When do I fire a contractor?

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Yesterday he calls me while I'm at work. He tells me he built the shelve separators, but hasn't worked out how he'll do the doors yet, and has followed my diagram. But many of the horizontal separators are at the wrong levels, some of them aren't even aligned with stairs. The vertical separator is also halfway between stair two and three instead of just being aligned with stair 2 like I asked.

Looking at this, I could definitely build something equivalent for shelves, and I'd put them in the right place. Not sure if I could build the lofted area I want but I could probably hire a carpenter directly. He's coming over in a few hours and I'm working from home to talk to him already because he says he can build the entire loft today.

I don't want my living area and loft where I plan to sleep to be unlivable for another month. Originally he told me the whole project would take two weeks. I assumed I should double that, but I didn't think I'd have to double it just for the stairs alone.

Should I just fire him?


2/2

>>1138187
That looks like a few days work at best, anon.

Has he spent full days working on it? Or just like an hour at a time here and there?

The stairs look nice though, for sure. If I were you, I'd just have him do the stairs. You're correct that you could do the shelves yourself, especially if you have experience with desks like you said.

At any rate, did you hash out a schedule with the contractor before work began? And if you did, has he met his end of the deal?

if you are not happy and doubt his ability to do what you ask and maintain a decent reasonable time frame then shit can the faggot, there are more contractors and carpenters that could handle that then you could count, and you could even get a motivated pro to knock those shelves out in an afternoon easy, just tell this guy some family stufff came up and you have unexpected costs incoming and thanks and bye, pay for materials and the work done and show him the door.

life is too fucking short for incompetent contractors, if you are paying someone to do a job they should do 100% what you ask or clear every minor change to those plans before they lift a fucking finger if its going to incur you labor time or material costs.

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>>1138195
We finalized the deal in December after months of discussions where not much was actually discussed. He said he'd start halfway through January and that it'd take about two weeks.

Near the end of January he told me he was ordering some parts. He put the first stair stringer up February 8. The stairs were walkable February 23. Hard to tell how long he was actually here since I'm usually at work (working from home today).

He also told me he's not sure what he's going to do for the vertical wires (pic related, the concept I found online originally) yet. Also he's not sure what he's going to do for the shelf doors.

He has a bunch of wood here for the loft presumably, I might let him do/start that.

>>1138197
I mean I believe that he will eventually produce the work I want, but he's taken forever to start this project and I'm no longer confident he'll finish before the end of March at this rate. I think I can manage carpenters directly for the parts I find I can't do myself.

The only concern I have is that the stairs have 9" risers and 9" treads, which technically isn't to code, because that's considered very steep. I'm not worried about inspectors, since I live in an old historic neighborhood where pretty much nothing is to code, but if I hire a carpenter to do some touchups in the end, will they be super concerned about that?

What are the risks of him putting a lien on my property for the rest of the work?

Is that something that happens often?

>>1138198
Two weeks would be a good estimate for that, assuming he's busy and has other contracts to fulfill.

It sounds like he's putting your project on the back burner. If I were you, I would either fire him now and pay for the work completed, minus an amount for the delay. He has no grounds, as the work was not completed on schedule.

But, then again, I'm positive as soon as you put your foot down, he'll pick up pace, make an excuse, or offer you a discounted price. If he has any sense, he'd try and make this right.

>>1138202
If you have a signed agreement stating the start date and end date, no he can't do anything legally. You are actually the one who's in control.

If the agreement was verbal, I'm not sure.

>>1138199
>>1138202
what does the contract say? if hes over the agreed time he doesn't have much to argue, you can fire him if hes taking to long, he cant negate his side of a contract and expect you to uphold yours.

also depending where you are there are normally exceptions in the code for stairs leading to attics or lofts under a certain square footage, its something to look into, but most carpenters are not gona rat you out over this, hell most wont rat people out for grievous structural molestation on houses.

>>1138204
Verbal, unfortunately. I've never dealt with contractors before. I feel a bit bamboozled. Of course he has no evidence on his end ether. I've paid him a bit up front anyway, I don't plan to screw him out of the cash for the stairs, I just want my condo to be usable.

>>1138203
I mean if he does it quickly and gives me a discount, I'd be down. I really would rather not build the loft part especially, since I am always concerned about building things myself that could affect my safety. But I don't know what excuse he could have for the shelf positioning. It's a very straightforward concept.

>>1138206
Unfortunately, as I'm a fool, there was only a verbal agreement for most of this. Hell we actually reduced the original design because originally he was going to extend my loft farther.

I guess I'm just very confused about the shelf positioning issues. Before he was just slow, but now it seems like he's doing things wrong on purpose.

>>1138208
basically a verbal agreement is only good if both people stick to the story, if hes not finished on time you can fire him and if he bitches you can literally say hes full of it and that he agreed to be done in a reasonable time frame and failed to meet his end of the contract, you do not need to be afraid of this guy, hes not doing the work you asked for and are paying him for, he has no right to your money or time if he is failing his end of the deal, just pack his shit up and put it outside in a safe place for him to pick up and tell him to get his shit and hit the road, dont take shit from shady guys like this, people end up bending over and taking it from shit bag contractors all the time because they are intimidated or confused about verbal contracts.

but basically, its your word against his, the work is not done, its your money and your time and stress, its also your house and your lock and door, so kick the guy out and move on with your life and get things in writing from now on, and steer clear of contractors that wont put their agreements in writing from now on.

>>1138212
Thanks for the advice and encouragement!

I'm a bit surprised at the whole thing because he's done work for other people in my building and they seemed to like him, but maybe because they're friends with him.

Will tell him he's off the job when he shows up.

>>1138213
yea man, sucks when people dont pull through on stuff like this, but just remember he took money to do a job and hasn't done what he agreed to do.

expect him to hem and haw and have some excuses ready, so just tell him the work order is being terminated, you will pay his wage upto this point and say you have an sudden appointment in 10 mins and need to get ready and politely inform him hes got to go, just control the conversation, dont give him time to argue, tell him hes fired at the door, that you plan to settle up the labor cost later in the day (make sure you do) and he can either get his shit out now or pick it up then when you pay him but you need to go asap to this "appointment", that way you are not stuck with a bitter guy in your house and any other drama is avoided.

>>1138216
Good idea, I'll tell him I need to go to work. Given that he's done about a third of the project (stairs out of stairs, shelves, loft) maybe I won't have to pay him much more at all. Will see.

>>1138217
good luck dude

>>1138219
Thanks, man!

>>1138198
What a pinteresting design

>>1138221
I found it on Google image search.

I need space to store my computer and some other stuff, and I need a way to get to my loft. My original plan was a storage bench + a ladder, but this will be more pleasant.

>>1138187
you got an actual contractor to take a job with a napkin sketch? You didn't have him draw up an actual plan? And you're surprised it turned into a cluster fuck?
>2/10 got me to reply

>>1138188
>pre-made stair treads on backwards
>risers incorrectly installed

>>1138208
>only a verbal agreement

settle up with him and just ask him not to come back, theres no contract here and you dont need to explain shit to him.

ITT: one autist hires another autist to do autistic job - dissatisfied with result.

>>1138220
How'd it go?
>>1138405
Is that supposed to be funny?

>>1138290
Even for a one day job if a coustomer wants something coustom i will draft a to scale drawing with measurements and triple check thatwantis what they want. If i have to make a change after the project is underway i prefer to go over changes in person. A project like this should not have taken more than two weeks at most and your results are sub par if it were my home and i was paying for it i would fire him not pay any more than i already have tear out the shelving and hire a real profesional

>>1138221
pin it!

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>>1138188
how isnt this bait how can you actually be this dumb