In the previous few articles of this series I had shared how a bathroom renovation project can go from from bad to worse. There are other reasons to fire a contractor as well. I want to share a different sort of experience that I have encountered that forms another good example of When to Fire a Contractor.
Remember no one is perfect and everyone is capable of making a mistake. This is true for every industry. A builder I was working with was handling the material order for tile I specified for four bathrooms in my clients home. Usually I handle this part for my clients, but this was a special situation and it was better for the order to be placed through the builder for the sake of my client.
I gave all my specifications to the builder to place the order and he submitted everything to the tile companies we were working with. Two weeks later the tile arrived and installation was underway.
A site visit was due within a week or so and just before I was going to drop by the job site when I received a call that we didn’t have enough tile for one of the bathrooms. How could this be? I triple-checked them and even had my rep look everything over as a fresh set of eyes before handing the quantities over to the builder. My client had to move into the home in less than two weeks and we still needed to get the occupancy permit from the city.
I arrived at the site where the builder promptly showed me all the tile boxes that had been ordered and strewn about the home in the most disorganized fashion. Bathroom tile was in the bedrooms, the kitchen, and the living room. The kitchen tile was in the dining room. Go figure.
I had the hardest time making sense of the whole thing. Granted – it was a big project with lots going on – but this unorganization on site makes it a thousand times worse.
Disorganization on site makes the whole project more stressful for everyone. And unfortunately, this tends to be an area where mistakes then subsequently happen. Look out for good and poor organization on site for your project and always explain the benefits of an organized work space to your contractor if you can.
Then I asked to see the paperwork. I asked three times for a copy. After he challenged me on the subject with, “I don’t see why you need that.” I finally got my hands on his purchase order.
What he ordered didn’t match up with my clear specifications. He ordered double the amount of tile needed for the downstairs bathroom and half of what was needed for the master bathroom. As if that wasn’t enough, he started installing the downstairs bathroom tile in the master bathroom and was 75% complete when he ran out of tile for the shower.
Fire the contractor.
When I pointed this out to him he panicked.
What were my options in this situation?
- Tell him to rip it all out and install the right tile in the right bathroom.
- Salvage the crappy job he did by directing him to order more tile to complete the last wall of the shower surround and switch the tiles in the bathroom.
Option 1 would have led to a project delay of an additional three weeks. This includes the transit time to get the tile sent in from the Dallas distribution warehouse, ripping out the wrong tile and installing the correct tile. My client was in a temporary rental that was being paid for by insurance – long story. She had a hard and fast expiration date approaching on the lease. This extra time wasn’t going to work. Period.
Option 2 is less than ideal because my design wouldn’t have been as great as it could have been. But the bathroom still would have functioned appropriately, had a beautiful aesthetic and my client would be able to move in by her drop dead date.
There were just two options for us to fix the tiling problem for this project. But one route wouldn’t have allowed my client to move in on time and that date was completely set in stone / fixed and couldn’t be moved even in extreme circumstances. Finishing the bathrooms was a top priority.
The look on the builder’s face when I turned to him and said, “Look, clearly this was a huge mistake, but I’m not trying to rip anything out. We’re going to salvage this. So here’s what I see needs to happen. You need to order tile to complete the shower install. And don’t use that Hex tile up here for the floor, use that downstairs. Based on your PO, there’s plenty for that. Then use the extra tile that was ordered by mistake on the floor up here and lay it in a staggered brick so everything looks cohesive. Can you make that work?”
A flood of relief hit his face as he nodded.
Then I told him I was going to call the client to let her know we’re switching the tile and we have it handled. He panicked again as he was clearly planning to sweep this under the rug, and there’s not a single doubt in my mind that he would have thrown me under the bus if she ever asked him about it.
Fire him.
Have you experienced anything similar to the stories I have shared so far in this blog post series of knowing when to fire a contractor? I would love to hear about your experiences in the comments below!