Rogue Construction Contractors

[papasmerf]

Ya and that's why they can get away with charging what they do sometimes, there's little transparency for the average consumer.

the reality is you can ask for refrences as well as take several bids.

In a bid situation I suggest tossing out the lowest and the highest.

Write a contract spelling out the materials and job(s) to be done. You should set forth the standards in the contract and be responsible for policing them.

BTW ask yourself are you worth the money you get for performing the work you do. And if asked would you do it for 30 cents on the dollar.

 

[Maxie]

the reality is you can ask for refrences

References are useless when the people who give them don't know what they're doing. It's hit and miss in this industry.

What I do to limit risk is contract the job a little at a time. If I get burned I'm only out a few thousand and can try again. A big job I would reassess the value of the asset before fixing.

 

[papasmerf]

References are useless when the people who give them don't know what they're doing. It's hit and miss in this industry.

What I do to limit risk is contract the job a little at a time. If I get burned I'm only out a few thousand and can try again. A big job I would reassess the value of the asset before fixing.

you can hire a privite builing inspector to check the quality of worked performed as well as demand a performance bond (the bond will limmit the number of bidders). You can also write the contract with a holdback clause of 10 or 20 percent pending a privite inspector (3rd party) approving all work.

 

[Esco!]

This sounds like a job for Silverman Helps.....






WATCH IT BUDDY!!!!!!!!

 

[Maxie]

you can hire a privite builing inspector to check the quality of worked performed as well as demand a performance bond (the bond will limmit the number of bidders). You can also write the contract with a holdback clause of 10 or 20 percent pending a privite inspector (3rd party) approving all work.

lol. You have to be kidding, do you own a house. Inspectors are as useless as tits on a bowl. They can't see in thru the guts of the structure. One home inspector said if you want to find the leak get out a hose. Contracts under a 100k are difficult to enforce due to legal costs. What's a 10 or 20% holdback when you've paid 80% and realize you've been scammed.

 

[papasmerf]

lol. You have to be kidding, do you own a house. Inspectors are as useless as tits on a bowl. They can't see in thru the guts of the structure. One home inspector said if you want to find the leak get out a hose. Contracts under a million are difficult to enforce due to legal costs. What's a 10 or 20% holdback when you've paid 80% and realize you've been scammed.

then do the work yourself

atleast your work will live up to your expectations

 

[Maxie]

Home Depot

then do the work yourself

You're right and that's what more and more people are doing.

 

[papasmerf]

You're right and that's what more and more people are doing.

Like I always say. Let the other guys do the projects. We will come in and fix it when it does not work.

 

[tboy]

Jesus, Maxie, the way you're talking you are so bitter that I think you better tell us what really happened or are you just "surmizing"???

I really don't know what you'd get out of what you call standardizing this industry. I mean, the auto industry is standardized and you can pay anywhere from $5000.00 +/- for the same car just depends on who you buy it from, what time of year you buy it and how good you are at negotiating.

As for the hose idea, nothing wrong with that! In fact, you could spread out some newspaper inside your attic so when you spray from the outside, you can tell where the water came from.

BTW: Home inspectors CAN see into the structure of the house. There are numerous tools they have at their disposal to sample the structural integrity of the bulding.....from microcameras, to moisture level detectors in wood, etc

I find it really funny how people will spend $150, $200 - $400,000.00 for a house yet know nothing about what it is made of, how to maintain it, how to repair it, nothing....Oh, I bet they know how to plug in the toaster and turn on the taps so they can wash their hands.

Buddy, there is NOTHING wrong with going to school to learn what us contractors do. NOTHING. If you're too frickin lazy to learn how to do something then you have to pay someone to do it for you......

Funny how your comment indicate that everyone is out to get you and no one knows anything....yet you yourself don't know anything about what needs to be done else you'd be doing it yourself....Get my point?

(edited) get OUR point???

 

[tboy]

here's a little exercise for you maxie, I bet you wont' do it, but here is something so you know a little more about why it costs so much to get work done on your house:

1) Buy a stopwatch, or a watch that has a stopwatch in it. Cost you about $5.00 at the dollar store.
2) 1 saturday morning go to home depot and before you even start to put on your shoes, start the stopwatch.
3) Now you don't have to actually buy anything, but here's a list of items that you a) need to find and b) need to write down the price of.
4) when you've found ALL the items, not most of them ALL of them. Even if it takes you all day, go stand by the checkout and pick one person at the back of the line when you arrive and follow them out of the store after they've paid for their purchases.
5) get in your car and drive home. When you have your shoes and coat off, stop the stopwatch and see how much time you've spent. THAT amount of time is JUST to get the fuckin materials and a contractor hasn't even started WORK on your place yet.

In addition, he has to load all the crap into his truck, drive to your site daily, and on top of that, complete the work.

Here's the list:
4 x 10 5/8" firecode Drywall
#6 x 1 1/4" coarse drywall screws. Box of 1000
3 1/2" x 8' steel studs
3 1/2" steel tracks
steel wiring channel
Wiring Grommets for steel studs
Cloth drywall tape, roll of 250 ft
Premix drywall compound 5 gal pail
80 or 100 grit open coat garnet sandpaper any size or package
14/3 indoor household wire. Roll of 100'
EZ101 retro fit electrical boxes
decor light switches
decora switch covers
decora duplex recepticles
decora recepticle covers
#8 x 3" wood screws, package of 250
1 1/2" bimetal hole saw with arbor (preferable bosch)
18 volt dewalt xrp battery
13/16" primed pine quarter round
1 1/2" long 1/4" tapcon screws
7/32" percussion drill bit (should be by the tapcons)
Any hammer drill NOT cordless

Let me know how you make out...

BTW: The above materials are the basics you'd need to put a small stud wall in your basement which just about anyone with half a brain should be able to do.

 

[Meister]

I would not fix things or buy a smaller property because down the line it's going to be a headache to fix things. That said the industries growth as more throw away homes are built is questionable.

You have a point about throw away homes. The new houses are crap. Sometimes I wonder about investing hundreds of thousands of dollars into a house that is built on timber and plywood. Sooner rather than later the houses fall apart.

In Europe most of the housing is built to last, many last centuries. And not only foundation and walls, but hardware, windows, doors, roof etc... are so much superior than here. Why can't we do this here?

 

[james t kirk]

Who the fuck understands that shit!

Me.

But I took the time to learn.

 

[james t kirk]

Contractors

Some Contractors understand the building code and some do not, I can assure you.

Most don't even own a building code.

Good Contractors are out there. Trust me. But usually they don't come cheap.

 

[tboy]

You have a point about throw away homes. The new houses are crap. Sometimes I wonder about investing hundreds of thousands of dollars into a house that is built on timber and plywood. Sooner rather than later the houses fall apart.

In Europe most of the housing is built to last, many last centuries. And not only foundation and walls, but hardware, windows, doors, roof etc... are so much superior than here. Why can't we do this here?

Dude, wtf are you talking about? A house won't last because it is built of timber and plywood? FYI, because obviously you don't know, houses made of wood can last and HAVE lasted for 100 200, 300 yrs....WITH the proper maintenance... You think concrete will last that long in our climate? Just look at the old gardiner expressway extension and the actual gardiner. They have to put millions into repairs every year because the concrete corrodes from the weather.

I work with wood all the time and keep a good layer of paint on it and it will last forever.....

I just love it when people talk about stuff they know nothing about....

 

[james t kirk]

I have had opportunity to do work in my line for homeowners.

Some are ok, others are fucking morons. They think that when you quote them a price that you are instantly trying to rip them off. Wouldn't matter what you told them.

For small stuff, I grant you that you'd better figure out what you need done.

For big renovations, you NEED an architect or an Engineer to prepare very accurate drawings and specs.

And even then, don't expect there not to be additional costs, there always always are. It is not possible to get the perfect set of drawings.

It's quite simple, if it isn't on the drawings, it's extra work and the contractor has a right to charge extra for it.

Likewise, if it IS on the drawing and the Contractor didn't estimate it, or carry a price for it, that's too bad for the Contractor.

Fair is fair.

 

[james t kirk]

A simpler way to go is Time and Materials, but many Contractors don't want to do this, nor do many homeowners.

If you have a good Contractor, and you are knowledgable enough to supervise the work yourself, there is no reason that T and M isn't the better way to go.

 

[tboy]

A simpler way to go is Time and Materials, but many Contractors don't want to do this, nor do many homeowners.

If you have a good Contractor, and you are knowledgable enough to supervise the work yourself, there is no reason that T and M isn't the better way to go.

I do mostly T and M and it has worked well for me. There are a couple of times where the customer asked: "ok, t and m, but can you give me a rough idea of how long it will take"? My mistake was giving them a guess....then they took that as fact, and when the actual time came in, this (although very mildly) questioned the final amount....I simply said "you were here everytime I was here, was I not working? was I not doing what you were asking of me? Did I not point out to you the additional items you asked me to do after the fact and did I not tell you about how long they would take? That shut them up pretty quick. BTW, they have asked me back to do additional work on their house........

 

[oldjones]

Who the fuck understands that shit!

Clearly you don't. But thousands and thousands of people in your city do. They're the people you want to hire. Start by treating them, and the work you obviously need with respect. Until you stop imagining that they gained all their hard-earned knowledge just so that they can put it at your disposal, without you knowing so much as the name of the thing you want fixed, you're asking for the sharks to line up first.

Your public library is full of books on this stuff, some with great pictures, and easy step-by-step text. You don't have to do the work yourself, but it'll be a lot harder to put one over on you if you know what you—or the other guy—is talking about.

 

[oldjones]

You have a point about throw away homes. The new houses are crap. Sometimes I wonder about investing hundreds of thousands of dollars into a house that is built on timber and plywood. Sooner rather than later the houses fall apart.

In Europe most of the housing is built to last, many last centuries. And not only foundation and walls, but hardware, windows, doors, roof etc... are so much superior than here. Why can't we do this here?

Well OK. Let's compare European homes and Canadian homes built these days and see which lasts longest. Meet ya here in a coupla centuries.

It's precisely because you can't wait to find out by observation that we have those building codes that Maxie" …building inspectors are useless" sneers about. And if everyone actually did as they're supposed to: submitted proper plans, got approvals and permits, got inspections at various stages of completion, there'd maybe be fewer sob stories like his. How else are we gonna ensure what goes into our houses and how? We can't rely on guys like Maxie (or me, you or Joe Average) to know.

Let's all remember that when we stack up societies on the scale of more or less government regulation, it's the Europeans who come out on top. Often we North Americans deride them for it. But just maybe regulations—like lumber grading standards and joist spans—have a point. Maybe, next time, when the contractor asks if you're going for a permit, you should say, "Yes, why wouldn't you?"

 

[Maxie]

I don't have a problem paying a fix-it man well to do a good job, it's when they don't know what the problem is and they quote you anyways to get the job. A contractor is like a stockbroker if you don't know or care he'll screw you or overcharge.

Homebuilders have done a good job of convincing people the shit they build is a good investment. While I'm no fan of stocks they outperform real estate over time by a margin of 3 to 4 times. I know people who bought houses in the early 80s have held thru the "boom years" since then and after expenses including mortgage interest, taxes, energy, maintenance are barely even. Now I know some of you may say people have to live somewhere, what about rent. Well a good investment is judged by its total return and cost and on that basis many houses are a shit investment especially the cardboard boxes they started building in the 60s. After 30yrs a new roof on a 500k home can cost 25k, new carpet 20k, painting outside every 5yrs 5k, inside walls ceilings 10k, furnace, appliances the fucking expenses and hassles never end. Most people are too afraid to admit the costs. A house or condo is a depreciating asset, the land is worth something but only in a good location with nice vegetation. To the people who own those cookie cutter boxes on tiny lots, pray for inflation, cause that's the only thing that's going to raise the value of your shitbox. No offence.