May 15 2008 1:35PM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |
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Good article today in the NY Times about the problems remodelers have with homeowners. You can read the full article here.

It's nice to see an article in the consumer media that looks at the other side of the contractor/homeowner relationship for once. Taking a look at the comments posted by readers, though, it seems a lot of them don't have much regard for contractors. Here are a few representative comments (I didn't bother fixing the grammar and spelling):

I'm a homeowner from hell: I asked the contractor to show up on time, do the project according to the specs, and finish the work on time.

Contractors that I have come across in my local area have been arrogant, overpriced and dishonest. I don't trust them for a moment and I don't feel sorry for them one bit.
 
I guess I'm a tough homeowner also. I ask that the contractors show up on time, or at least call to say they are late or coming on another day. I ask the job be done well, and reasonably near a budget. I dont yell or anything, just want a nice job done, guess thats too much

Contractors seem to have perfected the art of channeling their own failure to budget and complete their projects in to aggravation with clients. Our first guy spent the down payment, lied, stalled and bounced chacks to his subs, came up with bogus change orders, and finally tried to have us arrested when we locked him out. Our second guy was great, but had no control of his subs, refused to acknowledge repsonsibility for them, whined about his troubles, and repeatedly went back on his word about when stuff would get done. And when i insisted he finish his punch list and get the job signedd off legally before getting paid, he stormed out. It's never their fault.