When to Cut Your Losses with a Contractor
Saturday, August 9th, 2008
This has been a hard lesson for me to learn - having dealt with a ton of great, ethical, hard-working contractors, I just hate to deal with those that just can’t get the job done right! We recently decided to upgrade our curb appeal a bit by painting our outdated blue trim. In order to brighten up our dingy back patio, which is huge and shady but a bit dark, we also asked the painting team we found on Craigslist to paint the ceiling white and the cement patio a brick red color. Whenever I show a house with painted cement, I always love the look, which is so much fresher and cleaner than bare gray cement.
Anyway, we hired a couple who seemed grateful for the work, and they showed up right on time on Saturday to powerwash and prep so that they could paint on Monday. Monday came and went with no paint crew. Tuesday, one painter showed up in the mid-afternoon and ran out of primer within an hour, he left and didn’t come back. Wednesday, they were here for another hour before the spray gun clogged, which apparently made it necessary to leave for the rest of the day. Thursday, they promised me again that they would have the ceiling and floor finished by Saturday, since my husband’s 30th birthday is Sunday and I have 100 people coming over to enjoy our newly painted patio.
Friday, they finally finished priming the ceiling, no paint yet, plus they have covered the floor in overspray and drips, as well as any nearby plantlife, including Ori’s prized tomotoes and our grape vine!
Saturday, scheduled to show at 8, they rolled in around 12 and painted about 1/3 of the ceiling before leaving. On top of that , I realized that they taped on top of the area that should be painted, so every edge will have to be hand-painted 2 or 3 times.
I am finally through. If they ever answer their phones again (conveniently, they don’t even have VOICE MAIL - who doesn’t have voice mail?!) they are really going to hear it, and I will be asking for a full refund of the labor costs that I paid upfront, as well as for any materials that they don’t have receipts for.
Lesson learned, and I will be up on a ladder until partytime tomorrow, touching up the crappy paint job and trying not to scream!
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