Contractors who ghost you

Stop presenting hole, OP.

There was a recent thread about people ghosting in general. It happens a lot these days (not just in dating) and is rude as fuck.

TOTALLY. A plumber comes makes an estimate. Ghosts. Or does one job, you pay on time and tip, etc and arrange a date for the next one. Ghost.

why do you tip a plumber?

Yes, it's weird R4

Usually cock. But depends.

[quote]Is this a normal thing? Why would anyone run a business so shabbily?

Entirely normal.

Contractors like the idea of new jobs, new money, and they are often quick enough to come see your property. Then reality sets in and they realize they have too much work in hand, too many clients waiting for their jobs to begin, and no predictable end in sight at which point they could easily plan for new work. So they ghost you. It's the stupid thing to do, but it's the usual solution.

A few contractors kindly contact you to say sorry, looking again at the schedule we won't be able to fit you in for the foreseeable future: I'm sorry to not to be able to help you.

Most are better at construction than at business and it shows.

For a few it's a question of the size or complexity of the job. If it's too big or too small, or if there are too many unknown factors or need to coordinate with subcontractors they decide against it. Too busy, plus people are calling them all the time for new jobs.

The white glove contractors understand this and have the resources to devote to attentive call backs, estimating, scheduling, and coordinating details. And they charge accordingly for trouble free, pleasant service.

I had a contractor do an excellent job painting the inside of my house. He left his nice 9-foot ladder. I called and let him know about his ladder and that I eeded a few more repairs done and he agreed to come look and give me an estimate. That was 4 years ago. I still have the ladder.

Don’t contractors understand that a call telling me just doesn’t have the time in his schedule to do the work will ultimately keep me as a potential customer?

Instead I will never use him no matter what and tell my friends about how he ghosts people

This is exactly why, when recessions come, and contractors complain about having no work, I laugh in their starving children’s faces

Better to get ghosted before you gave the contractor money than after you gave the contractor money.

I wanted to put in some skylights. I called a highly recommended roofing company that does work around the town. The rep came over twice to discuss the work. Then his engineer came over to check out the roof and said everything was great and ready to go. They say they’ll send me an estimate.

And then nothing.

Two weeks go by. I call, and the secretary says they’ll call right back. Another week later, I call again for the estimate, and the secretary says I’m next on the list. Nothing.

WTF??

Thankfully I ultimately found a great contractor who was able to put in the skylights (and a lot of other projects), but I still bristle when I see that other roofing company’s signs around town. I want to call them and say, if they had just followed through they could have earned thousand of dollars on my project.

[quote] Better to get ghosted before you gave the contractor money than after you gave the contractor money.

I having a gas fireplace put in and the facing of my old fireplace changed into something more modern. They did half the job and then just stopped.

Covid came , which delayed everything yet another 6 months. So far, It’s been over a year, and I have half a fireplace done.

I called today and basically yelled at them that if it isn’t done soon, they will have to come tear what they did down and refund my money or else I’ll take them to small claims.

Thankfully I had only prepayed half and I have the rest ($3k) to hang over their heads.

If you have a street committee, you should have a list of approved suppliers. Use them.

In the pandemic, you will find it difficult to get anything done.

What's a street committee?

A street cttee is for householders on the same street to coordinate their buying- power. If you are in an apartment building then the building may have a cttee and a list of approved suppliers. The suppliers know that if they fuck up then the rest of the street or building may know about it; it's an incentive.

Unfortunately it is normal OP. These guys are all hunting for the jobs that will pay them them most money. If they have jobs paying more than yours would they just forget about you. It's sad they don't have the courtesy to respond to you. But most of these guys are not exactly the most intellectual guys on the planet.

Contractors have the same morals as whores.

My concern is the number of prostatutes who ghost me. They're contractor too, right?

I had a kitchen renovation and the floor tile guy didn't show up for several days - I called repeatedly and left many messages with no return calls. It screwed everything else up, the cabinet guys got bumped and wouldn't be able to fit me in for another three weeks, the countertop guys got bumped and couldn't fit me in anytime soon either, etc. Finally the tile guy shows up and I ask where he was and he said "the rockfish were running!" completely confident that this was an acceptable excuse. The rest of the project wasn't exactly great either - these guys showed up hungover adn drank through the day.

My contractor was telling me lies; his wife had cancer, he told me.

The ability to easily get a good contractor was the only good part of the recession in 2008-2010. For a homeowner, it was a dream time.

I've had a lot of bad experiences with the self-employed, some contractors, some movers. I think a lot of those guys can't hack it in the workplace so they strike out on their own, so, instead of a boss having to deal with their bullshit, homeowners have to.

My personal favorite experiences were the contractors who were working on my landlord's bathroom who would show up to work around noon, eat lunch for an hour, and then leave by 3; the plumbers who were supposed to be at my house by 9, but didn't set out until 9:30, and didn't arrive until 11 (They must have had a nice brunch along the way.); and the mover who didn't show at the scheduled time, didn't call me back until a half hour after I called him, and then showed up an hour and a half after that. He claimed he was stuck in traffic, but he clearly forgot about the job.

These experiences make me unreceptive to contractors crying about taxes and regulations. If they ran their businesses better, they'd be making bank regardless.

[quote] I had a kitchen renovation and the floor tile guy didn't show up for several days - I called repeatedly and left many messages with no return calls.... Finally the tile guy shows up and I ask where he was and he said "the rockfish were running!" completely confident that this was an acceptable excuse. The rest of the project wasn't exactly great either - these guys showed up hungover adn drank through the day.

Ugh. I've only ever rented. I've thought about buying my own place. When I hear stories like this, I never want to renovate. If I buy, it must be ready for move-in.

Contractors are flaky. I picture them sitting around stoned most of the time.

[quote] My personal favorite experiences were the contractors who were working on my landlord's bathroom who would show up to work around noon, eat lunch for an hour, and then leave by 3

We get up at twelve and start to work at one Take an hour for lunch and then at two we're done Jolly good fun!

[quote]That was 4 years ago. I still have the ladder.

Not cheap to replace. You must've been a real picky, pain his ass for him to abandon it.

They’re ghosting you because they can’t guarantee their work or they can’t fit the job into their schedule. I live in a historic house but the builder was an eccentric so some local contractors won’t take my calls.

FIRST - OP, GOD BLESS YA for this thread honey! Yasss!

We're dealing with this now. The entire downstairs of our house has been stripped down to the 170 year old studs by two contractors we trusted and because friendly with. They fucked us over, $40,000 later and I am now sitting in the middle of a massive space looking at the backside of the original clapboard exterior walls of the house with large cracks in between each. Oh, and I live in Maine, (which I hate. I HATE HATE HATE.)

They have destroyed me and my husbear's spirit. We have had a parade of contractors come through. All of them ghosting us of putting us off, or trying to keep us hanging on the line. They are all feeding at the trough of business here in Southern Maine and they care not who they offend or fuck over. The electrician is gouging us but we have no choice. The plumber came and did one piece of a three part job and we've not seen him since. We pay everyone right away, on time. We don't haggle. Ironically, we're nearing being out of money and are having to consider taking out a loan just so we can find someone to close our house up so we don't freeze to death. I keep telling my partner that if we were a straight couple with kids, there's no way we'd have been treated this way. But I could be wrong.

So, yes... Sadly, I have been saying things like R10 lately and I think I mean it. In a way, I'm secretly hoping for an economic collapse. I want to see THEM hurt for a while, to be taken advantage of. I want to drive past Home Depot and see them in the application line or past the Food Stamp office and see them there. And I want to throw a jar of week-old piss at each and every one of them....

I know that sounds awful, but I've never hated so intensely anything the way I've hated these people since last April. All of them. I truly do. They've done way more to us than give us fake hope or blow us off or fuck our house over. They've make me forever distrust and dislike them, people like them, their trades and have encouraged me never again to be as kind and welcome as I was to the first three guys. Who I would cook for, send home with food, pick up little gifts for to thank them for working on our house, etc. They shit on our faces and I'll never forget or forgive it.

R29 Provide an executive summary with your overlong post.

Why is there no kind of law put into place to regulate (is that the word I’m looking for?) contractors? Meaning that all contractors have to have some sort of professional license and registered somewhere where they can easily be tracked and held accountable? While we’re at it, they should also be drug tested since many of them have substance abuse issues.

I’ve heard so many horror stories from countless people that I don’t understand why something hasn’t been done.

R29 How did you lose $40,000? Did you pay the full sum up at once? You’re only supposed to pay them fractions at a time as the work progresses.

Also, where did you get these people? Did you find them on your own or were they recommended to you?

Good luck with everything. This is one of the reasons I could never move into a house that needs a remodel. I don’t want to deal with this contractor shit.

I tried to line up someone to replace my roof: even got an estimate to which I agreed, but never heard back. When I texted him to see if we were still 'on', he said he had lost his phone (?!?) I still gave him the benefit of the doubt, but gave up after several unanswered texts. I finally called a guy recommended by my brother this Thursday afternoon, and he came by within 45 minutes to give me a bid. He and his crew already removed the old roof and installed a new roof yesterday. But, Good Lord, they decimated all the trees and shrubs near the house. I'm in shock, to be honest, like I'm still recovering from surgery. At least I shouldn't need to worry about any more raccoon damage to my roof.

All general and sub contractors work several jobs at the same time. That's why they suddenly don't show up at specific job sites for days. Anyone building a house has experienced it before and knows the pain and misery one has to go through dealing with these people. The only thing a homeowner can do when dealing with contractors is write a contract setting an agreed upon finish date, and stipulate daily penalties if the job is not finished by that date.

Does hiring a project manager to deal with the hiring and overseeing the work of the contractors help any or is it a waste of money?

When my partner and I bought a house, thankfully it had recently been renovated and we didn’t have to do much.

For the few things we wanted to change, we dealt with a ton of shitty contractors not answering phones, etc. We thought maybe it was because we’re gay but turns out many people in the area deal with this.

Thankfully another gay couple in the area recommended their contractor. He’s absolutely excellent—he’s more expensive but he listens to what we want, is VERY communicative, and does exactly what he promises. I will use him for every construction project.

R35, a project manager makes sense only if you’re doing a major renovation— not just one room but the entire house

This is normal for the building tradespeople, OP. Think about it - if they were good at executive functions, they'd be working office jobs. They're not good at it, so they work in the trades. They may be good at what they do, but their organizational skills are nonexistent. Unfortunately, their money management skills are also pretty poor, meaning they tend to go broke, take people's upfront money and use it as a float, and just keep stringing people along until it all caves in on them.

There's a lot of drinkers and drug users in the trades, too. Because as a plumber or carpenter, etc, you work independently or for one of your buddies, so you don't have to take a drug test. But the heavy users are even more likely to show up late, stop showing up, or never show up at all.

lots of alcoholism in the trade

I always wonder if my contractor is on coke because he talks a mile a minute. But he does the job well, so I don’t care

[quote] Does hiring a project manager to deal with the hiring and overseeing the work of the contractors help any or is it a waste of money?

If the job is big enough it will save you a lot of agony, as long as you hire a qualified person for the job. There are plenty of head contractors on jobs that turn out to be complete disasters. you must ask for and check all references before hiring.

So pleased this happens to other people too. I was beginning to take it personally!

Calling in contractors is traumatic.

They don't respect bookings. They demand the job start and finish on their terms.

I've had contractors intimidate me. We in Australia have Irish scammers who deliberately intimidate elderly people and then skip the country.

R29 started a major home renovation in April? During the lockdown?

I look forward to the day that gay men stop buying historic houses and insisting on "gut renovations" to be "stripped down to the 170 year old studs" because "we hated the wallpaper, and the cabinet hardware in the kitchen, and because we had no idea what was behind the walls."

If you replace every molecule of a house with something new, but in a different material, in a different location, in a different size and shape and form, you've not "rescued" or "saved" a house, you're just a showoff who wants to bore everyone with his breathless "money pit" tales of ruining ("rescuing") a house at maximum expense and maximum gay hysteria.

Either the house is haunted or you are repulsive, OP.

Glad to hear it wasn’t just me. I had some reno work done on my house in 2019 and 2020 and I’ve dealt with several contractors. Most of them are straight up con men. The ones that weren’t usually did subpar shit work and the one who did a decent job ghosted.

It truly is unbelievable how hard it is to find a good contractor.

R47 here. The decent contractor who ghosted me was for additional work. He initially put up a privacy fence for me and i had more work for him which he agreed to then nothing. No call. No show.

I still have half my house to reno and honestly, I’ve had such awful experiences with contractors, I’m slowly doing the work myself. I’m just watching YouTube videos and reading the DIY Reddit.

The reno I need to finish isn’t that major so I’m willing to try it.

We've had the same problem with landscape maintenance this year. I've been calling places since June, they'll call back and leave a message, in one case an estimate (because they'd done this work for us before), but then just disappear. Literally every company in town has done this.

I had a contractor ghost me because he confused me with a neighbor who wrote him a check, then stopped payment on the check. I finally insisted that he examine the returned check, He was man enough to apologize when he learned of his mistake. But I was three weeks without proper heat in January, Fortunately, there were work-arounds so that I managed ok. But it was frustrating. Especially at first because I was accused, initially, as being a deadbeat and some of my neighbors heard that. That bothered me.

I live in the heart of the city and getting contractors for even major jobs is problematic. Parking is a hassle in my area and all the workers seem to live in the burbs and drive pickup trucks. I finally found a GC to do a gut rehab on a 3 bedroom condo. The project was plagued with delays - mainly due to trades people not showing up. It took 6 months to complete a job which was suppose to take 10 weeks. Since the GC didn't directly employ the carpenters, electricians, plumbers, etc, he complained he was at the mercy of these guys to show up as scheduled. Once the project was completed, getting anyone to come back for punchlist items was impossible.

I once gutted and rehabbed my bathroom, and I only have one bathroom. It was supposed to be done by October, but wasn’t completely finished until January. I went a few days with no toilet, and much longer than that with no shower. I used my local gym. My Mom died in late November so it was a lot of stress. I recall weeping in the shower at the gym, and of course anyone who noticed wouldn’t have known and would just have thought me to be nutty.

I think my plumber may be illiterate, But in any event, he routinely sends bills out many months afterward.

In one case, he wanted to bill me for work he did, over a year earlier. If he had been prompt, I would have been able to forward the bill to a neighbor or roommate, I forget who, but it was someone else that actually caused the problem. But that person eventually moved, and I didn’t want to get stuck with the bill. It put me in an awkward position.

Just on the subject of late billing, I hate the way hospital bills arrive months after the service.i know they have to go through all the insurance companies, but they might send a bill 6 months later, then expect you to pay your co-pay within 30 days.

So I still have not received an answer for my question at R31. Why is there no legislation put into place so that these assholes have to be held accountable?

The only get to your job when they no longer have a bigger and/or easier job in line.

Many work for themselves because they could never hold a "regular" job due to immaturity, criminal history, substance abuse and mental illness.

[quote[ R31: Why is there no kind of law put into place to regulate ...

My state, Massachusetts, has lots of such laws. They are civil offenses, not criminal offenses. So, the regulations are often worthless, You’d have to sue to get damages and that is expensive and difficult.

I have a great, reputable contractor. He’s expensive, but I trust him. That’s what you need, trial and error until you find a good guy. In my case, I wanted to pay this contractor in one calendar year for tax purposes. So I paid him in full before the end of the year, despite the job not being completely finished. I figured I’d never see him again, and I’d have to finish the job myself. But he came back and finished the job, despite already being fully paid.

Finding a good contractor is like finding a good plastic surgeon or dentist.

Like I said, when you have a renovation done under the control of a General Contractor who is running the show you put in a penalty clause in the contract. Set a mutually agreeable & reasonable finish date. Trust me it'll be done by that date.

I have been ripped off more than once. Never pay in advance. If they say they need money to buy supplies, offer to go to Home Depot or where ever and buy the necessary supplies with them. Pay on a day to day basis. Always keep interviewing other workers for the job so you have others to call if someone doesn't show up. It sounds harsh and it is but it gets the jobs done and on time.