls in the bedroom right now. And he really wants to do a good job, he asked me to come look at it and it does look good. So that's a relief.
Yesterday he called in sick. That was fine, people get sick! He was sick one day last week too, and we understand that and don't want him working sick. This morning, he called B early in the morning and said he was too sick to come in, but was sending his employee in to do the drywall mudding. That guy came in and started work, and almost as soon as B left, F shows up. He always waits until B is not home to have these pushy conversations with me, and I suspect this morning it was intentional, because . . .
He informs me he is not going to paint the master bedroom. He says that painting was not included in the original estimate and that I said I would paint. I showed him his estimate where he wrote that painting was included. I acknowledged that I said I would purchase the paint, but that he was hired to do the painting. He changes his tune and says that he only meant painting the places where he drywalled. I point out that he is drywalling in the bedroom. He insisted that we never mentioned painting the whole bedroom. I know that we did, because B forgot to bring it up and so I did, and he was all "Oh yeah, I forgot about that. We want this whole room painted white." So now F says he's not going to paint my bedroom. He says it will take too much time and that he thought I was going to paint.
F also tells me that drywall in the laundry room was not part of his original estimate. i say that it was. He says it wasn't. it's already done so I am guessing he's trying to push me into giving him more money, which I am not going to do.
Then he tells me that they are going to mud, texture, and paint today. (The master bedroom joint compound was already applied on Wednesday, so it is dry, but they were going to mud the third room and then texture and paint both rooms.)I tell him that the mud has to dry for 24 hours before texture. he tells me it takes 20 minutes, then a little while later says 2 hours. I tell him I was here on Wednesday when the master bedroom was mudded and I know it did not dry in 2 hours- it wasn't dry until the next day. So now he agreed to not texture and paint today. But why do I have to tell him this stuff? I don't think I should even have to argue with him about this.
Throughout this job I have communicated to him that it is very important to me that the texture of the new wall repairs match the texture of the pre-existing walls. He assured me he could match the texture. Today he asks me to come in the room and starts telling me that he doesn't know what the texture is like and maybe he can't match it, etc. I re-iterate that it is really important to me that it matches. "I don't know how they made this texture, he says, and I say "Oh, it looks like a slap brush to me, see the brush imprints here and here and here?"
I told him that the paint store closes at 5pm and that if C, his assistant, is done before 5 I will be able to go to the paint store and buy paint. I show him the white paint that I have for painting the closet and he says "This paint is old." I tell him "It's 2 years old. It lasts for 7 years in air conditioning. It just needs to be stirred up. Do you have a paint stirrer?" It turns out he does not have a paint stirrer and doesn't even know what one is- he has never worked with paint that was not brand new and freshly shaken.
I think we may end up firing him, which means we will lose money. We paid him half of the money for the whole job up front, and he hasn't completed ANY of the jobs he agreed to do. The total quote was $3250, and each job was individually priced out. The yard was $800, and it is not done. The drywall and painting (including the closet door enlargement) was $900, not done, and he's refusing to paint the bedroom. We gave him a deposit of $1625.
ETA 3:30pm: Ok, Carlos, F's assistant, is blowing texture onto the walls in the bedroom right now. And he really wants to do a good job, he asked me to come look at it and it does look good. So that's a relief.
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