What are my rights?
My problems are relatively small compared to many here. But they’re still causing me tremendous frustration.
I hired these guys to replace my roof. I think they may have actually done a decent job but I realize now I have no way of being sure. I didn’t have any doubts until I hired them to also paint the outside of my house. That’s where the trouble began.
At first they started out by setting up scaffolding, removing my storms and screens, and beginning a “power wash” of the outside. Then one day, halfway through this process, they simply stopped. It’s going on six weeks now and I haven’t heard a word from any of them. All of their stuff is still here - ladders, scaffolding, etc. but they haven’t responded to any of my numerous phone calls. My life has been in a holding pattern since I’m reluctant to have people over or take a trip somewhere while all of this is still in limbo. To make matters worse, I’ve already paid for all of the paint. Not to mention that I have no storm windows or screens since they’re all still lying out in the yard.
So what more can I do? There is no written contract for this (there was for the roof). But it’s obvious that they’re supposed to be doing work since all of their stuff is here. Can I confiscate their equipment? For that matter, how would I even go about dismantling it? I’m still hoping to resolve this somehow but it’s hard to excuse someone vanishing and not returning a single one of your phone calls while leaving your house looking like real crap.
Any advice would be most welcome.
Jason
Thank goodness my problems aren’t the same as the two women above, but I had a horrific experience with the guys who were sent to sand, stain & seal the original floors that were discovered when the tilers tore up my kitchen floor. They were beautiful old solid pine and I decided to keep them instead of tiling. The flooring sub was here while they were tearing it up and called it to my attention. When I saw them and mentioned that I might want to keep them, he immediately began finding fault with it. After he left, one of his workers told me that both he and my general contractor would try to talk me out of keeping it instead of tiling, but that it was beautiful and strong wood and not to let them intimidate me into believing it was in bad shape if I really wanted to keep it. That night I searched the internet for restoring and refinishing circa 1940’s pine and decided that it would be beautiful once refinished. The next day the sub sent his workers out who immediately got snippy over the fact that my kitchen is only 9 by 10. I even texted my GC and jokingly commented that I hoped their work would be better than their attitude. To try to sum it up, they came back the next day and wasted an hour trying to plug in their sander because something was wrong with the plug on it. They ended up dismantling the only 220 outlet I had and connected it wire to wire to operate it. Immediately after they began to sand I stopped them and asked if they were going to close off my kitchen or at least cover things up and they replied that they didn’t have anything. After about 15 minutes, the dust from the old painted floor was so thick (and probably filled with lead) that I had to sit outside in 90 something degree weather because it was making me so sick and I couldn’t breathe. I’ll have to admit that the floors looked great after they sanded them, but then the nightmare began. Instead of removing the floor dust and wiping them, they used a commercial buffer and buffed them to a light shine. THEN they finally applied the stain which made the floors look entirely different than the areas that I had tested looked like!!! They applied the stain by brushing it on around the trim and thresholds of the floor. Next they applied about a cup….two cups at the most….of stain and with a buffer spread it around the rest of the kitchen. When I saw how thin it was getting, I told them they needed to add more stain. They basically told me that they knew what they were doing and I just needed to let them do their work. OH!!!!! I forgot this!!! Before they started sanding, one of the guys…he was in charge I think….began pushing some of the nails into the floor and I told him that I liked them there. His comment to me was, “Well, I don’t. Your nails AREN’T going to mess up my machine”. I thought..ok. I didn’t know they would and left it at that. So getting back to the stain….I again told them it needed another coat of stain and they again refused telling me that 20 coats wouldn’t make a difference. Well, I guess not once you buffed it before staining and since you only really stained the outer edges of it!!! OH.. and did I mention that they didn’t bother to fill the nail holes either? It’s so funny because you can tell when he got tired of doing them because all of the others are intact!! So then I told him that something needed to be done because you could clearly see where they began running out of stain and just wanted to stretch it out!!! He told me that once he sealed it that it would be ok and then they left. I had already texted my GC telling him about the dust all over my house while they were still here and once they left, I called him to tell him how unhappy I was. His floor sub came back to my house, agreed with me, took my stain sample so that he would make sure they matched it and promised me he’d send his “regular” crew the next day because I had told him I didn’t want them back in my house. Well, guess who he shows up with the next day??? Right. And they guy just gives me this smirk like.. arrh!!! So instead of doing what I’d ask (litely sand, add another coat of stain and seal), they litely sanded and sealed!!! The sub was backing them instead of me!!!! I was furious. So as a result, since my GC and I are done and this was extra work, I’m waiting for the invoice. I’m hoping he’ll have the integrity to adjust my bill, but I doubt it since something made me check just in case and he’s holding 600.00 worth of tile that I bought & paid for personally that he was supposed to have returned to the store. Waiting to see if he’s going to step up to the plate or not. I’ll just begin by deducting the cost of my tile from the tile work I owe for and let him keep it. I have no problem with paying for a job well done, but I have a major problem with having someone speak to me with such disrespect in my own home and totally disregard what I want and what I’m paying to have done!! But the real clincher??? The sub bringing them back. If bill isn’t adjusted, I’ll be back and I’ll share this with every association he might be affiliated with along with his name, company name, and the ******** he brought back.
Oh, yeah. Forgot to add. Purchased my own little sander last night and I’m about halfway thru sanding. Have tons of before pics of their job and consistently taking pics as I do it myself. Can’t wait to see the outcome!! And if I mess them up??? Hey, I did it….not somebody I paid!!