Contractor Communication Issues

[Chris Barrett]

Greetings,

Sorry in advance for the long post but I felt that the information was pertinent.

    I am an investor working on my second renovation.  First one went great except for timing of completion and finishing touches.  I decided to use a different contractor for this second property.  The rough-ins were great and at better pricing than other contractors but the finishings were not level, some things crooked, paint on flooring, you get the point.  When asked about fixing these excuses were given, some things were fixed and some things I personally had to fix because the fix was just as bad as the first finish.  I didn't have a contract written and signed mostly because at the beginning it was pay as we had the money.  Lesson learned: get a contract and have it signed.

This second contractor came recommended from a big-time investor local to here. Everything was great at the beginning; he had plenty of time to meet in person and talk about how they work how we would communicate, write a contract, show me his completed projects, etc. Everything seemed great, I put 1/3 down up front and work started. Demo is done, roof is done, framing is mostly completed except finishing one staircase of two and subfloor of one unit (2 unit conversion from SFH). Whenever he needs money for the first draw or for "pre-ordering materials to be used for the second phase" he's Johnny on the spot with communication and texts/emails/calls even after his supposed "I don't answer calls or texts after 5:30 so I can keep my wife happy" rule. I respect that; when I'm off, I'm off. He seems to have a hypocrital look at that hard 5:30 no contact time unless he needs the money.

 Now, at the beginning we sat down and said I expect a Monday call or email or text summing up what was going to be done that week.  This has not happened (we're almost 2 months in). I also said I expect a weekly Friday summation of what was done that week.  This also has not happened.  I have called and told him that he needs to communicate with me about the work being done so I am in the know.  We discussed and agreed that we'd call each other back by the end of the day if we couldn't answer each other's calls or texts.  This also has not been occurring.  I wrote out a long email stating points of what we discussed at the beginning about communication.  He called me later in the week to say that I haven't been going on the builder app which is what we originally were going. I said I would check it daily for updates and message him that way.

 I'm sure you could guess that he has not used that to communicate which is why I am here on BP to ask fellow investors how they would deal with the situation.  I have tried to have a sit down with him and express these concerns but he is just too busy to meet me, supposedly.

 I feel that I am being proactive in my calls, even though they are not answered, and requesting details on what's going to happen or what happened during each week.  I feel like I am not being too overbearing in my communication with him.  The last three weeks, nothing has happened at the property and I am anxious and worried that we won't finish by the time the students who I will be marketing to return to the area and are looking for housing. 

 What else should I be doing in this situation to foster a better communication between the contractor and I. What else can I do to get my point across that I would feel a lot better if our agreed upon expectations were/are met?  Do I need to call and ask if there is anything going on that I could assist them with or a problem I could help them figure out?  

For the sake of my mental health and relative sanity, please help.  I am open to suggestions or recommendations or insight on how you were able to circumvent this obstacle on the road to happy investing success.

Cheers,

  Chris

ps. once again, sorry for the long post.