I am a GC in Phoenix AZ. I did a walk thru with my client the other day to inspect the finished drywall texturing. They found a large hump in the ceiling where my new board meets the existing drywall ceiling. Turns out the hump was caused by a low beam & strap. The defection was about 3/4" or more. My drywaller fixed the hump by cutting out the drywall at the beam & used mesh tape & hot mud right over the beam (no drywall there at all). The client is happy with how it looks now.
My drywaller charged me extra for this repair, but he client doesn't want to pay for it. He says it should have been done this way initially & is accusing me of charging him for work that should have been done right in the first place. Is he correct? Would a good drywaller have noticed this & done something different to begin with?
I am a GC in Phoenix AZ. I did a walk thru with my client the other day to inspect the finished drywall texturing. They found a large hump in the ceiling where my new board meets the existing drywall ceiling. Turns out the hump was caused by a low beam & strap. The defection was about 3/4" or more. My drywaller fixed the hump by cutting out the drywall at the beam & used mesh tape & hot mud right over the beam (no drywall there at all). The client is happy with how it looks now.
My drywaller charged me extra for this repair, but he client doesn't want to pay for it. He says it should have been done this way initially & is accusing me of charging him for work that should have been done right in the first place. Is he correct? Would a good drywaller have noticed this & done something different to begin with?
My drywaller charged me extra for this repair, but he client doesn't want to pay for it. He says it should have been done this way initially & is accusing me of charging him for work that should have been done right in the first place. Is he correct? Would a good drywaller have noticed this & done something different to begin with?
My drywaller charged me extra for this repair, but he client doesn't want to pay for it. He says it should have been done this way initially & is accusing me of charging him for work that should have been done right in the first place. Is he correct? Would a good drywaller have noticed this & done something different to begin with?
Not only should the drywall contractor have noticed it, but you should have too. Split the difference with your irresponsible DC and chalk it up as a lesson learned. Don't be surprised if his "repair" fails either.
Bottom line to me is..not who is right or wrong..that matters for future work..immediate concern is :
A) Customer is happy.
B) How much is this extra repair?
C) What % it is of total job cost ?
D) Did I tell sub to repair and we will figure out the cost later? or did sub call me and tell me all work was done and this is a surprise.
Your client is right... he didn't pay for a bump... a 3/4" bump is obvious even to a newb drywaller..
Nor should you have to pay for it either... this one is on the drywaller...
Let me as you this... if it was YOUR house, would you pay for it? Of course not... and neither should the HO, nor should you...
Is he going to reimburse you for the time you took to go back to deal with an un-happy client because of his work?
NO!Thanks for the feedback. as for who's to blame, it is an existing house there was no framer other than the original builder. The beam is part of a flat roof system with joists hanging off of it. Which is set on a block wall. I can't raise the beam without affecting the load or the roof above. I can't shave the beam without affecting the strength of it.
I appreciate the opinions of weather it should have been caught at first or not. But if the beam couldn't have been move/ change I guess the only other option would have been to fur-out the joist near the beam. That would usually be done by a framer if this was a new build or an addition. Are you guys saying that this would be a common aspect of a good drywaller?
Maybe it's different in different parts of the country,
but around here in CO and in my very limited experience in Cali, the DC usually walks the job with me and notes if any significant issues for shaving shimming, (usually with chalk or a spray can,) and his boys will do the normal/minor paper shimming.....
and my guys would never just nail DW over any bad framing.
Must be different where you are..... who is responsible for paper shimming???????
Best