I'm not a lawyer. Can't/won't help you sue.

[bloo]

This guy was actually polite, imo, the suck was in his actual request from us.

Years ago I helped DH run a re-roofing company. No new construction and very particular commercial jobs. Almost all residential work, really. For 10 years we ran it in Western North Carolina in a wealthy area of the mountains. A lot of high-end 2nd, 3rd, 7th homes.

One particular estimate DH did was a pricey job that in that 1/3 of the total costs was contracting another company for flashing around several stone chimneys. The potential customer had a very distinctive last name and her first name was Duke (her actual name). She took the proposal, we filed a copy and didn't hear back.

A couple months later we drove by and saw she'd hired someone else. She lived off of a main road connecting our town to a more civilized area (read that:as in has a Walmart) so we didn't go to check but we couldn't help noticing as we drive by.

As the weeks and then months went by we saw the roof was not done and had blue tarps on it. For about a year.

At the year point since we gave the estimate, the husband calls us and starts explaining his situation. He hired a roofer that wasn't doing what he promised and he had leaks as his roof wasn't done. I asked his name and he gave me Duke's very distinctive last name. So while he was blathering on about lousy roofers, I pulled the original proposal and scanned it and let him know we'd estimated his roof last year. That threw him a bit and I explained that the estimate we'd given was high but it included us contracting Acme Sheet Metal to come and measure and fabricate specialized flashing on site for each of his massive stone chimneys. Four of them. At $2,200. Each.

He was quiet. I asked, "did your current roofer get a quote for a separate company to do the flashing?" He replied, quietly, "I guess we should have hired you."

I agreed with him and asked what he wanted now. This is where it gets sucky. He said, "I really want you to help me sue him."

I cut him off right there. "Sir, we're in the business of selling and installing roofing systems not suing other roofers. If you hired a really cheap roofer he's not going to have the money to hire someone to do it correctly or work for free until it's done correctly anyway. My suggestion? Cut your losses, start from scratch and get bids that include flashing the chimneys."

Unbelievably, he rattled on as if I hadn't spoken asking if we could just take over where the other roofer left off and wait for a conclusion on an as-yet-unfiled lawsuit for payment.

*record scratch*

"Uh no. We're also not a finance company. We. Do. Roofs. Even if we were willing to take over the job, we couldn't warranty it. We're not going to warranty someone else's work, see? So we'd have to start from scratch and tear off everything that other roofer did anyway. Accept that you didn't do your due diligence and now you're paying for it." (Clearly, at this point, we don't want the job). He sighed and said he understood and disconnected. I made notes of the call and shoved the proposal back in the cabinet. We lived there for 2 more years.

And those tarps were still on that roof when we moved out of state.

[notalwaysright]

Omg, I can relate to your post so much! I worked for a roofing company for a while. People were shocked at how expensive it was to re-roof a house. That is hard work, with lots of time and materials. A roof protects everything in your house, and is meant to last a long, long time. A reputable company will stand behind their warranty. That's why we had people upset that we wouldn't warranty a repair. Why? Because that would essentially be warrantying another companies work.

The house in the OP is going to be MESSED UP. Rot, and water damage. I suppose they think if they wait in the hopes of winning a court case that they will break even? Hahaha. The contractor is probably long gone. Went out of business, or never was legal in the first place. Good luck getting money from them.

[EricKei]

There are so many things where you get exactly what you pay for -- and major repairs tend to be one of them. That being said, do your homework and research the bidders! That non-client didn't...

[bloo]

And the thing is, that maintenance is part of home ownership. You have to figure it in when calculating whether you can afford a home. Sure it can be expensive but it's still cheaper than *not* maintaining a home.

And I guess I shouldn't assume anyone's financial situation but this dude was jacking around with getting the roof done on an $800,000 house (15 years ago) and wanted us to pay hard costs to do it and wait on the money? We weren't living in no $800k house...

[Racket_Man]

There are so many things where you get exactly what you pay for -- and major repairs tend to be one of them. That being said, do your homework and research the bidders! That non-client didn't...

And this is why I was a BIG fan of the Canadian HGTV show Holmes on Homes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holmes_on_Homes

Yeah if you cheap out on stuff/price/materials/plans/permits/time/engineering/overall planning/etc. you get what you pay for

Yeah good costs a more but in the long run it does save you money.

I leaned A LOT from that show

[Marmalady]

There are so many things where you get exactly what you pay for -- and major repairs tend to be one of them.

And then you will have to pay all over again to have it done properly.

[eltf177]

There are times to be frugal - and this ISN'T one of them. Yes it's expensive, but that's the price of home ownership. You need to hire someone reputable, and that isn't cheap. Trying to save a buck now WILL come back to haunt you.

And what pray tell could your company be able to do to help him sue? I loved your assessment of the situation - cut your losses and get another contractor. Suing this guy is probably a waste of time, you're going after a dry well...

[wolfie]

Yeah if you cheap out on stuff/price/materials/plans/permits/time/engineering/overall planning/etc. you get what you pay for

Yeah good costs a more but in the long run it does save you money.

According to my mother, one of her father's favourite sayings was "I can't afford to buy cheap tools".

Back when I worked in a machine shop, I needed a set of telescope gauges (used for measuring inside diameter). At the supply place, I checked the feel of their house brand made-in-China set, and didn't like it. Repeat with the next cheapest set, again didn't like it (couldn't find a setting of the friction knob that would hold, but slide smoothly when the ends were pressed in). I wound up getting Starret - the most expensive brand they carried.

[Ophbalance]

Once upon a time in the mid 90s the house my father built required the singles be pulled and all the tar paper redone. Cost that was quoted was 20k by the only company that didn't tell him to just straight to hell. We lived in a geodesic dome, you see, and they are a nightmare to shingle. So that's the summer where I learned how to roof a house!

My home is now 10 years old and I'll be shingling over top the current crop of crap that's there in the next year given how it's wearing. But at least it'll only take a weekend vs a whole summer.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

I live in an older home . . . as in 90+ years old (house was built in 1925.) Having an older home has challenges that newer homes don't have (yet anyways.)

We've been dealing w/settling since we've lived here (26 years and counting) as evidenced from cracks we've seen develop in some of the walls over the years.

We've also been dealing w/leaking issues in ceilings recently. I've developed a long crack in the ceiling in my office area that is getting worse now. I've also found what appears to be water damage in the bedroom ceiling near my closet door.

My brother called me to his room last night to bring the phone. He's seeing leaking now from his ceiling near his closet in the back corner of his room.

The last time the roof was replaced was in the mid 90s. We've had people come out and repair loose shingles several times whenever we'd have these hard, heavy prolonged rainy spells.

With getting this rain from Matthew, the leaking is more noticeable. And just a short time ago, I saw where we had a wall repaired in the office last year for leaking is now bubbling up again.

Luckily this won't cost us anything. All I have to do is send the photos and make a repair request to the real estate company that handles the property for the owner and they'll send someone out.

We expect that the roof will have to be replaced soon. Now whether or not the owner will go ahead and get that done (they are trying to sell the properties and we have heard that they found a couple who want to purchase and the closing is this coming week - if they don't back out like the other guy did last spring, but I digress) remains to be seen.

At the end of the day, it doesn't matter who owns the house, the repairs still have to be made. We've been fortunate in that all it takes is a phone call and stuff gets done.

[TheSHAD0W]

It definitely helps if the roof of the house was designed to be easy to repair from the start.

Take a look at the McMansion Hell tumblr, and you'll see lots of roofs that will be a bit costly to fix...

[protege]

There are times to be frugal - and this ISN'T one of them. Yes it's expensive, but that's the price of home ownership. You need to hire someone reputable, and that isn't cheap. Trying to save a buck now WILL come back to haunt you.

My mom is going through some of this now. My dad...was a cheap bastard. If he could save a nickel when repairing anything, he'd do it. Years of cheap repairs on that house mean that the roof is leaking, the garage required thousands so one of the walls wouldn't collapse and now some of the plumbing fixtures leak too.

Even though the slate roof is in good shape for its age--the house was built in the 1930s--it's still going to need repairs. Several slates had to be replaced, and any mold dealt with. Not cheap, but still less than replacing the entire roof.

The garage though, was more serious. This had been going on for years, but was ignored, since the water was "coming under the garage door seal." Never mind that the garage floor was *always* wet, even when it wasn't raining. No, the water was coming up through the floor, and through the wall that was caving in There were metal and fiberboard (think IKEA) cabinets that were rusty and rotting from the moisture. That required a trough the length of the garage, more drainage pipes and a sump pump...as well as bracing and shoring up the wall. Cost? Thousands more

Same story with the plumbing problems. Years of attempts at "repairs" mean that now more has to be spent--which should have been done in the first place. That damn kitchen sink has leaked for years. Now she's looking at the garage ceiling torn out, part of the kitchen floor ripped up, and everything cut out and replaced. All because someone tried to save a buck.

I never understood the mentality of doing the same job multiple times...when you could spend a bit more and do it right the first (and only) time. I know that home repairs (and car repairs) aren't cheap. But neither is having to get something fixed *again* because a cheap repair let go. Or a cheap tool, for that matter. Of course, it helps that I'm an accountant and understand such things

[notalwaysright]

Even though the slate roof is in good shape for its age--the house was built in the 1930s--it's still going to need repairs. Several slates had to be replaced, and any mold dealt with. Not cheap, but still less than replacing the entire roof.

You have a slate roof? That's awesome, unless it's damaged it should last for over 100 years easily probably more like 150. Sorry, slate is not common, I get weird about roofs. I still shudder whenever I see a metal roof with exposed fasteners, or a dead valley. Or jeez, some of those terrible cut up roofs on McMansion Hell, thanks for that link.

[Pixelated]

And the thing is, that maintenance is part of home ownership. You have to figure it in when calculating whether you can afford a home. Sure it can be expensive but it's still cheaper than *not* maintaining a home.

Oh yeah ... my parents did a crappy job of maintaining their house. Mom did a bit with the insurance money after Dad died, but not much after that (to be fair, her health -- and mental capabilities -- started to fail a couple of years ago, which didn't help).

This year we had a major downpour in late September. That was when we found out -- oops -- that the roof should've been replaced sometime during July or August, when we were in the middle of a drought ...

Now we've got some drywall damage, and a light fixture in the kitchen whose screws have let go due to an input of rainwater into the wall. The fixture is now hanging by its electrical wires ... and I'm trying to figure out which freakin' circuit breaker cuts out that particular section of wiring.

And now, of course, the roofing company we've selected is up to their eyeballs in work (apparently a lot of roofs became "OOPSIE" situations in that rainfall), when in July and August they were slowing down to a crawl. At this point we're looking at early to mid-November before they can get started. Much as I love rain ... I'm hoping it holds off for another month or so ....

[BPFH]

I live in an older home . . . as in 90+ years old (house was built in 1925.) Having an older home has challenges that newer homes don't have (yet anyways.)

Oh, yeah. Mine's an old farmhouse, with the original house likely having been built in 1880 or so. There's no doubt the place was built to last (what else do you call it when they used 8x8 oak beams in the construction?), but there are definitely maintenance issues. There's always something needing to be fixed.

Off the top of my head, we've:

• replaced all the windows in the living area of the house,
• had the kitchen completely redone,
• replaced the side door,
• replaced both the upper- and lower-level roofs, and
• replaced the water heater (twice).

You do learn to do a certain amount around the house yourself, but for anything major, I still hire someone who knows WTF he's doing, because I prefer to have it fixed right, and not leave things like the gas pipes that were shut off (valves were closed) but not properly capped, or the cedar shakes under the upper roof and on the west side of the lower roof, for the next people to discover.

...and I haven't even discussed the things I strongly suspect were caused by Chris, the Live-In Builder. (Not his real name, of course - cookies to anyone who gets the reference.)