Colleen
Senior Member
- Location
- Pennsylvania
We're having 3 rooms renovated in our house: the kitchen is a total gut job and refigured (it's almost done); a master bath (it's almost done); and a family room that's finished except for new carpet to be installed on 6/3. The job started on May 9 with only 2 guys working and everything was going smoothly....until this morning.
The contractor's father and a helper were working on everything. We were told it would take 5 weeks. All that's left is kick-plates in the kitchen, countertops, sink and disposal, all the appliances hooked up and molding around windows and the baseboards and touchup. The bathroom needs the mirror hung, countertop and sink.
We had contracts for each room and an allotment we paid upfront and the remaining balances as things were done. We also talked to the contractor about doing some additional projects but no contracts were drawn up. There was an old shed out back that was removed and 2 garage lights on the outside installed and the only other thing was 2 new ceiling fans were hung.
This morning the contractor came, unannounced, at 6:30am. He was in a foul mood and was very unfriendly. I had just gotten up and when I came downstairs (my husband and the contractor were in the kitchen), the contractor never greeted me or apologized for his unannounced early arrival, he just looked at me and said, "What have you been telling my dad to do?" I was shocked at his attitude and the question and I said I hadn't been telling him to do anything.
He took some pictures of the kitchen and was leaving and said he'd send me a text with the additional costs and a quote for how much it would cost to paint the brick on the outside of the house, which we had discussed with him before. The whole house isn't brick...only the bottom half in the front.
He normally comes to collect the next installment when a certain thing is finished, so I thought, since the family room was done, he'd want that final payment, but he left without collecting it. He didn't say goodbye or anything.
He was recommended by friends of ours that he had done their kitchen and bathroom and he did a nice job....but my friend told me to keep an eye on his figures because she found some discrepancies in his figures and theirs. We went to Lowes the other day and had to buy light plates and vents and registers and we spent $200. That was over what we've already given him.
Do you think it would be appropriate, given his attitude, to ask for an itemized list for where our money has been spent?
The contractor's father and a helper were working on everything. We were told it would take 5 weeks. All that's left is kick-plates in the kitchen, countertops, sink and disposal, all the appliances hooked up and molding around windows and the baseboards and touchup. The bathroom needs the mirror hung, countertop and sink.
We had contracts for each room and an allotment we paid upfront and the remaining balances as things were done. We also talked to the contractor about doing some additional projects but no contracts were drawn up. There was an old shed out back that was removed and 2 garage lights on the outside installed and the only other thing was 2 new ceiling fans were hung.
This morning the contractor came, unannounced, at 6:30am. He was in a foul mood and was very unfriendly. I had just gotten up and when I came downstairs (my husband and the contractor were in the kitchen), the contractor never greeted me or apologized for his unannounced early arrival, he just looked at me and said, "What have you been telling my dad to do?" I was shocked at his attitude and the question and I said I hadn't been telling him to do anything.
He took some pictures of the kitchen and was leaving and said he'd send me a text with the additional costs and a quote for how much it would cost to paint the brick on the outside of the house, which we had discussed with him before. The whole house isn't brick...only the bottom half in the front.
He normally comes to collect the next installment when a certain thing is finished, so I thought, since the family room was done, he'd want that final payment, but he left without collecting it. He didn't say goodbye or anything.
He was recommended by friends of ours that he had done their kitchen and bathroom and he did a nice job....but my friend told me to keep an eye on his figures because she found some discrepancies in his figures and theirs. We went to Lowes the other day and had to buy light plates and vents and registers and we spent $200. That was over what we've already given him.
Do you think it would be appropriate, given his attitude, to ask for an itemized list for where our money has been spent?
