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Stupid Pet Peeves

I hate how ****** the construction industry is. If anyone has built or remodeled and doesn't think that almost everyone involved sucks *** please let me know.

We are almost 2 months behind schedule on our remodel and I'm going to lose my GD mind.
 
I hate how ****** the construction industry is. If anyone has built or remodeled and doesn't think that almost everyone involved sucks *** please let me know.

We are almost 2 months behind schedule on our remodel and I'm going to lose my GD mind.

Mate of mine is weeks ahead on his reno but in general its a nest of douchebags.
 
Mate of mine is weeks ahead on his reno but in general its a nest of douchebags.

I'll show up at the house and painting, electric, plumbing, or whatever will supposed to be there knocking things out. No one will show up though, or answer their phones, then will just sporadically show up whenever. So their tardiness will make the next guy have to wait, and so on and it just snowballs.
 
I hate how ****** the construction industry is. If anyone has built or remodeled and doesn't think that almost everyone involved sucks *** please let me know.

We are almost 2 months behind schedule on our remodel and I'm going to lose my GD mind.

Being the resident electrician I can tell you that no one has enough employees. I could use a guy, but I’m literally not even actively looking because I know it would be a waste of my time.
What happens at your place of employment when there is triple the amount of work than there are employees? Are you able to get it done on time? Does that mean you suck ***?
But hey, go ahead and be a dickhead about it.


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Being the resident electrician I can tell you that no one has enough employees. I could use a guy, but I’m literally not even actively looking because I know it would be a waste of my time.
What happens at your place of employment when there is triple the amount of work than there are employees? Are you able to get it done on time? Does that mean you suck ***?
But hey, go ahead and be a dickhead about it.


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Yeah but there's a big difference between having a lot of work and letting your customers know it will be delayed and just plain not showing up and not telling anyone.
 
Being the resident electrician I can tell you that no one has enough employees. I could use a guy, but I’m literally not even actively looking because I know it would be a waste of my time.
What happens at your place of employment when there is triple the amount of work than there are employees? Are you able to get it done on time? Does that mean you suck ***?
But hey, go ahead and be a dickhead about it.


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At my place of work if I say I'm going to do a job in a certain amount of time I don't miss that deadline by weeks or even months. But hey, that's just me.

Or if tell someone I will do a job for say, $2,500 I don't take 10 days longer than I said I would and then send a bill for $6,000. But hey that's me.

Or if I say I'm going to be at work Monday I don't show up end of day Wednesday. But thats me.

I'm sure you are one of the good ones. But literally 100% of people I have talked to the last few months that have been dealing with construction have these same exact stories to tell. Every single one of them. So you might be great, but the other 95% of your industry sucks.

I get they suck because they can, they are so busy that pissing someone off or losing a client isn't an issue because there will be someone else around the corner. But it is ****** for the person depending on them to keep their word.
 
Like any profession or job, there are good contractors and bad ones, and many in between. The big difference is with contractors it hits very very close to home, as in it is often disruptive to our lives while they do the job they have been paid to do, so when they do not communicate, don't finish on time, get things wrong, or do damage or whatever, it just jumps out at you.

We had a contractor, highly recommended from a family friend, who we hired to put in a concrete patio. He did most everything wrong, including doing severe damage to our front yard, breaking part of our fence, putting a hole in our siding, not showing up, leaving it half-finished (all dug up, no concrete) for nearly 6 weeks, and then tried to up the amount of the job, more than once. We found out later he was unable to get the concrete because he hadn't paid for it on other jobs, either at all or at least on time. We also found out he was trying to get us to pay more money so he could finish a different job. So I paid for the concrete directly, and I had paid about 1/3 of his fee up front, so when he was done, I had documented everything with pictures, and I invited him to sue me for the rest of the money. I never heard from him again. When we get these kinds of scenarios it is easy to apply it to the entire industry, as that is the piece of it we see, and when we get this more often than not (which has been my experience, although this one has been the worst one), we begin to feel that is just the norm.

But when you can find a good one, who is responsive, reasonably priced, easy to work with, etc. well that is the guy I call back again and again.


And the concrete guy? Later we found out he had ordered the wrong mix of concrete, so it began to crumble within a year. We re-did it the next summer with help from a guy in our ward who built houses. That one was great.

I would say you get what you pay for, but that guy wasn't the cheapest quote. He was just below the top quote. Sometimes you just get ****, but that **** can leave a bad taste in your mouth that is for sure.
 
Like any profession or job, there are good contractors and bad ones, and many in between. The big difference is with contractors it hits very very close to home, as in it is often disruptive to our lives while they do the job they have been paid to do, so when they do not communicate, don't finish on time, get things wrong, or do damage or whatever, it just jumps out at you.

We had a contractor, highly recommended from a family friend, who we hired to put in a concrete patio. He did most everything wrong, including doing severe damage to our front yard, breaking part of our fence, putting a hole in our siding, not showing up, leaving it half-finished (all dug up, no concrete) for nearly 6 weeks, and then tried to up the amount of the job, more than once. We found out later he was unable to get the concrete because he hadn't paid for it on other jobs, either at all or at least on time. We also found out he was trying to get us to pay more money so he could finish a different job. So I paid for the concrete directly, and I had paid about 1/3 of his fee up front, so when he was done, I had documented everything with pictures, and I invited him to sue me for the rest of the money. I never heard from him again. When we get these kinds of scenarios it is easy to apply it to the entire industry, as that is the piece of it we see, and when we get this more often than not (which has been my experience, although this one has been the worst one), we begin to feel that is just the norm.

But when you can find a good one, who is responsive, reasonably priced, easy to work with, etc. well that is the guy I call back again and again.


And the concrete guy? Later we found out he had ordered the wrong mix of concrete, so it began to crumble within a year. We re-did it the next summer with help from a guy in our ward who built houses. That one was great.

I would say you get what you pay for, but that guy wasn't the cheapest quote. He was just below the top quote. Sometimes you just get ****, but that **** can leave a bad taste in your mouth that is for sure.

I apply it to the entire industry because I have never ever ever spoken to someone on the topic of construction that doesn't have these stories to tell. So, this is not an isolated issue, it is a majority.

Plumber came out to our place and was doing some work. We get an itemized bill. Total is like $4,700 but then when I add up the itemized list it only adds up to $2,900. Weird. So I call and they're like "Ummmm, uhhh, that's weird we'll take a look at it" Like it was a total accident. Bull ****. I guarantee it was because that plumber was dealing with my wife and thought he could just pull a fast one on her.

I remember when I was a kid my dad paying for a basic cinder block garage to be built, the guy put up the walls and bailed. Kept the $$. No roof, no door, just 4 walls. Then I was golfing with a random 3 days ago and he told me the exact same thing happened to him. Literally the exact same thing.

Plus my FIL is in the concrete business and he is the scum of the earth, so are all his friends who are also in the construction business.
 
I apply it to the entire industry because I have never ever ever spoken to someone on the topic of construction that doesn't have these stories to tell. So, this is not an isolated issue, it is a majority.

Plumber came out to our place and was doing some work. We get an itemized bill. Total is like $4,700 but then when I add up the itemized list it only adds up to $2,900. Weird. So I call and they're like "Ummmm, uhhh, that's weird we'll take a look at it" Like it was a total accident. Bull ****. I guarantee it was because that plumber was dealing with my wife and thought he could just pull a fast one on her.

I remember when I was a kid my dad paying for a basic cinder block garage to be built, the guy put up the walls and bailed. Kept the $$. No roof, no door, just 4 walls. Then I was golfing with a random 3 days ago and he told me the exact same thing happened to him. Literally the exact same thing.

Plus my FIL is in the concrete business and he is the scum of the earth, so are all his friends who are also in the construction business.
I hope all these horrible construction guys stay away from people in honest professions, like Dentistry, or Used Car Sales, or Lawyers, or Politicians, or Auto Mechanics, or Priests, or Sales, or Consulting, or Cable TV, or Policing.
 
I hope all these horrible construction guys stay away from people in honest professions, like Dentistry, or Used Car Sales, or Lawyers, or Politicians, or Auto Mechanics, or Priests, or Sales, or Consulting, or Cable TV, or Policing.

I can't even pretend to argue with any one of those examples. I'm in the thick of shady construction right now though.
 
I apply it to the entire industry because I have never ever ever spoken to someone on the topic of construction that doesn't have these stories to tell. So, this is not an isolated issue, it is a majority.

Plumber came out to our place and was doing some work. We get an itemized bill. Total is like $4,700 but then when I add up the itemized list it only adds up to $2,900. Weird. So I call and they're like "Ummmm, uhhh, that's weird we'll take a look at it" Like it was a total accident. Bull ****. I guarantee it was because that plumber was dealing with my wife and thought he could just pull a fast one on her.

I remember when I was a kid my dad paying for a basic cinder block garage to be built, the guy put up the walls and bailed. Kept the $$. No roof, no door, just 4 walls. Then I was golfing with a random 3 days ago and he told me the exact same thing happened to him. Literally the exact same thing.

Plus my FIL is in the concrete business and he is the scum of the earth, so are all his friends who are also in the construction business.

Never call me to do work for you. I like to think I am an honest stand up guy, but I never want to work with you. Your attitude alone makes it sound like it would be a living hell.


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Never call me to do work for you. I like to think I am an honest stand up guy, but I never want to work with you. Your attitude alone makes it sound like it would be a living hell.


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Lol. What an ******* I am. I just expect the person to do the job they say they will do, in the time frame they say they will do it, for they price they tell me. I'm obviously the worst.
 
I'm wondering why contractors take on more work than they can do effectively. If they make people angry, doesn't this eventually hurt their bottom line? Wouldn't it make more sense to only take on work you can do in a reasonable amount of time and keep customers satisfied? I have no idea not working in the industry. I'm just wondering.
 
I'm wondering why contractors take on more work than they can do effectively. If they make people angry, doesn't this eventually hurt their bottom line? Wouldn't it make more sense to only take on work you can do in a reasonable amount of time and keep customers satisfied? I have no idea not working in the industry. I'm just wondering.

From an outsiders perspective. They get paid whether they take longer or not, or underbid or not. There is no real reason to not take on work they can't complete on time other than pissing someone off that will pay them regardless. So the hell with it, get money get paid. Let the chips fall where they may.
 
Yeah I gotta agree with @Beer here. @bigb, if companies are underemployed, than their timeline should have been adjusted accordingly when telling new clients info for the job. That’s a really pisspoor reason for being behind.

@Beer. How much have you paid the guy? What %?

Out here, the general rule of thumb is 1/3 up front, 1/3 when halfway done and 1/3 when finished. My idiot friend paid a guy 100% up front. The guy never showed. Ended up just sending someone out in evenings and nights and what should have been 3-5 months became 16 or something lmao.
 
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This post is long (like babe-esque) but,

To clear a couple things up for @JazzGal and @Wes Mantooth:
95% of my work is through General Contractors. They secure the work and then tell me about it. A lot of the time, I don’t even give them a bid. They know what my prices are and figure that in. When I do give bids (contractors I don’t do a lot of work for) I go by what the plan shows. The price I give them is what I charge, unless there are changes. If it’s something like a remodel or basement finish, that happens almost 100% of the time. The fact that a plan shows (for example) 75 outlets, 35 recessed lights, 0 cable tv or data outlets, and 20 normal lights; but the actual numbers end up being 100, 50, 12, and 25 is a big change. Am I supposed to eat that? Would you?
As I said before, nobody has enough employees right now. I get head hunted at least once a month. I have had recruiters from the union show up at my front door multiple times begging me to join and work for them. If nobody has enough guys, but everyone still demands their work be done, which gives? It’s not a secret that there aren’t enough tradesmen in the valley, state, or country. But that isn’t stopping anyone from remodeling their offices or homes or building newer bigger homes.
I am upfront with everyone I talk with about my schedule. Right now, I’m pretty much booked solid through at least the middle of November. I tell everyone that. And that’s just the work I know about right now. Like I said, my main two contractors get the work and then tell me about it. One is really good about keeping me in the loop, but the other likes to surprise me a couple days before he wants me there. How am I supposed to handle that? I do the best I can. I work probably 60 hours a week on average. That’s on site work. Then I still have to find time to do my office work. And find time to take my wife out on occasion. And find time to attend my kids sports and other activities. All to listen to people like Beer bitch about how we don‘t show up.
As far as payment goes, I don’t charge a dime up front. The only time I do is if I’ve got to purchase a bunch of expensive materials or the like. Honestly, I would probably not hire someone asking to pay them anything up front. If they say they need the money to order the materials, I offer to go with them to their supplier and pay for it in person, with delivery directly to me. That way I know I will at least get that material if they bail. I charge 70% AFTER completion of the rough (ready for drywall) and the other 30% upon full completion. That means I float hundreds or (often) thousands of dollars for weeks, all while I’m still having to make payroll, pay for the material, pay for fuel, make my vehicle payments, make the insurance premiums, etc. And then sometimes people don’t like to pay very quickly, and that stretches to months.
I would be very curious to see @Beer answer these questions:
Did you have an accurate and professional set plans drawn for your job? Or are you winging it; designing and making decisions as you go?
Are you using a general contractor? Or are you “doing it yourself”?
How many changes or additions have you made to the job since the bid stage? That would include any time you’ve changed your mind about anything (paint color, location of something, etc.). Did you get change orders before having the new work done?
When presented with an invoice, how quickly do you pay it?
How much notice did you give these contractors? Did you call with a month’s notice? Two weeks? The day before?
There’s probably a few more that I’m not thinking of right now.
 
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This post is long (like babe-esque) but,

To clear a couple things up for @JazzGal and @Wes Mantooth:
95% of my work is through General Contractors. They secure the work and then tell me about it. A lot of the time, I don’t even give them a bid. They know what my prices are and figure that in. When I do give bids (contractors I don’t do a lot of work for) I go by what the plan shows. The price I give them is what I charge, unless there are changes. If it’s something like a remodel or basement finish, that happens almost 100% of the time. The fact that a plan shows (for example) 75 outlets, 35 recessed lights, 0 cable tv or data outlets, and 20 normal lights; but the actual numbers end up being 100, 50, 12, and 25 is a big change. Am I supposed to eat that? Would you?
As I said before, nobody has enough employees right now. I get head hunted at least once a month. I have had recruiters from the union show up at my front door multiple times begging me to join and work for them. If nobody has enough guys, but everyone still demands their work be done, which gives? It’s not a secret that there aren’t enough tradesmen in the valley, state, or country. But that isn’t stopping anyone from remodeling their offices or homes or building newer bigger homes.
I am upfront with everyone I talk with about my schedule. Right now, I’m pretty much booked solid through at least the middle of November. I tell everyone that. And that’s just the work I know about right now. Like I said, my main two contractors get the work and then tell me about it. One is really good about keeping me in the loop, but the other likes to surprise me a couple days before he wants me there. How am I supposed to handle that? I do the best I can. I work probably 60 hours a week on average. That’s on site work. Then I still have to find time to do my office work. And find time to take my wife out on occasion. And find time to attend my kids sports and other activities. All to listen to people like Beer bitch about how we don‘t show up.
As far as payment goes, I don’t charge a dime up front. The only time I do is if I’ve got to purchase a bunch of expensive materials or the like. Honestly, I would probably not hire someone asking to pay them anything up front. If they say they need the money to order the materials, I offer to go with them to their supplier and pay for it in person, with delivery directly to me. That way I know I will at least get that material if they bail. I charge 70% AFTER completion of the rough (ready for drywall) and the other 30% upon full completion. That means I float hundreds or (often) thousands of dollars for weeks, all while I’m still having to make payroll, pay for the material, pay for fuel, make my vehicle payments, make the insurance premiums, etc. And then sometimes people don’t like to pay very quickly, and that stretches to months.
I would be very curious to see @Beer answer these questions:
Did you have an accurate and professional set plans drawn for your job? Or are you winging it; designing and making decisions as you go?
Are you using a general contractor? Or are you “doing it yourself”?
How many changes or additions have you made to the job since the bid stage? That would include any time you’ve changed your mind about anything (paint color, location of something, etc.). Did you get change orders before having the new work done?
When presented with an invoice, how quickly do you pay it?
How much notice did you give these contractors? Did you call with a month’s notice? Two weeks? The day before?
There’s probably a few more that I’m not thinking of right now.

Not sure why you’re taking this personally. I see this as a criticism of GC’s, not people like yourself.
 
Not sure why you’re taking this personally. I see this as a criticism of GC’s, not people like yourself.

I hate the fact that assholes lump all contractors into the same category. He’s having a bad experience right now so we’re all a bunch of dishonest pricks that screw everybody over.


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I would be very curious to see @Beer answer these questions:
Did you have an accurate and professional set plans drawn for your job? Or are you winging it; designing and making decisions as you go?
Are you using a general contractor? Or are you “doing it yourself”?
How many changes or additions have you made to the job since the bid stage? That would include any time you’ve changed your mind about anything (paint color, location of something, etc.). Did you get change orders before having the new work done?
When presented with an invoice, how quickly do you pay it?
How much notice did you give these contractors? Did you call with a month’s notice? Two weeks? The day before?
There’s probably a few more that I’m not thinking of right now.

First off, @bigb I'll apologize for the generalization. That is a fair complaint and I apologize. But, also I've never heard anyone ever having an on time on budget build, reno, project, etc .... pretty much anything that involves anyone in the construction industry is going to be hell.

1. Not sure how to answer this. This is an existing house being remodeled. So we had each part come in, walk through, we told them what we wanted, picked out what we wanted from their inventory. So for painting they measured every room. For carpet and wood flooring same. For light fixtures and outlets same. They knew exactly what we wanted and we had product picked out for them to use. Should have been no surprises.

We were short on flooring in the master bathroom. Right where the tub needed to go. So of course that flooring is out of stock, so the tub can't get put in. So the plumbers are now delayed. Once again, they came in and measured and knew exactly what was supposed to go where. But we do have about 8 boxed of unopened flooring that goes to other rooms left over, so that is great. Strike one against the construction industry.

2. General contractor or the most part but we are at the house making decisions when stuff comes up. There seems to be an ungodly amount of miscommunication or no communication between the GC, the workers, the guy that works under the GC. No one is ever on the same page. Strike 2 against the industry.

3. Not much is changing. If anything they tell us it would be easier and cheaper to do B instead of what we had wanted as A. And if it makes sense we ok it. But then the easier and cheaper option turns into longer and the same price or longer. Like putting in a janitor sink istead of a farm sink in my wifes flower studio. Was supposed to be more functional, which I'm sure it will be, but not cheaper, well not after repariing walls, moving plumbing, tile back splash etc ......Strike 3.

4. I pay invoices as soon as I review them and make sure they aren't full of bull ****. Which, guess what they always are. I'm never holding things up though. I want this done ASAP.

5. We've been doing this since June. Move in date was supposed to be mid July, then end of August, now end of Sept. All because if one group ****s up then everyone else is pushed back, and so on and so forth.

6. An example. Handyman is doing the bathroom, I ask him about just tiling in the shower instead of putting in a fitted one or what not. He says, no problem, super easy, will be $2,500 at most. I get a bill for $6k. And the god damn shower isn't even done. Still need to be grouted, a few more rows of tile, fixtures, etc ..... It's been almost a month since it was started on.

I'd be willing to bet if you surveyed 100 new build or remodel customers. You'd get 1 or maybe 2 positive responses. With probably 85 highly unsatisfied customers and a few whatever's. Like I said I have never ever ever heard of a positive build or remodel. Not once. And I obviously talk about it to a ton of people right now. It's always over budget, and way behind. I understand not everything is in your control but don't act for one second like the ****** ones are in the minority because that is an absolute lie.

I am sure your are great. I'm sure you are. But dates with your wife, office work, etc .... are not my problem nor your customers problem. I just want people to show up when they say, do what they tell me they will do, and charge me what is agreed upon. If that makes me an ******* so be it.
 
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