Our foray began with the fellow who trimmed our trees, he recommended the fellow who put up our new fencing, who in turn led us to the crew that did the concrete work. Our latest job, just finished is a new steel roof in which case I did not go with the local bidder just because of certain rumors of other unrelated business practices I did not agree with, plus he did not want to accept the way I wanted the job done. I would be willing to put this roofing job up against anyone's for comparison, even though the local contractor had re-roofed the large church across the street and done an exemplary job. In short I went with my gut and am glad I did.
I did pay upfront for the material for the fencing and by watching my online banking I noticed he did not cash that check for several weeks, just before he was ready to start the job and had purchased the material, that is what I call integrity especially for a young man just beginning to get on his feet and build a reputation.
Dale in the Flat Lands:----- Politics is supposed to be the second-oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first. ~Ronald ReaganBill Chmelik wrote:
Like I said Mike, it depends. If I am going to hire someone, we are going to agree on all aspects of the job up front, or one of us will walk away. If a Contractor asks for money up front(I have on occasion bought materials up front), I worry about his business and if he is going to be around long. The job that the OP put forward had no monetary investment for the contractor, and as such, I would have found a fencing crew that wanted a little side work…
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From: DoIt_Yourself@yahoogroups.com [mailto:DoIt_Yourself@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Mike Shoaf
Sent: Wednesday, June 13, 2012 7:06 PM
To: DoIt_Yourself@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [DIY] Some thoughts on contractors
due to the sour economy, many reputable contractors are having money problems too! have you considered purchasing the materials yourself to take the financial burden off of the contractor? as a contractor, I have to bargain with customers who don't understand the risk of tying up my savings in a job for a customer that I don't know who may have a bigger wants list than bank account. just a fence? if my only liability in a project is my labor, I will jump twice as fast to get done quickly and ensure a satisfied customer. If the customer insists on haggling every nickel and dime from the price I quote, I welcome them to figure the job and take on the risk of over- or under- estimating the materials. if the customer guarantees the material will be on the job on the agreed starting date, I will not be wasting my time waiting or his money, so I can give him a break on the labor rate. if a delay is caused by unforeseen circumstances, I will be agreeable if he gives me reasonable notice, I don't have my crew standing around costing me money. if it is just a small job, take on some of the responsibilty yourself. otherwise, be a little lenient when you get my quote, as I spend a lot of time doing quotes (my time and gas) and never hear from the customer or they expect the quote to still be good months or years from now!
From: Bill Chmelik <Chmelik@earthlink.net>
To: DoIt_Yourself@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, June 13, 2012 5:54 PM
Subject: RE: [DIY] Some thoughts on contractors
In my mind, it depends on the job, installing a fence? They get paid when
the job is completed. Building a house, percentage draws, with the last draw
held until the punch-out list is completed to my satisfaction. So in answer
to your question, it depends.
One more thing to remember, if you hire a contractor, you are hiring someone
to do what YOU what, as an example we interviewed 3 contractors when we were
planning to blow out the roof and add a second floor to a rancher, all three
contractors said that it could not be done the way I wanted, so none of them
were hired and we did it ourselves, exactly as we had wanted it done. So
don't take no for an answer unless you have exhausted all resources.
-----Original Message-----
From: mailto:DoIt_Yourself%40yahoogroups.com [mailto:mailto:DoIt_Yourself%40yahoogroups.com]
On Behalf Of petey_racer
Sent: Wednesday, June 13, 2012 3:37 PM
To: mailto:DoIt_Yourself%40yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [DIY] Some thoughts on contractors
You're not seriously suggesting that a contractor get no payment at all
until a job is completed, are you???
--- In mailto:DoIt_Yourself%40yahoogroups.com, Ray Kornele <krazykyngekorny@...>
wrote:
>
> I agree. Also, insist that he puit a clause in the contract that he
> does not get paid until the job is completed, satisfactorily. No
> clause, no contract.
> KrazyKyngeKorny (Krazy, not stupid)
>
>
>
>
> On Wed, Jun 13, 2012 at 10:04 AM, Sandaidh <sandaidh@...> wrote:
>
> > **
> >
> >
> > The first is the one they recommend the most. I called him and told
> > him about the job. He said he could come out Monday (this past)
> > after 6 pm. I took off work early so that I could be here.
> >
> > Six o'clock came and went. At 7 pm, I called him. His voice mail
> > said the mailbox was full and couldn't take messages.
> >
> > I called again at 8 pm. Same response.
> >
> > I called at 9 pm. Same response.
> >
> > I called at 10 pm, and from the sound of it, woke him up. He'd
forgotten.
> > After apologies, we rescheduled for this morning.
> >
>
------------------------------------
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