We are currently doing a renovation on a property and decide to hire new contractors for a project on a 1960’s cosmetic rehab of an apartment.
This included – redoing the bathroom, new recessed lighting, new flooring, new kitchen, etc.
When we did our walkthrough of the project scope we went over all details of the project and then proceeded to make a detailed scope of work that we all agreed on.
The contractors showed up on time and were not bouncing from job to job – which was incredibly appreciated.
But as they were doing the job we noticed that they kept running into walls (pun intended). The gas line they agreed to extend was not done to code and they didn’t have any idea how to work with proper materials -meaning we had to hire someone else to do it. The cast iron plumbing in the bathroom was a challenge for them and they didn’t want to touch – so we had to hire a plumber to do the work to convert it to PVC properly. Their proposal was a disaster waiting to happen.
Now we are running into issues where they don’t work with basic concrete/leveling to apply tile directly to brick/block walls. Their proposal is to install furring strips, add cement board and then tile on cement board – which works fine, but because of their lack of skills, their solution takes up additional space and limits our ability to install a niche – a nice addition to a bathroom that doesn’t cost much to install at this phase but makes the space much better. A niche was initially agreed upon.
We’re at a real decision point: do we stick with this team and finish out the rest of the project — which is fairly straightforward at this stage — or do we cut our losses and hire out each remaining piece individually and prevent more issues?
Old homes have hiccups in renovations – its important that your contractor knows how to tackle issues otherwise you are going to spend time, resources and more money solving the problems they were hired to do.
In this case, we deduct the amount it cost us extra from their initial quote to have someone else come out and then we asked a simple question – are you capable of finish the rest of the project?
People will always advocate for whatever is easier for them. So if they run into a snag and call you and you bring someone else in – they are more likely to repeat this. You need to break that habitual cycle early and decide – do you keep problem solving for them, or do you send them on their way?