Turbo&Auto
Nick Go FAST!!
Some of you may remember I was talking about my house being remodelled. WELL, I had a finished basement room and an attached garage, then a big 4 car garage off to the side of my house. We removed the attached garage and made it a LARGE finished basement.
We used the builder that built our house and he has done projects on it since then. He's always been great and just generally a nice guy all around.
Shit has changed in the last 10 years apparently
He was suppossed to start in November of 07, he kept stalling and giving us BS, then it was beginning of Dec....Then January. He finally came and tore down the wall in between the garage and other room. We had given him a check for materials then. He didnt show for over a month so we called him to find out what was up! We told him we needed everything done by April, before we had the baby. The baby was due in May but we figured it would give him a lil cushion to be late. He said no prob, it will be a 1 month project.
He framed everything after he came back and then wanted more money for materials, fine.....AGAIN he doesnt show for about a month. We called him again asking him WTF is going on....OH sorry sorry been busy blah blah blah...He starts coming up again and bangs out a decent chunk of the work. AGAIN he wants a check....We gave it to him.
We trusted this guy if you couldnt tell already since we knew him forever.
Now its getting close to April so we called him to have a talk with him about the deadline and he said no problem it will be done way before that. WELL, he stopped showing yet again and the deadline flew by. Its now the end of April, so we call to get on his case about getting this basement done already. A project HE said would take a month is now at 4 months, not counting all the time he was suppossed to start in the beginning. He tells us what the real deal is, his son is having some SERIOUS issues and he's been tied up with that. Basically the son is drinking a lot and is trying to hurt himself. We were sorry to hear this, specially since I knew him too. He said he needed money and he promised he would be up ASAP to work on the basement, he just needed to send the son to some sort of program.
WELL, we helped him out in hopes he would make good. Since that day he has showed up maybe a weeks worth of days over the course of 3-4 months. Its now August and the basement STILL is not finished. I've been on his case the last 2 weeks hardcore, almost to the point I felt bad but in the same respect I wanted my shit done! He kept trying to stall on installing my hardwood floors down there. He said, oh lets do the deck first and make sure its plenty dry in the basement (we had flooding issues, he fixed our french drains and all has been well for months now). We said we want a quote on the deck before we do anything but told him not to even think about asking for money until the basement is done. I get the quote, its 9K for re-topping it and adding a lower lever on. Not TOO big of a project. We thought that price was nuts and told him lets finish the basement because we need to think about the deck. We didnt really need anything done with the deck but it would be nice to have done.
WELL, he shows up the next day and starts ripping the rails and crap off of the deck. My wife calls me at work and tells me whats going on, I told her to hand him the phone. I asked him WTF man, I just talked to you yesterday and said we werent doing the deck right now. He said, OH thats fine I'll work on the basement then
At this point he's almost paid in full on the basment, we owed him 3K which covered the floor and install when he did it. He kept delaying and delaying the floor and just did lil crap on the basement. Painting, installing a toilet and porcelain sink in the washroom, stuff like that. BUT after showing for 3-4days he wanted money again. I told him the last check we gave him was suppossed to be everything but the floor, we're payed up to this point!
He tells my wife the other day that he really wants to do the deck and then the floor. I called him when I got home and asked him what his deal is? Why do you not understand that we do not want to start more projects until this one is complete! Specially when its a couple days from being done.....weird right?
In the meantime I had a buddy come up and give me a quote on the deck, 3K lower....weird that its 3K huh? Not really! I knew right there, he doesnt have my flooring like he says he does. The last couple days I kept calling and calling, when is the floor going to be done? I told him if he doesnt show up and make some serious proression that we're bailing on him. He showed up again for a couple days and cleaned up some little odds and ends and then has the balls to ask for a check again!!!
Then yesterday I talked with him for an hour about the project but also about his son and just chit chat. I told him if he wants I will buy the floor off of him and do it myself. I told him I'm ready to pull out but I dont want to stick him with the floor. I do like the guy, thats the major problem! He says lemme think about it and get back to you tomorrow. He comes to the house to fix the drain on the sink, no floor. I called him up and asked him what he decided, he says he'll tell me tomorrow again. I told him forget it, today is D Day. What time can I pick up the floor from your house, I want to start it tonight and have it done for the weekend. OH, WELL, I need to get it ready for you...I said huh...OK, well I need to hit up Home Depot and I still havent left work yet, thats going to be about 2 hrs, should I stop by then...He says, I'm not going to be home tonight. I said, you know what, its time to come clean man. You dont have it do you? He says WELL not in my posession at the moment. I told him do NOT come back, we're payed off and have a nice life asshole!
The whole time this mess has been going on I found out he was working on his house getting ready to sell it!!! My floor is in his house now, I will bet a million dollars on it. Which is fine, but dammit dont jerk me around after I've been nothin but patient and nice to you! I went a picked up a floor tonight at home depot and layed almost all of it down already. Cost me 1100 instead of 3K, so I'm happy about that. Just sucks that he dicked us around forever, then tried to make more money on us to keep remodelling his own shit and not even work on our house. THEN the flat out lies to me on the phone. Just shitty man, really made me want to fuck this guy up, it was hard to keep my cool! AND even worse is everytime he would show up a lil, he would leave a mess and then disappear for a month at a time. He knows thats the door we come in and out of and just didnt give 2 shits....Not only was I paying him not to work but I had to clean up after him! I also had to pay for the dumpsters which other builders told me is a joke, I spend almost 1K in rubbish removal!
In the end, my floor is just about finished after only 4 hours and the deck will be done this weekend. After months and months of BS to do a 1 month project we're finally going to have use of everything again
Sorry for the rant but I needed to vent a lil
Finshed basement pics :
I need some more trim in a couple spots, the trim the builder left wasnt enough to do the whole room. Other then that, it came out reall good for never doing anything like this before.
We used the builder that built our house and he has done projects on it since then. He's always been great and just generally a nice guy all around.
Shit has changed in the last 10 years apparently
He was suppossed to start in November of 07, he kept stalling and giving us BS, then it was beginning of Dec....Then January. He finally came and tore down the wall in between the garage and other room. We had given him a check for materials then. He didnt show for over a month so we called him to find out what was up! We told him we needed everything done by April, before we had the baby. The baby was due in May but we figured it would give him a lil cushion to be late. He said no prob, it will be a 1 month project.
He framed everything after he came back and then wanted more money for materials, fine.....AGAIN he doesnt show for about a month. We called him again asking him WTF is going on....OH sorry sorry been busy blah blah blah...He starts coming up again and bangs out a decent chunk of the work. AGAIN he wants a check....We gave it to him.
We trusted this guy if you couldnt tell already since we knew him forever.
Now its getting close to April so we called him to have a talk with him about the deadline and he said no problem it will be done way before that. WELL, he stopped showing yet again and the deadline flew by. Its now the end of April, so we call to get on his case about getting this basement done already. A project HE said would take a month is now at 4 months, not counting all the time he was suppossed to start in the beginning. He tells us what the real deal is, his son is having some SERIOUS issues and he's been tied up with that. Basically the son is drinking a lot and is trying to hurt himself. We were sorry to hear this, specially since I knew him too. He said he needed money and he promised he would be up ASAP to work on the basement, he just needed to send the son to some sort of program.
WELL, we helped him out in hopes he would make good. Since that day he has showed up maybe a weeks worth of days over the course of 3-4 months. Its now August and the basement STILL is not finished. I've been on his case the last 2 weeks hardcore, almost to the point I felt bad but in the same respect I wanted my shit done! He kept trying to stall on installing my hardwood floors down there. He said, oh lets do the deck first and make sure its plenty dry in the basement (we had flooding issues, he fixed our french drains and all has been well for months now). We said we want a quote on the deck before we do anything but told him not to even think about asking for money until the basement is done. I get the quote, its 9K for re-topping it and adding a lower lever on. Not TOO big of a project. We thought that price was nuts and told him lets finish the basement because we need to think about the deck. We didnt really need anything done with the deck but it would be nice to have done.
WELL, he shows up the next day and starts ripping the rails and crap off of the deck. My wife calls me at work and tells me whats going on, I told her to hand him the phone. I asked him WTF man, I just talked to you yesterday and said we werent doing the deck right now. He said, OH thats fine I'll work on the basement then
At this point he's almost paid in full on the basment, we owed him 3K which covered the floor and install when he did it. He kept delaying and delaying the floor and just did lil crap on the basement. Painting, installing a toilet and porcelain sink in the washroom, stuff like that. BUT after showing for 3-4days he wanted money again. I told him the last check we gave him was suppossed to be everything but the floor, we're payed up to this point!
He tells my wife the other day that he really wants to do the deck and then the floor. I called him when I got home and asked him what his deal is? Why do you not understand that we do not want to start more projects until this one is complete! Specially when its a couple days from being done.....weird right?
In the meantime I had a buddy come up and give me a quote on the deck, 3K lower....weird that its 3K huh? Not really! I knew right there, he doesnt have my flooring like he says he does. The last couple days I kept calling and calling, when is the floor going to be done? I told him if he doesnt show up and make some serious proression that we're bailing on him. He showed up again for a couple days and cleaned up some little odds and ends and then has the balls to ask for a check again!!!
Then yesterday I talked with him for an hour about the project but also about his son and just chit chat. I told him if he wants I will buy the floor off of him and do it myself. I told him I'm ready to pull out but I dont want to stick him with the floor. I do like the guy, thats the major problem! He says lemme think about it and get back to you tomorrow. He comes to the house to fix the drain on the sink, no floor. I called him up and asked him what he decided, he says he'll tell me tomorrow again. I told him forget it, today is D Day. What time can I pick up the floor from your house, I want to start it tonight and have it done for the weekend. OH, WELL, I need to get it ready for you...I said huh...OK, well I need to hit up Home Depot and I still havent left work yet, thats going to be about 2 hrs, should I stop by then...He says, I'm not going to be home tonight. I said, you know what, its time to come clean man. You dont have it do you? He says WELL not in my posession at the moment. I told him do NOT come back, we're payed off and have a nice life asshole!
The whole time this mess has been going on I found out he was working on his house getting ready to sell it!!! My floor is in his house now, I will bet a million dollars on it. Which is fine, but dammit dont jerk me around after I've been nothin but patient and nice to you! I went a picked up a floor tonight at home depot and layed almost all of it down already. Cost me 1100 instead of 3K, so I'm happy about that. Just sucks that he dicked us around forever, then tried to make more money on us to keep remodelling his own shit and not even work on our house. THEN the flat out lies to me on the phone. Just shitty man, really made me want to fuck this guy up, it was hard to keep my cool! AND even worse is everytime he would show up a lil, he would leave a mess and then disappear for a month at a time. He knows thats the door we come in and out of and just didnt give 2 shits....Not only was I paying him not to work but I had to clean up after him! I also had to pay for the dumpsters which other builders told me is a joke, I spend almost 1K in rubbish removal!
In the end, my floor is just about finished after only 4 hours and the deck will be done this weekend. After months and months of BS to do a 1 month project we're finally going to have use of everything again
Sorry for the rant but I needed to vent a lil
Finshed basement pics :
I need some more trim in a couple spots, the trim the builder left wasnt enough to do the whole room. Other then that, it came out reall good for never doing anything like this before.
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