Ben - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

BEN HANSON · 06-09-2007, 11:04 AM

I am a painting contractor and have mainly been doing industrial and heavy commercial jobs. Recently I contracted to paint the exterior of a 1912 bavarian style home on the side of a hill and the house is 4 storys high, It takes 6 tears of scaffol to reach the peak. Anyway, when i bid the place it was for two colors, the body,corbals and accents being one color and the window trim being another also the house is pretty rough so i put in the contract that i would alow 160 man hours for sanding and caulking, this is after the pressure wash and scaffol
Now the owner has set a stadard for prep that has us at 300 man hours of prep and we are only half way through this home also she has change the color to a 4 colors scheme with a 3 color facia and many other changes. I bid the home for 18,000 and was clear in the contract about the 160 hrs for prep but i was not clear about the color scheme.
Now she doesnt want to pay for the additional prep or the additonal time it takes to do the color scheme. And she refuses to pay any thing until the job is compete. How do i Deal with a woman like this?

**ProWallGuy** · 06-09-2007, 11:41 AM

Before you ever change anything to the original scope of work, you need to get a signed change order. Since you didn't, you might be screwed. Consult a lawyer ASAP.

Tmrrptr · 06-09-2007, 02:08 PM

Ben,

Obviously you can NOT "deal" with her... she is dictating terms AND specifications TO you.

Prowallguy is right on the money...Bam!
You should have stopped for a sit-down at the conference table the first moment when her expectations became different from your ability to earn money.

I would say STOP NOW and resolve things before they get worse.

If you cannot resolve things and re-write a contract w specifics, better get that lawyer!
r

Paul_R · 06-10-2007, 02:23 AM

Wow Ben, and I thought I had problems with a broken heel!! Just courious, what are the new standards for prep? Does she want all the paint scraped or grinded off the clap board down to bare wood?

I agree with the others as well. I would stop now. Only resume with some big gun behind you. My 2c.

If they don't pay
we must delay
until there is a fix
the whole works is a nix

Happy painting, Paul

Joewho · 06-10-2007, 03:43 PM

There's an adjustment between commercial and residential work.

It sounds like you bid 160 hrs. of prep, without specifying exactly what prep. Comes out to sound like you will do 160 hrs. of prep and if it isn't enough, too bad.

The house is historic and those usually take extra care and skill. They are the most difficult to bid because you just don't know how much of what will get it prepped properly. They are time consuming.

Powerwashing and sanding "usually" will not do the trick. I've always hand scraped in addition to washing and sanding. Also, I've completley removed lots of old caulk. The time really adds up on these.

It just sounds like the owner is taking a different approach to this, and it sounds like the owner may be right in wanting the prep done a certain way.

If you could tell us exactly what she wants done, maybe we can offer suggestions to minimze the losses.