Deck contractor question in regards to job and pay?

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Looks like he is cutting his losses as he may have under budgeted the job and figures that he owes you more time than the money you owe him. So he will move on to the next job. Talk to him and if you are happy with the work done, make a deal and paying what he should be getting for the job. It will be very difficult to find a contractor to complete the job.
 
STARSHIP said:
Looks like he is cutting his losses as he may have under budgeted the job and figures that he owes you more time than the money you owe him. So he will move on to the next job. Talk to him and if you are happy with the work done, make a deal and paying what he should be getting for the job. It will be very difficult to find a contractor to complete the job.
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I dont think so, like really its a good days work and its done. All thats left is the railings ( which he cut the posts for already), the landing to be finished and just the clean up like the finishings and thats it.
 
I'd think the railings would be more difficult and time consuming than the deck itself. If it's simple, why not do it yourself?

But, yeah, that's the problem when you pay these guys cash - they can walk away, while you have no recourse or warranty on the unfinished job. Now you either have to pay the guy more to make it worth his while to finish it or hire someone else for more money to finish the job. Either way, it's more money. With a contract, you could have sued the guy for the extra money it would take for someone else to finish the job.

If you want to screw the guy back, report the payments you made to him to the CRA.
 
promac said:
I'd think the railings would be more difficult and time consuming than the deck itself. If it's simple, why not do it yourself?

But, yeah, that's the problem when you pay these guys cash - they can walk away, while you have no recourse or warranty on the unfinished job. Now you either have to pay the guy more to make it worth his while to finish it or hire someone else for more money to finish the job. Either way, it's more money. With a contract, you could have sued the guy for the extra money it would take for someone else to finish the job.

If you want to screw the guy back, report the payments you made to him to the CRA.
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I really didnt pay him all that much for what he did. I have only paid him $700 so far, and like 75% is done. i owe him about $800 and he has his very nice ridgid chop saw with stand and everything he left there. So really i am not gonna have to pay much more. I left a message for him yesterday with no repply and again today. I told him no more bs ing, i want it done by today or else come get his saw and i will be taking the money i owe him and hiring someone else to finish it off.
Its a safety issue now like i said, so the railings have to be done asap!
 
ajaxguy said:
I really didnt pay him all that much for what he did. I have only paid him $700 so far, and like 75% is done. i owe him about $800 and he has his very nice ridgid chop saw with stand and everything he left there. So really i am not gonna have to pay much more. I left a message for him yesterday with no repply and again today. I told him no more bs ing, i want it done by today or else come get his saw and i will be taking the money i owe him and hiring someone else to finish it off.
Its a safety issue now like i said, so the railings have to be done asap!
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If u leave 2 msgs, he probably do not want to finish the job.

I would just record the date & time u left those msgs and move on. Get the job done yourself
 
RockerGuy said:
If u leave 2 msgs, he probably do not want to finish the job.

I would just record the date & time u left those msgs and move on. Get the job done yourself
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Yes but hes just gonna leave his saw? lol. I was gonna try myself but the railings is sucha huge safety thing i dont wanna mess it up.
 
ajaxguy said:
Yes but hes just gonna leave his saw? lol. I was gonna try myself but the railings is sucha huge safety thing i dont wanna mess it up.
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Don't be ridiculous, watch some videos, take notes, make a plan, mark it out, start sawin' and a choppin' man !!
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ajaxguy said:
Yes but hes just gonna leave his saw? lol. I was gonna try myself but the railings is sucha huge safety thing i dont wanna mess it up.
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Why are u so worried about his saw??

He probably make more money off u to cover that saw
 
Professional deck building is almost always 50/50 labour and materials.

If your lumber, concrete, pylons, and hardware cost 2 grand, then expect to pay your contractor roughly the same for his time. If you get away with paying less than that, keep smiling and shut your mouth.

For one carpenter and a helper, any less than $500/day is an absolute steal.

The saw he has yet to pick up probably cost as much or more than what you have paid him thus far , so I would guess that he will still turn up at some point. Maybe he has had a family crisis etc, or a crack addiction. Who knows.

Problem being that you may have a hard time finding a good carpenter to complete a job that someone else started. I am a flooring installer, and if a customer hires another guy, then fires him part way thru and wants me to pick up the mess wherever the other guy drops off, I charge double my regular prices. As far as I am concerned, they should've hired me in the 1st place, as it always costs more to half *** things than to do it right once.
 
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Well he showed up today, not as early as he wanted, but I guess my message yesterday stating that if he wants his money then the job has to be done today worked.
I will double check all his work and make sure its not half *** just to be done. Like i said as someone has mentioned, yes he is cheaper then expected as my deck cost me 4 grand in labour and his work will be costing me $1500 total so yes its a good deal, but still im used to saying one thing and sticking to that!
Cheap or not there still has to be a level of professionalism there! i will keep ya posted and maybe even post pics up of the work later!
 
A wise man once said a picture is worth a thousand words :D
 
Labbatt Black Ice is expensive!
 
Sorry about the delay guys! So it was finished up on sunday. he didnt ask anymore then the 4 days that he had quoted me originally. He took 8 days to complete and i paid him a total of $1500 for labour. I helped more then i wanted to but heck learned a lil. i am builing some benches and flower boxes on the side of the lower deck this weekend though, but thats a day project.
So here are some pics!

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I would pay for the quoted work and nothing more. Most contractors take 5x longer than they say they will. The fact that it's not done is enough that he's lucky you don't pay him LESS for the delay. My opinion anyway but I've never actually hired a contractor myself.
 
unL33T said:
I would pay for the quoted work and nothing more. Most contractors take 5x longer than they say they will. The fact that it's not done is enough that he's lucky you don't pay him LESS for the delay. My opinion anyway but I've never actually hired a contractor myself.
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Hire a good contractor and you don't have these problems. Good ones cost money, ajaxguy was looking for a deal. you get what you pay for.
 
Sorry, I meant FOR myself. I've hired them but I wasn't paying so if it cost a little more I didn't care and they were small one day jobs.Nice looking deck posted above btw.
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