Going To Finish Someone Elses Cabinet Job! Huh?

Gus Dering

I got a call from a lady yesterday while we were installing a kitchen down the street from her.

Basically she wanted to know if I was open to the idea of finishing another shops cabinets because she wanted to fire him and needed the comfort of a back door before she did.

Well it turns out that she is right across the street from a kitchen we did a couple years ago and she had my name from back then from that client. She also knows the people I was installing for. And the really strange thing is that she got her guy from the people I'm installing for.
Go ahead and read that again if you need to, it's crazy.

Who am I to say no? She has a laundry and a home office that still neds to be done. We have an awesome set of tools and if we can fix all my screw ups why can't we fix his, if there are any.

So she come by with her contractor later in the day while we were finishing up. Nice lady, a little timid but humble and kind. Contractor is on his best behaviour in front of me and the guys along with my clients who stay present for the whole conversation seeings how they all know eachother. I say best behavior for a reason. All my intuition tells me that this guy can be a real prick if you scratch him a little the wrong way.

Well I went over there today, met with her. All went well. I gave her some advise on how to deal with the cabinet guy that she was very receptive to.
I also told her tis had nothing to do with the floor or the cabinets. It is all about these two guys not getting along. She totally agreed. And that she just wants to get through this thing. Fine by me

Then I have a private chat with the contractor. He goes into his tirade about the layout. when he was done I said this has nothing to do with that. This guy needed a little codleing and you scared him off with your aggresive anal nature.
He started laughing and shaking his head in agreement. What an ass.

This whole 2 month delay and endless stress to th HO could have been avoided with a contractor with more people skills.

I'm not going to say that to the HO but I think she knows it. She just feels stuck. Bad scene really.

So she is going to work out a fair $ amount to settle with the other guy and it looks like I will be going to his place and grabing the boxes from him. They still need doors and drawers and who knows what else. Crazy

But like I told her, I just want to increase the fan base. If I get a good word and another job down the line, I'm cool with all of it.

I hope I feel the same way at the end of this soap opra

Just ranting, I'm not scared. Maybe a little

Bodger

I've always had bad luck when I took this kind of work. Optimistic going in, thinking that what happened with the previous contractor wouldn't happen to me.
Can't say they all turned out bad, just one particular job where I took over from a contractor who was the HO's cousin and they had a falling out.

I found out why. The H/O had a boyfriend who was an archy and whom she had met after the job started. Raging perfectionist prick who hated contractors.

Sounds like you'll be okay though, and it's not like it will be 6 month build or anything.
Good luck Gus. Fear nothing.

WisePainter

That is the first thing that comes to my mind as I step into the roll of a fired painter.
It has only happened twice in many years.
Thank God.

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KMac

Always a tough situation but sounds like you've got it figured out and let the GC know you had him figured out. The other guy should have probably done the same thing.

WisePainter

My GC has had a few wake up calls from me during our first venture together. The guy seems to think everyone around him is not as smart as he thinks he is.
Say that 3 times fast.

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Tinstaafl

Fingers crossed for you, Gus. In my experience, those who demonstrate willingness to fire the current contractor (sans really egregious misconduct) tend to be, shall we say, somewhat difficult to work with.

Either they're super-paranoid because they've been burned, or they have issues of their own, such as lack of funds, that interfere with the overall rapprochement/whatever.

Gold Tie

Oh so sadly true!!

I'm nervous for you gus!

PA woodbutcher

I was thinking as reading, better to take over for someone who has been fired than someone who quit. Usually people quit for a reason.

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Cdat

Good luck. As stated by others, if they want rid of one, who's to say they'll be happy with you?

Mitch M

I had a similar situation a few years ago when the condo association fired the contractor that was replacing the masonite siding with Hardi Plank. They paid him too much and he did a crappy job. I got the referral from my painter. I went and looked at it and quoted a budget number but with the work being done on a T & M basis. I pointed out to the Pres and treasurer several things that were not seen during our original walkthrough. Of course this had to be taken care of.

While it started out good, the owners were excited about me and having the job finally finished, in the end they started questioning everything. It took longer because now I had to patch holes in the roof where the previous contractor nail tarps down and then removed the boards without fixing the holes. Had to redo trim that was short, etc.

I was glad to finally finish it but I will have a much better contract and more specific scope next time. And I will also have only one point person. Too many bosses on a condo association.

Bodger

Sometimes I think by the time I learn how to protect myself from eveything that can screw me as a contractor, I'll be dead.

At least Gus has a fairly specific scope of work on this from the sound of it.
The punch lists that other contractors have walked away from at the end of a job are the worst. You find out why they walked.

Keep us posted Gus.

WisePainter

Ain't that the truth...

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Gus Dering

This pissing match all started because of the wood floor border has to follow the outline of the cabinets. The cabinets are built with the frames touching the floor in some decorative fashion. A bunch of them.
Contractor wants cabinetmaker to layout the floor where the boxes will be with surgical precision so the border has a clean reveal through out.
When he communicates that it would be very intimidating for a guy without much self esteem or confidence. He gets all intense about it. I think you get the idea.
I asked the lady if she would mind if the reveal between the cabinets and the floor were not perfect. If somewhere they were about a 1/2" off.
She laughed and said no. I said "you just want your kitchen back, don't you?" I thought she was going to cry. I really thought she was.

So when he is in the middle of his obsessive little rant about the reveal thing, I stop him and tell him the owner is ok with less than perfect. That was news to him. I don't think the 3 of them ever even talked about their concerns.

Two months later and here I am. Playing some role other than cabinetmaker.

She still needs to call me this weekend sometime and let me know if the kitchen is mine or not. Cause of the money thing with the other guy.

I told her to hold 10% retention so she feels like she has some power if he has built something that needs rework. She loved that idea.

We'll see

neolitic

Ain't that the truth!

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(Sorry....it seems there really are dumb questions)

woodtradesman

Can the cabinets go in before the flooring for the flooring guys to be able to lay out ther floor precisely?

Gus Dering

They could but he would have to trim all of those furniture feet and slide the flooring under. And then sand under the toe and around the feet.

The contractor would still want the boxes perfectly parallel and square with each other from one side of the room to the other.

Not so hard to do but he is pretty scary about it.

dubz

You guys use layout sticks there? My cabinet guy does here. The company owner will draw up construction plans, then who ever is building it will lay out the job full scale on some strips of 1/4" and go verify on site before anything is cut.

Gus Dering

I know that some guys do.
I lay everything out in the computer. Give the trades the shop drawings. Owners get 3d renderings and what ever else they want or need.

But in this case I will be cutting 1/4" ply templates and go tack them down. Making sure the walls and floor will cooperate. Get it as close as we can.

Show the owner how much care we put into it. Tell the contractor to take a chill and get the woman in the damn kitchen.

woodtradesman

OH, my bad. I assumed that the face frames touche the floor but it sounds like the cabinets have feet like furniture right? this changes things a bit. The cabinet and floor layout need to be done acurately, both cabinet and flooring installers would neeed to work closely together and the floors would idealy go in firts. It could be tricky but its no brain surgery .

Gosh, If I was the CG there I would have laid our the floor my self and contracted the cabinet installation out to a good installer, since the cabinet guy doesn't seem to be stepping up to the plate. If you ask me the CG is a social klutz and it seems to me that he is intimidated by the thought of laying out the floor him self.

Gus Dering

I think it started going south when he took the stance that since it was her guy and not his he should have no responsibility.
He is that classic old school hardass. Louder is righter kind of guy. If he had his way he would sceam his way out of a bind.