Should I pay my contractor more than he quoted me?

[pwd72s]

It's never a bad thing to have a good relationship with a good contractor. You never know when you'll need one.

I'd nix the beer thing tho...if one of them gets in a wreck on the way home & is determined DUI it could come back on you. Give 'em the money to buy their own beer...or, give them the beer, unopened, when they leave.

[look 171]

Agree with Pwd. Beer is over rated with construction guys. I don't really drink but like a good beer once a month or two. My 2 men does not touch the stuff and the third will have a beer if he's doing concrete work at my house, and only at my house, during the hot socal summer. So, beer will not do us any good. Give them the money. Everyone can use money especially if you know they lost their shirt.

[vwbobd]

Originally Posted by herr_oberst

I'm thinking a fifty dollar bill each to the grunts, (no disrespect intended) plus a cooler full of ice cold beer for the end of the day?

*****in A !

[Rick Lee]

Ok, I have about $200 cash on me now and am waiting for them to show up. I plan to write him a check once we discuss it when it's done and will decide how much cash to give after that.

As for the materials, I supplied the paint and carpet. He supplied the carpet pad, said he got it for $85. His guys brought the drywall and the boss told me he already had it laying around leftover from another job. I know his guys had to stop by Home Depot to buy the mud and a local tool rental place to rent the carpet kicker. And the boss bought the baseboards. He's gonna end up paying for two days of renting that carpet kicker because he's already another 40 min. late today. I definitely want a relationship with a good local contractor for future work. But this constant tardiness is starting to irritate me. He was three hrs. late coming for the estimate, ditto for yesterday and I simply cannot sit home all day today.

[Joeaksa]

Originally Posted by m21sniper

Just tip him whatever you think he has earned.

Tips exist for a reason.

Bingo!

If you have found a good one and one you like. pay them what the job is worth and remember you may REALLY need them again in the future.

[peppy]

Rick I had to pony up a bit more when I had my roof painted, but they found and fixed a leak.

I say a bit of cash goes a long way if you ever want to use them again. If not, it's a good lesson for the contractor (put a bit of cushion in).

[Rick Lee]

Tip is going down by the minute now. Boss said they'd be here between seven and eight this morning. It's almost 10 and no sign of them.

[trekkor]

If they were reliable all the way through this, I'd add a little money for them, too.

Since they are standing you up, I'd pay what you agreed to pay and move on.

I suspect they under-bid all their jobs and run late with everyone.


KT

[Rick Lee]

I don't know if I'd call them reliable. One of his crew just called and said the boss was having drama at home and was locked out sans cell phone. He said to ignore any emails I get that may appear to come from him and they'll be out here by 1pm today. Oh man, now I'm killing another day sitting in the house because of these guys. I really need to run some errands, but I feel like if I don't get this done today, it will drag on for another week. Really losing my will to pay extra now.

[dentist90]

Hmmm.... maybe you do get what you pay for.

[trekkor]

No one likes having their valuable time wasted.



KT

[nostatic]

A good contractor is worth their weight in gold. Back in my homeowner days I had a sliding scale for them with quality of work, price, and on-time being the main parameters. Like the old saying, pick any two. So at that point it depends on what is worth more to you. For me, the good work part is non-negotiable. So then it is the other two factors...what is more important to me, my money or my time?

I'm all for tipping the guys who actually do the work if they do a good job.

[trekkor]

He said to ignore any emails I get that may appear to come from him...

This interests me.
Go on, I'm listening...


KT

[Rick Lee]

They're here now and hard at work. Should all be done today, but I know I've added to the bill some. They're painting the whole room now, as there were already a lot of bad patch and touch-up spots on the walls. Just ran to HD to get more paint and the boss is also installing another elec. outlet for the gun safe. Their work looks pretty good, but I've pissed away two days sitting in my house waiting on them.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Another reason to have/use a contract. You can build in a liquidated damages clause if they're late precisely to avoid problems of that sort.

As I've said elsewhere, I wouldn't let anyone turn a screw in my place without a contract. If they gave me any crap about it ("har-har, we don't do that for little work like this") there's the door. Next please.

There's a reason they call them CONTRACTors now, not builders. The industry standard is meeting minimum contractual obligations and nothing more. Without a formal written contract, you'll get exactly what you have in writing, which it sounds like is what has happened here.

[Joeaksa]

Rick,

Considering that they are working on Sunday I was surprised to see them come at all, not to mention being late. Not many people work on Sundays...

Joe A

[Rick Lee]

I didn't ask them to come today. They said they were doing it. I could have easily waited until next week. I just want it done by next weekend. They're laying carpet pad now. Paint and drywall work looks top notch. But this guy seriously has no clue as to how to bid out a job. They're gonna easily have 10 hrs. into this and there are three of them here today. I'd say he's looking at close to 50 man hours.

[chocolatelab]

Rick

When i lived in scottsdale i did my own pool. If i remember it was fairly straight forward.

Run the pump at night, and run it for 1 hour for every 10 degrees over 60....???? Now I cant remember the hours. Someone in your neighborhood knows for sure.

For chemicals it was no more then a gallon of acid and clorine each week durring the summer. Substantially less during the winter.

Plus the afternoon pool scrub with the cold beer once a week.

[911Rob]

yes

[Rick Lee]

Well, it's done now. The quote went from $280 to $510, which was still a smoking deal for the work they did. But the drywall guys wanted $200 to paint the whole room, which took well under an hour, once I'd come back from HD to buy the paint. So I'm satisfied they got paid right. I was so irate by the time they arrived today, that I just felt less charitable. I don't know what to say. My biggest pet peeve in life is tardiness and unreliability. I've never been late for anything ever. I know it wasn't the drywall/paint guys' fault, but they got paid plenty for that paint job. And I sure wasn't feeling guilty for their boss. I gave them some more beer after it was all done today and I will sleep fine tonight.