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Started By
Message
Man I love renovating a house...
Posted on 10/17/23 at 9:39 am
Posted on 10/17/23 at 9:39 am
I'm about to buy one of thoes $2500 pop up campers off marketplace and go live in the state park until this project is done.
We've done a lot of our own work, and I'm a reasonably handy guy. We've painted over half of the interior ourselves and it looks GREAT.
We hired a couple contractors to do other parts and it is a struggle ever friggin day. Corners cut, showing up late, arguments over scopes... Keeping in mind my work is in the trades as well so this is not a mystery to me how this stuff all works.
Biggest problem is showing up on time. In 8 weeks I've had one contractor show up for thier self-designated state time, ONCE. Like GTFO man how can you look yourself in the mirror?
Today, "my car needs a new battery, it's too cold to keep using the old one". You couldn't do that at 7pm last night? Couldnt do that today at Autozone on the way??? Bro I've changed batteries, Stevie Wonder could do that in ten minutes!!!
Meanwhile the painter is going to put a third coat on the TV room walls because he forgot to patch the west wall, and the east wall that I patched, he painted right over without sanding down the spackle flush with the wall. My wall has chicken pox. He's got to be wondering when he's going to stop losing money for lack of managing his guys, right? Right???
We've done a lot of our own work, and I'm a reasonably handy guy. We've painted over half of the interior ourselves and it looks GREAT.
We hired a couple contractors to do other parts and it is a struggle ever friggin day. Corners cut, showing up late, arguments over scopes... Keeping in mind my work is in the trades as well so this is not a mystery to me how this stuff all works.
Biggest problem is showing up on time. In 8 weeks I've had one contractor show up for thier self-designated state time, ONCE. Like GTFO man how can you look yourself in the mirror?
Today, "my car needs a new battery, it's too cold to keep using the old one". You couldn't do that at 7pm last night? Couldnt do that today at Autozone on the way??? Bro I've changed batteries, Stevie Wonder could do that in ten minutes!!!
Meanwhile the painter is going to put a third coat on the TV room walls because he forgot to patch the west wall, and the east wall that I patched, he painted right over without sanding down the spackle flush with the wall. My wall has chicken pox. He's got to be wondering when he's going to stop losing money for lack of managing his guys, right? Right???
This post was edited on 10/17/23 at 9:41 am
36
Posted on 10/17/23 at 9:41 am to tadman
I hate hearing that. We're going to be doing an extensive remodel here in the next few months and will be staying in my 5th wheel right here on my farm.
It's going to be a shitshow.
It's going to be a shitshow.
Posted on 10/17/23 at 9:42 am to tadman
Posted on 10/17/23 at 9:44 am to tadman
quote:
renovating a house
literal torture
Posted on 10/17/23 at 9:45 am to tadman
Any jerkoff with a hammer and a tape measure could have made a go of it as a GC in this last run. There is an absence of talent in the trades and GCs today often struggle mightily with project management. It is only going to get worse too.
Posted on 10/17/23 at 9:45 am to tadman
Yea I don't trust any of these guys. It's best to stay involved and only engage these contractors for very specific things you don't want to do yourself. If you are fairly handy, then there is little knowledge the average tradesman can bring you.
Posted on 10/17/23 at 9:46 am to tadman
The housing market was so hot for so long that it became flooded with half-assers who could afford to do mediocre jobs because there was always more work to be had. the idea was to cut corners then quickly get out and onto the next job to get that next check.
It will take some time but with the market slowing down we should eventually see a lot of those types either shape up or get pushed out by those who do quality work (which will also likely make costs go up, but that's a different topic).
It will take some time but with the market slowing down we should eventually see a lot of those types either shape up or get pushed out by those who do quality work (which will also likely make costs go up, but that's a different topic).
Posted on 10/17/23 at 9:46 am to tadman
quote:
Biggest problem is showing up on time. In 8 weeks I've had one contractor show up for thier self-designated state time, ONCE.
The inability of most contractors to be punctual blows my mind. It's gotta be something in their brains that's just off.
Posted on 10/17/23 at 9:47 am to tadman
Perfect dear facebook story.
Posted on 10/17/23 at 9:48 am to tadman
You said you love it and then spent the whole post saying how much you hate it.
Posted on 10/17/23 at 9:50 am to tadman
We had a guy several years ago we hired to do some work. He showed up two hours late after I had taken off work to meet with him at the house. He explained to me that he was pulling out of his property headed my direction at 7AM when he saw a deer he had been seeing on his camera earlier that year. He stopped and snuck around back to get his bow. So he was late bec he wanted to get a shot at a buck. I asked for pics. Fckng 8 point. I told him to go pound sand.
Posted on 10/17/23 at 9:50 am to Bard
quote:
It will take some time but with the market slowing down we should eventually see a lot of those types either shape up or get pushed out by those who do quality work (which will also likely make costs go up, but that's a different topic).
I wish that were the case, but the reality is that for every young guy going into the skilled trades, there are 3 leaving. This is an area of the economy that is really problematic and the labor shortage is causing huge issues. The good ones will be kept busy by real GCs who build new construction, which is significantly easier, and the remodel world will be dominated by scabs and fly by the night types.
Posted on 10/17/23 at 9:51 am to tadman
Crasy when you hire the cheapest guy you get the cheapest result. Almost as if the two are related.
Posted on 10/17/23 at 9:51 am to brewhan davey
quote:
It's gotta be something in their brains that's just off.
It's called years and years of alcohol/weed/meth in some combination
Posted on 10/17/23 at 9:52 am to tadman
quote:
We hired a couple contractors to do other parts and it is a struggle ever friggin day. Corners cut, showing up late, arguments over scopes... Keeping in mind my work is in the trades as well so this is not a mystery to me how this stuff all works.
Biggest problem is showing up on time. In 8 weeks I've had one contractor show up for thier self-designated state time, ONCE. Like GTFO man how can you look yourself in the mirror?
we did a remodel on a 90 year old home during covid.
i learned why low skill contractor employees are low skill contractor employees.
we had people who just didn't show when they said they would, whole crews get wiped out by covid, our carpenters quit midjob because DR Horton promised them a fleet of homes instead of our single job.
my brother in law ran a few sherwin williams stores for a while and he made the statment that i didn't understand at the time, but do now... "these guys didn't choose the life of a painter. the life of a painter chose them."
Posted on 10/17/23 at 9:56 am to Turnblad85
quote:
Crasy when you hire the cheapest guy you get the cheapest result. Almost as if the two are related.
My neighbors have a $1.5M house. They did a massive renovation on it last year. Half million dollar budget—hired a GC that is well known and highly respected in the area. This guy lives in our neighborhood and has done restoration on a lot of properties. Clean cut cracker, wife is a physician. They started in May 2022, were supposed to be done by Xmas, and are still waiting on a handful of things. They were displaced from their home for over a year. Guy did the demo and did nothing for 3 months. Took on way too many projects simultaneously and fricked them hard.
Posted on 10/17/23 at 9:56 am to tadman
Just finished a massive remodel/overhaul on a place just a couple months ago. I still have a handful of things I am messing with outside and around the property, but the inside is done and I already rented the place out. It was a pain in the arse, but I decided to do everything myself to avoid that kind of bs. Even doing it yourself, you still run into plenty of problems to deal with.
Posted on 10/17/23 at 9:59 am to The Third Leg
i'm not one to defend a GC, because our relationship with our's was tenuous at best by the end, but their livelihoods are dependent on crackheads and deadbeats.
honestly, the most dependable crew we had were our replacement carpenters which were ran by a guy who exclusively hired ex-cons and taught them carpentry.
honestly, the most dependable crew we had were our replacement carpenters which were ran by a guy who exclusively hired ex-cons and taught them carpentry.
Posted on 10/17/23 at 10:05 am to 3nOut
quote:
dependent on crackheads and deadbeats
Move their payday to Tuesday or Wednesday. A Friday paycheck is evil for those guys. It will be all gone by Sunday morning.
Posted on 10/17/23 at 10:06 am to tadman
Just finished a major update on my house and put it up for sale. Now I get to pivot to my "new" house that is bigger, two stories, and has a much bigger yard. Flooring, painting inside and out, trim work, cabinets, bathrooms, electrical upgrades, etc. Short of roofing and some large concrete jobs I can do everthing myself but it's much more of a chore in my 40's than it was 10 years ago... 
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