What would you Do ? Shoddy contractor

[Roger Nair]

John C Cox, I disagree with your advice. It is likely that a retired PE will not maintain a license and insurance due to costs, thus becoming an exPE. Second an engineers report should be an unbiased document that assesses design and performance of the work, such a document will go beyond the cost of the work at issue and really do you want an engineers report on a vernacular or even jackleg design. Pay for the day, get a release and move on.

[Marc Jeske]

Very rural here - No Permits or licensing here, no inspections, not even Mechanicals, only exception Aerobic septics.

And, a VERY heavily demographic of retirees, VERY hard to find workers to do decent work and actually show up.

Marc

[Bert Kemp]

Yea I understand that. When I lived in NH backwoods youcouldn't find anyone who wanted to work it was crazy. Now I'm in a Rural town in AZ Put an ad out for a house cleaner. Women emails me said she'd like the job. I emailed back and asked her what pay rate she worked for. She email me and said it depends on the size of the house and how messy it was.I emailed back said keep lookin for work LOL

[Marc Jeske]

Ya, that reminds me of one time I checked their post spacing cause space looked to big at a distance.

So I take the tape measure.. hold it against the right side of one post and measure to the right side of the next post.

I show him - "See? 38", not 36"

He immediately scoffs and says "You have to measure them CENTER to CENTER"

So I said, " OH ! OK, go ahead"

He measures using his "correct way" and is surprised to find it still 38"

I silently walk back to my chair... leave them to wrestle this and the few next posts already partially Sakreted.


OMG please take me now.
Please !

Marc

[eugene thomas]

Not really sure why you are not wanting to pay. You knew he was doing crappy work and let him finish. You can go on and on but you could of fired him once not happy with work.

[Marc Jeske]

Not really sure why you are not wanting to pay. You knew he was doing crappy work and let him finish. You can go on and on but you could of fired him once not happy with work.

Well, he kept promising "It will all be good when they are done"

Clearly, more than once was asked"Let us do our job.. and check it when It's done"

So hey, I let them do it thinking maybe they have like hidden talents or something.. I dunno.

I figured let them do it.. if it's proper they get paid.. if not, they won't.

But I never thought that not only could it be bad labor, but also burn up materials.. cause that concept is so foreign to me.

I've made many mistakes on my projects over the years.. but can't
recall ever really ruining a big amount of $ that was not reasonably fixable.

Thanks for your opinion.

In retrospect, I may be a part time idiot.. but the full time one is still him.

You weren't here, and/ or maybe you have less faith in others.

I presume innocent till proven guilty.

Personally, coming from a charmed suburban upbringing, I never really realized such morons existed.

Marc

[Marc Jeske]

Also, he did not "Finish".

All he installed was posts for one wall.

A similar second and seperate row of posts was yet to be done.. and THEN covering both walls.

He kept saying "You will be happy" and "Will all be good", so I let them work to the point I did.

Marc

[Matt Day]

MJ--pay them what you owe them. You should have stopped them when you saw they could not work to your standards.

The homeowner isn’t the superintendent. Homeowner didn’t even need to be home.

Depending on what code says, there’s likely some fraction of an inch over a foot allowable out of plumb. Same thing with c-c measurements. Likely 2” over 3’ isn’t even close to tolerance though.

In my book the contractor needs to correct the out of spec posts before he gets paid a dime, otherwise the contractor should pay the homeowner for wasting material by improperly installing it.

[eugene thomas]

This thread remind's me of the stair crappy work drama. Thread got shut down and never did hear if he took the fight it out in coart advice or pay and move on, but he sure did post a Lot of pictures.

[Mike Hollingsworth]

This thread remind's me of the stair crappy work drama.

I knew it. I've been here before.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Post can be salvaged by renting a good sized back hoe. Wrap a chain around them , and pull straight up. No backhoe, use a bar and chain. Use sledge hammer to break concrete collar. Find a fence contractor to set posts, but don't be surprised if they set them with no bracing. Usually two strings, one about a foot above grade, and one near top. They do this all day long everyday.

[Marc Jeske]

Bruce -

In many cases what you suggest would work fine, but not in this case.

Don't forget - You don't have all the facts cause you haven't seen the entire situation.


At least 4 of the posts have belled bottoms due to cavin in bottom part of hole from high spring rain water table.

The bells may be about only 15" between them.. the posts would be rock and rolled before pulling and all the soil would be loosened of virgin settled cohesiveness.

Additionally.. there is a up to 4' high plumb excavated dirt wall within 1' of the posts.

By a miracle it has not shear failed since it was dug, especially w recent rains.

So, if posts were pulled, what was a standing 4' wall of dirt, I would have a 8' wall of dirt.

VERY high risk then of major shear failure.

There is absolutely no overall benefit, only elevated risk, in "pulling" the mposts.


The best solution is to cut posts off at top of concrete elevation, and start over by augering all new hole about 18" down the original stringline, (between the underground "bells" ) and install new posts.

Marc

[Pat Barry]

If its just a retaining wall I would look again at whether its close enough to get the job done, because it sounds like this is going to be backfilled anyway. If so, does it really matter? OK, the post spacing is 38 inches instead of 36 - cut your lumber to fit. I could see finding another contractor for the rest of the job, and show that guy what you don't want.

[ryan paulsen]

The rails are going to overlap the posts not sit between them right? Any reason you couldn't shim the posts so the rails lie straight? Kinda like sistering joisrs to level asubfloor? Subtract the cost from what the original cost was. Just throwing an idea out there,

[Marc Jeske]

I know you guys are trying to suggest how to save what was done, and I appreciate it.

But again, 7 of 11 posts are a MINIMUM of 1 1/2"out of plumb in 4', in different directions, in different amounts.

All the others are also crooked, but to lesser degrees.

THAT is the main problem, not so much the C-C deviations.

I am not interested in creating 11 unique to each other custom shims on the bearing faces, nor sistering 22 like 2x6's that would involve buying and using like GRK RSS screws or through bolting.

Still would end up a sub standard end result.

Even if I was, they would show to anyone looking at the wall, and anyone that knows what end of a hammer to hold will assume I am smoking crack.

I don't care much about what the Jones's think, but I do care about prospective future buyers, etc.

Lastly, I am definitely not an overall "Prideful" man at all, but I DO take pride in building to the best I can.

I am not totally dismissing these suggestions, still will ruminate a bit on options.

But I'm pretty sure the chainsaw will be seeing some action.

Marc