My mom is in the process of getting new siding put on her house. And let’s just say it’s not going very well. The company we chose isn’t doing a very good job. I know they had a lot of turnover, but the crew they sent out is doing a really crappy job. Tons of mistakes. We (my husband, brother and brother-in-law) are meeting with the owner today at 3 pm to go over all the issues. I’m asking for prayers that all goes well and we can get a new crew that knows what they are doing. I keep reminding myself that this whole issue is refining us - God’s refinement.
At this point, we are tempted to just fire them and move on. There is a lot more to this story, but won’t get into it now.
Kay, I think you are a good lady, so no disrespect here. I may be wrong but I don’t think
a prayer [s] is the correct remedy here. I think Pat will agree. I think your last statement is the right way to go and I’m talking from experience. If you solicited bids and chose the middle or the cheapest bid, eat crow and call the high bidder and let him take care of it. He will understand because it’s not his first rodeo. If that’s not the case, then realize that this contractor is doing the best job he knows how to do. Or he is not able to do it it himself and is forced to hire guys off of the street because that’s all he can find, meaning you are seeing the best that they are capable of. In time they will learn and do better probably. but right now they are learning on your mothers house. At this point the owner is trying to figure out how he can get the check without breaking his bank in labor. wont do anything he does not have to do. That is my experience working with and hiring subcontractors for 50 yrs. I sure hope you are not offended. Just telling you what I think is the gospel. Good luck! let me know how it turns out.
Not offended in the least! And no, we went with the top guy and finding people to work is their problem. When we hired them last September they had experienced crews, but that changed.
Now I still believe prayer works in these situations. It is ALWAYS good to keep God in the equation. And as it turned out - It was a very good meeting and the owner understood the issues. What stinks is that yes, they are learning on my mother’s house, but they need to have someone knowledgeable on site to make sure they are doing it correctly. The foreman had the audacity to argue with my mom about a condensation pipe that NEEDED to be worked around and not removed. My mom may be 87 yrs old, but she’s not stupid. They pulled the whole thing out! (My brother and husband are up there repairing that now…)
I truly believe that good contractors are hard to find nowadays. They are few and far between.
Thank you for the prayers. Meeting went well and I hope they follow through. Of course, now we wait because the order for the siding was one tenth of what was supposed to arrive. I was ticked about that at first, but thankfully the order was screwed up so we were able to see all the issues. Otherwise all the siding would have been on and we wouldn’t have known! So I thanked God for that.
You are right about always keeping God in the loop. it will all work out like everything does. Too bad it’s that way. A true craftsman will do the job right out of pride in his skills. There are some young guys who learned from their dads and take pride in their work, but it’s not common any longer.
So @yakityyak, do you want to hear the latest. Tom (the owner) calls my brother Dan to let him know that the guys will be out on Saturday, June 17th to fix the errors. Dan asks if he will be there or if they have someone to help out their foreman. (You know, the foreman in training…that pulled out the condensation pipe and was just going to cover it up with siding, stating “Well that’s why that wood rotted.” So instead the condensation would be dripping inside the house. ) Tom the owner replies, “No, but it might be a good idea if you were there.” What?! They discussed the issues and know what has to be fixed and Tom can’t communicate that with the “foreman”???
So Dan (my brother), Pat (my husband) and Pat (my brother in law) go up to my mom’s. They are now training the foreman and keeping an eye on things. Good thing all 3 came bc the company brought about 15 workers and the remaining siding and supplies that were shorted on the order screw up. So they are finishing the job! Note that all 3 of them have experience in carpentry and roofing. Dan is pretty much the vocal one and would communicate to the “foreman” when something wasn’t right. The foreman would disagree…Dan didn’t feel that he should have to argue with the guy. So now we have more issues to deal with. And Dan wasn’t even pointing out the little issues, these were things that were not matched correctly, J channel installed wrong, etc.
The issue is that the foreman may know how to put up the siding, but doesn’t have a clue on cause and effect with carpentry. The only good crew we had up there were the roofers - they did a great job! Of course the other crew screwed up some of the roofers work. What a mess!!
So now Tom the owner will be coming back out for the final walk thru. I’m sure Tom will see the mistakes and Dan is at the point of just repairing them himself (with Pat and Pat). Final cost discussions will be interesting to say the least! A 38K job that should probably be cut in half, if not more…
I will be praying that everything works out and any additional prayers from others would be greatly appreciated.
Kay, I feel your pain. This is in the rental I am in now till the home is built. Makes a nice conversation piece in the rec room, plus you can hang clothes on it.
Condensation for the AC. My brother and husband had to fix it so my mom could use her AC. My mom actually argued with the foreman when she saw that he ripped it out the first time - before anyone else had seen it. My mom may be 87 yrs old, but she’s no dummy! The guy was not believing my mom of what it was! smh
) Tom the owner replies, “No, but it might be a good idea if you were there.” What?! They discussed the issues and know what has to be fixed and Tom can’t communicate that with the “foreman”???