All Forum Posts by: Tanya Solomon

How do you find where a guy gets his business? My theory is if I find his main source, I can complain about him and stir up trouble. Then he will be motivated to pay me the 5k he owes me and move on. I also want to warn others about his less than reputable ways. I have tried Goggle searching the exact name of his company (there are other similarly named LLCs around the country) and get no to little response. 

I spoke with an attorney that specializes in construction law and he told me this guy is LEGIT bad but it would cost too much to hire him to represent me to go after bad GC. The legal fees would far surpass the 5k involved.

I know that a lot of contractors get business from "Mommy groups." With the referral from other moms, people feel comfortable with hiring someone without vetting them. I think he is probably "fishing" in a community like this. How can I find if that is true? I am a mother but my kids are older than the mom group kids. It is a good "fishing pool." My Golden Gate Mothers group in SF had the average member making 350k a year. Add that to the avg price of a home in the SF Bar Area = High net worth ppl. I digress. 

Now I live in North NJ about 30 west of NYC. Nj has a lot of Consumer Rights which I intend on using but am trying to see if another angle could help to get resolution faster. Finding out what would "hurt" this guy and then doing it. Everyone has a weak spot. I have taken GCs in CA to court and won. Received actual $. I even brought down a ring of crime in CA posing as a GC and got at least two guys serving time and paying me restitution and four others got their GC licenses pulled. It is much harder to get a GC lic in CA than NJ but I will go after this guy's lic in NJ through the Consumer Affairs Office. It is a hard, ardous affair but I am in it to win it and not letting someone walk away with 5k of my money just because it's hard. 

I hired a bad general contractor (GC). He came recommended to me through my real estate agent and an elevator company that wants to sell me an elevator for my home. I do not have to use this GC for the elevator. He (bad GC) was working in the area for another client putting in an elevator. I checked out the GC's yelp, BBB, Angie's list etc. and he had a few one-star reviews. Most of the reviews were 5 stars and he had 3.5 stars on yelp and a C+ with BBB. 

I made two big mistakes. 

One was hiring this guy despite the one-star reviews. At the time he was making up all the right excuses and I have been a small biz person my whole adult life. So, I guess I wanted to believe him that it was just a misunderstanding and one or two people that had it out for him unfairly. 

Second mistake I made was giving him a large deposit. $7400 on a 19k contract. The guy disappeared after coming to the home to demo part of a wall. I had to drag him back, long after the 23 days he had to perform were up. He fought me the ENTIRE way. It took SO MUCH energy to get this guy to get ANYTHING done. He did not supervise his workers. I had at least 12 different guys showing up to my house to do old tasks at all times of the day and night. I was just trying to get the labor I have already paid him, out of him and he knew it. He has been making it hard in the hopes I just go away. I am not going away. The work performed was so shoddy. I have pics of everything. I have verifiable communications = paper trail of the whole thing. Documenting my unhappiness and his shoddy work. 

I sent him a demand letter for the remainder of the money he has not performed for. I have sent him no less than a half dozen letters demanding he perform or quit. I gave him weeks to respond to my last letter that fires him and demands payment for money he has received but not performed for. He has ignored me totally. 

I will elevate this whole matter. Reporting to the Consumer Affairs Office and the BBB. I will also file in the equivalent of Small Claims Court. I forget what they call it here in NJ but their small claims court is only $3500 max. In the other court, I can get a judgment for up to 15K. I DO realize that collecting on a judgment is fairly hard for someone who is self-employed but I will garnish any account I can or at the very least put a lien on ANY property he has. 

Anybody else have a creative way to get what you are owed out of a GC? Like I said, I realize that it will be HARD, TAKE TIME, etc to go after this guy but I will do it on principle alone. 

To @Michael King 

I wrote convo instead of conversation and used other abbreviations in an effort to be brief. I realize now that my OP and follow-up are both pretty long and it does not make a difference in the larger scheme of things.

Let your "freak flag" fly high. If something bugs you, you are not weird. You are human. 

I appreciate other people taking the time to comment on my posting. I now have a better idea of what could be "behind" the use of this expression

Like you, this is not the only quirk trigger. I HATE it when people say "I will call you back at MY earliest convenience" rather than say "I will call you back as soon as possible." I understand that what the person most probably means is the exact same thing. They will call back when they are available to do so. It just feels ( to me) like the difference is that when in the case of their earliest convenience could be perceived as they are not respecting your time and only their own. 

Whereas if someone says they will do it ASAP, that the implication is that they could do it even if it is not convenient. 

Thanks to everyone that responded. I REALLY appreciate it! I did a yelp search today to look into getting a window fixed at my home. The system asked if I wanted to get more quotes from vendors and I clicked "yes." Then I looked at "my project" where it showed the different vendors that my request was sent to. Urgh.....Yelp has an automatic beginning that starts EVERY inquiry with "Hi there! Can you help me with my project?" Apparently this can not be undone or changed. Everytime one sends out a request for quotes, than this is what the vendors get. Not the way I would prefer to start doing business.

BTW if anyone is curious. I had 3 inquiries. This is North NJ. If it was North CA I probably would get no response.  One said "hi" and that is it. Another no response. A third called me because I left better contact info bcuz yelp's sucks. The caller works for the vendor as a customer service agent. English is not their first language and I had to repeat almost everything I told him. He seems like not an good audio learner (My kids are "different" learners and Ive gotten good at detecting this) Told me a price of $250 to replace a 4 in by 4in pane of glass in a side door. We said "ok' bcuz we just want to get it done. Then we played "phone can/can phone" where he would ask 1 thing and then call me back after he asked vendor. Seemed like a waste of time. I could've gotten it done in half the time if I could talk directly to the vendor but Im in it to win it. Guy said "he came come ...sometime...today." Me "what time" Then he came back with "He is on his way now. Is this ok? Me "yes this is ok." He is supposed to call back to tell me how long it will take for vendor to get to me but instead says "he has had something come up and cant come today. He wants to come tomorrow." Uhh in less than 3 min he has gone from on his way to not being able to come at all? Whatever. Calls ensue and now he is coming between 8-9am tomorrow. 

Again, thanks for the well thought out responses! I will definitely be more active on this site. It can be isolating and it is nice to know that there are others out there that feel the pain in their backsides too. Happy Holidays!!

@Scott Mac - EXACTLY!! This John Wayne clip is PERFECT for what I am talking about. Business is an exchange. In this case my money for their services. 

@Patricia Steiner - Thanks for the validation! I will ask next time to find out what is the "charity" in the deal. 

@JD Martin - Thanks for your kind words. I have worked as a pro chef for more than 20 years and have felt the sexism you spoke of from time to time in my career. I think another wrinkle is my husband is a HUGE guy at 6'7", 300 lbs, size 18 shoe. He is a tech guy and grew up in an apt in NYC. His parents never owned property. He wants NOTHING to do with negotiating or working with blue collar guys. He does not think he is better. The opposite. He is a rare and magnificent bird when it comes to solving complex algorithms or talking/thinking about complex physics. He is a typical genius scientist that cant "chew gum and walk." He is an amiable guy and HATES conflict or negotiation. 

I think that when I am dealing with ppl in business, they do not understand why my husband is TOTALLY out of the convo. Now, that he is working from home, it is even harder bcuz he is there. I think it might come off as "weak" and I come off as a B-ll busting B bcuz I am the one that is strong. Calls the shots. Knows what I am talking about. LOTS of simularities between being a chef and working in food service and the world of construction./real estate. I remember one time a plumber came over and determined it was a simple job. Hubby was there and plumber kept talking to him saying "it is so easy. Just do this and that." Looking at my hubby. I told him that I would do it and even asked some ? using construction jargon. He still answered MY ?s to my hubby. 

@Darius Ogloza - I wish I had a GC to refer to you. I do not know anyone that would go to Marin. It is TOUGH and SUPER expensive to find even a decent GC in the Bay Area. Part of the reason I left. If I were you I would look to the North. Guys ( and I say guy bcuz they make up 99% of the GCs I have encountered) like living in Sonoma Co bcuz it is cheaper, "the country," and a good place to raise a family. Some of the best guys I have ever hired have come from a FAR distance and I have paid them to come to me. It is worth it in the long run. Even paying them $100 per hour just to drive to you, you will have better work and at a more reasonable price. BTW Your response sounds a bit angry. I wrote a great deal of detail because I wanted ppl to understand that this phrase and how it is employed seems to have a different implication than what you are talking about. It seems that you have me pegged as some kind of picky B and that just is not the case. I am trying to do business with someone and have MUTUAL respect. It shifts the dynamic when someone chooses to bring a word like "help" into this dynamic. Watch the John Wayne clip. It sums it up nicely.

@Michael King I "know what your/I am saying." I have said that to my mother that was a 3rd grade teacher and it drives her nuts. 

@Forrest Faulconer - It might not phase you but maybe there are not as many flakes as on the coasts in OK? You should hear some of these ppl talk about "fly over states." My family and I drove across the country when we moved from CA to NJ. The middle of our country is just as beautiful as CA or the East Coast. I found it to feel safe, simple (in a good way) and the ppl much nicer. In fact, we knew we were in the Chicago area when the billboard went from ads with tractors and programs for Vets to ads for vice. We now know what a "fantasy suite" is and what the greater area thinks are the best CBD products. 

I do not know if I am just getting older (Im gen x) and more jaded or if it is a red flag, but I hate it when I am looking to hire someone or have hired and they in a convo about said work tell me that they are "helping me out." This is said when I am NOT asking for ANY charity or extra non paid work. Just looking to hire someone to do a job, have them do it and then pay them a fair market rate. I have worked in the foodservice biz for over 2 decades and usually tip even when it is not a thing. I have worked HARD to get EVERY dime I have and would never ask someone to work with out getting paid. ESPECIALLY in these COVID times!

So far, if someone says this to me then I do not hire. Am I passing up potentially good ppl bcuz they are using a vernacular Im not familiar with? Or is it a red flag that the person feels that they are entitled and that even when they benefit and profit from a business relationship they still feel like they are doing a form of charity by gracing some lucky person with themselves and their capabilities? Maybe I should mention I do business in places like the NorCal Bay Area and near NYC in NJ? 

I have had it come up a few times in the last few years.

-Real Estate agent told me that he could "help me out" by showing me some properties in an area I was looking to buy in. I am a legit investor and have proof of funds, prequal, good credit, etc. I know how a traditional home purchase works in that when he represents me as a buyer's agent he gets (usually) half of a 5-6% commission on the price of the home I buy. It felt like he was just trying to one-up me so that I would go with what ever he wanted to sell/tell me. I ended up going with another agent and bought a house for just over a mil. 

-General contractor that got a $7400 deposit out of me and was doing very sub par work (trust me it is BAD) tells me that he can "help me out" by calling up his workers to find out what is going on with my job. He has also told me that he is going to "help me out" by finishing the work. I finally told him directly that he has been paid a hefty deposit (big mistake on my part) and is not doing any charity work. He has a job to do, for which he has been prepaid, and now he needs to perform. After his subs/foremen/workers did a horrible job on a washer dryer hookup (sheetrock a hot mess, spackle in plugs, vent that got clogged less than 2 weeks after installation), I fired him and requested the unused portion of my deposit back. Trust me, I gave this guy EVERY chance to perform and he had a material breach when the job exceeded 3x over the 23 days he had to complete it. After 4 months he only completed $2550 (paying him full price for shoddy work) out of a 19k contract. 

-I am looking for a video production company or person to shoot, edit, etc a YouTube channel I want to put together. I have had a couple of responses say that they can "help me out" with my project. I am NOT asking for charity in ANY way. I am paying the higher end of industry standard. I definitely have a learning curve in this vein of biz but am willing to put in the $ and my time. 

-While looking for another general contractor (to start/finish the projects) on nextdoor, I have read responses where other ppl ask for recommendations for a good GC. Lots of responses. A few from ppl that own construction companies. 2 out of about 2 dozen said they "would be happy to help out by taking on the project." Again, the person asking for referrals did not say now word about needing even a cheap person or citing a low budget. They were just asking for a good contractor to do good work. 

Again, am I just a silly stickler, or is this a red flag? 

It comes across to me like the person wants to either

1. Avoid "ownership" of their time and work (lacks responsibility and does not want to be accountable) and ignore the fact that they $$$$ benefit and want the focus to be on their "charitable," benevolent, and good achievements. 

2. They want to feel "above it all" and hold the power dynamic putting me in my "place" by inferring that they are helping me by working for me. Like a narcissism where they are so superior and I am lucky to get the chance to pay them. It seems like the money/payment gets their attention but then it is "charity" after to "keep" them and get them to finish the job. 

If you have some extra time, Id love to hear other ppl's take on this. 

Bear with me. This is my 1st time posting here and want to give enough info to accurately depict the scenario I am asking for advice on. Sorry if some of this is TMI

In a nutshell, We own an adorable 3/2 about 1400 sq ft home with an even more adorable tiny house/guest home/ADU 200 sq ft 1 bath "studio" type place with kitchen, sleeping loft (1st one in county) in a sleepy coast side community south of SF that we need to sell.

We came on the market 18 days ago and fear it could not be a worse time? Should we wait it out and see if there are any takers when things calm down and give it at least a month? Take it off the market and STR for a few months to come back in the summer? Last option would be to move back to the home as a primary but we are not really ocean town type folks. More big city types. Should we reduce the price? If so, how much and when?

We are not living in the home so it can be shown at any time to prospective buyers (typical lockbox scenario) but last week the Bay Area was put on a "lockdown" and now we can not schedule any open houses until further notice. There has been great feedback and we have over 1200 views and 50 "save/favorite" on real estate sites like Zillow. No offers. 

The home that is on the market is priced at "market value" and sites like Zillow and Refin put their estimates at around our asking price. Inventory is SUPER low!!

Popular vacation area and good for families. Safe, quiet, near the ocean, etc. Home can appeal to many types of buyers. STR crowd due to close proximity to ocean (2 blocks away), Baby boomers =great retirement area and it is a single-story, no stairs. Great for families= close enough to SF that commuting is not a killer like other areas in the Bay Area. Silicon Valley is about 45 min away. The home would be perfect for multigenerational family type scenario with the tiny house providing housing for an elderly family member or adult child of Babyboomer or a Home health aide like a companion or nanny.

The home and tiny home are staged well. New landscaping in backyard. New roof, upgraded electrical, plumbing, etc. Nothing that is a serious negative. Best of all, we finished a 2 year project to be the very 1st legal tiny house in the county. So, buyer would get two homes for practically the price of one. The main home could rent out for around 4k on average and command as much as 5-6k during peak summer/fall. Tiny house could fetch $125-$250 a night as a STR or $1500-$1800 a month in an annual lease model.

We like our agent and am confident that we have a good team behind us. So far we have advertised it as a "dream" coastal property but maybe we should change the description to be more value-driven? Does anyone have any innovative ideas that could help to educate the consumer side to the many benefits of ADU (additional dwelling unit)tiny houses? Any ideas on how to market a home during uncertain times?

As I said, this is my 1st time on this site, so please be kind.  

Investment Info:

Single-family residence other investment.

Purchase price: $1,018,000
Cash invested: $400,000

*WE NEED ADU SPECIALIST REALTOR TO SELL COASTSIDE *
Home is on the very desirable, flat, west side of PCH
Purchased "main house" lot 5200 sq ft w 3/2 1350 sq ft adjacent lot it's own APN# 2613 sq ft.
We had intent to buy and hold main house, Install ADU on 5200 sq ft expires early Oct 2019build a small 800 sq ft home on adjacent lot. main home empty& staged.
want to sell at least the main house with the tiny house, approved plans
PLEASE REFER AGENT DO A TRICKY DEAL LIKE THIS.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

Tons of potential. Area is both a good place to live but short term renting is lucrative.
Great ROI to build on empty lot. Land is flat and it would be easy to either put prefab house or to stick build
Tiny houses are super popular and installing it as an ADU brings major value and ups desirability considerably

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

On MLS with great buyers agent

How did you finance this deal?

Typical mortgage and good ol' cash

How did you add value to the deal?

Did Reno on main house that habit turn key ready for decades.
Purchased adorable tiny house and obtained permit to install as ADU.
Built fence to seperate properties.

What was the outcome?

Outcome has not arrived yet.
NEED GREAT AGENT THAT UNDERSTANDS VALUE OF ACTUAL AND POTENTIAL WORTH and can find the right investor for this opportunity

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Getting approved permits in unincorporated San Mateo county is MUCH harder than the other half dozen jurisdictions I have dealt with in the past

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

No, in fact I have fired not one but 2 due to straight up laziness