[madrina]

Long story short this guy calls me I'm not sure exactly what his position is when I ask if he was the owner of the property he tells me yeah yeah kind of I oversee all the construction and I said okay so you're the superintendent and he said yeah no not really, so I just dropped it. After I talk to him about the project, which is 150 squares on the first building and there's 9 additional buildings to follow, he tells me he's in a big hurry and he needs to start this project in 2 days could I handle that.

I said that's a bit ridiculous but I've been known to swing some crazy things before send me over the roof plans let me have a look at the project and I'll get back with you. He says okay, I send him my email address... 5 hours later still no plans I call and leave a message, no response. next day I called my crew guy and said "if you know this guy call him and ask where the plans are" Crew guy called me back says plans are on the way. 10 hours later still no plans I called the guy back he answers tells me he's on his way to the office and he'll send them with an hour. by 11 o'clock that night still no plans. the next day tells me the same thing and he sends me the plans but it wasn't the roof plans it was a picture of the side of the building.

By this time I'm already done dealing with this guy I'm so pissed off. The guy calls me back apologizes asked me to meet him at 9 o'clock in the morning yesterday. Calls back changes it to the next day at noon, then 2 and now to 230.
The only reason I'm even going is because he sent me a text message saying that I would be meeting with the building owner, the superintendent and himself at this meeting.

I still don't know what his position is however if I have to report to him on this project I'm not going to take the job. Would it be terribly rude of me to ask who I'm reporting to and if they say that guy for me to decline the job based on the fact that Ive been around long enough to know this kind of behavior doesn't change and I know this guy is going to be a ***** to work with.

Or should I take the job and then discuss it with the owner privately?

 

[Driftweed]

Tell them you deal with property owner only, after all that's the guy you will be suing when you dont get paid.

That should get the point across.

 

[blacktop]

I firmly believe.. If It don't start off good..:whistling

 

[Jeff G]

Who would be paying, and who would have the warranty? Are they one and the same?

There is no doubt that the person you've been dealing with hasn't got it all together. I mean, if things happen (which has been associated with living life), the prudent thing to do, as far as the guy you're speaking of, would be to communicate.

As Blacktop said, doesn't sound good when starting off like this. It has been my experience when something starts out weird, it is also weird come the time to get final payment (sometimes any payment). I tend to avoid these situations like the plague.

 

[D.E.P.S.]

He might be a property manager for a real estate broker or property management company. I deal with these types all the time. I get some work from them once in a while, but it takes them forever to get their ducks in a row. Expect to wait a month before you get a check depending on when you finish the work. Most of them pay in 30 day cycles.

 

[PoleBarnsNY]

Would it be terribly rude of me to ask who I'm reporting to

No

and if they say that guy for me to decline the job

No tell them you are happy to do the work on the condition that you report directly to the property owner or someone else reliable.

or should I take the job and then discuss it with the owner privately?

You need make an acceptable arrangement before you accept the project.

 

[CarrPainting]

And get EVERYTHING in writing and MAKE SURE you have an exit clause so you can bail if it gets ugly and still keep your money...

 

[madrina]

Well, the plot thickens. I went to the meeting, it was me, my labor guy who apparently knows this unreliable guy and the unreliable guy UG. no building owner, no super...

We sit down and he shows me the site map. Tells me the job we had discussed 150 squares of tpo, was just awarded to someone. Apologizes and said that he just took that position 2 weeks ago and he has been really busy "making changes" what ever that means. Apologizes for being so flaky and bla bla. I was like.... Did i really drive out here to look at a site map? he says the investors who bought the property, bought it along with a bunch of other property. he says we are still welcome to bid on the remaining buildings which btw were 82, 60, 60 60 squares of nothing but tile (as was the one he said was 150 sq of tpo) and one 60 square little ass tpo job that they havent even started framing yet.

The office where we met was the office of the investors I believe. I dont know where this guy fits in but its definitely not on the construction side. I asked him what the substrate was on the TPO job and he says he didnt know. 2 minutes later he tells me the building getting the tpo roof is all steel, steel trusses, steel frame... So I say, ok so they are most likely going to have a metal deck. He says yes, its a metal deck. ???? Right then i knew he didnt know what the word substrate meant so the guy cant be the gc, super or anything else on our side.

They give no money up front, they want the mats delivered and progress made on the building before they issue the first check which will be 2 weeks supposedly.
I tell him that I will do that if he will write a joint check to me and my supplier.

He says, No we dont do joint checks. But really I dont think he knows what that is. Is that possible? I hate people that get a job because they know someone. Why WONT they do a joint check? that is ridiculous. Im not putting one frecking cent on someones roof out of my pocket. Especially a group of people who just bought up billions of dollars in real estate and had it developed. Please, their attorney would laugh if I tried to sue them. and they could just probably have someone whack me if they wanted to.

Hell if i was that rich, Id be putting hits out on people left and right just because I could. Dont even get me started on what id do to some little minion trying to sue me over 20 grand.

Anyway he says, well if you want to bid these out we would definitely consider them. I said yeah well ive been trying to get a roof plan from you for 4 days, I cant bid anything off a site map. So he goes oh yeah, hey receptionist girl can you email her the roof plans for this project?

OMg really? thats all you had to do was delegate that task and ya couldnt even do that in 4 days? wow. Oh yeah... id love to bid that clay tile out for ya seeing how IM A FLAT ROOFER YA KNOW?? I looked him right in the eyes and said, what did the guy who got the job on the first building bid? and he told me.


im going to bed now. nighty night

 

[brunothedog]

The middleman.
His wants seem like those who would like to nudge their way into the middle.

 

[tedanderson]

Whenever there is this much ambiguity, you are very likely to not get paid.

 

[builditguy]

Too much confusion for me. I would either pass or say I needed to meet with the person paying the bills.
Get a signed contract. In this case I would insist on money up front.

 

[hdavis]

There isn't really a question here, is there:whistling

 

[Skyvorima]

Run from that project. I mean get some ACME explosive sneakers and do an Olympic sprint until the memory is completely gone. This is a nightmare situation for any contractor.

 

[Morning Wood]

Why even bother if he can't.

 

[TimNJ]

The middleman.
His wants seem like those who would like to nudge their way into the middle.

You got that right.
Here's the game:
This clown knows the owners and they contracted him to do the roofs.
He doesn't know a roof from a basement, but he is shopping for a sucker to jump right in and do these with no notice, no contracts, no deposits.

Then when the roofs are done he collects from the owners and skips town leaving you holding the bag.

 

[BugmanBCE]

I always prefer to know who is paying me, how, and when. If you haven't spoken to that person to get those answers, don't do any work.

I had some group try to get me to do some work for them the other day and to get paid I would have to get registered in their system as a vendor and then submit invoices. Internet reviews said they don't pay. I told him I would do it but my charge for dealing with their billing system was $500 due in advance and asked if he already had my address to send the check to.

Some people need to learn that they have to do business like the rest of us.

 

[GO Remodeling]

Better jump off this train wreck while you can. Go to the real paying job.

 

[huggytree]

as soon as he said he needs you to start in 2 days you should have said no thanks and moved on....

there's a reason he needs someone in 2 days......he doesnt pay well or at all and is jumping around from sub to sub

there's so much wrong with this deal i cant believe you are still in the game w/ them

are you desperate for work? find better customers

 

[ohiohandyman]

I wouldn't take the job. It sounds like it/he will be more of a pain than it's worth. And you may not get paid to boot. And even if you do take the job and end up getting paid you are not going to be treated well along the way, I mean, you haven't been yet.

 

[madrina]

I always prefer to know who is paying me, how, and when. If you haven't spoken to that person to get those answers, don't do any work.

I had some group try to get me to do some work for them the other day and to get paid I would have to get registered in their system as a vendor and then submit invoices. Internet reviews said they don't pay. I told him I would do it but my charge for dealing with their billing system was $500 due in advance and asked if he already had my address to send the check to.

Some people need to learn that they have to do business like the rest of us.

Wouldnt be the nessel group would it?