Working with contractors

[Dawn Anastasi]

I think the worst part of rehab is dealing with contractors.

The last tile guy frustrated me to no end. He said he could do drywall work too, and found out that he subbed it out. The guy he had working for him turned off the furnace (in January in WI) and left it off all night long, and also left the upstairs window open all night long. Luckily the pipes didn't freeze!

Then he didn't do what we agreed on the tub surround which cost me extra money (because it was already done when I stopped by to check out the work and he told me "don't worry it looks good") and then the tile floor he didn't completely finish and when I pointed out what we spoke about on the paperwork, he cursed at me and stormed out.

His drywall guy left a hole in the wall, and he said he could finish it, so he started stuffing some newspaper in there and tried taping/mudding over it. It looked horrible. Then he came back and actually cut some drywall, but did such a bad job mudding it that I'm having to have it fixed by someone else.

The second tile contractor was supposed to do the floor in this tiny 4x4 bathroom last Monday. Then they said they were tied up until Wednesday. Then it was Thursday, then finally they said they would get to it on Friday. They got some of it done on Friday and the guy said they would finish today. Well no one showed up today.

If I could just do all this stuff myself, and had more time, it would be a lot easier!

The one contractor I found that works out well is the guy that does roofing and HVAC. Every time I call him, he jumps. And he's gotten over $30K in work from me over the years.