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

[Argabarga]

THere's a reason my home state adopted a contractor-licensing and registry system a few years back.

The state AG basically says "If they don't have a number on their truck, send them packing"

[workerbee222]

I've been lucky when I've had to hire someone. I don't mind paying a little more because I can't stay home and watch them work, and I wouldn't necessarily know if they did something wrong.

I had an acquaintance who went beyond thrifty to cheap, though. The contractors from the big box stores were too expensive, so he scoured the county to find the cheapest installer of everything.That makes him the general contractor, though, and overseer of drywall fellow who's waiting on the electrician, and calling the [alcoholic] tile installer daily to get him to even show up. And six months later, when the wife wants another project done, he'd go through the same process all over again. It wouldn't be worth my time, but to each his own.

[protege]

I thought no one would ever top the blown-in insulation job that wasn't cleaned up, when we came home to a house full of fiberglass. But a roofer did.

I know what that's like... Decades ago, my parents were installing blown-in insulation up in the ceiling over the family room. This room was originally a porch, that the previous owner had enclosed. It was always cold in there, because there was no insulation, and it was right over the garage. Naturally, watching TV in there during winter tended to suck.

That spring, my dad decided to do the install himself. The arched ceiling already had a hole (intended for a fan, never fitted), so he got out his shop vac, reversed the hoses, and started blowing the insulation up there. (I should mention that he'd snapped a pipe at my grandmother's house, making a huge mess upstairs, about the same time--trust me, this is important as we shall see!)

As he's in there, my grandfather decides to go help him. I forget exactly what he touched, but one of the hoses came off...and that shit went everywhere After they got everything turned off and could survey the mess, my grandfather (a huge smartass--now you know where I get it ) turns to my dad, and without missing a beat, goes "now we're even"

Mom wasn't amused, since we were finding that stuff for months after...all over the place.

Anyway, most of the contractors or home-repair people I've dealt with have been great. They know their stuff, and don't try to snow me if they screw up. Of course, it helps if you know a guy (our neighbor) who is a contractor and will either do the job himself, or point you in the right direction.

The ones doing the rounds lately, are the driveway sealer people. These guys usually drive unmarked pickups and always claim to "have some leftover material" that they could sell you for a good price. Always right before it starts to get cold here, these guys are trying to sell used motor oil mixed with sand as "sealer."

[LadyAndreca]

they
they didn't notice before then?
wasn't it, I don't know, suspiciously bright in there? windy? damp when it rained?
i... i am so boggled that i seem to have lost my shift key

Believe it or not, no. It was completed in autumn, was dry all fall, and the section in question was near a window, so it had plenty of light anyways. The gutter hid the edge of the roof from ground view. It was next to the garage and above an unheated crawl space, so nobody noticed a draft.

[dalesys]

...
i... i am so boggled that i seem to have lost my shift key

your inner archy is expressing himself, mehitabel.

[Valentinian]

The kitchen was always tiny, but when my dad was a kid, my grandmother chased the kids out with spoons if they entered her domain. Both my parents loved to cook, so they spent the money to bump out the kitchen a couple feet so they could work comfortably together. It seemed well-done, solid, all the cabinets and plumbing re-installed well...until the first snow.

When it snowed in the kitchen.

Because the roof was six inches shorter than the room.

they
they didn't notice before then?
wasn't it, I don't know, suspiciously bright in there? windy? damp when it rained?
i... i am so boggled that i seem to have lost my shift key

[LadyAndreca]

My parents usually try to find the line between budget and quality, but they are really bad at spotting a contractor that will dash. The only good one they ever got was the guy who finished the unfinished basement, who came out every couple years for the entire span of his labor warranty because try as he might, he couldn't keep the plaster on the load-bearing pillar from cracking from the load and the temperature difference between the buried part of the steel beam and the heated basement in the Minnesota winters.

I thought no one would ever top the blown-in insulation job that wasn't cleaned up, when we came home to a house full of fiberglass. But a roofer did.

The kitchen was always tiny, but when my dad was a kid, my grandmother chased the kids out with spoons if they entered her domain. Both my parents loved to cook, so they spent the money to bump out the kitchen a couple feet so they could work comfortably together. It seemed well-done, solid, all the cabinets and plumbing re-installed well...until the first snow.

When it snowed in the kitchen.

Because the roof was six inches shorter than the room.

I pray that I never do anything in my life to make my mother that angry.

Also: Stories like this are why the Orange Apron (and I suppose our Blue and our Red competitors) have a booming business in home repair services. It's much easier to push leads and installs when I can point out that if something goes wrong, they have a multi-billion-dollar company with a reputation to protect to hold accountable. I have received calls from corporate asking, and I quote, "Why are you holding the customer hostage over $1300?"

There are a LOT of honest contractors around here, though. And our kitchen installers have their own issues. The guys who do the actual work are great. The management team is...special. I don't think "belligerent" should be the first word that comes to mind when asked to describe the PR guy...

[Cia]

...I would be willing to bet a reasonable amount of money that the guys from the OOS company weren't actually from the OOS company - they just picked a company name that was legit but far enough away that they hoped people would check that the company existed, but not go the second step and check that these people in this area touting for work actually worked for them.

Possibly but I do think they worked for the Georgia company since the one climbing on the roof gave me a company brochure and his business card. The first guy was okay but the second guy....yeah, stunk like pot, was a bit 'off' and acted like not giving an estimate was par for the course. God knows who they'd have do the work. I was going to ask to see their SD sales/use and excise tax licenses and their SD Corporate ID but we just wanted to get stinky man out of the house.

[protege]

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.

Where I live though--south of Pittsburgh--many homes were built with slate roofs. The material was readily available, and most of the suburbs were built in the 1920s and '30s. Newer homes and replacement roofs tend to go with asphalt instead. Still though, there's nothing like hearing the rain tap on a steel porch roof outside your bedroom window at night.

[evilhomer]

Either this moron is one of those people who bought the $800K home and is now in over his head, or he's one of those uber-rich cheap tightwads. I'd guess he's just flat broke, otherwise he'd have a lawyer who would let him know he's beating a dead horse. Or maybe the lawyer is stringing him along and taking him to the cleaners as well. Whatever the case may be, it's his problem, not yours. Good call on distancing yourself from this mess.

I am not looking forward to re-doing the roof on my home. I'm hoping to get at least a couple more years out of the current one. But I definately won't just go with the cheapest bid when the time does come; I've heard enough horror stories to know that that's just asking for trouble.

[Valentinian]

Between two hail storms and Stormagedon two years ago we needed to reshingle our roof. An out-of-state company was "in the neighborhood" and offered to give me an estimate, I also called two local companies for estimates. Since we've had Irish travelers in the neighborhood before doing crap work I did look up the out-of-state company - they were legit or at least in Georgia they were legit.

The two local companies gave me written estimates with costs and types of materials needed. The OOS company...lordy, showed up an hour late for the meeting, one guy smelled like pot and they wouldn't give me a written estimate they just said they'd do it for the amount the insurance company was giving us to fix the roof. Not impressed at all. Guess who we didn't go with.

...I would be willing to bet a reasonable amount of money that the guys from the OOS company weren't actually from the OOS company - they just picked a company name that was legit but far enough away that they hoped people would check that the company existed, but not go the second step and check that these people in this area touting for work actually worked for them.

[Captain Neon]

The auto parts company that I work for has a "Price Low. Sell Up" policy. Too many people fall in love with the cheap below OEM spec. parts if I mention them first that I always mention what meets OEM specification first, and only mention the cheapo Im-tryin-to-unload-this-heap price just before the premium I-love-my-car-never-getting-rid-of-it part. I still scratch my head when I tell someone that their car came with ceramic brake pads from the factory, and they insist on buying the cheap organic pads that they have to replace 5K miles later.

[Cia]

Between two hail storms and Stormagedon two years ago we needed to reshingle our roof. An out-of-state company was "in the neighborhood" and offered to give me an estimate, I also called two local companies for estimates. Since we've had Irish travelers in the neighborhood before doing crap work I did look up the out-of-state company - they were legit or at least in Georgia they were legit.

The two local companies gave me written estimates with costs and types of materials needed. The OOS company...lordy, showed up an hour late for the meeting, one guy smelled like pot and they wouldn't give me a written estimate they just said they'd do it for the amount the insurance company was giving us to fix the roof. Not impressed at all. Guess who we didn't go with.

[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.)

[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 ....