trouble with contractor?

so we are having some work done on my wife's grandma's house.....roof, gutters, siding....i found a home improvement company that has been in biz for 10 yrs or so and has a good amount of google reviews.... he had a crew come and put on the roof but we had to wait for the siding to be ordered....so then he calls and scheduled the siding part for last week.... here's where it gets weird...he calls every day with a different excuse why he can't start the next day...3 times in a row...so i said...i don't mind waiting another week if you've got to tie up some shit or whatever, just give me a date and be here on that date....so he took a coupla days and is supposed to start tomorrow.....welp....dude sends me a text at 10pm saying that he can't start til next week.... i'm pretty pissed at this point and i'm not sure what to do.....we signed a contract with him and we aren't missing work over it or anything, but ffs.....do what you say you're gonna do!.....is this normal? ....and what should i do?...any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

 

bump

 

At least he’s letting you know he won’t be there instead of just not showing up. Good help can be hard to find and most contractors are very busy right now. If you can’t find someone else, and don’t have a major rush, just keep communicating with the guy and see if you can get to the reason he hasn’t been able to get there. Assuming he did a good job on the roof? There are many reasons his other projects could be delaying him.

 

I know you said you signed a contract with him. The small details in the contract play a big part in what you can do. Is the contract written to protect the contractor or is it written to protect you? Is there any timelines stipulated in the contract? Did you pay him a deposit for the siding? Some shady things that some contractors do is take a deposit from you to purchase the siding and use that to pay off previous outstanding bills. A vicious cycle where the contractor never gets ahead. You can call the contractor and ask him which supply house he ordered the siding from and what the order number is to make sure the order is placed. At least then you know the siding is ordered and that he may just be tied up on other jobs to complete before he comes to your house. Weather plays a big part in getting outside jobs completed and this could be the cause of his delay. I hope this is the situation in your case and not a shady contractor.

 

Call and say it needs to be done by x date, hell or high water. If he cant deliver, fine, lets just invoice for work done.

That will either wake his ass up or make him double down with further excuses. If he doubles down, then its definitely time to fire him and start pulling bids from someone else.

 

We have had a lot of rain. Even so, this is pretty par for the course in the current climate. We had guy coming Monday who has done a few things for us in the past. He no showed and has not called to reschedule... I have the materials prepped and am tempted to do it myself this weekend but asking the wife to help is a bit of a nightmare I don't want to live

 

Read your contract.

Ask him to deliver the materials. Pay for any COMPLETED work. When the materials are delivered, pay for the material if not already paid. Then terminate the work.

Hang the siding yourself or find another contractor.

Many shady contractors will begin work, collect money, bail on the job, leave a disaster, demand more money........delay, delay, delay, delay.........

Protect yourself. Document every communication with email or text. Pictures of the work, site, state of completion with dates. Prepare to have evidence ready if you need to file a suit.

 

All of this is great advice especially verifying with the supplier that materials have been ordered. Also don't pay a penny until materials are at least delivered and even then just pay for materials until they're installed. If they tell you they need money up front for materials tell them you'll order them.

Even with material prices and shortages contractors are struggling to keep up right now. Everyone is buying/building/remodeling right now because even though material prices have gone up interest rates are low. Materials (especially anything PVC, PE, resin, or foam) are hard to get right now and everyone seems to think they're likely to get even more scarce over the next 6-8 months. We have contractors placing orders 6 months in advance right now and suppliers are telling them they can't guarantee material availability even with that much notice (granted these are large quantity orders). My office has at least two projects right now with some trades unable to work due to not being able to get materials.

 

FWIW, I ordered siding this week to finish a repair job.

Estimated delivery is 10-12 weeks. Many explanations as to why the lead time is so long, but in the end.......it doesn't matter.

In the meantime, I will do what is possible to weather-proof the house as much as possible.