Dave showed up the last day and put the laundry door in. He had some colonial style trim (not the smooth 70's type trim) and kept saying it was the good kind. I said that I wanted it to match and offered to go buy some. I went back in the house and told Jeff "I don't think he's going to trim out the hallway. He only had enough trim to do the door."
Jeff, being the good man that he is, went out to Dave and ask. Dave said he wasn't planning on doing the trim. A few minutes later Dave came in the house and offered to trade putting the sink in for putting up the trim. We went down in the basement together and he told me he needed 13 pieces.
Jeff and I went to Home Depot and cut 13 sections and brought them back. We left them on the patio and went to lunch. During lunch I got a call from Dave telling me that the MDF style we bought wasn't working and he couldn't "rip" it. Of course, we think he's trying to do trim work with a freakin' circular saw....but anyway, he refused to do the trimming.
Jeff insisted that I take him back home and so I had to confront Dave myself because over the phone he told me it was going to be $1257! This was about $600 dollars more than I had planned on...mind you...he already had $1500 of mine. I was already upset by the time I got there but when he started claiming that the drywall cost him $900 I lost it. I was crying hysterically as I was writing the check and told him I didn't expect it to be this much. I lost it again when I went downstairs and realized the wonderful door he'd installed won't even be able to open all the way because the dry is behind it....grrrr.
Long story short...I filed a small claims Tuesday for $464.00 (about $535 with court fees) When I got home and started using HIS numbers to figure out what he had REALLY done (and I was being generous) he had overcharged me considerably.
Of course, we've exchanged a few emails and he's not budging and hasn't sent me a copy of the drywaller's bill so I guess he's just expecting me to roll over. I guess he'll get a surprise soon.
Court won't happen until January 6th, however so the money might as well be gone.
Contractors have it sweet because they can slap a lien on you if you don't pay but you have to wait a month to get them to court.
Lesson Learned:
Don't ever let contractors offer you a verbal change to the work order. Put everything in writing and make sure you get a copy. I still don't have copies of anything I signed for him.
Don't believe someone when they say they will adjust something down...it ain't going to happen. They get greedy.
If a contractor walks on the job the first day and tries to "up the bid" by saying he wasn't expecting this or that...tell him to leave and get another contractor. Dave actually told me in the last few minutes before leaving "I don't even do plumbing." Then why did you put it on the bid?
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