Maybe it's just the sheer number of contractors we've had to have dealings with. But we're running about 75/25 good to bad.
Our electrician, Max, has been spectacular. He will be getting business from us in the future. If you need an electrician, ask us; we'll give you his contact information.
Our roofer was great. Depite delaying starting on our roof for about a day, he was fantastic. Cleaned up all his debris and left the job done right and both Karl and I completely satisfied. (We're happy to give you his contact information, too.)
Our drywall guy was great, too. Came in on a Saturday to do some work and, over all, did a nice and professional job. (Need drywall? Let us know; we'll give you his info, too.)
Our A/C guy was darn good, too. His crew went above and beyond what they were supposed to do and helped make us satisfied customers. (Yeah, you know....)
On the other hand, our roofing framer (you know, the one who left us without a roof for a week in the rain...) I simply can not recommend at all. He can't even be counted on to hammer in a nail properly. (Literally.)
And, now most recently, our refrigeration guy for the walk-in cooler. He doesn't follow (or doesn't remember) directions well. He tromped around on our roof in the heat potentially damaging some of the brand new shingles beyond repair. (Roofer guy is coming to take a look at it to give us his opinion; hopefully tomorrow.) Claims to never leave a job without being paid right then and there for the work. (The first I'd heard of it was when he was demanding payment in full after the job was done.) Seems to have been offended that I found several problems with his work (which, if he had done it the way he had been directed by Karl, wouldn't have been a problem). He freaked out when we called him today asking about the damage to the roof threatening to come back and rip the condenser unit off the roof. (Which, by the way, is now ours since we paid him for the equipment yesterday. In other words, he threatened to steal my equipment; not exactly professional.)
And perhaps the cause of most concern is the fact he did not return our phone calls for three days. (Granted, one of those days was a Sunday.) We had expected the unit to be ready on Thursday. We called on Thursday afternoon and left a message. Left at least two messages on Friday; no call back. Same for Saturday. And one message on Sunday. Finally, on Monday, he called back saying that he'd be able to come Tuesday to install the unit. Communication does not seem to be this guy's strong point.
Honestly, I think the poor guy is just completely, utterly overwhelmed by having been handed the business by his father. He doesn't seem to have the business sense needed to run a business well (or at all). He volunteered that he had lost his credit because of the economy. I think the guy has a major cash flow problem and a major problem with listening to his customers. (Is it my fault he doesn't follow directions or take care to not damage the roof he's tromping on?)
Regardless, all the stuff needed for the fire repair has been done. (Aside from a little plumbing work I'm going to have to do on the roof tomorrow.)
You read that correctly. The fire repair is complete.
We have the county Health Department coming on Friday. I know we'll have some concerns to correct. Most likely having to do with clean up of the dust and assorted construction debris. And we'll take care of that over the weekend with a final inspection to take place on Monday. (Now that I'm reading all of this, I think I should have them come on Monday instead.... Meh! I'll think about that tomorrow!)
Showing posts with label Demo Guy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Demo Guy. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Thursday, May 19, 2011
The Way It Should Be
We have a roof.
We spent all day yesterday at the bar with the roofers. And, despite having to provide our own generator for them (for which we nicknamed the roofer "Blanche DuBois") the work was done and completed exactly as we expected to be. THIS is how hiring a contractor should be. Why couldn't Demo Guy have done the same?
Finally, aside from paint, the outside of the bar won't change very much from here on out. (Well, that you can see from the street anyway.)
Here are several progress pictures taken throughout the day.
We spent all day yesterday at the bar with the roofers. And, despite having to provide our own generator for them (for which we nicknamed the roofer "Blanche DuBois") the work was done and completed exactly as we expected to be. THIS is how hiring a contractor should be. Why couldn't Demo Guy have done the same?
Finally, aside from paint, the outside of the bar won't change very much from here on out. (Well, that you can see from the street anyway.)
Here are several progress pictures taken throughout the day.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Lessons Learned (So Far)
Now that the roof framing has finally passed inspection and we're done with Demo Guy for ever (unless something awful happens in the next ten years) here's a few valuable (and the occasional expensive) lessons we learned the hard way when hiring contractors:
Check the contractor's license three different times: When you get the bid, when the contractor is hired and again before work is started.
Lots of things can happen between the time you get the bid and the time work actually starts. For example, the contractor might come onto hard times and have his contractor's bond cancelled and therefore have his license suspended.
Demo Guy's license was valid when we hired him but by the time work started the state's website for checking licenses said it was "under Contractors Bond Suspension". That means it was illegal for him to be doing contracting work valued at more than $500. (It also provides information to help determine if the license is no longer suspended.) And, to be fair, we don't know what happened with Demo Guy's bond and, frankly, it's none of our business what happened to cause the bond to be cancelled.
In construction (at least this project) there is not much worse than having problems with a contractor and then seeing "SUSPENDED" next to his license on the official site to check licenses. Your jaw drops, your heart falls into your butt and you stop breathing for a few seconds. (At least that's what happened to me.)
We're somewhat embarrassed by this. We really should have checked before he started work. It could have been one of our biggest mistakes. (In our defense, it seems the incidence of this kind of thing happening is fairly rare.)
As of today, the contractor's board website shows Demo Guy's license back in the "Active" category with a bond effective May 6, 2011. So that's good. Despite the problems we had with him and despite never recommending him to anybody ever for even so much as hammering in a nail I'm glad he got that SNAFU sorted out.
Take high quality pictures of the areas your contractor is going to work on.
Having documentation of what things were like when the contractor begins helps avoid the contractor saying "It was like that when I started." Here's the story.
Demo Guy claimed that some of the damage caused to the building was actually caused by the fire fighters who worked on the fire back in September, 2010. Specifically, the weather head that connects the electrical service box to the utility pole in the alley.
During the days the bar was without a roof, the weather head was left unsupported for four full days(contrary to what was agreed to) and was pulled away from the wall by the weight of the line to the utility pole. Being pulled away from the building cracked the electrical box which then had to be replaced at a cost of over $1,000 including materials and labor.
We didn't have to take Demo Guy to court to recover these costs but we were prepared to. Despite having what we believe would have been a solid case, we weren't really looking forward to small claims court. Part of that solid case is the pictures we had taken of the bar. Of special note in this case is a picture of the bar we took in February that just happened to show the weather head still attached to the roof; it was not removed by the firefighters as Demo Guy said could be a reason why the weather head was broken.
Keep a Blog
I suppose it doesn't have to be a blog, per se. A journal (which is like a blog) would work just as well.
This blog proved to be a valuable source of information in making the time line of what happened. For example, the "Vandals? Shocking!" post pin-pointed a time that we had PG & E out to fix some damage. (They never mentioned anything about a broken weather head.) Without that post, that part of the time line was "On or around February 2011". Changed it down to "Week ending February 18, 2011".) The more documentation you have in court, the more likely you are to win.
Don't pay the contractor until the job is finished.
Seems straight forward but it isn't necessarily so. By "Finished" I mean "Passed inspection".
We paid Demo Guy what he asked before the final roof framing inspection had been done since we thought it would pass easily the second inspection but it did not. (The first inspection brought up issues that seemed to be easily and relatively quickly corrected.)
What we should have done was pay him half of what he asked for at that time. And then paid him the other half when the roof framing passed its final inspection. In this case, this weakened our bargaining power with Demo Guy to eat the cost of his negligence with the weather head and delayed getting the final truss installed correctly (you know, like he should have done in the first place.)
Take clear pictures of the work.
This is especially true of any abandoned or incorrectly completed work; it'll help your small claims case should you have to resort to that.
Remember this: your camera's macro setting (the little flower; see my crappy example to the right) is your best friend in these cases. If you don't have good photo editing skills, make sure the lighting is clear in what you're photographing. And, if you're photographing small items, include something to show scale. If you've watched CSI, you've probably seen those little white "corner" things with rulers on them. That's what I'm talking about. It doesn't have to be a forensic-quality thing; lots of other things would work just as well for these pictures: a quarter, your finger, library card, your keys, etc.
I really don't mind learning new things but I hope these are the only lessons we learn from this project. They weren't massively expensive lessons (aside from delaying our opening date and the weather head problem) but they added far too much tension and anxiety to an already anxious process.
Check the contractor's license three different times: When you get the bid, when the contractor is hired and again before work is started.
Lots of things can happen between the time you get the bid and the time work actually starts. For example, the contractor might come onto hard times and have his contractor's bond cancelled and therefore have his license suspended.
Demo Guy's license was valid when we hired him but by the time work started the state's website for checking licenses said it was "under Contractors Bond Suspension". That means it was illegal for him to be doing contracting work valued at more than $500. (It also provides information to help determine if the license is no longer suspended.) And, to be fair, we don't know what happened with Demo Guy's bond and, frankly, it's none of our business what happened to cause the bond to be cancelled.
In construction (at least this project) there is not much worse than having problems with a contractor and then seeing "SUSPENDED" next to his license on the official site to check licenses. Your jaw drops, your heart falls into your butt and you stop breathing for a few seconds. (At least that's what happened to me.)
We're somewhat embarrassed by this. We really should have checked before he started work. It could have been one of our biggest mistakes. (In our defense, it seems the incidence of this kind of thing happening is fairly rare.)
As of today, the contractor's board website shows Demo Guy's license back in the "Active" category with a bond effective May 6, 2011. So that's good. Despite the problems we had with him and despite never recommending him to anybody ever for even so much as hammering in a nail I'm glad he got that SNAFU sorted out.
Take high quality pictures of the areas your contractor is going to work on.
Having documentation of what things were like when the contractor begins helps avoid the contractor saying "It was like that when I started." Here's the story.
Demo Guy claimed that some of the damage caused to the building was actually caused by the fire fighters who worked on the fire back in September, 2010. Specifically, the weather head that connects the electrical service box to the utility pole in the alley.
During the days the bar was without a roof, the weather head was left unsupported for four full days(contrary to what was agreed to) and was pulled away from the wall by the weight of the line to the utility pole. Being pulled away from the building cracked the electrical box which then had to be replaced at a cost of over $1,000 including materials and labor.
We didn't have to take Demo Guy to court to recover these costs but we were prepared to. Despite having what we believe would have been a solid case, we weren't really looking forward to small claims court. Part of that solid case is the pictures we had taken of the bar. Of special note in this case is a picture of the bar we took in February that just happened to show the weather head still attached to the roof; it was not removed by the firefighters as Demo Guy said could be a reason why the weather head was broken.
Keep a Blog
I suppose it doesn't have to be a blog, per se. A journal (which is like a blog) would work just as well.
This blog proved to be a valuable source of information in making the time line of what happened. For example, the "Vandals? Shocking!" post pin-pointed a time that we had PG & E out to fix some damage. (They never mentioned anything about a broken weather head.) Without that post, that part of the time line was "On or around February 2011". Changed it down to "Week ending February 18, 2011".) The more documentation you have in court, the more likely you are to win.
Don't pay the contractor until the job is finished.
Seems straight forward but it isn't necessarily so. By "Finished" I mean "Passed inspection".
We paid Demo Guy what he asked before the final roof framing inspection had been done since we thought it would pass easily the second inspection but it did not. (The first inspection brought up issues that seemed to be easily and relatively quickly corrected.)
What we should have done was pay him half of what he asked for at that time. And then paid him the other half when the roof framing passed its final inspection. In this case, this weakened our bargaining power with Demo Guy to eat the cost of his negligence with the weather head and delayed getting the final truss installed correctly (you know, like he should have done in the first place.)
Take clear pictures of the work.
This is especially true of any abandoned or incorrectly completed work; it'll help your small claims case should you have to resort to that.
I really don't mind learning new things but I hope these are the only lessons we learn from this project. They weren't massively expensive lessons (aside from delaying our opening date and the weather head problem) but they added far too much tension and anxiety to an already anxious process.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Framing Inspection: Passed
Just got word from Karl: The roof framing has passed the inspection. We can move on.
Babysitting
Yesterday, both Karl and I went babysitting. We spent the entire day at the bar babysitting Demo Guy's apparently mildly inept crew. We were there to make sure the final truss (that should have been installed an entire month ago today) was finally installed correctly and according to the engineered plans.
At first, I was very happy to see Demo Guy on the roof working with his crew to make sure the sign at the front of the bar was re-attached correctly to the roof (like it should have been done a month ago) to help ensure it doesn't fall off the building. (Karl had sort of secured it earlier; they just came back to fix their screw up in how the sign was handled during demolition.) I thought, "Yay! He's actually going to supervise his crew!"
There was a brief disagreement on how the strapping should be done to the final truss. (Demo Guy was still insisting he was doing and had done it correctly; I believe based on a much earlier conversation with the engineer and not at all on what was approved. For some strange reason, Karl and I believe that the installation should be done according to the approved plans I know! CRAZY!) Then Demo Guy said he had to go visit his dad in the hospital and left. I was a bit annoyed at him for leaving but, in the end, I'm glad he did.
His crew, which would have been unsupervised had we not been there, didn't quite know how to do some things and we were there to correct them and answer questions. As best we could, anyway. They didn't speak too much English and we don't speak good enough Spanish. Which is one of the problems I believe Demo Guy has; he can't communicate well enough with his employees to make sure the jobs get done right the first time. And I don't think it helps that these two who came by seem to me to be little more than two stooges with hammers; I just don't think they care all that much.
I also learned why you should both watch and not watch your contractor work. It's much like watching your food being prepared in a restaurant. These guys were using nail guns to nail in the strapping. I believe that the manufacturer of the straps may specifically forbid the use of nail guns for installation but I'm not certain; I do know that I read it somewhere, though. Nail guns can make things go faster but they can also cause problems. Like, perhaps, splitting a vertical truss member in a truss you're trying to install and then having to make a new one to replace the one you broke; it's likely that hand nailing the strapping would not split the two-by-four.
At about 2:30pm yesterday, Demo Guy's crew was done with this job. We think forever. We believe the installation will pass inspection which is scheduled for today and we can finally move on to other things. Like insulation and getting a damn roof on the place.
At first, I was very happy to see Demo Guy on the roof working with his crew to make sure the sign at the front of the bar was re-attached correctly to the roof (like it should have been done a month ago) to help ensure it doesn't fall off the building. (Karl had sort of secured it earlier; they just came back to fix their screw up in how the sign was handled during demolition.) I thought, "Yay! He's actually going to supervise his crew!"
There was a brief disagreement on how the strapping should be done to the final truss. (Demo Guy was still insisting he was doing and had done it correctly; I believe based on a much earlier conversation with the engineer and not at all on what was approved. For some strange reason, Karl and I believe that the installation should be done according to the approved plans I know! CRAZY!) Then Demo Guy said he had to go visit his dad in the hospital and left. I was a bit annoyed at him for leaving but, in the end, I'm glad he did.
His crew, which would have been unsupervised had we not been there, didn't quite know how to do some things and we were there to correct them and answer questions. As best we could, anyway. They didn't speak too much English and we don't speak good enough Spanish. Which is one of the problems I believe Demo Guy has; he can't communicate well enough with his employees to make sure the jobs get done right the first time. And I don't think it helps that these two who came by seem to me to be little more than two stooges with hammers; I just don't think they care all that much.
I also learned why you should both watch and not watch your contractor work. It's much like watching your food being prepared in a restaurant. These guys were using nail guns to nail in the strapping. I believe that the manufacturer of the straps may specifically forbid the use of nail guns for installation but I'm not certain; I do know that I read it somewhere, though. Nail guns can make things go faster but they can also cause problems. Like, perhaps, splitting a vertical truss member in a truss you're trying to install and then having to make a new one to replace the one you broke; it's likely that hand nailing the strapping would not split the two-by-four.
At about 2:30pm yesterday, Demo Guy's crew was done with this job. We think forever. We believe the installation will pass inspection which is scheduled for today and we can finally move on to other things. Like insulation and getting a damn roof on the place.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
In Too Deep
Well, well, well....
What a difference a day makes. Demo Guy called us a little before Noon today with a proposal.
He wants to fix the problems we brought up yesterday and one other major problem that we didn't notice until he had left. I told him I'd have to call him back after talking to Karl about the proposal Demo Guy offered. And, after a long discussion between Karl and I, we agreed with the proposal.
We will be watching pretty much every move this guy and his crew makes. I'm 100% certain that we all want to be done with this project and done with dealing with each other. And, frankly, Karl and I want to move on. (But that's not to say we won't take appropriate action later on.
What a difference a day makes. Demo Guy called us a little before Noon today with a proposal.
He wants to fix the problems we brought up yesterday and one other major problem that we didn't notice until he had left. I told him I'd have to call him back after talking to Karl about the proposal Demo Guy offered. And, after a long discussion between Karl and I, we agreed with the proposal.
We will be watching pretty much every move this guy and his crew makes. I'm 100% certain that we all want to be done with this project and done with dealing with each other. And, frankly, Karl and I want to move on. (But that's not to say we won't take appropriate action later on.
"Is There a Lawyer in the House?"
Turns out, it wasn't all resolved on Monday.
As I mentioned very briefly yesterday (it was a mobile blog posting) we met with Demo Guy yesterday afternoon. And it turns out we're going to have to take him to small claims court to recover the costs of repairing the damage we firmly believe beyond any shadow of doubt to have been caused by his construction crew and his own negligence.
Rolled into that claim is going to be money to finish the job correctly. We discovered yesterday that the two guys Demo Guy sent on Saturday did not install the truss correctly at all. Even after Karl had shown the crew the plans which clearly show the proper way to install the connectors they were not done correctly. At all.
We're considering naming names here with this contractor. We don't want to get caught up in a libel or slander lawsuit for defamation of character so we have to tread carefully. That's not too difficult; we just have to make sure that our opinions are clearly stated as opinions. There can be no defamation of character or libel or slander if what is said is true; the problem becomes being able to prove in court that what we present as fact is, indeed, factual.
As I mentioned very briefly yesterday (it was a mobile blog posting) we met with Demo Guy yesterday afternoon. And it turns out we're going to have to take him to small claims court to recover the costs of repairing the damage we firmly believe beyond any shadow of doubt to have been caused by his construction crew and his own negligence.
Rolled into that claim is going to be money to finish the job correctly. We discovered yesterday that the two guys Demo Guy sent on Saturday did not install the truss correctly at all. Even after Karl had shown the crew the plans which clearly show the proper way to install the connectors they were not done correctly. At all.
We're considering naming names here with this contractor. We don't want to get caught up in a libel or slander lawsuit for defamation of character so we have to tread carefully. That's not too difficult; we just have to make sure that our opinions are clearly stated as opinions. There can be no defamation of character or libel or slander if what is said is true; the problem becomes being able to prove in court that what we present as fact is, indeed, factual.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Meeting With Demo Guy Completed
The meeting went pretty much as I expected. But we're gonna have to see this guy in court. Whee.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Finishing the Job
Today, Karl's at the bar supervising the installation of the final truss that should have been installed four weeks ago. Why is Karl supervising? Because the contractor apparently doesn't supervise his own employees and with the changes made to the framing plans specific strapping and connectors are required to help prevent the roof from flying off in the event of, let's call it, a "wind event".
And it's a good thing Karl's there. Demo Guy had given his crew the wrong information on how to install the truss he should have installed four weeks ago. They were doing some kind of bizarre plan to make the studs in the wall line up with the vertical members of the truss instead of what the engineer designed, we (the client) agreed to, and the city approved.
Had Karl not been at the bar to stop the (unsupervised) crew, either Demo Guy would have to come back out again and fix what he had done or we would have had to go back through the process of revising the plans again. One wonders if this guy is trying to keep this job going forever.
There are other issues with this contractor that we will get resolved on Monday. If all goes to plan, that is. If all doesn't go to plan, it'll be resolved within 45 days or so.
We think it'll be resolved on Monday; it's in everybody's best interest. We'll be done with this guy and he'll be done with us. I'm sure we'll all be happier for it.
And it's a good thing Karl's there. Demo Guy had given his crew the wrong information on how to install the truss he should have installed four weeks ago. They were doing some kind of bizarre plan to make the studs in the wall line up with the vertical members of the truss instead of what the engineer designed, we (the client) agreed to, and the city approved.
Had Karl not been at the bar to stop the (unsupervised) crew, either Demo Guy would have to come back out again and fix what he had done or we would have had to go back through the process of revising the plans again. One wonders if this guy is trying to keep this job going forever.
There are other issues with this contractor that we will get resolved on Monday. If all goes to plan, that is. If all doesn't go to plan, it'll be resolved within 45 days or so.
We think it'll be resolved on Monday; it's in everybody's best interest. We'll be done with this guy and he'll be done with us. I'm sure we'll all be happier for it.
Friday, April 22, 2011
...Often Work Out Just Fine
Yesterday, we got the revised plans from the engineering folks. We'll have to do some strapping to the south wall of the building to help prevent the roof from being ripped off in a tornado or hurricane (!?) but it's pretty easy. It involves knocking off some of the stucco (but not all of it, Phew!) and having the contractor do what he was supposed to have done in the first place--demolish the old south truss and install the new one. We'll have to add some metal strapping that is similar to the earthquake strap around your water heater tank only thicker.
On Monday, we have an appointment with The City to get the revised plans approved. (The "Back Check" appointment.) The correct truss should be installed sometime next week. Should. ("Shouldn't it have been installed weeks ago??")
I'm not sure if I should be but I'm kind of happy that Demo Guy is getting annoyed at this job. He should have done it right in the first place, don't ya think? Maybe he'll learn. ("Why hasn't he learned already??")
On Monday, we have an appointment with The City to get the revised plans approved. (The "Back Check" appointment.) The correct truss should be installed sometime next week. Should. ("Shouldn't it have been installed weeks ago??")
I'm not sure if I should be but I'm kind of happy that Demo Guy is getting annoyed at this job. He should have done it right in the first place, don't ya think? Maybe he'll learn. ("Why hasn't he learned already??")
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Not-So-Lovely Rain and Other Bullstuff
(It's a long one; better strap yourself in.)
As you know, we got our building permit on Monday, March 21. That week, it rained pretty heavily so construction couldn't begin immediately. We had been in contact with the Demo Guy (our demolition and construction contractor; not his real name) and he said he'd be ready to start on March 28.
Well, March 28 rolls around and he's not done with the previous job. He blamed it on the rain the previous week. Seems fairly reasonable. Said he would be able to start on Wednesday and that he wanted to meet with Karl on Tuesday to go over the job one final time before getting crews there.
Also on March 28, the A/C guy was going to come and remove the on-roof A/C unit for cleaning and storage during the demolition. He comes with a crane and removes the unit. And that took pretty much all day so it's probably good that Demo Guy wasn't ready to start on the 28th.
Demo Guy and Karl meet on Tuesday to go over the job and Demo Guy says he'd have his crew start on Thursday. On Wednesday, Karl spent a lot of the day at the bar doing "stuff". Fixing stucco problems, building fences where there weren't fences before and that sort of thing.
Thursday rolls around and Demo Guy still isn't ready to start and he'd start on Friday. We start to see a pattern.
That pattern is reinforced on Friday, April 1, as well. He's still not ready. But he will be most definitely, positively, absolutely be ready and start on Monday, April 4. Careful readers will note that's one week after he first said he'd be able to start.
Early Friday afternoon (April 1) Karl heads from home to the bar to do some work (I forget exactly what). Later that day, the truss company called and told us the trusses would be ready for delivery on Monday, April 4; the same day that Demo Guy was to finally begin work demolishing the roof. That seemed perfect to Karl and me but the Demo Guy wanted us to delay the delivery of the trusses until April 11. This said to both Karl and me that the demolition would take a week. (Considering the work, a week always did seem a little long; Demo Guy originally said the entire job would take two weeks. But I digress.)
Karl spent the weekend in Fresno doing various work on the bar. Monday morning rolls around and Karl heads to the bar in the early morning and meets Demo Guy and his crew. They start removing the roof and its trusses and, after a while, Karl leaves to let them do their work.
Later that day, Karl returns and finds the demolition complete. All of it. Trusses, old metal roof, old shingles, old sheathing all ripped off and put into a dumpster. The process that we thought would take a week took a single day. (A very long day, to be sure, but a day nonetheless.) This was a nice surprise! (But then why did Demo Guy want to wait a week to start putting up the trusses and why did he have us delay the delivery of the trusses a full week?)
The demolition broke a few things in the bar--glass counter top, a mirror, a speaker, drink rail, things like that--but that was nothing compared to the problems that were about to occur.
Since the bar was going to be without a roof for so long (upwards of two weeks) Karl wanted to sit at the bar over night to help prevent any vandalism that might occur if nobody was there to watch the place. So, Karl spends the night on Monday sitting in his car staring at the bar. Fun.
On Tuesday, we ask Demo Guy why he is leaving us without a roof for a week. Turns out Demo Guy was doing two jobs at the same time; ours and someone else's. I'm sure Demo Guy has his reasons for leaving us without a roof for a week but I don't know what they could possibly be. Looks to me that this guy seems to have a scheduling problem. It seems more logical to me to knock out one job before starting another. Is this guy so good that he's in this much demand? (Quite frankly, I doubt it; in my opinion, his attention to detail and concern for his clients seems a bit lacking.)
On Tuesday afternoon, we received the lovely "homo fagét" graffiti. And that was annoying and disturbing. I also see that there's a 30 to 70% chance of rain on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. No roof and rain do not mix. Demo Guy has his guys off on his other job and I have no roof. We get in touch with the truss folks and they can deliver the trusses Wednesday afternoon. Why Wednesday? We want to try to get Demo Guy to start work on Wednesday afternoon in preparation of the 70% chance of rain on Thursday and we figured he'd be concerned about his client's project being damaged by rain. It was too late on Tuesday to get a hold of Demo Guy so we have to wait until morning.
For various reasons, we couldn't get a hold of Demo Guy Wednesday morning to see if he could start that afternoon. When we finally contacted Demo Guy, he said his crew could not work on our roof on Wednesday but would be working on our roof at 7:00am Thursday and, unless there's a downpour, they'd continue working to get us a roof. And, even if there was a downpour, we were assured that the crew would resume work when it cleared up.
Wednesday night, it rains. The bar gets wet. All of the bar gets wet. And Demo Guy didn't even bother to try to protect the interior with tarps or anything and didn't even offer to come help put up any sort of protection. (To be fair, we didn't either but that's not the point. The point is he didn't even seem concerned for anything but the pool table.)
Well, on Thursday Demo Guy's crew shows up at the crack of dawn again and beings working. A couple hours later, there was a 45-minute downpour and the crew left. Since Karl had been spending his nights at the bar keeping tabs on the place, he couldn't stay at the bar during the day; he had to sleep at some time, right? Before the downpour and after Demo Guy's crew had installed one truss, he went and took a nap. Mid afternoon, he gets up and heads to the bar to see what progress had been made after the rain had stopped. There was no crew working. The work had stopped, no progress had been made despite having no rain during the afternoon.
We called Demo Guy and asked him where his crew was. He did not know and could not get a hold of them! That's right, he did *not* know where his crew was and could *not* get a hold of them. To say that we were furious is a gross, massive understatement.
Demo Guy assures us up and down that, despite not knowing where they are, his crew will be there at 7:00am Friday to continue working and that his crew didn't come back on Thursday afternoon because "every time they picked up a saw, they were getting shocked" because the equipment was so saturated. (I thought, "SO IS MY BAR!!") (I don't mean to say that I wish his crew to be placed at risk of electrical shock, mind you.)
We have serious doubts about whether or not Demo Guy can even try to make good on his word about showing up on Friday morning; his track record is not exactly stellar in that regard. But, we can do nothing--literally--but believe him. What else could we do? Hire another contractor to finish the job? The place still had no roof. I'm sure we could have hired another contractor to finish the job but the annoyance of doing that would be unfathomably stressful for both of us.
Friday comes around and Demo Guy's crew shows up. I guess he finally figured out how to get a hold of his employees. Karl goes and lays down for his daily rest. Later that afternoon the crew finishes with the trusses and sheathing. The construction is complete in one day.
Also, ABC 30 comes out and does their piece on the graffiti. The police show up and assure us that they do, in fact, care about the (legally defined) hate crime of the graffiti. Ultimately, Friday ended up being a pretty great day for the bar. We simply love the vaulted ceiling (pictures coming tomorrow of that) and are thrilled to finally be at this point in the process.
In the end, Demo Guy scheduled two weeks for a job that only took two and a half days. Why he couldn't have just had the whole thing done by Wednesday before the rain started is simply beyond my comprehension. EVERYTHING was ready for him and he chose to delay things. He is the one who had us delay delivery of the trusses. He is the one with the apparent scheduling problems that made him unable to start when he first said he could. He is the one who couldn't communicate with his employees at a crucial time.
In all, the bar survived. The rain didn't cause too much obvious damage; there could still be some moisture problems with the drywall in the future but we're taking some proactive steps to help slow--if not prevent--that. It could have been a lot worse if the floor hadn't been concrete. But the problems and delays this guy caused for us are reprehensible and wholly unprofessional.
As you know, we got our building permit on Monday, March 21. That week, it rained pretty heavily so construction couldn't begin immediately. We had been in contact with the Demo Guy (our demolition and construction contractor; not his real name) and he said he'd be ready to start on March 28.
Well, March 28 rolls around and he's not done with the previous job. He blamed it on the rain the previous week. Seems fairly reasonable. Said he would be able to start on Wednesday and that he wanted to meet with Karl on Tuesday to go over the job one final time before getting crews there.
Also on March 28, the A/C guy was going to come and remove the on-roof A/C unit for cleaning and storage during the demolition. He comes with a crane and removes the unit. And that took pretty much all day so it's probably good that Demo Guy wasn't ready to start on the 28th.
Demo Guy and Karl meet on Tuesday to go over the job and Demo Guy says he'd have his crew start on Thursday. On Wednesday, Karl spent a lot of the day at the bar doing "stuff". Fixing stucco problems, building fences where there weren't fences before and that sort of thing.
Thursday rolls around and Demo Guy still isn't ready to start and he'd start on Friday. We start to see a pattern.
That pattern is reinforced on Friday, April 1, as well. He's still not ready. But he will be most definitely, positively, absolutely be ready and start on Monday, April 4. Careful readers will note that's one week after he first said he'd be able to start.
Early Friday afternoon (April 1) Karl heads from home to the bar to do some work (I forget exactly what). Later that day, the truss company called and told us the trusses would be ready for delivery on Monday, April 4; the same day that Demo Guy was to finally begin work demolishing the roof. That seemed perfect to Karl and me but the Demo Guy wanted us to delay the delivery of the trusses until April 11. This said to both Karl and me that the demolition would take a week. (Considering the work, a week always did seem a little long; Demo Guy originally said the entire job would take two weeks. But I digress.)
Karl spent the weekend in Fresno doing various work on the bar. Monday morning rolls around and Karl heads to the bar in the early morning and meets Demo Guy and his crew. They start removing the roof and its trusses and, after a while, Karl leaves to let them do their work.
Later that day, Karl returns and finds the demolition complete. All of it. Trusses, old metal roof, old shingles, old sheathing all ripped off and put into a dumpster. The process that we thought would take a week took a single day. (A very long day, to be sure, but a day nonetheless.) This was a nice surprise! (But then why did Demo Guy want to wait a week to start putting up the trusses and why did he have us delay the delivery of the trusses a full week?)
The demolition broke a few things in the bar--glass counter top, a mirror, a speaker, drink rail, things like that--but that was nothing compared to the problems that were about to occur.
Since the bar was going to be without a roof for so long (upwards of two weeks) Karl wanted to sit at the bar over night to help prevent any vandalism that might occur if nobody was there to watch the place. So, Karl spends the night on Monday sitting in his car staring at the bar. Fun.
On Tuesday, we ask Demo Guy why he is leaving us without a roof for a week. Turns out Demo Guy was doing two jobs at the same time; ours and someone else's. I'm sure Demo Guy has his reasons for leaving us without a roof for a week but I don't know what they could possibly be. Looks to me that this guy seems to have a scheduling problem. It seems more logical to me to knock out one job before starting another. Is this guy so good that he's in this much demand? (Quite frankly, I doubt it; in my opinion, his attention to detail and concern for his clients seems a bit lacking.)
On Tuesday afternoon, we received the lovely "homo fagét" graffiti. And that was annoying and disturbing. I also see that there's a 30 to 70% chance of rain on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. No roof and rain do not mix. Demo Guy has his guys off on his other job and I have no roof. We get in touch with the truss folks and they can deliver the trusses Wednesday afternoon. Why Wednesday? We want to try to get Demo Guy to start work on Wednesday afternoon in preparation of the 70% chance of rain on Thursday and we figured he'd be concerned about his client's project being damaged by rain. It was too late on Tuesday to get a hold of Demo Guy so we have to wait until morning.
For various reasons, we couldn't get a hold of Demo Guy Wednesday morning to see if he could start that afternoon. When we finally contacted Demo Guy, he said his crew could not work on our roof on Wednesday but would be working on our roof at 7:00am Thursday and, unless there's a downpour, they'd continue working to get us a roof. And, even if there was a downpour, we were assured that the crew would resume work when it cleared up.
Wednesday night, it rains. The bar gets wet. All of the bar gets wet. And Demo Guy didn't even bother to try to protect the interior with tarps or anything and didn't even offer to come help put up any sort of protection. (To be fair, we didn't either but that's not the point. The point is he didn't even seem concerned for anything but the pool table.)
Well, on Thursday Demo Guy's crew shows up at the crack of dawn again and beings working. A couple hours later, there was a 45-minute downpour and the crew left. Since Karl had been spending his nights at the bar keeping tabs on the place, he couldn't stay at the bar during the day; he had to sleep at some time, right? Before the downpour and after Demo Guy's crew had installed one truss, he went and took a nap. Mid afternoon, he gets up and heads to the bar to see what progress had been made after the rain had stopped. There was no crew working. The work had stopped, no progress had been made despite having no rain during the afternoon.
We called Demo Guy and asked him where his crew was. He did not know and could not get a hold of them! That's right, he did *not* know where his crew was and could *not* get a hold of them. To say that we were furious is a gross, massive understatement.
Demo Guy assures us up and down that, despite not knowing where they are, his crew will be there at 7:00am Friday to continue working and that his crew didn't come back on Thursday afternoon because "every time they picked up a saw, they were getting shocked" because the equipment was so saturated. (I thought, "SO IS MY BAR!!") (I don't mean to say that I wish his crew to be placed at risk of electrical shock, mind you.)
We have serious doubts about whether or not Demo Guy can even try to make good on his word about showing up on Friday morning; his track record is not exactly stellar in that regard. But, we can do nothing--literally--but believe him. What else could we do? Hire another contractor to finish the job? The place still had no roof. I'm sure we could have hired another contractor to finish the job but the annoyance of doing that would be unfathomably stressful for both of us.
Friday comes around and Demo Guy's crew shows up. I guess he finally figured out how to get a hold of his employees. Karl goes and lays down for his daily rest. Later that afternoon the crew finishes with the trusses and sheathing. The construction is complete in one day.
Also, ABC 30 comes out and does their piece on the graffiti. The police show up and assure us that they do, in fact, care about the (legally defined) hate crime of the graffiti. Ultimately, Friday ended up being a pretty great day for the bar. We simply love the vaulted ceiling (pictures coming tomorrow of that) and are thrilled to finally be at this point in the process.
In the end, Demo Guy scheduled two weeks for a job that only took two and a half days. Why he couldn't have just had the whole thing done by Wednesday before the rain started is simply beyond my comprehension. EVERYTHING was ready for him and he chose to delay things. He is the one who had us delay delivery of the trusses. He is the one with the apparent scheduling problems that made him unable to start when he first said he could. He is the one who couldn't communicate with his employees at a crucial time.
In all, the bar survived. The rain didn't cause too much obvious damage; there could still be some moisture problems with the drywall in the future but we're taking some proactive steps to help slow--if not prevent--that. It could have been a lot worse if the floor hadn't been concrete. But the problems and delays this guy caused for us are reprehensible and wholly unprofessional.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Roof Framing Completed!
Phew!
The new roof is on. We still have to have the shingles put on but the major construction and destruction is complete.
Last week, we avoided saying much of anything about the roof demolition and rebuild. We didn't really like keeping y'all in the dark so much but we thought it would be best to not put on the internet the fact our roof was completely gone and it was really easy to get into the "building" and really wreak some havoc. I'm thinking broken mirrors, broken glass, destroyed bar, and the like. Not to mention it would have been really easy to knock down at least one of the walls and cause a huge headache for us.
We'll be posting pictures of what the process looked like in the next several days. We're both glad to have this part done.
The new roof is on. We still have to have the shingles put on but the major construction and destruction is complete.
Last week, we avoided saying much of anything about the roof demolition and rebuild. We didn't really like keeping y'all in the dark so much but we thought it would be best to not put on the internet the fact our roof was completely gone and it was really easy to get into the "building" and really wreak some havoc. I'm thinking broken mirrors, broken glass, destroyed bar, and the like. Not to mention it would have been really easy to knock down at least one of the walls and cause a huge headache for us.
We'll be posting pictures of what the process looked like in the next several days. We're both glad to have this part done.
Friday, April 8, 2011
When You Hit Rock Bottom
For reasons that I hope will become clearer to you next week, this week has been truly one of the worst--if not the worst--of this entire project. We think it's getting better today, right now, as I type this. We hope. Again, I'm sorry for being so cagey about this week but I think it may be for the best.
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