Why we're late

We're doing a master bath remodel and wouldn't you know it, the contractor we've been trying to schedule finally called and said they could come finish up our bathroom on Tue, Oct 12th.

That meant ...
- We needed to drop everything on Monday, Oct 11th and prepare the bathroom for him (gut the bathroom).
- On the day he came (Tue, Oct 12) we needed to supervise the work and assist him (makes the work cost less)

Nothing we could do to change this, we've been trying to schedule the contractor for two months!

The work is done (bathroom looks great, see photo below), but we lost two days this month with the issue release. 

One little thing left to do: adding the backsplash to the vanity ... but the magazines comes first now that the work we could not reschedule is done! Will be adding the backsplash after the magazines get released.

My sympathies

My sympathies Joe,

We're in the midst of a Master Bath and kitchen gut and remodel/update. We contracted the work in July and with luck it will be done by Christmas. It feels like we're camping.

Glad It's Done

Sometimes getting this kind of work done is real irritating. You never know when they are going to be back to do some more work.

We're done with remodel work fortunately. Last bit was to replace some old carpet with vinal flooring. We had a schedule date that was 5 weeks out. With a maybe sooner if someone cancels. I decided not to wait on packing stuff up and getting it moved. That paid off as 2 weeks later I got a call that the folks who were scheduled for that day were not ready. Could they come that same day and they would get it done in one day. Oh absolutely says I. They got it done and a couple of days later every thing  was put back.

We are now happy campers.   Jack

Remodel

I completely understand. We're in the middle of a horribly botched kitchen remodel and we should be getting our countertops finally next week. Our kitchen hasn't been useable for almost 2 months now.

Home Depot did a horrible job with a contractor which did a job like the Three Stooges would have done (we had to hire  second guy to fix everything, all out of pocket for us) and Home Depot did a worse job making good on anything. The promised a refund on the install fees and we were lied to left and right by the management we talked with during this insanity. We still haven't gotten that money back, over three weeks after when it was promised.

So for what's it worth, I feel for ya, Joe.

Any remodeling we needed was finished 10 years ago.

I'm wondering if contractors have so much problem doing the work on time, why am I having to say NO to six calls per day every day from contractors trying to drum up work?

Welcome to my life.

If you think the smaller jobs are fun… try getting them to do the bigger more complicated work.  Like a full house or a new store a rebuilding a mall or office building…. They take forever have days and weeks when nothing is done and try to find every excuse in the book to increase the budget.  Then they blame the design team to the time or charges.  
I gave a builder a list of 18 things they needed to bid out.  Labeled A1-A4,  B1, ect. Each detailed on there own sheet.  And he totally missed two of the items (including the single largest item) And didn’t use my names or numbers in the bid so it took my 20 minutes to figure out what he missed bidding on.

Another time I had a builder building a jewelry store and he missed a 24’ wide bank of windows.  They just continued the block wall.  You would think the footing for the steel columns to hold the header would have clued them in but nope, I guess they just thought the three big steal members they didn’t use were extras….? The mason even had to cut the block to fit over/around the anchor bolds for the columns…. And still did not question it,

A friend of mine (he is an Architect) and I were at a mutual friends house for a party. A young man just about to graduate high school said he wanted to go into Architecture and we both blurted out “No” before he was finished speaking.  I think we crushed his dream.  At least I hope we did.. But better now then after he spends years in school. 

I keep saying one day instead of detailing the drawings I will just type “Do whatever you want…. You are going yo anyway.”  I drew 3 building sections,  labeled the height of my second floor from the first floor have 4 complete wall sections (foundation to roof) and at least 5 more detail blow ups and yet my whole house if 12” to tall….  And that is my own house!  I caught it at the end of the day but it was cheeper to just buy taller drywall then to fix it.  That mistake was by the GC, the framer and the Supplier.  Because the house was different then normal, but they didn’t bother to read the sections as the “knew” what they where doing so why read this sections and details?

No if you find a good contractor consider it about equal to hitting Lotto.  It is like a gift from the gods.  Most contractors come from the other direction…

Ok perhaps I am being harsh.  It is just 80% of the contractors giving the rest a bad name.

That said if you ever get depressed about your contractor give me a call I have a sure fire way to cheer you up.  I will tell you one of my hundreds of horror stories.. Then you will think you don’t have it too bad after all.  

-Doug

you left out.........

"field verify" when the architect is just stumped or lazy.   Drawings that dont get overlaid so mechanicals run through skylights, mislabeld coded notes that have grab bars on the base in restrooms. Elevations and cuts that dont match or have different dimensions.  Walls with no connections to anything. Doors and dry erase boards over light switches. I always enjoy drawings that if followed would have the asphalt higher than the curb.  Architect pricing to owners that would not be possible in third world countries. Total disregard for fire codes but meeting them to finsih a building should not cost more. Specs for products discontinued years earlier or chosen because of the kick backs to an architect.....hundreds of horror stories on the other side of the fence too. World of the endless RFI. 

Russ, what part of the country are you in?  In central Ohio we are forced to use companies we would never consider normally only because of the shortage of manpower and overloaded contractors that wont take more work. The construction bubble will burst at some point but here we have been 3 or 4 100 percent busier the last couple years. 

I'm near Los Angeles

one of my close friends is a general contractor.  He did the work on our house, the completion was delayed because of difficulty finding sub contractors at the time.  The only screw up was that due to earthquake requirements, we had to hire an engineer to draw up the structure to do what the architect had drawn.  The engineer had made a header on one exterior wall by nailing three 2x4's to each other to make a 4x6.  The building inspector took one look at that and told my friend to rip it out and put in a actual 4x6 beam.  That was the way my friend thought it should be, but he was following the engineer's blue prints!

On a previous remodel I had hired an electrician to upgrade my electrical in the house.  They put in all 20 amp breakers, and the inspector failed the work and would not let the power company make the permanent hook up.  I was working at the time, so was unable to catch the building inspector for over a year, while we made do with a temporary hook up.  The building inspector kept writing up that they had to use 15 amp breakers with #14 wire.  

When I was home when the building inspector came by for another inspection, which failed for the same reason.  I told the inspector that the electricians insisted that the had rewired with 10 ga. wire so it should be good for 20 amps.  When I asked the inspector about it, he said that he would bet that while they used 10 ga. where  they did the work, that the did not open up the walls and replace all of the old wire.  My house was built in 1954 originally, and all of the houses built at that time in Lakewood had 14 ga. wire for lighting circuits.

I said that I've been going round and round with the idiots that did the rewire.  I asked what if I shut off all breakers, turn on all of the light switches, and then turn on one breaker at a time.  Any breakers that turn on lights, I'll go to Home Depot and pick up 15 amp breakers and install them in those circuits that control lighting.  He said that will work, so I did it, got the 15 amp breakers, and replaced the 20 amp units in all lighting circuits.  It took me almost and hour to go to check out the circuits, go get the breakers, and install them.  He came back the next day, look it over and signed it off.  The idiot "electricians" didn't understand that when you hook a 10 ga wire to an existing14 ga wire, you have not rewired it with 10 ga., the smaller wire determines max load!  

I often joke that I should

I often joke that I should get a job teaching Architects how to draw (I am NOT an Architect). But Architects are to cheep to pay me to teach them.   I had one job that no one in our design office could read the plans from the architect on what was happening with the crazy mezzanine in a huge grocery store,  I spent 3 hours looking at the drawings and had to mark them all up because the section cuts and building cuts were ALL in the wrong place from where they were actually cut,  once I relocated his cut marks it all worked….So I do understand the issue.  
And my drawings have a lot of VIF (Verify in Field) but that is usually because I can’t tell from the provided info what is going on or I don’t trust the dimensions for various reasons and the owner of the building won’t pay me to field measure…. 

It can be nuts out there.  I spent over a week drawing details for openings and doors and Windows and soffits and such (we had a very particular look the owner wanted). Then visited the project to find out nothing was done even close to the way we showed…. There went a week of my life…

I would tell you my opinion of inspectors but this is a polite forum so I can’t…  I will say I had one shut down a building site because the “3/4” plywood was a metric size….  
 

As for the (3) 2x4s  vs (1) 4x6.  That IS odd.  But with modern lumber a well glued and screwed beam may be stronger then the random 4x6 with its defects checks and knots.  Still I would have used a couple micro lams if it needs that much strength.  
 

-Doug 

So good luck with the remodel.

The horror stories are endless i should write a book (but no one would buy it) 

Mrs. Fugate called...

Mrs. Fugate called and said to put the seat down.  

Randy

Ouch

Douglas - I’ve been an architect for over 30 years and now work for government as the supervisor of the permits and plan reviews. Your comments are on the mark with regard to the drafting community but most architects (here) do a great job. Our inspectors rely on good plans so I try to make sure they have what they need in the field. “Field verify” seldom cuts the mustard with the exception of material finish or colors. 
 

It is surprising how few builders know the code. It is also cliche that contractors start jobs and disappear for weeks or months. I encourage homeowners to write into their contracts a way to hire someone to finish a job and pull it from the builders budget. We shouldn’t have to tolerate this behavior. 

Neil

Good idea about modifying the contract.

Fortunatly we have always had good luck with our contractors.

Jack

Our contractor