Home Renovation Nightmare on Elm Street

I hope this will be our last renovation for a very very long time. Our horror story began in late August when the contractor came to our house and quoted $6,000 (labor only) to repair our clogged backyard drain, hang new doors, and overhaul our bathroom. The estimated time was 1 week to complete. Obviously, we were delighted when we heard the information.

Reminder

Photo by boskizzi via Flickr

4 weeks and $16,000 later the work was finally completed — not to our satisfaction, but it was deemed done. There was dust everywhere, our carpet was ruin, our new floor was scratched up, and the result was sub par. How did I get into this mess? Well, let me just tell you what we would have done differently:

We would’ve hired anyone that’s not a family’s friend to do the job. It’s better not to mix friend and business. Our dispute can only go so far before the friendship is completely destroyed.
We would’ve insisted on a written contract. Unfortunately, we went by a gentlemen’s agreement, and there was nothing gentle about it afterward.
We would’ve insisted on a detailed bill of materials. We were unhappy with some of the material they used, and were surprised by how expensive some items were.
We would’ve insisted on a foreman that could communicate effectively. This was a major road block for us.
We would’ve insisted on a detailed description of work. It would have been great to know exactly what was or wasn’t included in our agreement.
We would’ve insisted on a delay penalty, where the contractor would’ve to give us a discount for finishing their work after the agreed completion date.
We would’ve insisted on a clearly spelled out standards of work. Some of the outcome did not meet our expectation — i.e., a loose door knob, single coat paint, mismatched paint color, etc.
We would’ve arranged a better living plan if we had known how long the renovation would take

You may say that we deserved it for being so naive (or stupid), but we and other people within our community have dealt with him successfully before. Unfortunately, the quality of his work has declined dramatically since our last project together, and it only became apparent during this renovation that we should have handled this differently.

Anyway, it was a lesson learned, and we now know what we would do in the future.

15 Comments

Joe
October 31, 2007, 8:07

It sounds to me like you were taken to the cleaners.
You and the contractor must have been vague in the terms of your “gentlemen’s agreement” about the work to be done from the outset. It would be interesting to get his side of the story, as well.
Pinyo
October 31, 2007, 8:22

Joe – Welcome to Moolanomy. My sister who is an architect reviewed the work and said we didn’t over pay by much for the work done, but the workmanship could have been better and the renovation could have been less messy and quicker. The whole thing was very disruptive to our daily lives.
Mrs. Micah
October 31, 2007, 12:58

My mom had a similar experience. She knew the guy needed work because of a slump in his primary field (new homes) so she got him to renovate part of my grandparents’ house. He was capabable of doing better than he did. I’m not sure exactly why the problem happened, but she was quite disappointed.
One thing I’ve learned from my current job (in property management) is to get everything in writing. It helps a lot when we call people back. It’s surprising how often things don’t go right.
Patrick
October 31, 2007, 17:26

I’m sorry to hear about this. I always try to get things in writing… but that still doesn’t guarantee you great results.
Pinyo
November 1, 2007, 5:58

@Mrs. Micah and Patrick – thank you for your comment. I’ve learned my lesson and the next project will certainly be in writing.
And, Mrs. Micah, I am sorry that your mom had a similar experience.
Brip Blap
November 2, 2007, 3:35

I suspect that almost everyone has to go through this experience once to learn their lesson. Our lesson wasn’t nearly as bad as yours, but we still had a rough experience with the first contractor we hired. The second time we followed all of the steps you mention – no family friends, everything in writing, agreements on finishing in a certain length of time, etc. It made a huge difference.
The important thing is that you obviously have learned from your experience and it won’t happen to you again. The REALLY useful thing is that you shared it on your blog and so hopefully people will benefit (positively) from your experience, too!
Erin
November 3, 2007, 8:43

Ouch. But do you like the new bathroom overall?
Pinyo
November 3, 2007, 12:32

Erin – thank you. We love the new bathroom. Everything looks great, there were just some minor detail stuff that I have to fix up.
Eric
November 4, 2007, 9:15

Pinyo – I’m sorry to hear about this. I know we’re going to have to get some work done on our current house before we can sell it so your list couldn’t have come at a better time for us. I’m definitely going to consider these when we decide on contractors for the work.
Pinyo
November 4, 2007, 11:02

Eric – Glad I can help. Also good luck on the sale. Are you upgrading to a bigger house, going smaller, changing location, or going back to renting?
Eric
November 4, 2007, 17:00

Pinyo – we are moving up to a bigger home. We’re excited – it’s something we can grow into and start a family in.
Pinyo
November 6, 2007, 7:15

Eric – Great! Congratulation. We were looking to upgrade our home too, but that would double our mortgage, and extend it to 30 years for one extra room in a more upscale neighborhood. So we decided to renovate the current house instead.
Erin
November 6, 2007, 9:32

Pinyo,
Glad you like the bathroom overall, but that stinks there are things you have to fix up (especially when you just spent $16k) I’m sorry.
Pinyo
November 7, 2007, 6:54

Erin – thanks!
Robert
May 22, 2009, 0:39

You are right – Whenever you outsource your home remodeling project, a well written contract becomes the cornerstone of home renovation. Any dispute in regard to the type of work, labor or material is then referred to the contract. It doesn’t mean that things can never go wrong when you have a contract, but what it means is that your headaches are a lot less. At least all is over and now you can breath… as you said life is an experience and we all learn from it. Thanks for sharing.