How many times have you hired contractors in your life? My guess is quite a few. If you had to rate each experience much like you might a meal how many five-star ratings would you have doled out? While I’m not a betting man, I’d say fewer than 5 percent.
I’d wager most of your ratings would be in the two- to three-star range. Remember the arguments you’ve had in the past? Do you recall your disappointment when the contractor didn’t show up for days at a time? How about the time when the materials delivered turned out to be wrong and another two-week delay stacked up on top of a job already a month overdue?
Allow me to share a few true stories and let me know if it reminds you of one of your experiences. Over the past six weeks I’ve witnessed a slow-moving train wreck. A person I know decided to put a patio in their backyard. Early on, I knew problems would crop up as the job concluded. I had a tough time being a bystander.
One of the first things that happened on the job was the installation of underground electrical conduit. This was put in to provide power to a future hot tub and a fancy outdoor kitchen. As you might suspect, I’ve had to do this on my jobs for decades. You get one chance to get it right, and installing a future conduit under a finished patio is nearly impossible unless one of your ancestors happened to be a World War II POW who dug the tunnel out of Stalag Luft III.
Perhaps I’m a strange builder. I’m always thinking of the future. I always installed conduits that were one size larger than required. I always installed a pull string with the cable that’s in the conduit. Who knows, maybe an additional cable needs to be pulled in the future? The pull string makes this possible. The electrician on this job I was watching did neither.
A few days after the hot tub was installed, the electrician showed up. He direct-wired the hot tub. The homeowner discovered this at the end of the day and was not happy. He had wanted it wired a different way. The outdoor kitchen is not yet installed, so I don’t know what will happen with that.
Let’s move on. Five years ago, I was installing all of the plumbing, radiant heat and electric in my daughter’s new home. She and her husband were constantly frustrated with the progress being made by their brash young builder.
The plans for the house were as detailed as any I had ever seen. I had worked with my daughter for months helping her with the drawings. I knew it was important to include very precise enlarged detail drawings showing how something should be installed. Most of these were ignored by the builder and his employees. It turns out they “did things a different way.”
I’ll never forget the day they came to rip off all of the house wrap and spent hours hammering in thousands of non-approved staples into the wall sheathing rather than remove them. It turns out they had installed the wrong house wrap. When they installed the correct product, they failed to follow the instructions and some of it peeled off, requiring a third installation.
Each week, I receive countless emails from homeowners like you describing nightmare encounters with contractors of all types. When I do autopsies on the issues, the cause for the misery is almost always the same. The homeowner placed far too much trust in the contractor, hoping all would go well. Quality control on the part of the homeowner doesn’t happen as frequently as it should.
It’s not always easy to get what you want. You have to take ownership in almost all situations. This means you need to have meetings with the contractor, or his subs, at the beginning of important phases of work. You can’t assume the workers know exactly what you want done. It’s foolhardy to think verbal conversations held at your dining room table will transform into your dreams months later. You can’t assume the workers have read and understand the plans.
Just because you told the contractor what you wanted a month ago in a meeting, or even if it’s on the plan, you can’t assume it’s going to get done. You must have numerous conversations, and you must check the work in progress during these critical times.
I know, this seems to be far too much work. Or perhaps you don’t know what needs to be done. I’m sorry to say if you want happiness at the end of your job, you need to get plugged into the process. It’s never been easier than now to get a full understanding of how products should be installed. Many manufacturers have clear and helpful videos on their websites showing what needs to be done.
On big jobs you need to do your own quality checks. You need to make sure measurements are correct. You need to get proof the correct products have been ordered. You need to check products when they arrive on the job site.
I can hear you now. “Tim, this is too much work! I’m hiring the contractor so I don’t have to do all this!” Well, decades ago there were far more great contractors than there are now. It’s sad but true. Roll up your sleeves and be prepared to help run your job.
