Oh, my gawd, what a mess.
I just got back from checking on a couple of projects that are absolute disasters. We did some of the work, which is of course fabulous, but the home owners started having opinions so we got paid for our portion, and went away. The painter was a person we introduced onto the site, but they contracted with him directly. His work is fine, the colors, and requests are a muddled mess. Painting 1970s kitchen cabinets in a small U shaped alcove will do nothing for any one. Both properties are for sale.
You pay a contractor to know what works. It always amazes me when we are hired, and the home owner starts telling us how to do things. We do listen, and come to an agreement, that’s the contract. In the contract is a scope of work. We outline what we will do for the amount of money to be paid. It gets pretty tricky, so it does all have to be in writing. That’s the contract.
The execution varies from State to State. The laws of the State determine how things will look in court. In one of my earlier posts I complained about a contractor who tried to swindle me. He never performed any of the work he was contracted to do, instead he sent people, sub contractors. There was no supervision, no presence of him what so ever on the site, even though I had made that request. He was given a deposit so I had to wait out the work to get at least that out of him. What he had done is misrepresent himself, but it was legal in the State of Washington. Bottom line is I paid $14K for about $7K worth of work.
As home owners the end result is you pay for what you get, with some give, and take. You should be able to trust that you are getting the best service you can for a reasonable price. Reasonable is a matter of negotiation. Your contractor should be able to provide service that delivers a high quality finished product in a predetermined length of time.
A contractor writes the contract with you. In most cases the person you contract with does the work, or at least, supervises the work. They then perform according to the contract what needs to be done to deliver the product. If the contractor is good, all goes well.
