Good News and Bad News
The good news is that things are happening really fast at the house!
E.g., here's the new window in the new upstairs office nook.
The bad news is that many mistakes are becoming apparent.
E.g., the laundry room window (visible in my previous post) is the wrong size. It was correct in the original contract. But then they changed it, without bringing it to our attention, to a smaller size, supposedly because it was listed as a "replacement window," which very precisely means, we are told, that it should be the same size as the existing window. But when they changed it, they didn't update the drawings that were part of the change order, so we didn't notice that we were signing for a window smaller than the one we had specified (and paid for--there was no adjustment in the price for the change to a smaller window).
All of this is particularly frustrating because we already had the same thing happen with a skylight, which was drawn as 5 1/2 feet wide, but turned out to have been listed as 3 1/2 feet wide somewhere else, so that's what we got.
And the doorway to the family room is off center because they mismeasured, didn't tell us, and now want us to just leave it that way. (This is also visible in my previous post, in the third picture. There's more wall to the left of the doorway than the right. Am I being unreasonably picky?)
Grrrr...
E.g., here's the new window in the new upstairs office nook.
The bad news is that many mistakes are becoming apparent.
E.g., the laundry room window (visible in my previous post) is the wrong size. It was correct in the original contract. But then they changed it, without bringing it to our attention, to a smaller size, supposedly because it was listed as a "replacement window," which very precisely means, we are told, that it should be the same size as the existing window. But when they changed it, they didn't update the drawings that were part of the change order, so we didn't notice that we were signing for a window smaller than the one we had specified (and paid for--there was no adjustment in the price for the change to a smaller window).
All of this is particularly frustrating because we already had the same thing happen with a skylight, which was drawn as 5 1/2 feet wide, but turned out to have been listed as 3 1/2 feet wide somewhere else, so that's what we got.
And the doorway to the family room is off center because they mismeasured, didn't tell us, and now want us to just leave it that way. (This is also visible in my previous post, in the third picture. There's more wall to the left of the doorway than the right. Am I being unreasonably picky?)
Grrrr...
posted by Adam at 7:00 PM
2 Comments:
Hello guys!
Ouch! Those screw-ups are painful -- or should be to the contractor.
In short, you are not being too picky -- fight/negotiate the things that really matter, but live with the rest. Note the errors you may be willing to "live with" (on the condition that all important issues are sorted out by the end).
Remind the contractor that "I measured it wrong" is not a good excuse. The carpenter's motto has always been "measure twice, cut once." Unless the door placement is an inch or two off and no one could really tell, then they should change it so that they and you can take pride in their work.
As the lawyer-guy, my advice is that you must read everything very carefully before you sign. (Be as picky in looking at the document as you will be in looking at the construction.) At the same time, the contractor has a responsibility to let you know what you are being asked to approve and why. A reasonable professional will see you as part of the team to make sure that the job is done correctly. (The failure to notice a hidden change in the document is not entirely your fault -- your contractor should not be playing the game of "gotcha!")
For more in-depth analysis, read the book House, by Tracy Kidder, after the construction is completed. You will find that you are not alone in having these problems.
Four final comments:
(1) Be firm, but fair.
(2) If you don't put it in writing to the contractor, date it, and keep a copy, it never happened.
(3) Don't be rushed into signing a change order or other document.
(4) Never, never, never authorize the final payment until everything is done. The contractor must have a financial incentive to complete the job.
In Kansas, the duty of good faith and fair dealing is considered to be part of every contract.
Sorry for violating all etiquette rules of blogging. Good luck! dpw (nr)
Thanks for the advice, Uncle Uncle David!! We're pretty happy with the result, and seemed to have rehabilitated our working relationship with these guys, which is good because we've still got a couple of months to go!
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