The Lesson I Learned Today

arturjhawk

The lesson I learned today...

Never ever TAKE OVER any job. Period!

I took over a job from a GC I work for
The other two crews left it before me.
The job was half done and my GC assured me
that I will get all the money for the project.
Seemed cool.
Restore after fire and finish basement with paneling.
The homeowner turned out to be such a jerk I no longer
wonder why the other guys ran away from there.

I just lost a ton of nervers and money on that.

go do it

did you walk away also?

why not just finish and get the money?

arturjhawk

I did finish
but the HO was bitching about everything
and not only me, carpet guy, cleaning guys everyone
he was acting like he owned 5mil$ home
while his house upstairs looked and smelled like a barn

ProWallGuy

So, no signed contract, eh?

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Wallpaper Hanger St. Louis
Digital Murals Installation

dvon104

I think if I ever went in to your end of the business ..I would put a clause in every contract and make HO intial it .....the "PITA Percentage Penalty"...

"AN undetermined Percentage of total job estmate can and will be added to the final bill based upon undue aggravation and stress caused by customer. This percentage will be set by the contractor and will not exceed 100% of total estimate dollars...Percentage rate is 1.5% for every occurence penalty to be in cash with final draw"

I know you can not do that...but would be nice

arturjhawk

signed, so what...

jproffer

So what???

If you had a signed contract, and you fulfilled your end of that contract (and you say you did), then he is absolutely, indisputably, legally obligated to fulfill his end of it ($$$$$$) as well.

Maybe we assume too much....did you get paid or not?

You say you lost money on the deal, but if you were set-up to make a profit on your original contract, I can't see how you could lose money at the end. If you deviate from the terms of the signed contract, it's a change order (and a premium priced change order at that, if he's as much of a PITA as you say). If you do your work to industry standards (whether the HO thinks it's good enough or not), and he want's it redone....change order.

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Jim P.

dirt diggler

wrong attitude to begin with

Mitch M

I took over a job from a non-licensed contractor who was replacing all of the masonite siding with new Hardi-plank. He was paid too much money too soon with a lot of unfinished and screw ups. I quoted the job based on T & M with a contract. I gave them an estimated amount based on what I had seen at the time. The more that I got into the job the more wrongs I found. I kept the association president informed as I was getting in things. I got the job because of a referral from the painter who was one of my largest subs.

Probably the biggest thing was there were too many "bosses". I finally told them I was only going to deal with a couple of people and that was it. I finished the job but they seemed to start finding fault with everything and I think what drove them to that point was the cost was getting higher and they would not be able to get anything from the previous contractor. The found out that he nothing in his name.

While I would probably would say that I would not ever take over a job again, I would be more specific about what I am doing and make it very clear who I will deal with. Other than that, they can give it to some other sucker. At least I will be able to sleep at night.

ProWallGuy

I'm glad you said it, and I didn't have to.

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Wallpaper Hanger St. Louis
Digital Murals Installation

AtlanticWBConst

It's always like that. The ones that live in a dump, are the pickiest and most demanding premadonnas (sp)....

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- Build Well -

Kingfisher

Finishing a job right now for HO who were their own contractors. Went with the lowest bid and hired a constuction manager, told them he was not a contractor. He stole from them by scimming and the material are poor quality. Now for me to finish is going to put them at $80,000 over buget and I'm only charging them $50,000. They seem happy now and I think I've gain life long clients and hopefully many referals. So sometime it can workout well, you just have to go with your gut feelings and hope your right

Boogga

I agree with the King.

I just finished a job which I took over from presheet from some idiot which made a complete mess. It was a complete head ache. I have grey hair now. I can say the home turned out well and I'm not bragging I'm a hero now according to the owner. So the King is right!

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"It's better to die on your feet than to live on your knees"