I’m just going to highlight the issues I had with the other contractor. He really didn’t complete the job, but he finished enough that I could do the work.
· We signed a contract with the work he would perform. He would be paid once a week a fixed price amount. I started noticing through my Ring camera he wasn’t working every day and most days he wasn’t working 8 hours, but he was getting a full week’s pay. He was notified what I was noticing. I explained to him, the contract was a fixed price and he was only going to receive the agreed amount. He was getting paid for not working and I knew this was going to become an issue during the last weeks of work. He then told me when he wasn’t going to work and to not pay him. However, what I was trying to avoid happen. The job wasn’t complete, but he had receive all of the fixed price money. He was now in his mind working for free. He didn’t take in to account the days he received payment and not worked. The last weeks he knew he had exhausted the agreed contract amount so, he tried to make up issues to bill me. Even though throughout the project when he had issues, he told me how much it would be and I would say, yes or no, then pay him the agreed amount that week. Now, that he’s been working a month without pay. He started claiming I’m not paying him, ignoring the fact he got paid days without working.
· He really didn’t take pride in his work. The house looks good, but don’t look to close.
· He convinced me to put in new windows, and we agreed on an installation amount, but when I asked him when he was going to seal the outside, he claimed the installation amount only include the inside and I needed to pay him more for the outside. Good Lord. I paid someone else to fix the exterior of the windows.
· We agreed, he wouldn’t install the kitchen cabinets, kitchen backsplash, or the exterior windows per the contract, since he felt he should have been paid more.
· When we ran over budget, I requested a cost breakdown so I could see if there was something, we could take off the list in order to bring the budget back in line. Because I can paint if it would bring the budget back in line. He made up excuses as to why he hadn’t sent it line item budget. The install of the installation was in the original contract. He gave me a credit of $600 for the install but I had no idea if this credit was correct. He hired a sub to install it for $3,600, which I had to pay. Which blew up my budget even more!
· Per his contract this job was to take 30 to 45 days. It took almost three months and he still didn’t complete the contract as agreed.
· He claimed his girlfriend threw away the receipts for the purchases.
· I realize this is an old house, but he kept finding issues.
· Oh, did I mention he was a distant relative.
Do not start a project until you get the requested documentation first, like line item budget and completed W9. If possible, go with the contractor when they need materials.