Throwback Tuesday — The saga of a contractor

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This post is from June 2022 just after the deck was done. We always wonder what happened to this contractor. When we started with him, he had a great business but over the two years we used him, something happened (perhaps it was when his wife ran off with the pig farmer which is a totally different story). I wish the best for him.

We have had several significant home renovation projects in the past year with different groups of workers. This post is about our deck guy. For those following this journey, he had been the music room guy and the kitchen window guy. He also was the broken-hearted guy when his wife dumped him for the local feed farmer (that was a story which required medications).

He does great work but has some idiosyncrasies that can make you stark raving mad. We had other project crews that showed up early, worked hard and left late. His crews were not one of those.

The language was salty; the radio was loud; and the butts were flowing. That’s how they rolled.

He did three projects for us. The first two were small ones. Both took longer than expected (and that would be a theme with all his work). Each morning he would come with one or two guys. Most of these guys don’t have cars. (Some didn’t have teeth!) Transportation is a big issue. When he had to pick up people he got here late.

No one like this showed up!

Sometimes he would go to pick them up and they didn’t show. Fridays were a particularly bad day because there was a Thursday night bar activity that required the workers to get stinking drunk. You don’t want anyone like that working on your project anyway.

Some were chipper and eager to get started but would lose interest fast. Really fast, like by 10 a.m. on the first day. In one case he sent someone home because it was so obvious the guy didn’t want to be here. Redoing work done carelessly was also a recurrent theme.

No one in his worker pool wanted a “steady” job. No secure paycheck coming in. Several were on disability so working a day or two was “beer money” (possibly for Thursday nights). They only worked when they needed to. For perspective these were middle-aged white guys aged 40 to 60.

A few were supported by “the old lady.” In this case “old” could mean 30. It has nothing to do with age. It refers to the paramour du jour who is willing to support someone who prefers not to work. A current day gigolo. None of these guys were handsome. Not even in a rugged way. Some were missing teeth. Others had trouble articulating a sentence. There were no six-pack abs. If I were to have a gigolo, my standards would be much higher. They weren’t homely though. I would call them aging hippies, longish hair but balding with dew rags wrapped on their heads. As the horse folks would say, they were ridden hard and put away wet a few times too many.

One guy did not want to work more than 12 hours a week. That’s all he needed to sustain his lifestyle (because his old lady was carrying the burden of rent, utilities, food, etc.) He never worked more than three or four hours a day on my project. He showed up on his motorcycle in time for lunch and left by 2 p.m. and never more than two days a week.

Everyone smokes. Non-stop. This isn’t the 50s. People know the health hazards of smoking. (These guys do not have health insurance. That would require working more hours!) There is also the expense. (Maybe the old lady supports this habit too.) I found cigarette butts in planters and all around the deck site. Most were cleaned up at the end but not a day before.

My contractor did not believe in cleaning up day by day, wasting good time that could go toward the project itself. He also didn’t believe in working full days. He rarely worked five hours a day (which contributed to the time delay). He was doing drafting for an architect in the afternoons.

Even when he wasn’t doing that, he never stayed later than 2 p.m. It was as if a bell rang. They dropped everything and ran for the truck. Tools were left in place, scattered around. One day a full pack of cigarettes were left out to get rained on. On another, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich lay unfinished on the wood pile. My mice would have liked that. My eyeballs rolled so hard I wasn’t sure I could get them front again. It reminded me of school. That school bell rang, and everyone ran to the buses.

The deck project (which turned out great) was predicted to be a two-week job. It took eight weeks. That was partly because the contractor cannot judge work time; partly because he had trouble securing workers who would show up; and the short workdays. Many days he worked alone. When someone did show up, he spent considerable time coaching them on what to do. Sometimes he ripped out what they did and redid it.

I suspect that because of his short workdays he couldn’t get quality workers who would need a full day’s pay to support their families. His work style dictated who he could get. I want to say bottom feeders but the guys were nice enough, just not ambitious.

This did not reflect what I saw in the kitchen contractor, the landscaping crew or the painters but many of them were immigrants. My advice to the contractor (after one of his many rants about getting good help) was to drop the part-time white guys and find a crew of immigrants eager to work. He admitted that would be a better work crew but would require a lifestyle change on his part.

He tried to poach people from the landscapers, but they wouldn’t go. Let’s see, they have a steady full-time job with benefits. Leave that for a crazy contractor who would give them five hours a day max? Not a tough decision.

Our job is done. It’s beautiful and we are happy, but I need to recover. It was as if the circus came to town and parked on my front lawn for eight weeks! Total chaos!

*Author’s note: This is not indicative of all contractors. We’ve had several good experiences. Our deck guy is smart and talented and gave us a good product but he marches to the tune of a different drummer.

44 thoughts on “Throwback Tuesday — The saga of a contractor”

  2. This hits super close to home… ha! We haven’t had this kind of worker dude here in Florida… although our new tile roof after Hurricane Ian was a nightmare with the company and workers. But we have had more than our share of workers in Missouri that were just like this guy. Their lives were always in chaos and marital issues were most always the root of the problem. This is an amusing, funny and relatable post, Kate. Why is it that these emotionally tormented guys are always the ones that do beautiful work? I forgot our tile guy that did the master bath. He was like your guy but he lived the good life and had Jerry trained to serve up pour-overs an hour after he got to work at ten in the morning.

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    • Initially we were lucky to find him. He was redoing a staircase across the street when we started to look for a contractor to do the music room (or conservatory when we get fancy!). He was very likeable with a “can do” attitude. We had already been told we can’t do what we wanted. He showed us how we could with a minor adjustment. Totally out of the box thinker. That was before the pig farmer ruined everything. I wish I had taken a pictures of him. Early 60s, hippie with long flowy blonde hair, bald on top with a dewrag. He was attractive in an off beat sort of way but his personality (when he was well) was enticing and positive. He lowered my kitchen window (so I could actually see out of it) which no contractor wanted to do. He said it was no big deal to do and it wasn’t. When he went on meds for depression, things went south.

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  4. You’ve certainly had quite the collection of contractors since I’ve followed you. I am just looking for a plain ‘ol handyman and when my great handyman Jim had to retire as he had advanced glaucoma and was deemed legally blind, he gave his son-in-law his book of business. I didn’t care for the guy as he was insolent, showed up late and did poor workmanship, not to mention he had brand-new twins so doubled the prices I’d paid for years. So I complained to Jim and said “no more Brendan” – Jim’s answer was “well good luck finding a handyman, there’s aren’t many around.” Guess he was right, though I’d never admit it to him. I send him a Christmas e-mail every year which he increases the font size on a large screen so he can read it … some things are better left unsaid.

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    • I’ve never had a relationship with a contractor that included Christmas cards! My last contractor recommended a handyman. He’s an older guy who doesn’t want to do big jobs. I have his information. There are many older people in my neighborhood who want someone to change batteries in smoke detectors; change bulbs in ceiling lights; and fix simple things like drippy faucets. We’ll see how this works out.

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      • I going to give this guy one more try after I get home from the dentist tomorrow. I hate to do it though. We’re having some bad storms (again), so unless he’s on an inside job, he’ll (hopefully) respond. I really liked Jim and hated that he had to retire due to his eyes. I had him like clockwork, twice a year and one stop shopping. I’ll never get done with this endless house stuff this year. I am trying not to have multiple people here at different times. For Jim, it is a Jacquie Lawson card, so I can leave a quick message at the same time. 🙂 I try not to use my cellarway light because if it goes, I can’t climb up there. I have a headlamp that I’ll use or just go downstairs in the daytime.

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    • The good ones have a waiting list. My bathroom contractor is having shoulder surgery in August. He’ll be out until the end of the year. He’s already booked through June 2027. We have to fix our deck privacy screen (my husband fell against it and broke part of it). He said he would work it in for us. The bathroom is the third project he did for us and we are very pleased with his work.

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  7. I do remember this episode when you originally shared it. It still stuns me that someone would think this is good work policy. Most contractors rely on a previously satisfied customer’s recommendation, and I’m sure that even with a good result, you’d have quite a few things to say to anyone asking about the quality of work done. You were amazingly patient, I will say that!

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    • I had no choice but to be patient. It would have been harder to fire him and try to find another contractor to finish the job. He was creative but he developed some deal breakers for me.

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  8. Sounds like our bathroom…………. Hubby thought it would take a week, it took four. I’d told him we were not as young or fit as we were, and we had a few problems replacing the floor , It didn’t help when Hubby nudged the shower fitment turning it on and we had to let everything dry out. We then discovered we could isolate the water supply to the shower. DUH!
    Luckily our loo and sink were never out of commission and our neighbour let us use her shower once a week. We’re pleased with the result and Hubby did a good job, but for me, that was our last DIY effort and I will save for someone to do the next one.

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  12. Kate, this really made my day – so funny, and I could just picture all of it + the descriptions!!!

    You didn’t say what the cats thought about all of this – that might make a good follow-up story!

    I have 3 cats, and they ALWAYS let me now what they think about everything!!!

    Thanks for writing this & keep ’em coming!

    Gail

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    • The cats were happy that he was OUTSIDE! They did not appreciate when he did indoor jobs with the radio blaring although he let the occasional fly inside and they thought that was fun!

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  13. I have no contractor stories I’m afraid with one small exception. Five years ago we had a relatively NEW company give us a reasonable estimate to replace the deck boards – not the railings – just the deck AND to paint our shutters (they’d faded significantly in 20+ years). Two guys got all of that done in 1-1/2 days. This company has grown significantly since then because of their stellar reputation……We are having their estimator come this week to see what it would cost us for them to do a bathroom reno on our master bath. I’m hoping for the same level of efficiency as before…….AND for tight jeans, and lots of white teeth. Hope springs eternal.

    Hugs, Pam

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  14. It’s so hard to get what’s normally considered to be ‘small jobs’ anymore for the reasons you noted. I’d much prefer to hire immigrants because they truly do work and not have this expectation of something being given to them. My mom would say “the nut doesn’t fall far from the tree” to describe your deck contractor. Seems he didn’t set a very good example.

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    • When we built our last house the guys who framed the house were all from Mexico. They were amazing. No English and all work. They worked until close to sundown to get as many jobs done as possible. I suspect they sent money back home or came here seasonally to work. In any case I’d love to have them back.

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    • It made me nuts. When we were into the 4th week with little progress I asked (in a very nice way) if there were any bumps that were impeding progress. He grabbed his heart and told me I was giving him a heart attack. After that I made my husband talk to him even though I was the contact on the job. Maybe I reminded him of his wife.

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  17. What a memorable story! It sounds like he was genuinely talented, but running a business takes more than craftsmanship. I hope he found some stability after everything he went through. At least you ended up with a beautiful deck and plenty of stories to tell! Have you ever heard what became of him after those projects?

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    • No I haven’t and just last week I talked to one of his biggest customers. She said the even his friends haven’t been able to contact him. He was hospitalized for mental illness for a while. He made us crazy but we wish the best for him. Very talented.

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      • Ah! He struggled. We had a similar issue with someone who worked for us at one time. The quality of work changed dramatically and we did (later!) learn he really struggled. Aren’t you glad you were kind!

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        • I could see he was struggling. He would spend about 20 minutes every day telling me about his problems. It was a very frustrating time for both of us. He did get hospitalized for a while. No one seems to know what happened to him.

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