As a contractor myself, anytime my company makes a mistake within our control, we will correct the issue at no cost to the client. Yes it eats up money from the company but that is why we have overhead and insurance.
Thank you, jason! I like what Sir Shawn says here. And despite my warning tone in the video, I really believe in providing a lot of tolerance for you contractor. It's not an easy job at the best of times. There has NEVER been a job site in the world where numerous mistakes weren't made, because construction work is both technical and creative. My big thing always is, when problems arise, does your contractor shoot straight with you? Do they really put forth an effort to improve the situation? If so, meet them halfway. You've got a keeper. It takes a good contractor AND a good client for a job to go well. Trust and good faith are always the key elements in a project.
In the UK, if they mess up, but ask for payment. In short, once you get to court, the judge far more likely to be in favour of the customer if the customer has paid. Main reason being, things happen. It might not be totally down to the contractor. But if you don't pay up, you could in turn put the contractor, their company and their livelihood at risk. They might have children that need feeding. By not paying, the judge could also see it that you never intended to pay and just looking for a way out. Always going to be Chancers in the trade. But if they genuinely aren't any good, they'll soon go out of business
I knew a handyman years ago that was AWFUL. He'd remove wallpaper and punch holes in the sheet rock, calling the customer at work to say, "Well, I know why they put up wallpaper; it was to cover up holes." He obviously wanted to make more money replacing sheet rock. He also told me he'd take a steak out of their freezer and cook/eat it. Moral of the story is, NEVER let a stranger inside your home when you're not there!
Now adays I assume there are cameras working everywhere. I tell my employee to assume the same and never snoop or touch things that are none your business.
Sign only fixed price turn-key agreements and that becomes a non-issue. YOU should not be “ordering” anything. There is a huge difference between hiring an hourly tradesman that you have to manage, and hiring a contractor who IS the manager.
A friend had someone building his house for “time and materials” and the guys were over there sanding in some wood trim for a very long time. Then he caught them taking half of it to another job
I’ve ran into a situation where the owner insisted on using the previous bidding contractor materials quote. My materials numbers were lower. At the end of the job, she complained and blamed me about the extra left over.
@@manillafresh57 If you are buying yourself then you may end up paying more for material than if you let the contractor do. I always do labor plus material which in my case is mostly paint, and I pass my contractor discount on to the customer. This makes for a very good selling point. I dont mark up my material. And any material left over is the homeowners to keep. I dont even want it because then I have to either store it or get rid of it which can cost me money. I figure my travel time in gathering materials into my labor price and the way I see it. I need paint anyway. The state would likely rather me not do it this way because by marking the price up that means they can collect more in sales tax and I see no reason to give the government more money to spend when they cant show themselves capable of responsibly using the money it gets now.. I digress. When I estimate I give the customer a "worst case scenario" on the material portion and tell them up front that the material is intentionally estimated to be higher then it will likely come in at. This is to cover things that may be unforeseen or unintentionally overlooked. such as the rare case of them deciding they want different color trim in every room. At the end of the job. They only pay the actual price which 99 times out of 100 comes in at less than quoted unless they make changes. and sometimes even then its covered. If I make a mistake on my end. and the material comes in at more than what I quoted I eat the difference. All my estimates are worst case scenarios unless we come across something really unforeseen such as the time i was rolling a ceiling and my roller went through the ceiling because at some point wasps had built a nest up there and ate through most of the sheet rock. Looked fine till I started rolling. Now THAT is unforeseen.
I worked for a contrsctor that did shady stuff like that..... i quit because of it. Im irish and i love doing honest, beautiful work! There is no honor in being a skallywag! Take pride and honor in the work you do fer goodness sake! Great video my friend
My mom's church's deacon was a shady contractor but my grandmother hired him. He took advantage of my grandmother by telling her they built the house... the shell no sheetrock, paint, etc. My dad knew how to do all that work so he finished all that. Moral... people are people (good & bad) regardless of their title.
Mr Jason. You've omitted one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ---- if not THE most prominent one, in which contractors display dishonesty, cheating, lying, stealing, comparable to as malicious as a (lying) politician, when the contractor's client is a single woman, who is unfamiliar and inexperienced with the inner workings of said projects . It is such an awful gut-wrenching thing to do! Makes one wonder how these men treat the women in THEIR own lives.
Damn right, Diamonds. I do most of my own work and I do it right. I'll bring someone in to do roofing, or install windows on the second story. I've paid for an architect, a structural engineer, a guy to run my main drain, an asphalt crew and tree trimmers. This is all since a very bad contractor experience about 25 years ago. I've remodeled half the house, so it's not just minor work. My work doesn't look like a DIY'er did it.
@@shgan1962 Nah usually with ppl like you we get 1/2 of what we paid for cuz the rest goes for your trucks / Boats and all your shits. Im done paying a the job that end up beeing shit anyway why do you think your reputation got so bad in the last 2 decade ???? because literally just 5-10% of you deliver a good job at a fair price for both parties.
Steve H, My neighbors had an ongoing project that lasted over a year with so many issues with trades (cracked concrete driveway, a custom FUBAR'd pool, a solar window that flew off the roof, mismatched flooring, etc.) One of my neighbor's friends who is a finish carpenter and sees me and my father always doing all our DIY jobs (plumbing, masonry, landscaping, painting, flooring, etc.) came over one day and told us we were doing everything right and just because you pay a so-called professional, doesn't mean you're going to get quality work. If you are able and have got the skills and patience, nobody is going to do a better job on your home than you are.
Great video. I have been a restoration contractor for several years. I always tell customers up front that there are four things that I cannot controll when it comes to completing a job: hold ups by the insurance company in approving estimates, delays from the building department regarding isuing permits and conducting inspections, availability of materials and the weather. In recent months, I have had jobs delayed significantly by one or all of these factors. i recently had an insurance company that took 6 months to okay an estimate. Because of COVID, I had to wait 4 month for custom LAM beams and another 2 months for specialty shingles. I had another job recently that was delayed by the City Building Department that took 3 months to issue a permit. These are not exagerations!!!
When I was a kid, my dad got a business going good and decided to have a nice house built for the family. The design was an award winning design he saw in an architectural magazine. The house was supposed to take 6 to 8 months to build from ground breaking to final trim. 2 1/2 years and 6 sets of contractors later the house was finished... with the basement still not completed with construction stairs still in place, the gas lines for the fireplaces firmly sealed inside the brickwork, a thousand other mistakes that took years to fix including incorrect wiring, crossed wiring, copper pipes welded to iron bends, an incomplete fill around the basement walls... Now my dad was not a 'bad customer' but he didn't take well to begin lied to his face or being taken for a ride either. For example he went out to check the work one day and found the entire brick laying crew sitting around doing nothing, on the clock. And nothing had been done from the day before either. He asked what the hold up was. "We don't have the bricks." "Where are the bricks?" "At the railroad yard." "Why are they there?" "No truck to bring them here." "How long have you been waiting for a truck?" "Three days." Dad points to the heavy duty flatbed truck standing right there, the type used to haul building materials including bricks. "What about that truck?" "That's my truck, I'm not going to use my truck to haul bricks." "D*** right you're not. You're fired." Around that time and area, there was no such thing as an honest contractor. But if you went around and found independents, you could find gems of people who could do the work, do it right, do it for a reasonable price that was good for both sides. That is how the things we could get fixed got fixed.
I cannot stress enough how important it is to know your building materials. Recently had a newer plumbing contractor tell me that my sewer pipe had rusted the reason for the backup. Clay pipes generally don’t rust so I called another plumber. The newer guys hadn’t been cleaning out the entire length of the line.
Been delivering lumber for 22 years!! Seen it all watch yourself be picky from start to finish . Building isn’t a trade anymore. Look at half of the subs on a job site you wonder how they even made it to work.
#1 and #2-Customer orders the materials that are shipped to the customer site. If your project exceeds $10,000-$15,000 (contractors bond)-require a performance bond for the cost of the job. Great information-I love this channel.
Great insight! I have been a helper to a contractor the last 3 years, and I’ve learned these things by observing. I’m thankful to work for a contractor who has integrity and doesn’t fall into these easy traps for money.
I'm semi retired. When I do decide to do a job I take the home owner to go get the materials. This way they can decide on the quality of materials themselves.
I NEVER let the customer get involved in any of my logistics. One, I now what is good and where to get it way better than they do and I'm way faster at it. Two, anytime I've let a customer get involved in any of my internal workings, they've always wanted a large discount in return for making my job way more complicated. If I get a customer that wants to "help," I tell them I'll consult and manage the job by the hour (this lets them screw around and take as long as they want and I still make money) or I try to slide them off on one of my lower quality competitors. (all my competitors are lower quality than I am) but allowing the customer in the middle of the job has ALWAYS led to big problems.
Great information and well said. I’m a remodel contractor in south Louisiana. It’s hard to draw the distinction between a good contractor and a bad contractor without sounding like you are downing the entire industry. This was a balanced presentation and much appreciated
Thank you, Matthew. I knew I would get backlash on this. But after encountering a million horror stories, some in which people's lives were legitimately screwed up, I decided it's more unethical to not say anything about it. I appreciate you watching and writing in!
I know this was a year ago, but I bet you've been very busy. I hope you're doing ok and didn't get damage from Ida. I'm in CENLA. We got slammed with Laura but Ida missed us. It's damn near impossible to find good licensed residential contractors where I live. I'm out in th woods so people don't want to come out here.
Yeah something i’ve noticed is sometimes the more experienced guys just tend to get more lazy and find out what they can get away with doing the bare minimum, less passion and diligence. Often it isn’t the novice helicopter pilots that crash, it’s the experienced ones that get complacent. Not everyone is like this though, I have a buddy who’s been in the trades for 30+ years and he’s still a craftsman who does it right.
@@anthonylemkendorf3114 Not always. In our neighborhood a lady asked for referral for deck rebuild. The highly touted builder took her money then ran, did not finish 1/3 of the job. You should see the pictures, a total mess. Also, he put the post in dirt not on concrete, did not use joist hangers, and the like.
My blood pressure went up several points with this video. After 3 new house builds and a major addition we encountered every one of these contractors cheats. Two contractors were well known with good reputations. To avoid this, DIY or forget the project altogether.
I had a bad contractor years ago. I paid the whole price upfront. Materials delivered, 2% of the job done after weeks of phone calls. Finally I figured out how to do it and did it myself. BTW, the contractor was my uncle.
Communication is the key. Be open and up front from the beginning about everything. Especially the things that may become problematic if things don't go perfectly. Because things rarely go perfectly!
Lemme just warn you now. Giving a client a reason to say no... is going to hurt business. And "exploration" sounds like a good idea... until you get into a job and find five different areas that there was no way to explore. Good luck though.
I just finished dealing with a nightmare repipe from polybutelene pipe to PEX pipe; a two-day job turned into a 10-week job; I stood my ground, filed complaints with the state plumbing board, and refused to pay the balance; in the end, I won; the most important: Find out if the work needs a permit, and ASK FOR THAT PERMIT before they start work; I had no idea of permits, I am now very schooled in such; thank you for this video.
As a retired residential and commercial contractor I would say this is great advice for homeowners! We built our business referrals only and never had time off because lack of projects or work. Residential in my opinion is a better way to go because its referrals/reputation where most commercial is just the lowest bid - scary actually. If you work on reputation and referrals only it serves both the client and the contractor. Clients know they what they are getting from your reputation and past performance from people they know. Contractors know what they are getting from the referral and it also helps to eliminate "tire Kickers" looking for an estimate to shop around for the lowest bid and received a higher percentage of projects we quoted against competitors (I say friendly adversaries since they did quality work also) . We always tried to be fair with pricing and alert clients of potential issues especially on repair/remodel projects prior to starting and did "test holes" with a scope. We had a policy of under $100-1,000 depending on the size of the project and would do the work with the clients understanding it could be an up charge but beyond that if damage was found to be worse than anticipated it would require a discussion in simple terms. I will share with contractors we also gave refunds on projects we quoted where damage repair was not as extensive as we thought - it amazes some clients to get money back and another thing we provided was when a project was complete we brought in professional cleaners and cleaned the entire home - that gets the clients attention. I now run a small handyman service to stay active and maintain the same principles of attention to detail, quality and I am a guest in my clients home!
Here's a few ways you can protect yourself from this; 1. Check your contractors license. you can do this online. this will tell you if its a legit license and if its still active and if there are disciplinary actions taken. 2. Ask for a certificate of insurance. this will protect your home from damages. If they have workers, youll need Workers comp on that certificate. Otherwise, if someone is hurt on your property, your insurance pays. 3. request a joint check agreement. This should be for all vendors. vendors can also place mechanic liens on your property. you want to make sure they get paid. 4. ALWAYS ask for a conditional waiver BEFORE you hand over any payment, and for the corresponding UNconditional waiver AFTER payment is made. This protects you from having liens placed on your property. It is in your best interest to learn more about this. 5. Hold back a retainer fee at the end of the job. up to 10% of the job. This is to insure all work was done with quality and that all subs and vendors are paid. make sure you collect all the unconditional waivers for all vendors and subs before releasing final payment. 6. small side note, ask for cutsheets for all materials they intend to use. this will let you know what your getting in advanced and you can verify this when it is installed. Any reputable contractor will do this as a part of doing business. If yours does not, it may just be hes not aware or doesn't have enough experience. Most contractor issues will be solved before they even start just by following this advice.
@@ltcajh a cut sheet is just a sheet with the specifications for a product that gives you some basic stats. It usually has some pictures too, so you can look at it and make sure you have the right thing in the material pile and you aren't getting a material swap done. Very common in commercial/industrial construction, fairly rare in residential (in my area).
Unfortunately this can go both ways. There are a lot of clients out there that want work done but don't necessarily want to part with their money. The customers can usually leave a review & rate a bad contractor & give other potential customers warning but there isn't anyway for good contractors to warn others of customers who like to skip out on paying their bill
I always include a "full scope of work", reasonable start and end date "weather permitting". and always have the customer sign a change order if there is any major change that comes up along the way. A signed change order always prevents the customer from forgetting the increased cost at the final draw.
I bought a flipped house that was a foreclosure. First time home buyer. I didn’t know anything! Within the first year I was finding all kinds of things. Skim coats of grouting flaking off in the showers exposing old flaking grout, spray and pray all throughout the house, moisture damage coming through some of the drywall. It was crazy. Even simple drywall nail pops. They cut every corner imaginable!!!! I will never look at a house the same way again! This last 4 years has taught me a lot!!
A lot of those flippers prey on first time home buyers. It becomes easier to spot 'quick flips' the longer you have been a homeowner. First time home buyers really need a knowledgeable person to accompany them on a home search. (I don't have much faith in home inspectors)
Hired a contractor to replace the concrete cap on my back stoop. After 13 months of waiting, I got another contractor that did my job in 2 days!!! In addition, the project turned out better than what the first guy said he would do.
As a contractor doing a renovation that needs a gut, I always explain that we don’t know what potential problems we might find…I always supply the estimate for the entire job and an estimate for just the demo…this way everyone feels more comfortable and a better estimate for the renovation portion can be adjusted if need be. With out an obligation for the home owner to feel like maybe they are being taken advantage of :) Great videos and love your channel!
@@davegordon6943 am drywall guy I tend to piss off my other trade buddies anytime I’m supposed to do “just some patches” and end up unraveling some poor families house with the nightmares I find behind the walls
@@swordofulster5661 I have had the same problem. I did a painting job that turned into black mold removal and eventually a complete new roof. I hate finding things that were not done properly in the first place and end up costing clients thousands to make it right.
I wish I had seen this sight a month ago. We had the worst experience with a contractor that we hired to paint our home. He did four of the five things listed here. (1) He hiked up the price when ran into termite damage that had to be repaired; ripped the kitchen wall out but took over a week to put it back due to the weather and his ability to work on our project for only about three hours a day for maybe two or three days a week. (2) he stole time-Sometimes he didn’t even show up nor did he call. He finally finished the outside wall but left the inside unpainted - just Sheetrock installed. I’m texturing and painting it myself. He even took a four day vacation that turned into 6 days in the middle of our project. By this time we were fed up and told him that we would get someone else to finish the job. That’s when he came over and finished almost everything in a day. (3) He threaten to place a lien on the home if I fired him stated that he’s put in too much work on the home. He kept telling us that he was giving us free work because he replaced boards that a previous contractor replaced already. He swore they were improperly installed and he couldn’t paint over it b/c it would make the paint job look bad. We NEVER asked him to do this nor did we agree to pay him for this. (4) We never saw receipts for the materials and he took everything with him that he bought. He was just horrible. I was thinking about lodging a complaint with BBB but he didn’t answer the two that were already there. I feel it’s my fault b/c I thought I did my due diligence but realized I hadn’t checked BBB until we were halfway into the project with him. DIY videos have become my best friend.
Sorry about your bad experience. I had just the opposite experience recently. The exterior paint job was delayed 7-8 months because of the painter’s health issues then by weather. His quote was quite reasonable. He used only S-W Emerald paint, replaced all soffit and facia boards where he found rot or damage, used Bondo on all wood joints and exposed nail heads to make them perfectly smooth, sanded and painted iron balcony railings, painted all gutters, downspouts, windows, doors and garage doors. He even took down all the recessed exterior down-lights from the soffits, sanded and spray painted them to match and installed new bulbs (that I purchased). He even pressured washed my walkway and part of my driveway. He went way over and above and exceeded my expectations. We couldn’t have been more pleased. There are some good guys out there but they seem to be rare and hard to find. Virtually every other contractor that I have used failed to complete the job. In those cases, I gave them their final payment before they were completely finished as I was pleased with their work thus far and there wasn’t much left to do. Four different contractors (subs) in different locations pulled the same fast one and disappeared as soon as they had my check. I’m slow to learn, I guess.
You forgot the classic "Over estimating of materials". Adding a few inches and feet/ square feet to thus that or the other adds up to lots of "extra" unused materials at the end if a job. They always seem to "disappear" from the jobsite. Or never are unloaded to begin with. Then they either return them for a "cash in pocket" refund. Sell them black market. Or store them up for basically FREE materials on other jobs ( which they then chage the next victim for). So they basically get a 3x free bonus on YOUR dime. Trust me an extra 20 studs, 10 gallons of Kilz, 6 sheets of plywood, 10lbs of nails, 6 bundles of shingles, 4 boxes of ceramic tile, 75ft of 12/2 romex, 3 boxes of red oak hardwood flooring, trim wood, insulation ....etc etc etc. Trust me, that stuff adds up QUICK!
Also, the crew has to be paid. So basically the contractor has to finish the job on his own money and then if the customer is happy, pay, if not, bad contractor. I guess it works
We had gone thru a bunch of bad contractors until a friend came across one that was really good. We’ve been using him now for all our projects and very happy. If I had 1 thing “bad” to say it’s he always takes longer than he says. But that’s because he wants things perfect and won’t hire help that doesn’t feel the same way. And he goes beyond our expectations.
That seems very tolerable, Rich. It's so hard to get a clean sweep these days, if that's the only real issue then I'd say you've got a good contractor on your hands 👍
I've always taken pride in my work, I have never tried to cheat a customer. But I would like to see a vid outlining the ways a dishonest customer will try to cheat the contractor. Oh yes, they are out there too.
Yep I do one job at a time if you can’t wait get someone else.but there is a real problem with homeowners changing what they want and think it’s all included you should do a video on that 😜
Had that hapen. Customer shooses paint colors. Decides once she sees a little bit on the walls that she doesnt like what she chose then cant understand why she is being charged for the extra material (paint) that she specifically chose and later decided she didnt like. Another problem is home owners who not only want what they paid for. But MORE than what they paid for. Example, Customer wants his old house painted and says "I know the house is in rough shape. But I'm not looking to pay for a total restoration. I just want to clean it up real quick so it looks good from the street." Now looking good from the street 50 feet away and going over everything from 6" inches away with a fine tooth comb like its restoration work is two separate things. Yet I've had people do just that..literally. I have no problem giving the customer what they are willing to pay for. You want just want to pay for a general cleanup. which in this case was supposed to be just a scrape peeling paint, spot prime and paint. I can do that. You want restoration work? where each board of the house is either brought down to bare wood or made to look perfectly smooth, I can do that too. But that costs a lot more. But you have to be willing to pay for what you want, and accept what you are willing to pay for. Especially when it was you who said what you were willing to pay for at the outset.
Or my other favorite, when the homeowner pretends to “not be available by phone” when it’s time for them to pay for materials by CC, when the contract didn’t include the contractor paying for materials… And then at the end of the job, the homeowner pretends they “didn’t know” materials weren’t included even tho it had been discussed both verbally and is written in the contract clearly in writing, and the homeowner tries to avoid paying. #DishonestHomeowners
I work mostly on old homes. When looking at any job involving an old house I would be very clear that there are many variables and I wouldn't know the extent of the work or the cost until I had done the demo. I always gave a estimated price range and made sure the client understood what was happening through out the process of "discovery".
@@Ev-eq8zn yes please do one on the clients that do not pay on time or at all the extremely picky clients that nitpick everything apart. Instead of making the contractors all look bad
What you're talking about are not corrupt or criminal customers yet they do need to be managed. I find many contractors are lacking personal management skills which very quickly leads to conflict and unmet expectations. Most of these things can be eliminated by proper written documentation which is another area I find most contractors unwilling to do.
I wish I’d seen this 18 months ago. Saw four of these. Signed an addition/renovation project in Mar of 2019 with a 30 day ground breaking, promised 180 build schedule and 240 day contractual limit. We are just now finishing the punch list. Good work mostly but his scheduling and excuses got old about 9 months ago. Can you do a video on how to fire a bad contractor and get out of the contract? We’ve talked to our lawyer when the contract limit expired but enough work was complete by then that he said it’d just make it take even longer. Lesson learned.
That's a pretty fair assessment. I kinda had my back up prior to watching since I'd worked in the industry for a couple decades. But this was REALLY fair to the customers and the industry could certainly use a little "cleaning up".
An honest contractor should not fear information such as this. A smarter client makes a better client. I'm a contractor/sub in the low voltage arena and have also used contractors/subs for work done at my home (I do NOT do high voltage!). I'd rather pay a bid fee up front for someone to take the time to fully scope the project than get a quick flat fee estimate only to see the price continually rise due to "unforeseen" events. Contractors need to be honest up front about potential issues and clients need to understand that some events do cause change orders to be needed. And clients need to check on work but not watch every single nail going in while asking a question every five minutes. Had a customer who literally set up a ladder next to mine and asked me about every move I made. I told him if he kept doing that, I'd have to charge him an hourly training fee.
I’ve always had my own account at a builder supply yard, and place orders myself - the builder supplies the skill (plasterer, bricklayer or tiler), and I have materials delivered every second or third day.... which stops material theft or spoiling of cement etc.... It also means that materials like sand/stone/cement are mixed at the correct strength - a lot of builders will use 1/4 of the cement and pocket the extra money. If you work out qty of materials per square metre or foot - it’s pretty easy to keep on top of the orders of material. I know of con artist builders who have taken half the cement off site and used on other jobs, or returned the material for credit and cash. Or guys who have ordered 10 grand steel beams for ‘internal support’ and then couldn’t show you where that beam was used.
I wish you'd do a video on how to deal with bad inspectors. I had a maintenance job in a manufacturing plant. There the township made it their mission to drive out the wrong kinds of business and people. You know anyone who makes an actual product. Nothing no matter how big or small could ever be approved without a lawyer. Fortunately the township had such a bad reputation that judges would often take it upon themselves to approve plans then review and often correct inspections. I had a tree fall on a home that I have owned for about forty years. The repair wasn't something I could do unseen. I only lived on the property for a couple years. Since then I've rented it to friends. The current tenant and close friend has lived there for a very long time. Even though it's in a different township I was terrified by the prospect of pulling the two permits I needed. To make matters worse the part of the house I didn't rebuild is framed very strangely. When it was time for the dreaded inspections I had knots in my stomach. Both inspectors completely understood the methods used in the repairs and gave me absolutely no problems. Still I wonder how I would have paid the legal bills if it was in that other township.
All good advice. I have a contracting business so I am often getting questions from friends who had a run in with a bad contractor. Sadly I usually tell them that once their money is gone they are unlikely to get it back. All they can do is suck it up, accept the fact they have been cheated and get on with life. A renovation gone wrong is worse than having your house burn down with no insurance. Yet what has always amazed me is people's willingness to get conned. There is on old saying that ' when something sounds to good to be true it usually is', and yet for some people this is precisely the moment their critical judgment breaks down.
So, as an avid DIYer, I'm pretty safe against most frauds. I will always do the demolition myself, so a contractor can perfectly estimate the job. And I will also do the finishing work (painting and whatnot). So I see their little corners being cut. I also know some materials (though as a DIYer you don't get in touch with different materials that often).
@@Carl55_jc Buddy, we are talking about another man providing work. Same as employer/employee scenario. If a contractor doesn't have a picture portfolio/website/google rating then the answer is obvious. But it seems like you have trust issues, so you rather attempt the impossible: form genuine, non-homosexual friendship with another man. Good luck.
@@matejmazur01 LOL, you're funny. Not sure what your point is.... or even if you're making a point... but if what you're trying to say is most contractors are honest, just say that. Me, personally, I don't believe that. My opinion is based on my own experience. Isn't it funny, that the guy in this video doesn't even start the video by saying most contractors are honest - as a matter of fact, he calls HIMSELF the "honest" carpenter.... If most contractors were honest, he wouldn't have to call himself that. He starts the video by, instead, saying "I know some good contractors". That, by itself, tells you something.
@@Carl55_jc So basically you will believe a guy thay calls himself "a honest carpenter". But, what if the opposite is true? My conclusion is: judge fairly. Talk and communicate openly - that is the only way to sift out the "dirt bags" and the bs'ers that just want to scam you of your hard earned money. I say the issue is poor communication among people, and covid is making it worse.
I've been a carpenter for over 20 years and I've seen each of those things occur. At this point I am struggling out on my own as a carpenter because I give an honest price, and get under bid by people who are going to use change orders to run up the price when I gave an inclusive that covered all potential problems. Yes my price seems a little high at the time, but in the end I'm not asking for another 10 grand on a project because of rot that should have been spotted in the beginning. I've never run away with the check, I've always tried to have honor and integrity. And I will not give a price to a job that I'm not comfortable doing myself. Glad to see someone like you is pointing out the major ways contractors rip their clients off. And I hope that someday honor and integrity will return to the industry.
I have always done my own work and even built my house. But I am at the age where I can"t do the big stuff. Wanting to build a smaller house but I do not trust anybody. To many friends have been ripped off.
I had a bad roofing contractor. They did the old material swap. I have a 960 sf home. There's salesman was in our home for three and a half hours. Drank my whiskey and told me stories of war in Afghanistan. My wife and I liked him very much with all the hero stories. The samples he showed me for my roof were awesome was a fiberglass rigid fiberglass roof telling me that their company was the only ones that made this. The roof had a hundred year warranty. At that point in time I really didn't know that much about roofing shingles or what it cost. All I knew is I wanted a roof for my retirement home and never have to worry about it again. Also told me that it would be one day my house was so small. Also had a flat roof over my three season room that needed replaced. Their company had a special nobody else product to put on that that would reflect the sun and make the room more comfortable. They came for installation there was three guys that worked for three hours ripped off half the roof and left. Came back the next day and was able to take off almost all the shingles and put on a special reflective sheeting that went on under the shingles. Also told me that they were the only company that made their own products. The third day they didn't show up at all with the job not even being halfway done. I happen to be off work that day my wife was going insane. at this point I checked the materials to see what they were putting on my roof also did a little education for myself on roofing. the product they were putting on under the shingles you could buy at Home Depot was relatively cheap. Jingles they were putting on my house or also just a standard fiberglass asphalt shingle not what I was sold by the salesman in his presentation. I called the company and told them that I was upset that this is not what we agreed upon and they told me they would be out to meet me the next day at 4:00. When I got home the roof was completely installed and they were gone. They then came and handed me a bill for $17,000. This was a single story 960 sf house with one valley. After getting two more estimates from other companies. After the fact. I gave them a check for $7,000 and told them this was market value I believe above market value for the quality of product they put on my house. Also on that flat roof they just put down a regular rolled asphalt roof nothing special and according to my neighbors they did not put it down correctly. They have put a mechanics lien on my home. I tell you all this and I know it's long but pay attention educate yourself before the fact and if you're too busy to be around when they do some of this work hire somebody to watch them.
I had work done recently by a contractor. I regret not asking more questions up front. The contractor thought when they were finished that we would sign off basking in the glow of the remodeled area. They were surprised when we reviewed the work and came up with our own punch list of about 30 items they needed to resolve before we would sign off. If we hadn't done this detailed inspection they would have walked and left us with a half baked job.
Seriously? I live in my rv, carry my tools, and do excellent work. I actually say no to jobs all the time. Working for new people who have been screwed by contractors is fun- they quickly appreciate the difference when an honest, skilled pro shows up. Pro tip - get rid of addictions, that helps...
@@blessedwithchallenges9917 we had a painter who smoked weed all day, a stone mason who was on meth and ecstasy, and other dead beats. As the one contracting and paying for the work you don’t always know who you’re getting. They hide it. You know after though. Of course addiction is not the only way contractors screw up but like you say it doesn’t help create or maintain a lucrative and fun business. What state do you work in? We can always use a good contractor.
@@ToddDouglasFox my son and I travel up and down the West Coast. Sometimes we cross the country... I've done work in Virginia, Tennessee, Pennsylvania and D.C., but mostly Oregon and Washington.
@@blessedwithchallenges9917 Such a cool lifestyle! Well, we are in Colorado. Let us know if you’re swinging by us. We are between Denver and the Springs.
Great info. Do your homework on contractors and ask a friend for a good one. We went through a series of contractors leaving us hanging until we found one (through a friend) that only worked one job at a time. He stayed within budget, was there everyday (except when waiting for an inspection) and finished ahead of schedule. We've moved across the country and wish we could have brought him with us!
A contractor located in Greensboro, NC pulls these tricks. He took a 50% deposit with no intention of ever doing the work. After two years of stalling, the threat of a lawsuit and lengthy, expensive arguments between my lawyer and his lawyer; his son, Tim Jr. showed up with a crew and started work. They substituted a cheap plate glass window for a door they were supposed to install. They then walked off the job two days before the agreed-upon deadline for completion. They said they could be back in a couple of months. They demanded pay for the work to date and put a lien on my house. My legal team is looking at options for suing the crooks.
4 all the reasons u've mentioned, I become a handyman. I almost do all maintenance work on our property: carpentry, plumbing, electricity, painting, roofing, gardening and landscaping. Not only I enjoy learning but I save money, and I deeply happy with the work...way way better than the work done by our previous expensive contractors. Most of contractors in US aren't professionals: clever enough to ask money, with poor quality of service. This is a robbery or cheating.
However...I can add one carpenter who is a gem. He bids the project...on paper. He never asks for money up front. He sticks with the price. He does beautiful work.100% honest.
And check your local BBB! My daughter had a guy convince her he needed full payment when he was halfway done then skipped out after completing only about 75% of the installation.
I work in software consulting, and the 'exploratory dig' idea is very similar to something that I do. Our client may want a large enhancement, but in order to properly estimate it, I have to do a design, look at the code, etc. We usually do these as a two-step process - I get approval for a small number of hours to do my due diligence and a design, and out of that approach comes the estimate for the actual work.
Hi Ethan. I love the videos you produce. The information you provide is so on point and is easy for beginner DIYers to follow. I am an architect, so I have experience on and outside the job of BAD contractors. Unfortunately, I have a cousin who is currently experiencing a mess with the contractor he and his wife hired to construct a bedroom addition on their house. And I have a friend who was the victim of a horrible contractor on her house addition. A viewer recommended making a Part 2 video on what to do when dealing with a project that has gone horribly wrong. That would be good.
Thank you, Alvin! I don't get to hear from many architects on the show, so I appreciate you writing in! I'm sorry to hear about the bad contracting situations--it just seems like everyone has these stories unfortunately. I definitely want to try to make a follow-up to this video. But I'll most likely have to get a lawyer on the show because next steps can lead into legal entanglements. There are still a few pre-legal strategies to try to employ though, so I'll describe those as well.
We had a roofing contractor who re-roofed the house, put in all the gutters, then never showed up to put in the down pipes. Mediation didn't work because he just said we weren't home at the agreed time to finish the job, an outright lie. In the end I had to source the materials and do the job myself.
Did lots of contracting where we did not pull permits. Am very schooled in the trades. Got maybe two call backs for minor issues over all the years. City I work in is very difficult to work in when dealing with the inspectors and constantly changing the dynamics, notorious for petty and expensive delays. Many homeowners I worked with did not want to pay the extra fees, did not want to wait and/or did not want to pay the new assessment in taxes on the improvements once completed. I was more than happy to oblige and worked with our known electricians and plumbers when we needed them who felt like wise. No longer work in the remodeling/rehab field. I had a good reputation. I still get calls. Also we did a lot of work on our own properties. Shut the door and did our thing. Demo was all piled into one room or a garage or some place inconspicious and hauled out on the weekends. Flip activity is huge where I live. Cannot tell you how many guys I met doing anywhere from 5 to 25 flips a year and these guys never pulled a permit or very rarely . A lot of these were major remodels.
@@thyslop1737 What happens when inspectors find out a job was done without a permit - especially when it changes the footprint of a house? In my township the assessor has photos of the exterior of all houses which makes me apprehensive about doing any construction without a permit. What's your experience? As you stated about inspectors - I wanted to move my electric meter 3 feet, which required shutting down power at the pole. I went ahead and bought the cable I needed for $13. When I contacted the electric Co. to turn the power off they told me I had to show a permit. I found out the permit cost $136, so I said to hell with it and didn't do the job.
@@riverraisin1 Stopped contracting about five years ago. The noose, the cinch just kept getting tighter and tighter iterally by the week as the we dodged many a bullet. The city hired a bunch of code enforcers in new Ford trucks to drive around even on weekends and generate revenue as they clammer for more money. Just no satiating them in their desire to suck you dry. Got busted twice. Issued cease work orders. Had to pay fines and pull permits. We did mostly gut interior remodel. A far amount of siding, not a lot. Changed so much and so fast with every new code and requirement just got sick of chasing it. Saw your response. Much more to say on this, but trying to finish a project deadline right this monment, Maybe I will comment back, but this is such a hot topic for me.. The comments for my notes, when I have time to address further, are Google earth, city takes the money with no liability, creep and expense of stuff needing a permit never required,.
@Mark OnTheBlueRidge So,you are an expert? What a joke . Fifteen years ago we did a 3/4 million remodel dollar for the son of a billionaire. The father was especially sick of the egregious nature of the local govt. He wholeheartedly approved. My last two whole house remodels, actually a house and a condo were for a rich Vietnamese doctor. He also was sick of how the city had railroaded him. We took it down to the bare studs. Rewired the whole house, ran new gas lines, new trim, lighting, sheetock, doors, cabinets, the whole nine yards. Enjoyed every bit of sticking it to the corrupt city. Talked to a buddy of mine still contracting, where I live three months to get a building permit. Wanna expedite it? 2k. My work? Total quality. Today with all the code enforcement trucks running 24/7 and Google Earth probably a lot harder to go under the radar. Much more to say. No time. If you were foolish enough to be bleed to death by those clowns, then you were none the wiser. Wait around to se how I hung a door for tge privilege of spending $200 to the city? Get lost. D we need standards? Yes! Should the bad contractors be hung out to dry? Yes. My beef? City has ZERO ACCOUNTABILITY and at the same time has their hand out. Not in the contracting field any longer.
As a co-owner of a construction company I have a bit of a different view of some of these items. On every project we do, there is ALWAYS (1) Scope Creep (client keeps adding items to fix or remodel but is surprised that yes- the bill keeps rising! (2) Time Creep- goes along with item #1, if you add to a project it will go on longer than the original time frame. I can't tell you how many clients will add significantly to a project but then expect that the original time-frame will be met! (3) surprise that a 30-50% down-payment (fully refundable if cancelled within two weeks of a project due date) is required to hold their project start date. We are normally scheduled out for 2-3 months for projects, if someone decides to cancel at the last minute and especially for a large project- it can cost us a lot of money. We still need to pay our staff! Since we started implementing this we haven't had any cancellations.
I'd say you answered your own question, K M. I know that stuff like this is eternally frustrating for contractors. But, since good contractors are in such short supply, and you're already booking at an advanced rate, it behooves you to start putting in protective clauses like your cancellation agreement, and make that THE FIRST THING THAT YOU TELL YOUR CLIENT. If you're in high demand, you can afford to be more choosy about your projects. Clients will know that you're worth your stipulations, and they'll do what they have to do to book you because they'll also know that they're able to trust you. I have no problem with clauses that protect contractors, even numerous clauses--clients just have to be informed of them beyond all shadow of a misunderstanding. It's the only way to protect everybody involved, and get things off on the right foot. Jobs that start really well have a much better chance of finishing very well.
It seems like this is a huge problem in the industry. My thoughts would be to state clearly to the customer and in the contract that all these "while your at its." will cost extra.
Great information here. As a homeowner I have found that too many subcontractors fail to realize many people are actually more than willing to pay well for honest, competent and hard working sub-contractors. It's cheaper in the long run! The problem is entirely too many cut corners and quality controls for short term, quick profits. It's no wonder they lack steady, reliable work in an economic downturn.
I think all of these tips can also be used when having customized items made from an artist too. I would apply all these to Etsy sellers and independent artists. A good one will go out of their way to show off why their thing is superior because they are proud of their work. Great video! Thank you for the tips, some I've never thought of.
That is the reason #1 why you have to have s contract where shows every little detail in regards change orders allowences, schedule, how often payments should be.. ALWAYS READ YOUR CONTRACT BEFORE YOU SIGN IT !! You will save tons of money!
THIS is a great channel. I have seen most of these problems, especially #4. Very good tips... basics that we tend to gloss over, or not enforce. Honesty, fairness and adhering to the agreement is the name of the game. Thanks for making such informative and well presented videos!
I am a flooring contractor in Florida and everything you stated that a lot of contractors do I see it all the time and I'm trying to wipe those contractors out you are totally right and I hope that everybody in the world sees this and understands and is able to decipher between a good contractor and a bad contractor because we are getting terrible names and one bad egg is destroying it for everyone thank you for making this video and you were totally awesome for doing it keep up doing what you're doing and good luck to you sir and I thank you for putting out this type of message to people so then they know what to expect whenever a bad contractor comes across them and they can immediately get away and hire a good contractor
I’ve worked for people who would use lumber from a remodel in someone else’s build and charge them for new lumber. He would replace people’s facia and if it wasn’t that bad, he would use the old facia from customer A and put it on customer B’s house and charge them for new lumber
I do everything myself now, from welding to fixing gas lines, Electrical and plumbing. Just renovated my kitchen too, next is the laundry. I love it, get to keep all the lovely power tools as well 😀
you hit it out of the park my friend...a few years ago I had a full remodel/upgrade done...it turned out to be a nightmare since I have never engaged in such a monumental task...the good folks were great...the bad forks were BAD!!! Excellent video...thank you
You forgot Number 6... Contractors to try to raise themselves up by bad mouthing, and putting down, other contractors. This practice is outright disgusting.
I agree with Steve on this one. There are a fist full and then some who are outright bad and do not have proper knowledge for the right scenario. As a contractor I still educate myself daily. Your typical handyman, is exactly as is with the title.
You forget the two fantastic contractors I mention in the beginning, Tom. But, all the same, I have zero sympathy or tolerance for bad contractors. They have made my job harder over the years by engendering mistrust in tradespeople as a whole. And they've put my clients in situations that range from sad to outright dangerous. Good contractors have absolutely nothing to fear from this video.
Thats an interesting perspective as well. Its all about fairness. Sometimes we assume things about people as well. People who work their asses off deserve respect and good pay. The market can be tough. I remember one time I was up on a roof inspecting with a handyman who was looking at the prospect of doing a flip for me. He pointed out some problems with the roof. Then he said "Alot of times it is these Mexicans". That was a red flag for me. He also mentioned that he had 16 felonies and a few other things he said made me really shy away from the purchase. Blaming Mexicans was racist. I was not impressed.
Thanks for your service. So many people out here scheming to get money instead of actually working. Over the last couple months contractors have been in and out of my mom's house trying to scam her into expensive services (one quote was to install a new drainage system in her crawl-space for 30k) that wouldn't address the issue she was needing. After talking with her about it we realized the issue was just a leaking pipe in the bathroom toilet and spigots. Repaired by a diff contractor for $400. That was it; all that was needed. Unfortunately she's older and lives alone now and they were scaring her into believing she had a serious mold issue and problems with drainage. Digging a new sump would address the issue of excessive moisture in the crawl space (dripping pipes) but not the actual issue (dripping pipes). Makes me sick. The best way to avoid being scammed is to learn about the problem(s) and DIY (if you have the know-how and expertise [of codes, regulations, etc] but when you have to hire out, stay on top of the contractor as best you can. I was raised to trust people and believe them at their word. Sadly times are changing and have changed.
I love that your father is your lead consultant. He probably has 20 -30 more years of experience than you. That means he has made more mistakes and learned from them.
Thanks for the heads up. Hiring a contractor is one of the most expensive things that anyone can do. Had I known all of the things that you talked about in your video, I could have spotted the contractor mistake that I ended up using for 2 weeks. Fortunately, I fired him because he lied to me about the building blue prints. The guy who drew up my prints advised me to get rid of him sooner than later. I got lucky because that guy could have ended up costing me a lot of money in the end.
Inigo Montoya (at the top of the Cliffs of Insanity): "I could give you my word as a general contractor!" The Man in Black: "No good! I've known to many GCs.
I like the idea of a exploratory bid, I’m going to remember that. I’ve never really ran into something that’s been really bad that it cost thousands more to do the work because of hidden damage. I also probably didn’t charge enough for the extra work, lol.
Enjoyed the video Ethan. I can relate to everything you said. I'm retired from our NC Public Schools where I was the construction manager and saw much of what you mentioned happen and this is our tax dollars paying the bills. I also would like to mention you need to keep a sharp eye on the architects too. To get these school jobs the architects bid low to get the job and then the project doesn't receive the attention and time that is needed during the design and many important things are overlooked. If it not caught before the project goes to bid then it's a change order and the contractor and architect get paid extra for it. Anyway, thanks for the video and y'all take care and God bless.
Thank you, Ron. That's eye-opening about large public school contracts! I know this stuff happens at all levels, but it's still shocking to hear about. Especially when the dollar amounts are that high!
What a fantastic service; every country should have one! Meanwhile, to sort the chaff from the wheat, ask your contractor for a full scope of the work in writing, including a breakdown of the materials. Chances are that the ones with integrity will oblige, and the 'chaff' will disperse to look for easier mortals to exploit.
I really like the idea of the exploration bid! I do remodels, and I swear, every time there's a much bugger problem I have to end up fixing, usually putting me a day behind. I'll talk to the homeowner, and I always feel bad for asking for a couple extra hundred dollars. I'll finish the job either way though, as promised. It just sucks when you end up doing all this extra work for free.
Same. I’m going to try some bids on a time and materials basis. But it seems hard to sell to people because they might assume you are going to try to cheat them. The alternative is that I underwrite the risk of their project. Which really sucks.
Exploration bids are useful. A buddy of mine had a contractor come out to his home and do some exploration before he made his final bid. Needless to say after the exploration (which reviled a lot) the renovation was off the table and the decision was made to raise the house and build new. Contractor who did the exploration was honest and told them they had no idea how much a renovation would cost with seeing some of the major issues.
As a small time, do it all myself, contractor, I would say this is all fairly accurate. I watched this video with extreme scrutiny and pretty much agree with everything he has said. However, many times communication breakdown is the biggest problem. A client will think he's getting one material and act like he knows what the contract is talking about but then once it's installed claim that it was an inferior material. Or they agree to a time of completion but after the exploration demolition or because of change orders requested by the client the new completion time is not thoroughly discussed or understood so the client feels taken advantage of. I would say in most cases the client feels cheated even though they are not. This is probably a conditioned response given how many sleazy contractors there are however; as an honest contractor, I can tell you, I'm constantly dispelling unwarranted worries of clients. But, I'm also extremely picky about my clients and I don't go chasing every job because I think it will be good money. I'm far more interested in a work environment of mutual respect and I prioritize my jobs as such... So my advice would be to find a contractor who cares more about the quality of work then he does the money. Then pay him really really well and he will be your contractor for life 👍
I totally agree! Especially the change orders. Had that happen so much. Clients not understanding the impact of their changes on the overall schedule. “Why are you guys not done, like you said you would” Well.. what about those changes that you had made?.. But that should not have affected schedule that much!.. Yes it does lady, yes it does”
I am in the process of having work done and am in consultation with a contractor that came recommended. So far so good. Instead of taking a draw on materials, which I have done in the past, he gave me a list of materials he would need for me to purchase ahead of time. I liked that. Everything seemed reasonable. Things are somewhat backed up right now in our area, so we’ll see how things go. Excellent advice regarding finalizing the agreement for the work. I really like your channel and have learned a lot, and I grew up around carpentry and plumbing, my Dad being expert at both. I was his helper and he tried to teach me but I just wanted to get off to go run with my friends. My Dad passed when I was 15, and many times I wish I would have soaked up all I could. Anyway, I really appreciate all you do.
i've done $4k jobs without taking any money up front, clients are surprised, but I don't believe in taking money up front. If your work is good you shouldn't have to worry about not getting paid, of course you also have to know who you are dealing with.
I Only very rarely and under certain circumstances take money in advance and typically never sooner than a week before starting. I will take a material deposit the day I start work depending on how large the job is and sometimes the gut feeling I have about the customer (not all customers are legit either) Most small to moderate jobs I dont take anything. I also dont mark up my material costs as many contractors do. In fact I pass my contractor discounts on to the customers. And I keep my receipts available for the customer to scrutinize upon request if they have questions over what they are getting and how much they are paying. the only thing I want to turn a profit on is my labor. While depending on the size of the job I sometimes do come up with a payment schedule. However the customer never pays in full until the job is complete. I also tell them that if there is any problem the come across to not just complain. but to make sure they call so I can address it. I dont care how good you are. nobody is always 100% perfect. I will come back. I must be doing something right as I have an over 90% customer retention rate for repeat business with most of the rest being lost due to moving or unfortunately death. And I get most of my business through word of mouth or because customers are choosing on their own to put list and recommend me in their community news letters or certain apps like "Next Door" and people are sometimes willing to wait for me for sometimes 6 months.
You should contemplate and honestly ask yourself...How well do you really know anyone? you.may be a good carpenter but you are subjecting your company to unnecessary financial risk.
I al way encourage my customers to be proactive and ask questions. I have noticed though since the advent of UA-cam I get way more instant experts. So people need to make sure as you said "DON"T BADGER " your contractor. When I get a customer that hammers me with too many questions and then gets upset the job is going slow they don't get they are the thing taking up my time. Example like well when are you putting in the flooring ? and are you doing this, this and this because I saw that is the way you do it. As you are standing there trying to paint the walls they want you to explain your installation procedure for a job you are not even ready for yet. Be pro active but don't slow your own project down.
I worked at a company that added a second loading dock. They contracted for a solid cement dock. One of the company managers showed up on the Saturday they were doing the work and caught them trying to place a huge pile of broken cement chunks in the middle, with the intention of then pouring cement over that. The contractor was fired on the spot and not paid anything.
Damn right they were fired. I worked at a place where a professional flooring contractor was putting in new carpet in the front office area. Underneath the old carpet squares was a tile floor. Building is at least 40 years old. Guess what was in the old tiles? ASBESTOS! What did the pros do when they found loose tiles? Knowing the new carpet would be glued to the concrete slab, the decided to scrape off ALL the old tiles, creating clouds of dust! Hilarity ensured, as building manager found out, sent the flooring contractors packing, isolated the front offices and had to do remediation work costing thousands, plus testing to ensure asbestos was properly cleaned up. Screwed up business operations for a couple of weeks, because access was closed off to offices except for bare-minimum emergency entries until area was reopened.
We had a water leak from an upstairs bathroom that rained water all over the kitchen. Ceiling, cabinets, insulation and even to the the outside siding. You could see the water all over the place. Our Insurance company sent a mitigation company out to get started. Eventually they also sent out the contractor to do all the repair work. The guy was nice enough, but the guys that company had working for them were not experienced. I am very savy and knowledgeable as a DIY person and I was home the whole time overlooking the job. I had to tell them to redo stuff, had to show them how to properly install insulation. The whole kitchen had to be redone, the master bath also had to have repairs even though it was the other bathroom that leaked. The morale of my story is that its better to get the insurance money and if you have a good contractor hire your own. If you wonder how the leak occurred I think I figured it out. A few weeks earlier our tile guy had finished installing all the shower tile. He is a very meticulous worker with a lot of experience. about a day or 2, could be 3 the plumber showed up to do all the installations for the fixtures and install a safety bar on the wall. He used a hammer drill to drill 6 holes for the safety bar. My suspicion is that the force of that vibration cause enough movement in the relatively fresh grout to cause a tiny separation between the 2 sections of tile. A few days later when the bathroom was ready to be used, my son jumped in the shower and aimed the handheld shower into that corner waiting for the water to warm up, that can take as much as a minute in that bathroom sometimes even more when it's cold and it was Thanksgiving, so it was cold. Then it also takes a few minutes for water to soak through everything before it actually makes it through the drywall, insulation etc. So by the time we noticed it in the kitchen it was a rain storm. Where I live it's very difficult to find really good contractors. It would be really great if you could give a guide as to what are reasonable prices for certain jobs. I know much may depend on the complexity of a job, the number of workers needed and other factors. But excluding materials what is reasonable. I know contractors have to have insurance and have a significant amount of overhead, and of course they have to make some profit otherwise they can't survive, but what is reasonable?
@@aldoogie824 So... they are not entitled to??? Everyone tries to save money what's wrong with that? Also, you are charging for your LABOR unless you work as a salesman for Home Depot and want to get the "sales commission" (discounts). I find that contractors are the "creative ones" using the owner's money to go buying in home depot using those pro accounts and taking all those discounts with money that was provided by the owner. I flipped houses I go with the contractor to home depot and he can charge me his day of labor but I pay for the materials with MY CREDIT CARD and I get the discounts and specials and I have saved literally tens of thousand of dollars. Yea and they think because I'm a woman I'm dumb.... NOPE.
@@gloriaiarango you proved my point. They are absolutely entitled to. Some contractors figure the cost of materials as part of profit that makes a job worthwhile, this is a slippery slope in my opinion. My prices include labor and a percentage of the job. If a customer wants to go with less expensive materials, the overall price goes down as it should.
best video on youtube! do a part 2 on what to do when they mess up. should they be paid, sued or put on the 6 o'clock news?
As a contractor myself, anytime my company makes a mistake within our control, we will correct the issue at no cost to the client. Yes it eats up money from the company but that is why we have overhead and insurance.
Agreed.
Thank you, jason! I like what Sir Shawn says here. And despite my warning tone in the video, I really believe in providing a lot of tolerance for you contractor. It's not an easy job at the best of times. There has NEVER been a job site in the world where numerous mistakes weren't made, because construction work is both technical and creative. My big thing always is, when problems arise, does your contractor shoot straight with you? Do they really put forth an effort to improve the situation? If so, meet them halfway. You've got a keeper. It takes a good contractor AND a good client for a job to go well. Trust and good faith are always the key elements in a project.
@jerry wayne 100% Agree it happened to me. I learned the lesson the hard way.
In the UK, if they mess up, but ask for payment. In short, once you get to court, the judge far more likely to be in favour of the customer if the customer has paid.
Main reason being, things happen. It might not be totally down to the contractor. But if you don't pay up, you could in turn put the contractor, their company and their livelihood at risk. They might have children that need feeding.
By not paying, the judge could also see it that you never intended to pay and just looking for a way out.
Always going to be Chancers in the trade. But if they genuinely aren't any good, they'll soon go out of business
I knew a handyman years ago that was AWFUL. He'd remove wallpaper and punch holes in the sheet rock, calling the customer at work to say, "Well, I know why they put up wallpaper; it was to cover up holes." He obviously wanted to make more money replacing sheet rock. He also told me he'd take a steak out of their freezer and cook/eat it. Moral of the story is, NEVER let a stranger inside your home when you're not there!
Now adays I assume there are cameras working everywhere. I tell my employee to assume the same and never snoop or touch things that are none your business.
I just learned this horrid mistake.
Don't forget when they have you order way more materials than needed then take the extra materials for themselves.
Sign only fixed price turn-key agreements and that becomes a non-issue. YOU should not be “ordering” anything. There is a huge difference between hiring an hourly tradesman that you have to manage, and hiring a contractor who IS the manager.
Yep. If I do have somebody else do the work, I usually buy the materials myself and have them leave the extra.
A friend had someone building his house for “time and materials” and the guys were over there sanding in some wood trim for a very long time. Then he caught them taking half of it to another job
I’ve ran into a situation where the owner insisted on using the previous bidding contractor materials quote. My materials numbers were lower. At the end of the job, she complained and blamed me about the extra left over.
@@manillafresh57 If you are buying yourself then you may end up paying more for material than if you let the contractor do. I always do labor plus material which in my case is mostly paint, and I pass my contractor discount on to the customer. This makes for a very good selling point. I dont mark up my material. And any material left over is the homeowners to keep. I dont even want it because then I have to either store it or get rid of it which can cost me money. I figure my travel time in gathering materials into my labor price and the way I see it. I need paint anyway. The state would likely rather me not do it this way because by marking the price up that means they can collect more in sales tax and I see no reason to give the government more money to spend when they cant show themselves capable of responsibly using the money it gets now..
I digress. When I estimate I give the customer a "worst case scenario" on the material portion and tell them up front that the material is intentionally estimated to be higher then it will likely come in at. This is to cover things that may be unforeseen or unintentionally overlooked. such as the rare case of them deciding they want different color trim in every room. At the end of the job. They only pay the actual price which 99 times out of 100 comes in at less than quoted unless they make changes. and sometimes even then its covered. If I make a mistake on my end. and the material comes in at more than what I quoted I eat the difference. All my estimates are worst case scenarios unless we come across something really unforeseen such as the time i was rolling a ceiling and my roller went through the ceiling because at some point wasps had built a nest up there and ate through most of the sheet rock. Looked fine till I started rolling. Now THAT is unforeseen.
I worked for a contrsctor that did shady stuff like that..... i quit because of it. Im irish and i love doing honest, beautiful work! There is no honor in being a skallywag! Take pride and honor in the work you do fer goodness sake! Great video my friend
My mom's church's deacon was a shady contractor but my grandmother hired him. He took advantage of my grandmother by telling her they built the house... the shell no sheetrock, paint, etc. My dad knew how to do all that work so he finished all that. Moral... people are people (good & bad) regardless of their title.
We call them slopjockeys haha
Mr Jason. You've omitted one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ---- if not THE most prominent one, in which contractors display dishonesty, cheating, lying, stealing, comparable to as malicious as a (lying) politician, when the contractor's client is a single woman, who is unfamiliar and inexperienced with the inner workings of said projects .
It is such an awful gut-wrenching thing to do! Makes one wonder how these men treat the women in THEIR own lives.
This is why the DIY industry has boomed and how big box stores were created.
And why their houses look like a DIY'er did the job. You get what you pay for...
Diamonds Valera thanks to DIY and bad contractors I can reap lots of rewards
Damn right, Diamonds. I do most of my own work and I do it right. I'll bring someone in to do roofing, or install windows on the second story. I've paid for an architect, a structural engineer, a guy to run my main drain, an asphalt crew and tree trimmers. This is all since a very bad contractor experience about 25 years ago. I've remodeled half the house, so it's not just minor work. My work doesn't look like a DIY'er did it.
@@shgan1962 Nah usually with ppl like you we get 1/2 of what we paid for cuz the rest goes for your trucks / Boats and all your shits. Im done paying a the job that end up beeing shit anyway why do you think your reputation got so bad in the last 2 decade ???? because literally just 5-10% of you deliver a good job at a fair price for both parties.
Steve H, My neighbors had an ongoing project that lasted over a year with so many issues with trades (cracked concrete driveway, a custom FUBAR'd pool, a solar window that flew off the roof, mismatched flooring, etc.) One of my neighbor's friends who is a finish carpenter and sees me and my father always doing all our DIY jobs (plumbing, masonry, landscaping, painting, flooring, etc.) came over one day and told us we were doing everything right and just because you pay a so-called professional, doesn't mean you're going to get quality work. If you are able and have got the skills and patience, nobody is going to do a better job on your home than you are.
Great video. I have been a restoration contractor for several years. I always tell customers up front that there are four things that I cannot controll when it comes to completing a job: hold ups by the insurance company in approving estimates, delays from the building department regarding isuing permits and conducting inspections, availability of materials and the weather. In recent months, I have had jobs delayed significantly by one or all of these factors.
i recently had an insurance company that took 6 months to okay an estimate. Because of COVID, I had to wait 4 month for custom LAM beams and another 2 months for specialty shingles. I had another job recently that was delayed by the City Building Department that took 3 months to issue a permit. These are not exagerations!!!
When I was a kid, my dad got a business going good and decided to have a nice house built for the family. The design was an award winning design he saw in an architectural magazine. The house was supposed to take 6 to 8 months to build from ground breaking to final trim. 2 1/2 years and 6 sets of contractors later the house was finished... with the basement still not completed with construction stairs still in place, the gas lines for the fireplaces firmly sealed inside the brickwork, a thousand other mistakes that took years to fix including incorrect wiring, crossed wiring, copper pipes welded to iron bends, an incomplete fill around the basement walls... Now my dad was not a 'bad customer' but he didn't take well to begin lied to his face or being taken for a ride either. For example he went out to check the work one day and found the entire brick laying crew sitting around doing nothing, on the clock. And nothing had been done from the day before either. He asked what the hold up was. "We don't have the bricks." "Where are the bricks?" "At the railroad yard." "Why are they there?" "No truck to bring them here." "How long have you been waiting for a truck?" "Three days." Dad points to the heavy duty flatbed truck standing right there, the type used to haul building materials including bricks. "What about that truck?" "That's my truck, I'm not going to use my truck to haul bricks." "D*** right you're not. You're fired." Around that time and area, there was no such thing as an honest contractor. But if you went around and found independents, you could find gems of people who could do the work, do it right, do it for a reasonable price that was good for both sides. That is how the things we could get fixed got fixed.
I cannot stress enough how important it is to know your building materials. Recently had a newer plumbing contractor tell me that my sewer pipe had rusted the reason for the backup. Clay pipes generally don’t rust so I called another plumber. The newer guys hadn’t been cleaning out the entire length of the line.
Been delivering lumber for 22 years!! Seen it all watch yourself be picky from start to finish . Building isn’t a trade anymore. Look at half of the subs on a job site you wonder how they even made it to work.
As a small-time carpenter/contractor, I think your consulting service is potentially really valuable. I hope it goes well for you!
#1 and #2-Customer orders the materials that are shipped to the customer site. If your project exceeds $10,000-$15,000 (contractors bond)-require a performance bond for the cost of the job. Great information-I love this channel.
Great insight! I have been a helper to a contractor the last 3 years, and I’ve learned these things by observing. I’m thankful to work for a contractor who has integrity and doesn’t fall into these easy traps for money.
Your dad sure raised one fine son. He must be very very proud.
I'm semi retired. When I do decide to do a job I take the home owner to go get the materials. This way they can decide on the quality of materials themselves.
I NEVER let the customer get involved in any of my logistics. One, I now what is good and where to get it way better than they do and I'm way faster at it. Two, anytime I've let a customer get involved in any of my internal workings, they've always wanted a large discount in return for making my job way more complicated. If I get a customer that wants to "help," I tell them I'll consult and manage the job by the hour (this lets them screw around and take as long as they want and I still make money) or I try to slide them off on one of my lower quality competitors. (all my competitors are lower quality than I am) but allowing the customer in the middle of the job has ALWAYS led to big problems.
@@mattobermiller5041 I agree with you
He did say semi-retired... Nothing like a good outing to the lumber yard
@@mattobermiller5041 sounds like this video is about you 🤣
Chanel NA my thoughts exactly.
Great information and well said. I’m a remodel contractor in south Louisiana. It’s hard to draw the distinction between a good contractor and a bad contractor without sounding like you are downing the entire industry. This was a balanced presentation and much appreciated
Thank you, Matthew. I knew I would get backlash on this. But after encountering a million horror stories, some in which people's lives were legitimately screwed up, I decided it's more unethical to not say anything about it. I appreciate you watching and writing in!
I know this was a year ago, but I bet you've been very busy. I hope you're doing ok and didn't get damage from Ida. I'm in CENLA. We got slammed with Laura but Ida missed us. It's damn near impossible to find good licensed residential contractors where I live. I'm out in th woods so people don't want to come out here.
The most common thing I hear from bad contractors is “ I’ve been doing this 30 years” My comment, “You’ve been doing it wrong for 30 years!”
Yeah something i’ve noticed is sometimes the more experienced guys just tend to get more lazy and find out what they can get away with doing the bare minimum, less passion and diligence. Often it isn’t the novice helicopter pilots that crash, it’s the experienced ones that get complacent. Not everyone is like this though, I have a buddy who’s been in the trades for 30+ years and he’s still a craftsman who does it right.
@@grimreefer213 I like your paragraph. Good comment. So, where can the customers find a buddy who does it right in the construction industry?
@@eddyvideostar referral is always the best start...
@@anthonylemkendorf3114 Not always. In our neighborhood a lady asked for referral for deck rebuild. The highly touted builder took her money then ran, did not finish 1/3 of the job. You should see the pictures, a total mess. Also, he put the post in dirt not on concrete, did not use joist hangers, and the like.
"My Dad taught me everything I know " , well your Dad's an idiot too !
Exploration bid . Great choice for a client to make a more educated decision
My blood pressure went up several points with this video. After 3 new house builds and a major addition we encountered every one of these contractors cheats. Two contractors were well known with good reputations. To avoid this, DIY or forget the project altogether.
I had a bad contractor years ago. I paid the whole price upfront. Materials delivered, 2% of the job done after weeks of phone calls. Finally I figured out how to do it and did it myself. BTW, the contractor was my uncle.
That's rough, David!
Sorry to hear that. It's one thing to get ripped off, it's another when it's in the family.
No Christmas card for him.. 😂
@@incognitotorpedo42 I just don't do business with family anymore. I learned the hard way.
@@dhoyt1967 you just need to know how to deal with family.
Communication is the key. Be open and up front from the beginning about everything. Especially the things that may become problematic if things don't go perfectly. Because things rarely go perfectly!
Replace "bad" with "most" and this is the perfect video description
as a fairly new independent contractor, the part about adding a clause for exploration was helpful.
Lemme just warn you now. Giving a client a reason to say no... is going to hurt business. And "exploration" sounds like a good idea... until you get into a job and find five different areas that there was no way to explore. Good luck though.
I just finished dealing with a nightmare repipe from polybutelene pipe to PEX pipe; a two-day job turned into a 10-week job; I stood my ground, filed complaints with the state plumbing board, and refused to pay the balance; in the end, I won; the most important: Find out if the work needs a permit, and ASK FOR THAT PERMIT before they start work; I had no idea of permits, I am now very schooled in such; thank you for this video.
As a retired residential and commercial contractor I would say this is great advice for homeowners! We built our business referrals only and never had time off because lack of projects or work. Residential in my opinion is a better way to go because its referrals/reputation where most commercial is just the lowest bid - scary actually. If you work on reputation and referrals only it serves both the client and the contractor. Clients know they what they are getting from your reputation and past performance from people they know. Contractors know what they are getting from the referral and it also helps to eliminate "tire Kickers" looking for an estimate to shop around for the lowest bid and received a higher percentage of projects we quoted against competitors (I say friendly adversaries since they did quality work also) . We always tried to be fair with pricing and alert clients of potential issues especially on repair/remodel projects prior to starting and did "test holes" with a scope. We had a policy of under $100-1,000 depending on the size of the project and would do the work with the clients understanding it could be an up charge but beyond that if damage was found to be worse than anticipated it would require a discussion in simple terms. I will share with contractors we also gave refunds on projects we quoted where damage repair was not as extensive as we thought - it amazes some clients to get money back and another thing we provided was when a project was complete we brought in professional cleaners and cleaned the entire home - that gets the clients attention. I now run a small handyman service to stay active and maintain the same principles of attention to detail, quality and I am a guest in my clients home!
Here's a few ways you can protect yourself from this;
1. Check your contractors license. you can do this online. this will tell you if its a legit license and if its still active and if there are disciplinary actions taken.
2. Ask for a certificate of insurance. this will protect your home from damages. If they have workers, youll need Workers comp on that certificate. Otherwise, if someone is hurt on your property, your insurance pays.
3. request a joint check agreement. This should be for all vendors. vendors can also place mechanic liens on your property. you want to make sure they get paid.
4. ALWAYS ask for a conditional waiver BEFORE you hand over any payment, and for the corresponding UNconditional waiver AFTER payment is made. This protects you from having liens placed on your property. It is in your best interest to learn more about this.
5. Hold back a retainer fee at the end of the job. up to 10% of the job. This is to insure all work was done with quality and that all subs and vendors are paid. make sure you collect all the unconditional waivers for all vendors and subs before releasing final payment.
6. small side note, ask for cutsheets for all materials they intend to use. this will let you know what your getting in advanced and you can verify this when it is installed.
Any reputable contractor will do this as a part of doing business. If yours does not, it may just be hes not aware or doesn't have enough experience. Most contractor issues will be solved before they even start just by following this advice.
What's a cut sheet? To ensure all material ordered will be used and accounted for?
@@ltcajh a cut sheet is just a sheet with the specifications for a product that gives you some basic stats. It usually has some pictures too, so you can look at it and make sure you have the right thing in the material pile and you aren't getting a material swap done. Very common in commercial/industrial construction, fairly rare in residential (in my area).
The last sentence exactly!
Unfortunately this can go both ways. There are a lot of clients out there that want work done but don't necessarily want to part with their money. The customers can usually leave a review & rate a bad contractor & give other potential customers warning but there isn't anyway for good contractors to warn others of customers who like to skip out on paying their bill
Thus the contract in writing. If anything goes wrong either way, it goes to court.
I always include a "full scope of work", reasonable start and end date "weather permitting". and always have the customer sign a change order if there is any major change that comes up along the way. A signed change order always prevents the customer from forgetting the increased cost at the final draw.
That’s the right way to do it, Edward. 👍
I bought a flipped house that was a foreclosure. First time home buyer. I didn’t know anything! Within the first year I was finding all kinds of things. Skim coats of grouting flaking off in the showers exposing old flaking grout, spray and pray all throughout the house, moisture damage coming through some of the drywall. It was crazy. Even simple drywall nail pops. They cut every corner imaginable!!!! I will never look at a house the same way again! This last 4 years has taught me a lot!!
A lot of those flippers prey on first time home buyers. It becomes easier to spot 'quick flips' the longer you have been a homeowner.
First time home buyers really need a knowledgeable person to accompany them on a home search. (I don't have much faith in home inspectors)
Hired a contractor to replace the concrete cap on my back stoop. After 13 months of waiting, I got another contractor that did my job in 2 days!!! In addition, the project turned out better than what the first guy said he would do.
As a contractor doing a renovation that needs a gut, I always explain that we don’t know what potential problems we might find…I always supply the estimate for the entire job and an estimate for just the demo…this way everyone feels more comfortable and a better estimate for the renovation portion can be adjusted if need be. With out an obligation for the home owner to feel like maybe they are being taken advantage of :)
Great videos and love your channel!
Thank you, Phil! That’s a great approach 🙂
More like guaranteed problems. fixing a little hole in the drywall turns into adding lvl's and rerouting plumbing haha.
@@davegordon6943 am drywall guy I tend to piss off my other trade buddies anytime I’m supposed to do “just some patches” and end up unraveling some poor families house with the nightmares I find behind the walls
@@swordofulster5661heard that
@@swordofulster5661 I have had the same problem. I did a painting job that turned into black mold removal and eventually a complete new roof. I hate finding things that were not done properly in the first place and end up costing clients thousands to make it right.
I wish I had seen this sight a month ago. We had the worst experience with a contractor that we hired to paint our home. He did four of the five things listed here. (1) He hiked up the price when ran into termite damage that had to be repaired; ripped the kitchen wall out but took over a week to put it back due to the weather and his ability to work on our project for only about three hours a day for maybe two or three days a week. (2) he stole time-Sometimes he didn’t even show up nor did he call. He finally finished the outside wall but left the inside unpainted - just Sheetrock installed. I’m texturing and painting it myself. He even took a four day vacation that turned into 6 days in the middle of our project. By this time we were fed up and told him that we would get someone else to finish the job. That’s when he came over and finished almost everything in a day. (3) He threaten to place a lien on the home if I fired him stated that he’s put in too much work on the home. He kept telling us that he was giving us free work because he replaced boards that a previous contractor replaced already. He swore they were improperly installed and he couldn’t paint over it b/c it would make the paint job look bad. We NEVER asked him to do this nor did we agree to pay him for this. (4) We never saw receipts for the materials and he took everything with him that he bought. He was just horrible. I was thinking about lodging a complaint with BBB but he didn’t answer the two that were already there.
I feel it’s my fault b/c I thought I did my due diligence but realized I hadn’t checked BBB until we were halfway into the project with him. DIY videos have become my best friend.
Sorry about your bad experience. I had just the opposite experience recently. The exterior paint job was delayed 7-8 months because of the painter’s health issues then by weather. His quote was quite reasonable. He used only S-W Emerald paint, replaced all soffit and facia boards where he found rot or damage, used Bondo on all wood joints and exposed nail heads to make them perfectly smooth, sanded and painted iron balcony railings, painted all gutters, downspouts, windows, doors and garage doors. He even took down all the recessed exterior down-lights from the soffits, sanded and spray painted them to match and installed new bulbs (that I purchased). He even pressured washed my walkway and part of my driveway. He went way over and above and exceeded my expectations. We couldn’t have been more pleased.
There are some good guys out there but they seem to be rare and hard to find. Virtually every other contractor that I have used failed to complete the job. In those cases, I gave them their final payment before they were completely finished as I was pleased with their work thus far and there wasn’t much left to do. Four different contractors (subs) in different locations pulled the same fast one and disappeared as soon as they had my check. I’m slow to learn, I guess.
You forgot the classic "Over estimating of materials". Adding a few inches and feet/ square feet to thus that or the other adds up to lots of "extra" unused materials at the end if a job. They always seem to "disappear" from the jobsite. Or never are unloaded to begin with. Then they either return them for a "cash in pocket" refund. Sell them black market. Or store them up for basically FREE materials on other jobs ( which they then chage the next victim for). So they basically get a 3x free bonus on YOUR dime.
Trust me an extra 20 studs, 10 gallons of Kilz, 6 sheets of plywood, 10lbs of nails, 6 bundles of shingles, 4 boxes of ceramic tile, 75ft of 12/2 romex, 3 boxes of red oak hardwood flooring, trim wood, insulation ....etc etc etc. Trust me, that stuff adds up QUICK!
Never pay money upfront if the contractor can’t start the job without a down payment look for another company.
So is he supposed to pay for the client materials?
Sure, like moving into a new home without a deposit payment to the mortgage company.
Also, the crew has to be paid. So basically the contractor has to finish the job on his own money and then if the customer is happy, pay, if not, bad contractor. I guess it works
We had gone thru a bunch of bad contractors until a friend came across one that was really good. We’ve been using him now for all our projects and very happy. If I had 1 thing “bad” to say it’s he always takes longer than he says. But that’s because he wants things perfect and won’t hire help that doesn’t feel the same way. And he goes beyond our expectations.
That seems very tolerable, Rich. It's so hard to get a clean sweep these days, if that's the only real issue then I'd say you've got a good contractor on your hands 👍
That's the best problemyou canhave
I've always taken pride in my work, I have never tried to cheat a customer. But I would like to see a vid outlining the ways a dishonest customer will try to cheat the contractor. Oh yes, they are out there too.
Yep I do one job at a time if you can’t wait get someone else.but there is a real problem with homeowners changing what they want and think it’s all included you should do a video on that 😜
change orders!
Oh geez it can be never ending. Happens on service calls too. Call them “While your here’s”.
Had that hapen. Customer shooses paint colors. Decides once she sees a little bit on the walls that she doesnt like what she chose then cant understand why she is being charged for the extra material (paint) that she specifically chose and later decided she didnt like. Another problem is home owners who not only want what they paid for. But MORE than what they paid for. Example, Customer wants his old house painted and says "I know the house is in rough shape. But I'm not looking to pay for a total restoration. I just want to clean it up real quick so it looks good from the street." Now looking good from the street 50 feet away and going over everything from 6" inches away with a fine tooth comb like its restoration work is two separate things. Yet I've had people do just that..literally. I have no problem giving the customer what they are willing to pay for. You want just want to pay for a general cleanup. which in this case was supposed to be just a scrape peeling paint, spot prime and paint. I can do that. You want restoration work? where each board of the house is either brought down to bare wood or made to look perfectly smooth, I can do that too. But that costs a lot more. But you have to be willing to pay for what you want, and accept what you are willing to pay for. Especially when it was you who said what you were willing to pay for at the outset.
Or my other favorite, when the homeowner pretends to “not be available by phone” when it’s time for them to pay for materials by CC, when the contract didn’t include the contractor paying for materials… And then at the end of the job, the homeowner pretends they “didn’t know” materials weren’t included even tho it had been discussed both verbally and is written in the contract clearly in writing, and the homeowner tries to avoid paying. #DishonestHomeowners
@@charlesg7926 So are you working without a contract?? Shame on you. A good contract spells out everything so NOBODY can say they didn’t know.
I work mostly on old homes. When looking at any job involving an old house I would be very clear that there are many variables and I wouldn't know the extent of the work or the cost until I had done the demo. I always gave a estimated price range and made sure the client understood what was happening through out the process of "discovery".
Now do a video on the many types of bad clients.
Was just going to comment this.
@@Ev-eq8zn yes please do one on the clients that do not pay on time or at all the extremely picky clients that nitpick everything apart. Instead of making the contractors all look bad
What you're talking about are not corrupt or criminal customers yet they do need to be managed. I find many contractors are lacking personal management skills which very quickly leads to conflict and unmet expectations. Most of these things can be eliminated by proper written documentation which is another area I find most contractors unwilling to do.
@@dougwatson2164 sounds like this video may be about you lol.
@@pakyunah Certainly sounds like he took it personally. Lol
I wish I’d seen this 18 months ago. Saw four of these. Signed an addition/renovation project in Mar of 2019 with a 30 day ground breaking, promised 180 build schedule and 240 day contractual limit. We are just now finishing the punch list. Good work mostly but his scheduling and excuses got old about 9 months ago. Can you do a video on how to fire a bad contractor and get out of the contract? We’ve talked to our lawyer when the contract limit expired but enough work was complete by then that he said it’d just make it take even longer. Lesson learned.
That's a pretty fair assessment. I kinda had my back up prior to watching since I'd worked in the industry for a couple decades.
But this was REALLY fair to the customers and the industry could certainly use a little "cleaning up".
An honest contractor should not fear information such as this. A smarter client makes a better client. I'm a contractor/sub in the low voltage arena and have also used contractors/subs for work done at my home (I do NOT do high voltage!). I'd rather pay a bid fee up front for someone to take the time to fully scope the project than get a quick flat fee estimate only to see the price continually rise due to "unforeseen" events. Contractors need to be honest up front about potential issues and clients need to understand that some events do cause change orders to be needed. And clients need to check on work but not watch every single nail going in while asking a question every five minutes. Had a customer who literally set up a ladder next to mine and asked me about every move I made. I told him if he kept doing that, I'd have to charge him an hourly training fee.
I’ve always had my own account at a builder supply yard, and place orders myself - the builder supplies the skill (plasterer, bricklayer or tiler), and I have materials delivered every second or third day.... which stops material theft or spoiling of cement etc....
It also means that materials like sand/stone/cement are mixed at the correct strength - a lot of builders will use 1/4 of the cement and pocket the extra money.
If you work out qty of materials per square metre or foot - it’s pretty easy to keep on top of the orders of material.
I know of con artist builders who have taken half the cement off site and used on other jobs, or returned the material for credit and cash. Or guys who have ordered 10 grand steel beams for ‘internal support’ and then couldn’t show you where that beam was used.
Thank you so much. Seem we have a contractor who use all 5 ways to cheat on us. And now I looking for how to deal with the mess! Grtje from Belgium
I’m sorry to hear that, MyLe! Thank you for writing from Belgium though 🙂
I wish you'd do a video on how to deal with bad inspectors. I had a maintenance job in a manufacturing plant. There the township made it their mission to drive out the wrong kinds of business and people. You know anyone who makes an actual product. Nothing no matter how big or small could ever be approved without a lawyer. Fortunately the township had such a bad reputation that judges would often take it upon themselves to approve plans then review and often correct inspections.
I had a tree fall on a home that I have owned for about forty years. The repair wasn't something I could do unseen. I only lived on the property for a couple years. Since then I've rented it to friends. The current tenant and close friend has lived there for a very long time. Even though it's in a different township I was terrified by the prospect of pulling the two permits I needed. To make matters worse the part of the house I didn't rebuild is framed very strangely. When it was time for the dreaded inspections I had knots in my stomach. Both inspectors completely understood the methods used in the repairs and gave me absolutely no problems. Still I wonder how I would have paid the legal bills if it was in that other township.
All good advice. I have a contracting business so I am often getting questions from friends who had a run in with a bad contractor. Sadly I usually tell them that once their money is gone they are unlikely to get it back. All they can do is suck it up, accept the fact they have been cheated and get on with life. A renovation gone wrong is worse than having your house burn down with no insurance. Yet what has always amazed me is people's willingness to get conned. There is on old saying that ' when something sounds to good to be true it usually is', and yet for some people this is precisely the moment their critical judgment breaks down.
So, as an avid DIYer, I'm pretty safe against most frauds. I will always do the demolition myself, so a contractor can perfectly estimate the job. And I will also do the finishing work (painting and whatnot). So I see their little corners being cut. I also know some materials (though as a DIYer you don't get in touch with different materials that often).
5:40 exactly true. None of that stuff is the customer's problem!!
Finding an honest contractor is like finding love.... you might be that lucky once or twice in your lifetime.
You know what, I agree. With that mentality it must only happen once or twice in your lifetime.
@@matejmazur01 Difference is, with love once can be enough if you're really lucky. With contractors, not so much.
@@Carl55_jc Buddy, we are talking about another man providing work. Same as employer/employee scenario. If a contractor doesn't have a picture portfolio/website/google rating then the answer is obvious. But it seems like you have trust issues, so you rather attempt the impossible: form genuine, non-homosexual friendship with another man. Good luck.
@@matejmazur01 LOL, you're funny. Not sure what your point is.... or even if you're making a point... but if what you're trying to say is most contractors are honest, just say that. Me, personally, I don't believe that. My opinion is based on my own experience. Isn't it funny, that the guy in this video doesn't even start the video by saying most contractors are honest - as a matter of fact, he calls HIMSELF the "honest" carpenter.... If most contractors were honest, he wouldn't have to call himself that. He starts the video by, instead, saying "I know some good contractors". That, by itself, tells you something.
@@Carl55_jc So basically you will believe a guy thay calls himself "a honest carpenter". But, what if the opposite is true? My conclusion is: judge fairly. Talk and communicate openly - that is the only way to sift out the "dirt bags" and the bs'ers that just want to scam you of your hard earned money. I say the issue is poor communication among people, and covid is making it worse.
I've been a carpenter for over 20 years and I've seen each of those things occur. At this point I am struggling out on my own as a carpenter because I give an honest price, and get under bid by people who are going to use change orders to run up the price when I gave an inclusive that covered all potential problems. Yes my price seems a little high at the time, but in the end I'm not asking for another 10 grand on a project because of rot that should have been spotted in the beginning.
I've never run away with the check, I've always tried to have honor and integrity. And I will not give a price to a job that I'm not comfortable doing myself.
Glad to see someone like you is pointing out the major ways contractors rip their clients off. And I hope that someday honor and integrity will return to the industry.
I have always done my own work and even built my house. But I am at the age where I can"t do the big stuff. Wanting to build a smaller house but I do not trust anybody. To many friends have been ripped off.
I had a bad roofing contractor. They did the old material swap. I have a 960 sf home. There's salesman was in our home for three and a half hours. Drank my whiskey and told me stories of war in Afghanistan. My wife and I liked him very much with all the hero stories. The samples he showed me for my roof were awesome was a fiberglass rigid fiberglass roof telling me that their company was the only ones that made this. The roof had a hundred year warranty. At that point in time I really didn't know that much about roofing shingles or what it cost. All I knew is I wanted a roof for my retirement home and never have to worry about it again. Also told me that it would be one day my house was so small. Also had a flat roof over my three season room that needed replaced. Their company had a special nobody else product to put on that that would reflect the sun and make the room more comfortable. They came for installation there was three guys that worked for three hours ripped off half the roof and left. Came back the next day and was able to take off almost all the shingles and put on a special reflective sheeting that went on under the shingles. Also told me that they were the only company that made their own products. The third day they didn't show up at all with the job not even being halfway done. I happen to be off work that day my wife was going insane. at this point I checked the materials to see what they were putting on my roof also did a little education for myself on roofing. the product they were putting on under the shingles you could buy at Home Depot was relatively cheap. Jingles they were putting on my house or also just a standard fiberglass asphalt shingle not what I was sold by the salesman in his presentation. I called the company and told them that I was upset that this is not what we agreed upon and they told me they would be out to meet me the next day at 4:00. When I got home the roof was completely installed and they were gone. They then came and handed me a bill for $17,000. This was a single story 960 sf house with one valley. After getting two more estimates from other companies. After the fact. I gave them a check for $7,000 and told them this was market value I believe above market value for the quality of product they put on my house. Also on that flat roof they just put down a regular rolled asphalt roof nothing special and according to my neighbors they did not put it down correctly. They have put a mechanics lien on my home. I tell you all this and I know it's long but pay attention educate yourself before the fact and if you're too busy to be around when they do some of this work hire somebody to watch them.
I like it. Sometimes, though, an indecisive client who wants continuous change orders, make access to the job, etc can be very challenging as well.
I had work done recently by a contractor. I regret not asking more questions up front. The contractor thought when they were finished that we would sign off basking in the glow of the remodeled area. They were surprised when we reviewed the work and came up with our own punch list of about 30 items they needed to resolve before we would sign off. If we hadn't done this detailed inspection they would have walked and left us with a half baked job.
And this is why good guys like me can’t make a dime
More Power! If you’re near me, I’ll hire you with good references.
Seriously? I live in my rv, carry my tools, and do excellent work. I actually say no to jobs all the time. Working for new people who have been screwed by contractors is fun- they quickly appreciate the difference when an honest, skilled pro shows up. Pro tip - get rid of addictions, that helps...
@@blessedwithchallenges9917 we had a painter who smoked weed all day, a stone mason who was on meth and ecstasy, and other dead beats. As the one contracting and paying for the work you don’t always know who you’re getting. They hide it. You know after though. Of course addiction is not the only way contractors screw up but like you say it doesn’t help create or maintain a lucrative and fun business. What state do you work in? We can always use a good contractor.
@@ToddDouglasFox my son and I travel up and down the West Coast. Sometimes we cross the country... I've done work in Virginia, Tennessee, Pennsylvania and D.C., but mostly Oregon and Washington.
@@blessedwithchallenges9917 Such a cool lifestyle! Well, we are in Colorado. Let us know if you’re swinging by us. We are between Denver and the Springs.
Great info. Do your homework on contractors and ask a friend for a good one. We went through a series of contractors leaving us hanging until we found one (through a friend) that only worked one job at a time. He stayed within budget, was there everyday (except when waiting for an inspection) and finished ahead of schedule. We've moved across the country and wish we could have brought him with us!
I'm a contractor. Thanks for the tips!
You sound honest, i would like to hire you.
A contractor located in Greensboro, NC pulls these tricks. He took a 50% deposit with no intention of ever doing the work. After two years of stalling, the threat of a lawsuit and lengthy, expensive arguments between my lawyer and his lawyer; his son, Tim Jr. showed up with a crew and started work. They substituted a cheap plate glass window for a door they were supposed to install. They then walked off the job two days before the agreed-upon deadline for completion. They said they could be back in a couple of months. They demanded pay for the work to date and put a lien on my house. My legal team is looking at options for suing the crooks.
Now we need a video on the 500 ways that bad clients cheat their contractors (and themselves)
4 all the reasons u've mentioned, I become a handyman. I almost do all maintenance work on our property: carpentry, plumbing, electricity, painting, roofing, gardening and landscaping. Not only I enjoy learning but I save money, and I deeply happy with the work...way way better than the work done by our previous expensive contractors.
Most of contractors in US aren't professionals: clever enough to ask money, with poor quality of service. This is a robbery or cheating.
6:26 What a beautiful kitchen.
However...I can add one carpenter who is a gem. He bids the project...on paper. He never asks for money up front. He sticks with the price. He does beautiful work.100% honest.
Awesome thing your doing with helping home owners... God Bless you and your company
Honesty and real knowkege is great for prevention of problems, so it can be a win win for both parties involved in contract.
And check your local BBB! My daughter had a guy convince her he needed full payment when he was halfway done then skipped out after completing only about 75% of the installation.
I work in software consulting, and the 'exploratory dig' idea is very similar to something that I do. Our client may want a large enhancement, but in order to properly estimate it, I have to do a design, look at the code, etc. We usually do these as a two-step process - I get approval for a small number of hours to do my due diligence and a design, and out of that approach comes the estimate for the actual work.
yeah, a lot of these scams are also used in software development.
So the same tips to avoid them also apply.
Hi Ethan. I love the videos you produce. The information you provide is so on point and is easy for beginner DIYers to follow. I am an architect, so I have experience on and outside the job of BAD contractors. Unfortunately, I have a cousin who is currently experiencing a mess with the contractor he and his wife hired to construct a bedroom addition on their house. And I have a friend who was the victim of a horrible contractor on her house addition. A viewer recommended making a Part 2 video on what to do when dealing with a project that has gone horribly wrong. That would be good.
Thank you, Alvin! I don't get to hear from many architects on the show, so I appreciate you writing in! I'm sorry to hear about the bad contracting situations--it just seems like everyone has these stories unfortunately. I definitely want to try to make a follow-up to this video. But I'll most likely have to get a lawyer on the show because next steps can lead into legal entanglements. There are still a few pre-legal strategies to try to employ though, so I'll describe those as well.
We had a roofing contractor who re-roofed the house, put in all the gutters, then never showed up to put in the down pipes. Mediation didn't work because he just said we weren't home at the agreed time to finish the job, an outright lie. In the end I had to source the materials and do the job myself.
number 6 should have been, " never , let the contractor convince you you don't need permits" , make sure he , or she , get's them
Did lots of contracting where we did not pull permits. Am very schooled in the trades. Got maybe two call backs for minor issues over all the years. City I work in is very difficult to work in when dealing with the inspectors and constantly changing the dynamics, notorious for petty and expensive delays. Many homeowners I worked with did not want to pay the extra fees, did not want to wait and/or did not want to pay the new assessment in taxes on the improvements once completed. I was more than happy to oblige and worked with our known electricians and plumbers when we needed them who felt like wise.
No longer work in the remodeling/rehab field. I had a good reputation. I still get calls.
Also we did a lot of work on our own properties. Shut the door and did our thing. Demo was all piled into one room or a garage or some place inconspicious and hauled out on the weekends.
Flip activity is huge where I live. Cannot tell you how many guys I met doing anywhere from 5 to 25 flips a year and these guys never pulled a permit or very rarely . A lot of these were major remodels.
@@thyslop1737 What happens when inspectors find out a job was done without a permit - especially when it changes the footprint of a house? In my township the assessor has photos of the exterior of all houses which makes me apprehensive about doing any construction without a permit. What's your experience?
As you stated about inspectors - I wanted to move my electric meter 3 feet, which required shutting down power at the pole. I went ahead and bought the cable I needed for $13. When I contacted the electric Co. to turn the power off they told me I had to show a permit. I found out the permit cost $136, so I said to hell with it and didn't do the job.
@@riverraisin1 Stopped contracting about five years ago. The noose, the cinch just kept getting tighter and tighter iterally by the week as the we dodged many a bullet. The city hired a bunch of code enforcers in new Ford trucks to drive around even on weekends and generate revenue as they clammer for more money. Just no satiating them in their desire to suck you dry.
Got busted twice. Issued cease work orders. Had to pay fines and pull permits. We did mostly gut interior remodel. A far amount of siding, not a lot. Changed so much and so fast with every new code and requirement just got sick of chasing it.
Saw your response. Much more to say on this, but trying to finish a project deadline right this monment, Maybe I will comment back, but this is such a hot topic for me.. The comments for my notes, when I have time to address further, are Google earth, city takes the money with no liability, creep and expense of stuff needing a permit never required,.
@Mark OnTheBlueRidge Your comment not germane to the topic.
@Mark OnTheBlueRidge So,you are an expert? What a joke . Fifteen years ago we did a 3/4 million remodel dollar for the son of a billionaire. The father was especially sick of the egregious nature of the local govt. He wholeheartedly approved.
My last two whole house remodels, actually a house and a condo were for a rich Vietnamese doctor. He also was sick of how the city had railroaded him. We took it down to the bare studs. Rewired the whole house, ran new gas lines, new trim, lighting, sheetock, doors, cabinets, the whole nine yards. Enjoyed every bit of sticking it to the corrupt city.
Talked to a buddy of mine still contracting, where I live three months to get a building permit. Wanna expedite it? 2k.
My work? Total quality. Today with all the code enforcement trucks running 24/7 and Google Earth probably a lot harder to go under the radar.
Much more to say. No time. If you were foolish enough to be bleed to death by those clowns, then you were none the wiser. Wait around to se how I hung a door for tge privilege of spending $200 to the city? Get lost. D we need standards? Yes! Should the bad contractors be hung out to dry? Yes. My beef? City has ZERO ACCOUNTABILITY and at the same time has their hand out.
Not in the contracting field any longer.
Make sure your contractor is “bonded “. It’s essentially essentially a fund for the consumer for breaches of contract.
As a co-owner of a construction company I have a bit of a different view of some of these items. On every project we do, there is ALWAYS (1) Scope Creep (client keeps adding items to fix or remodel but is surprised that yes- the bill keeps rising! (2) Time Creep- goes along with item #1, if you add to a project it will go on longer than the original time frame. I can't tell you how many clients will add significantly to a project but then expect that the original time-frame will be met! (3) surprise that a 30-50% down-payment (fully refundable if cancelled within two weeks of a project due date) is required to hold their project start date. We are normally scheduled out for 2-3 months for projects, if someone decides to cancel at the last minute and especially for a large project- it can cost us a lot of money. We still need to pay our staff! Since we started implementing this we haven't had any cancellations.
I'd say you answered your own question, K M. I know that stuff like this is eternally frustrating for contractors. But, since good contractors are in such short supply, and you're already booking at an advanced rate, it behooves you to start putting in protective clauses like your cancellation agreement, and make that THE FIRST THING THAT YOU TELL YOUR CLIENT. If you're in high demand, you can afford to be more choosy about your projects. Clients will know that you're worth your stipulations, and they'll do what they have to do to book you because they'll also know that they're able to trust you. I have no problem with clauses that protect contractors, even numerous clauses--clients just have to be informed of them beyond all shadow of a misunderstanding. It's the only way to protect everybody involved, and get things off on the right foot. Jobs that start really well have a much better chance of finishing very well.
Number one piece of advice about this for contractors: Make sure you charge for the very first change order!!
Good project managers do not allow significant scope creep. That is a new project, and the customer will have to schedule for it.
It seems like this is a huge problem in the industry. My thoughts would be to state clearly to the customer and in the contract that all these "while your at its." will cost extra.
Great information here. As a homeowner I have found that too many subcontractors fail to realize many people are actually more than willing to pay well for honest, competent and hard working sub-contractors. It's cheaper in the long run! The problem is entirely too many cut corners and quality controls for short term, quick profits. It's no wonder they lack steady, reliable work in an economic downturn.
I think all of these tips can also be used when having customized items made from an artist too. I would apply all these to Etsy sellers and independent artists. A good one will go out of their way to show off why their thing is superior because they are proud of their work. Great video! Thank you for the tips, some I've never thought of.
Very good point, Michelle. Thank you!
That is the reason #1 why you have to have s contract where shows every little detail in regards change orders allowences, schedule, how often payments should be..
ALWAYS READ YOUR CONTRACT BEFORE YOU SIGN IT !!
You will save tons of money!
THIS is a great channel. I have seen most of these problems, especially #4. Very good tips... basics that we tend to gloss over, or not enforce. Honesty, fairness and adhering to the agreement is the name of the game. Thanks for making such informative and well presented videos!
I am a flooring contractor in Florida and everything you stated that a lot of contractors do I see it all the time and I'm trying to wipe those contractors out you are totally right and I hope that everybody in the world sees this and understands and is able to decipher between a good contractor and a bad contractor because we are getting terrible names and one bad egg is destroying it for everyone thank you for making this video and you were totally awesome for doing it keep up doing what you're doing and good luck to you sir and I thank you for putting out this type of message to people so then they know what to expect whenever a bad contractor comes across them and they can immediately get away and hire a good contractor
I’ve worked for people who would use lumber from a remodel in someone else’s build and charge them for new lumber. He would replace people’s facia and if it wasn’t that bad, he would use the old facia from customer A and put it on customer B’s house and charge them for new lumber
I do everything myself now, from welding to fixing gas lines, Electrical and plumbing. Just renovated my kitchen too, next is the laundry.
I love it, get to keep all the lovely power tools as well 😀
In the UK we call them John Waynes. (Cowboys!)
Didn’t know that gb 😂
you hit it out of the park my friend...a few years ago I had a full remodel/upgrade done...it turned out to be a nightmare since I have never engaged in such a monumental task...the good folks were great...the bad forks were BAD!!! Excellent video...thank you
You forgot Number 6... Contractors to try to raise themselves up by bad mouthing, and putting down, other contractors. This practice is outright disgusting.
I agree with Steve on this one. There are a fist full and then some who are outright bad and do not have proper knowledge for the right scenario. As a contractor I still educate myself daily. Your typical handyman, is exactly as is with the title.
You forget the two fantastic contractors I mention in the beginning, Tom. But, all the same, I have zero sympathy or tolerance for bad contractors. They have made my job harder over the years by engendering mistrust in tradespeople as a whole. And they've put my clients in situations that range from sad to outright dangerous. Good contractors have absolutely nothing to fear from this video.
@@TheHonestCarpenter well said my good sir !
@@TheHonestCarpenter I believe a bit of nuance is in order. You can bad mouth a contractor without knowing the specifics?
Thats an interesting perspective as well. Its all about fairness. Sometimes we assume things about people as well. People who work their asses off deserve respect and good pay. The market can be tough. I remember one time I was up on a roof inspecting with a handyman who was looking at the prospect of doing a flip for me. He pointed out some problems with the roof. Then he said "Alot of times it is these Mexicans". That was a red flag for me. He also mentioned that he had 16 felonies and a few other things he said made me really shy away from the purchase. Blaming Mexicans was racist. I was not impressed.
I have used the consulting service at the Honest Carpenter excellent resource the fee will save you thousands
I haven't faced these issues yet. Im just starting my renovation project for my rental house...I'll update you as I go along. Wish me luck😗
Thanks for your service. So many people out here scheming to get money instead of actually working. Over the last couple months contractors have been in and out of my mom's house trying to scam her into expensive services (one quote was to install a new drainage system in her crawl-space for 30k) that wouldn't address the issue she was needing. After talking with her about it we realized the issue was just a leaking pipe in the bathroom toilet and spigots. Repaired by a diff contractor for $400. That was it; all that was needed.
Unfortunately she's older and lives alone now and they were scaring her into believing she had a serious mold issue and problems with drainage. Digging a new sump would address the issue of excessive moisture in the crawl space (dripping pipes) but not the actual issue (dripping pipes). Makes me sick. The best way to avoid being scammed is to learn about the problem(s) and DIY (if you have the know-how and expertise [of codes, regulations, etc] but when you have to hire out, stay on top of the contractor as best you can. I was raised to trust people and believe them at their word. Sadly times are changing and have changed.
I love that your father is your lead consultant. He probably has 20 -30 more years of experience than you. That means he has made more mistakes and learned from them.
My own cousin (contractor) cheated me when I worked for him.😑
Sorry to hear that... family will stick it to you quicker than a stranger.
Thanks for the heads up. Hiring a contractor is one of the most expensive things that anyone can do.
Had I known all of the things that you talked about in your video, I could have spotted the contractor mistake that I ended up using for 2 weeks. Fortunately, I fired him because he lied to me about the building blue prints. The guy who drew up my prints advised me to get rid of him sooner than later. I got lucky because that guy could have ended up costing me a lot of money in the end.
Inigo Montoya (at the top of the Cliffs of Insanity): "I could give you my word as a general contractor!"
The Man in Black: "No good! I've known to many GCs.
inconceivable!
I like the idea of a exploratory bid, I’m going to remember that. I’ve never really ran into something that’s been really bad that it cost thousands more to do the work because of hidden damage. I also probably didn’t charge enough for the extra work, lol.
Enjoyed the video Ethan. I can relate to everything you said. I'm retired from our NC Public Schools where I was the construction manager and saw much of what you mentioned happen and this is our tax dollars paying the bills. I also would like to mention you need to
keep a sharp eye on the architects too. To get these school jobs the architects bid low to get the job and then the project doesn't receive the attention and time that is needed during the design and many important things are overlooked. If it not caught before the project goes to bid then it's a change order and the contractor and architect get paid extra for it. Anyway, thanks for the video and y'all take care and God bless.
Thank you, Ron. That's eye-opening about large public school contracts! I know this stuff happens at all levels, but it's still shocking to hear about. Especially when the dollar amounts are that high!
What a fantastic service; every country should have one! Meanwhile, to sort the chaff from the wheat, ask your contractor for a full scope of the work in writing, including a breakdown of the materials. Chances are that the ones with integrity will oblige, and the 'chaff' will disperse to look for easier mortals to exploit.
I really like the idea of the exploration bid! I do remodels, and I swear, every time there's a much bugger problem I have to end up fixing, usually putting me a day behind. I'll talk to the homeowner, and I always feel bad for asking for a couple extra hundred dollars. I'll finish the job either way though, as promised. It just sucks when you end up doing all this extra work for free.
Same. I’m going to try some bids on a time and materials basis. But it seems hard to sell to people because they might assume you are going to try to cheat them. The alternative is that I underwrite the risk of their project. Which really sucks.
Exploration bids are useful. A buddy of mine had a contractor come out to his home and do some exploration before he made his final bid. Needless to say after the exploration (which reviled a lot) the renovation was off the table and the decision was made to raise the house and build new. Contractor who did the exploration was honest and told them they had no idea how much a renovation would cost with seeing some of the major issues.
Sending this to my Mom.
She's about to have her kitchen redone.
Thank you!!!
As a small time, do it all myself, contractor, I would say this is all fairly accurate. I watched this video with extreme scrutiny and pretty much agree with everything he has said. However, many times communication breakdown is the biggest problem. A client will think he's getting one material and act like he knows what the contract is talking about but then once it's installed claim that it was an inferior material. Or they agree to a time of completion but after the exploration demolition or because of change orders requested by the client the new completion time is not thoroughly discussed or understood so the client feels taken advantage of. I would say in most cases the client feels cheated even though they are not. This is probably a conditioned response given how many sleazy contractors there are however; as an honest contractor, I can tell you, I'm constantly dispelling unwarranted worries of clients. But, I'm also extremely picky about my clients and I don't go chasing every job because I think it will be good money. I'm far more interested in a work environment of mutual respect and I prioritize my jobs as such... So my advice would be to find a contractor who cares more about the quality of work then he does the money. Then pay him really really well and he will be your contractor for life 👍
Please tell me you live in NC
@@bennygerow No, sorry... Austin Texas
I totally agree! Especially the change orders. Had that happen so much. Clients not understanding the impact of their changes on the overall schedule. “Why are you guys not done, like you said you would”
Well..
what about those changes that you had made?..
But that should not have affected schedule that much!..
Yes it does lady, yes it does”
I am in the process of having work done and am in consultation with a contractor that came recommended. So far so good. Instead of taking a draw on materials, which I have done in the past, he gave me a list of materials he would need for me to purchase ahead of time. I liked that. Everything seemed reasonable. Things are somewhat backed up right now in our area, so we’ll see how things go. Excellent advice regarding finalizing the agreement for the work. I really like your channel and have learned a lot, and I grew up around carpentry and plumbing, my Dad being expert at both. I was his helper and he tried to teach me but I just wanted to get off to go run with my friends. My Dad passed when I was 15, and many times I wish I would have soaked up all I could. Anyway, I really appreciate all you do.
i've done $4k jobs without taking any money up front, clients are surprised, but I don't believe in taking money up front. If your work is good you shouldn't have to worry about not getting paid, of course you also have to know who you are dealing with.
I Only very rarely and under certain circumstances take money in advance and typically never sooner than a week before starting. I will take a material deposit the day I start work depending on how large the job is and sometimes the gut feeling I have about the customer (not all customers are legit either)
Most small to moderate jobs I dont take anything. I also dont mark up my material costs as many contractors do. In fact I pass my contractor discounts on to the customers. And I keep my receipts available for the customer to scrutinize upon request if they have questions over what they are getting and how much they are paying. the only thing I want to turn a profit on is my labor. While depending on the size of the job I sometimes do come up with a payment schedule. However the customer never pays in full until the job is complete. I also tell them that if there is any problem the come across to not just complain. but to make sure they call so I can address it. I dont care how good you are. nobody is always 100% perfect. I will come back.
I must be doing something right as I have an over 90% customer retention rate for repeat business with most of the rest being lost due to moving or unfortunately death. And I get most of my business through word of mouth or because customers are choosing on their own to put list and recommend me in their community news letters or certain apps like "Next Door" and people are sometimes willing to wait for me for sometimes 6 months.
You should contemplate and honestly ask yourself...How well do you really know anyone? you.may be a good carpenter but you are subjecting your company to unnecessary financial risk.
I al way encourage my customers to be proactive and ask questions. I have noticed though since the advent of UA-cam I get way more instant experts. So people need to make sure as you said "DON"T BADGER " your contractor. When I get a customer that hammers me with too many questions and then gets upset the job is going slow they don't get they are the thing taking up my time. Example like well when are you putting in the flooring ? and are you doing this, this and this because I saw that is the way you do it. As you are standing there trying to paint the walls they want you to explain your installation procedure for a job you are not even ready for yet. Be pro active but don't slow your own project down.
I worked at a company that added a second loading dock. They contracted for a solid cement dock. One of the company managers showed up on the Saturday they were doing the work and caught them trying to place a huge pile of broken cement chunks in the middle, with the intention of then pouring cement over that. The contractor was fired on the spot and not paid anything.
Damn right they were fired. I worked at a place where a professional flooring contractor was putting in new carpet in the front office area. Underneath the old carpet squares was a tile floor.
Building is at least 40 years old. Guess what was in the old tiles? ASBESTOS! What did the pros do when they found loose tiles? Knowing the new carpet would be glued to the concrete slab, the decided to scrape off ALL the old tiles, creating clouds of dust! Hilarity ensured, as building manager found out, sent the flooring contractors packing, isolated the front offices and had to do remediation work costing thousands, plus testing to ensure asbestos was properly cleaned up. Screwed up business operations for a couple of weeks, because access was closed off to offices except for bare-minimum emergency entries until area was reopened.
Jajaja no lie ive seen that shit before
We had a water leak from an upstairs bathroom that rained water all over the kitchen. Ceiling, cabinets, insulation and even to the the outside siding. You could see the water all over the place. Our Insurance company sent a mitigation company out to get started. Eventually they also sent out the contractor to do all the repair work. The guy was nice enough, but the guys that company had working for them were not experienced. I am very savy and knowledgeable as a DIY person and I was home the whole time overlooking the job. I had to tell them to redo stuff, had to show them how to properly install insulation. The whole kitchen had to be redone, the master bath also had to have repairs even though it was the other bathroom that leaked. The morale of my story is that its better to get the insurance money and if you have a good contractor hire your own. If you wonder how the leak occurred I think I figured it out. A few weeks earlier our tile guy had finished installing all the shower tile. He is a very meticulous worker with a lot of experience. about a day or 2, could be 3 the plumber showed up to do all the installations for the fixtures and install a safety bar on the wall. He used a hammer drill to drill 6 holes for the safety bar. My suspicion is that the force of that vibration cause enough movement in the relatively fresh grout to cause a tiny separation between the 2 sections of tile. A few days later when the bathroom was ready to be used, my son jumped in the shower and aimed the handheld shower into that corner waiting for the water to warm up, that can take as much as a minute in that bathroom sometimes even more when it's cold and it was Thanksgiving, so it was cold. Then it also takes a few minutes for water to soak through everything before it actually makes it through the drywall, insulation etc. So by the time we noticed it in the kitchen it was a rain storm. Where I live it's very difficult to find really good contractors. It would be really great if you could give a guide as to what are reasonable prices for certain jobs. I know much may depend on the complexity of a job, the number of workers needed and other factors. But excluding materials what is reasonable. I know contractors have to have insurance and have a significant amount of overhead, and of course they have to make some profit otherwise they can't survive, but what is reasonable?
plenty of these videos out there, i'm waiting for the other side: 5 WAYS CLIENTS CHEAT THEIR CONTRACTORS!
A lot of clients out there like that.
I only work on an install charge basis. Because clients will always get creative and try to buy their own material, like tile.
Not as prevalent I bet
@@aldoogie824 So... they are not entitled to??? Everyone tries to save money what's wrong with that? Also, you are charging for your LABOR unless you work as a salesman for Home Depot and want to get the "sales commission" (discounts). I find that contractors are the "creative ones" using the owner's money to go buying in home depot using those pro accounts and taking all those discounts with money that was provided by the owner. I flipped houses I go with the contractor to home depot and he can charge me his day of labor but I pay for the materials with MY CREDIT CARD and I get the discounts and specials and I have saved literally tens of thousand of dollars. Yea and they think because I'm a woman I'm dumb.... NOPE.
@@gloriaiarango you proved my point. They are absolutely entitled to. Some contractors figure the cost of materials as part of profit that makes a job worthwhile, this is a slippery slope in my opinion. My prices include labor and a percentage of the job. If a customer wants to go with less expensive materials, the overall price goes down as it should.
Your video is the reason I do all of the work myself and only hire contractors when absolutely necessary.