I went against my own rule...

animal-inside

Well-known member
Trusted Member
I generally do all my own reno's and fixes.. I think I only hired someone to replace furnace/hotwater tank, install air conditioner and do siding (insurance job)..

I hired a local legit contractor to reno my bathroom... one man operation do it all type guy..

Never again..
-It's been 6 weeks and he's a little over half done.
-Has only put in maybe 4 full days (8 hours)
-Generally comes for 3-4 hours at a time
-Has left a total off 3 wood screws, 9 roofing nails in my driveway where I park my car and 2 roofing nails in my dogs yard.
-Did not remove old laneloum floor (just laid everything new over top).. I didn't catch this in time and when questioned he said its fine to leave it down??
-He's horribly un organized.. he never orders stuff on time.. he works until he realized he needs to buy something (shower head, tile, caulking etc) then leaves and orders it and many times takes 3-5 days to get in stock.
-horribly messy.. We've been walking around/over his mess for 6 weeks... When I do reno's I am much cleaner and clean up as I go and when I'm done for the day, the mess gets bagged up and tools put somewhere out of the way... He just leaves it everywhere.. I had to pick up pecies of plywood from my dogs yard that he left outside for 2 weeks.. little peices of end cuts..

-none of his work is above my quality so far.. like none..

-we finally were able to bath my kids tonight (6 weeks of no bath tube).. I turned the bath tub on and there was a big water leak/spray from the shower head.. like the shower head was partially engaged while the bathtub facuet ran.. I tried everything I could, but the bathtub faucet would not run without the shower head spraying on low.. I texred him the issue and told him the shower engaging thing is likely fucked.. His response was "no.. that's normal.. Thats how they all are now... I'll show you monday"...
What I think happened was he installed all the pecies and didn't test the shower and just left.. He'd better hope the issue is not behind the wall he has already tiled...

I've already had to talk to him 2 times about getting the bathroom done and him dragging his feet. He has no other jobs on the go.. Just not moving quickly and not putting in full days when he's able too.

I've had to talk to him 2 times about little things he forgot to do such as finish siding (he had to remove the bathroom window and didn't finish putting up siding)..

The only things positive things I can say are when he does work, he works quite fast.. He's able to solve problems right away where as I need to spend hours thinkging about them first.. He cut his labour fee's in half because I'm paying cash.

Never again will I hire a contractor for a reno.. Ever..
 
I work in the construction industry. I’m a granite fabricator/ installer. I’m part of a larger shop that has a flooring store attached. In the 17yrs I’ve been doing this from what I’ve seen there are very few guys that claim to be DO IT ALL GUYS that actually do quality work. Most of the time those are the guys that have bounced around from job to job thinking they know it all moving on before ever fully learning the trade. I have come across a few guys who were actually good at everything but they usually know what they are worth and you get what you pay for. If someone was confident in their work I don’t think they would cut their labour cost in half. I know I wouldn’t lol.... Best thing to do is hire a contractor that specializes in Reno’s or contract each trade yourself in steps that way you know each person doing the job is qualified.
 
You have me curious now... what kind of flooring did he put down over the old linoleum flooring? Ceramic? Vinyl?
 
No just hire a good contractor.

Get referrals. I rarely hire anyone but got a plumber referred for some stuff that was outside my wheel house. Guy was great, done fast, a little expensive but meh.

They always say, never hire a contractor who can start tomorrow. 😏

Due to his jobs he had lined up and covid, it was 1 full year before this guy started my job.
 
I work in the construction industry. I’m a granite fabricator/ installer. I’m part of a larger shop that has a flooring store attached. In the 17yrs I’ve been doing this from what I’ve seen there are very few guys that claim to be DO IT ALL GUYS that actually do quality work. Most of the time those are the guys that have bounced around from job to job thinking they know it all moving on before ever fully learning the trade. I have come across a few guys who were actually good at everything but they usually know what they are worth and you get what you pay for. If someone was confident in their work I don’t think they would cut their labour cost in half. I know I wouldn’t lol.... Best thing to do is hire a contractor that specializes in Reno’s or contract each trade yourself in steps that way you know each person doing the job is qualified.

Every person I talked to about this guy except one said his work is very very good. The one who didn't give him a 2 thumbs up he messed up his plumbing. He did a basement conversion to a suite and screwed the plumbing up bad and it eventually had to get redone. When I hired him, he had an actual plumber come in and do the major plumbing work, which is the only time he used another contractor.
 
You have me curious now... what kind of flooring did he put down over the old linoleum flooring? Ceramic? Vinyl?

That's another thing that has me scratching my head...

The flooring isn't in yet.

He put the cupboards/vanity on top of the linoleum... And he's going to lay vinyl flooring over the linoleum.

I'm not sure if he's right or wrong or it doesn't matter, but I would have pulled the linoleum up, laid the vinyl down and than put the cupboards/vanity on top of the vinyl.
 
That's another thing that has me scratching my head...

The flooring isn't in yet.

He put the cupboards/vanity on top of the linoleum... And he's going to lay vinyl flooring over the linoleum.

I'm not sure if he's right or wrong or it doesn't matter, but I would have pulled the linoleum up, laid the vinyl down and than put the cupboards/vanity on top of the vinyl.
You should be ok if you are just putting new vinyl down if the old stuff is down good. If it was ceramic or porcelain tile it would fail for sure I think
 
You should be ok if you are just putting new vinyl down if the old stuff is down good. If it was ceramic or porcelain tile it would fail for sure I think

The old stuff is just laid down, not glued or anything. That ok?

To me, sicne its a bathroom the old flooring should be pulled up to check the condition of the sub floor.
 
I personally would’ve had removed all the flooring completely to check subfloors. With vinyls ‘there’s two vinyls flooring’ so I’m not sure what type of vinyl you are talking about but there is one vinyl that’s snap on ‘clips together’ if not it should be glued. Everything is made out of plastic this day’s.
 
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The old stuff is just laid down, not glued or anything. That ok?

To me, sicne its a bathroom the old flooring should be pulled up to check the condition of the sub floor.
If it’s not glued down that really doesn’t make sense at all why he wouldn’t just remove it? If I were you I would just pull it up before he puts the new flooring down. If it not glued shouldn’t take much to remove it...... maybe he did see something he didn’t want to deal with it’s possible that’s why he didn’t want to tear it out? Just a thought. I’d be just as sceptical as you... if you flipping the house maybe not a huge issue but if you are planning on staying probably want to do shit right
 
I never hire anyone either. I’m tired of fixing others mistakes and they are not as picky as me except the guy I use to paint and do mudding.
he is a perfectionist, but he only works 4 hour days like 2 times a week.
but I trade him in meat and never give him jobs that I want done right away.
 
The guy sounds like a hack, cut your loses.
I always lay the floor then install the cupboards in the bathroom because it gives more of a finished properly and I didn’t half ass it look. I’d bet he’s doing it save money, because the extra cutting increases work.
Now in the kitchen that’s different, but I use the same tile as a toe kick so you don’t see the cut edges of the tile butting up to the cupboards.
‘Mind you in my house, every floor is the same height, no transfer strips, no matter what the flooring is.
 
I generally do all my own reno's and fixes.. I think I only hired someone to replace furnace/hotwater tank, install air conditioner and do siding (insurance job)..

I hired a local legit contractor to reno my bathroom... one man operation do it all type guy..

Never again..
-It's been 6 weeks and he's a little over half done.
-Has only put in maybe 4 full days (8 hours)
-Generally comes for 3-4 hours at a time
-Has left a total off 3 wood screws, 9 roofing nails in my driveway where I park my car and 2 roofing nails in my dogs yard.
-Did not remove old laneloum floor (just laid everything new over top).. I didn't catch this in time and when questioned he said its fine to leave it down??
-He's horribly un organized.. he never orders stuff on time.. he works until he realized he needs to buy something (shower head, tile, caulking etc) then leaves and orders it and many times takes 3-5 days to get in stock.
-horribly messy.. We've been walking around/over his mess for 6 weeks... When I do reno's I am much cleaner and clean up as I go and when I'm done for the day, the mess gets bagged up and tools put somewhere out of the way... He just leaves it everywhere.. I had to pick up pecies of plywood from my dogs yard that he left outside for 2 weeks.. little peices of end cuts..

-none of his work is above my quality so far.. like none..

-we finally were able to bath my kids tonight (6 weeks of no bath tube).. I turned the bath tub on and there was a big water leak/spray from the shower head.. like the shower head was partially engaged while the bathtub facuet ran.. I tried everything I could, but the bathtub faucet would not run without the shower head spraying on low.. I texred him the issue and told him the shower engaging thing is likely fucked.. His response was "no.. that's normal.. Thats how they all are now... I'll show you monday"...
What I think happened was he installed all the pecies and didn't test the shower and just left.. He'd better hope the issue is not behind the wall he has already tiled...

I've already had to talk to him 2 times about getting the bathroom done and him dragging his feet. He has no other jobs on the go.. Just not moving quickly and not putting in full days when he's able too.

I've had to talk to him 2 times about little things he forgot to do such as finish siding (he had to remove the bathroom window and didn't finish putting up siding)..

The only things positive things I can say are when he does work, he works quite fast.. He's able to solve problems right away where as I need to spend hours thinkging about them first.. He cut his labour fee's in half because I'm paying cash.

Never again will I hire a contractor for a reno.. Ever..
I hope you only paid him a small portion up front.
 
I just did some reno's... relatively large, cutting floors out changing plumbing flow under floors, changing wiring, laying floors... putting in vanities and toilets so I can evaluate a contractor pretty quickly.

First of all some flooring can be laid over. especially tile that has been put down properly. We laid over tile, vinyl flooring, sub floor was good and we put self leveling compound down after we went over the floor with a long level. Not sure about carpet. Linoleum... if subfloor is good and linoleum is level, no gaps that require filling I would have been ok, but the reno guy and I would have discussed before it was done. Vinyl click flooring is very forgiving especially if it has a spongy bottom layer, so some flooring can be laid over.

Now this guy has been there 6 weeks and he does not have much more done than the flooring? Not sure how much he has done ,,, and he only works 3-4 hours a day... I would have been concerned. Damn my friend and I .... leveled a bathroom with self leveling compound, demolished a home made vanity and loaded the stuff on my truck to take to dump... self leveled under the vanitly, took an old toilet out and put in truck, got a new vanity and carried it up a flight of stairs ( almost killed ourselves), did plumbing/leveling/calking around vanity back splash, laid the vinyl floor, installed the toilet, removed a door, studded /drywalled, mudded , sanded , primed/painted where door was. This was done in a bout 3 days and it works fine. We only worked 6 hrs a day, that was my work day as his rate of work was brutal.

Looks like you had a dud contractor ... you need to fire his ass. And you need to evaluate his work each day and if you don't like... fire his ass. I fired a friend after 2 days for the shoddy work he did on one of my apartments . We are still friends but don't do business together anymore.

I now make sure I am on site working with a contractor or evaluate every day, end of day what has been done. If I don't like... gone. If I like I pay them and they can come back. I won't hire a contractor if they won't work on that basis.

Sorry shit turned out like that for you. But now you have learned... never make the same mistake twice. Hope future reno's go well.
 
The guy sounds like a hack, cut your loses.
I always lay the floor then install the cupboards in the bathroom because it gives more of a finished properly and I didn’t half ass it look. I’d bet he’s doing it save money, because the extra cutting increases work.
Now in the kitchen that’s different, but I use the same tile as a toe kick so you don’t see the cut edges of the tile butting up to the cupboards.
‘Mind you in my house, every floor is the same height, no transfer strips, no matter what the flooring is.

He's doing the flooring last because it hasn't come in yet. Basically he took too long to order it even though he had me pick the flooring out in the 2nd week of March. He's told me its on back order and is supposed to be here this coming week.

To answer other's questions.. The linoleum isn't glued down.. It just boggles my mind why he left it??

When I reno'd our 2nd bathroom, I pulled the old linoluem up and saw a patch work of sub flooring.. So I put a new peice of 1/4 in plywood down to make a seemless floor with no gaps etc..


I didn't pay him up front. We agreed I would pay him for his materials and time he had put it at the half way point. When he was done, we'd settle up for any other materials and labour.


What's pissing me off the most right now is walking by our main bathroom knowing I would have finished the thing weeks ago, but I can't..


I can't fire him. It's shit, but I live in a tiny town and my job has to deal with literally eveyrone in town at some point.. It just sucks.. I've told a couple people off in town over the years and have a few enemies, but I try to keep that list short unless its really needed. The back lash when you make an enemy in a tiny town is just sometimes not worth it. I'll suck this one up, but never again with this guy.

I only hired someone to do this reno so I didn't eat up 1/2 my vacation days doign it myself in the summer. I wanted to enjoy my full vacation this year, but it looks like I'll be shingling my house instead lol.. That won't be too bad though and it will give me a great reason to buy a nice fancy nail gun.
 
He's doing the flooring last because it hasn't come in yet. Basically he took too long to order it even though he had me pick the flooring out in the 2nd week of March. He's told me its on back order and is supposed to be here this coming week.

To answer other's questions.. The linoleum isn't glued down.. It just boggles my mind why he left it??

When I reno'd our 2nd bathroom, I pulled the old linoluem up and saw a patch work of sub flooring.. So I put a new peice of 1/4 in plywood down to make a seemless floor with no gaps etc..


I didn't pay him up front. We agreed I would pay him for his materials and time he had put it at the half way point. When he was done, we'd settle up for any other materials and labour.


What's pissing me off the most right now is walking by our main bathroom knowing I would have finished the thing weeks ago, but I can't..


I can't fire him. It's shit, but I live in a tiny town and my job has to deal with literally eveyrone in town at some point.. It just sucks.. I've told a couple people off in town over the years and have a few enemies, but I try to keep that list short unless its really needed. The back lash when you make an enemy in a tiny town is just sometimes not worth it. I'll suck this one up, but never again with this guy.

I only hired someone to do this reno so I didn't eat up 1/2 my vacation days doign it myself in the summer. I wanted to enjoy my full vacation this year, but it looks like I'll be shingling my house instead lol.. That won't be too bad though and it will give me a great reason to buy a nice fancy nail gun.
Yeah, I forgot about what you did. I’m in the same boat. If I complain or fire then I may lose a customer or have someone complaining about me all over town.

I would question him on the Lino, tell him when you did the other bathroom it was not glued down and you would like it removed.
 
Yeah, I forgot about what you did. I’m in the same boat. If I complain or fire then I may lose a customer or have someone complaining about me all over town.

I would question him on the Lino, tell him when you did the other bathroom it was not glued down and you would like it removed.
ITs too late, he's got the cupboards and shelving already anchored in.
 
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