I finally heard from the GC's assistant Friday evening. I left three messages asking him to call me after I talked with the lumber yard. He said the tubing for the radiant floor wouldn't be delivered Friday (as promised) and that he had just given the information to the people who would be doing the work, and they were deciding the approach to take--there are three sizes of tubing to chose from. They would be here "sometime next week" do do the work. When I pressed him about the schedule, he said he was going as fast as he could with the resources he had. He also insisted that he had placed the order for the windows himself, would contact the lumber yard about it, and promised to get back with me about it. He has not called. Today is Sunday.

I told my wife about the window order, and she decided it is time to contact the attorney general and the better business bureau.

windows

Been a while since I've added anything—the contractor's assistant has been handling things and I've started to see some action. We got a nice letter of apology from the GC, too, which I might link to later. It contains an explanation for the financial problem, and has some promises.

Today the assistant told me the windows we had ordered hadn't come in yet. I contacted the lumber yard and discovered that we have a problem. The guy at the lumber yard was evasive when I called (I called back, actually—they didn't call me back as promised), telling me I would be getting a call from the GC or his assistant, and that the issue was between them and me. When I pressed him, asking for the brand name of the windows, he said "there is no order." I left a message with the GC's assistant and now I'm waiting for a response. Anybody want to place bets on that happening?

Time for a little background

I started this blog in the middle of things, as it were. Here's how it all started.

Back in February I hired a too-expensive architect from PA, whose philosophy of energy conservation we liked. They recommended a couple PA contractors, but we chose a local one, figuring that proximity would improve efficiency and reduce some cost. Besides, my wife knew the contractor's wife. And the guy talked a good line, promising, among other things, to have people on site every day once the project started. The project got underway in late June.

The plan is to put a 27' square, two-storey addition in the crook of the L-shaped original house, and remodel the garage into living space. We figured on a budget of about $200,000. The addition is to have more living space and an art studio downstairs, and a couple extra rooms upstairs--a bedroom for each girl, a library, a laundry room, and some storage.

When we finally got the final drawings, he told me that the permitting process was finished, then I worked out of him that it had been submitted and he would pick it up the next day. It turned out that the permit people wanted the drawings to be sealed, which he claimed was highly unusual, and due to the county's unfamiliarity with timber framing.  The timber framing people had to significantly alter the drawings because they were incomplete, or something like that. He reported to me that the county had said the drawings were among the worst they had seen, and were willing to write me a letter to that effect, and he said he'd deliver me a copy of this letter. I reminded him several times but I've seen no letter.

To date, late November, we have given him $152,000 dollars not counting $800 to the surveyor. As of right now, we have a poured foundation for the addition (see the photo at the top of this blog) and some stud walls in the garage. There's drain, gas line, footings, and water and electric to the sheds under the concrete. I ran the water and electric myself. They forgot to build one of the footings, and two other footings were out of place and had to be enlarged before the cement could be poured.  His crew removed the siding and front entrance. The only written document I have states, among other things, that removing the siding was to be my responsibility. It also says I do the demolition of the walls to be removed when the addition is attached. (For the record. We aren't anywhere near that stage yet)

Another part of his line at the beginning was that he would provide me with a signed A105 document, a standard contractor-homeowner contract developed by the AIA. He was not going to charge for this, whereas the architect would, so we went with him providing a copy, which he never has. Everything has been verbal. I finally created a substitute document (I hope it isn't too plagairized) that I'll ask him to sign next time I see him.

Permits

He promised to split the permit so we could finish the garage before we finished the timberframing section. He said he'd change the drawings on a Thursday evening and do the permit the next day. He didn't get the drawings changed until several days later, and was still in process of changing the permits the next Tuesday. He has since told me that the permits have been split.
The first time he submitted the drawings for the permit he said they were done, and I worked out of him that he had submitted them, and they were being examined, and it would be a rubber stamp thing. It turned out they wanted improved and sealed drawings, and it was 6 weeks before the project could continue.
He always insists that nothing is his fault.

Insulation

He promised that "the insulation guy" would be here the next day, a couple weeks back. I haven't been able to talk to him about it since. On Nov 19 I talked to his assistant, who said that he had talked to three insularion businesses and they kept putting him off. I called around and arranged three appointments that afternoon. One has already come, and two more are scheduled for Monday the 24th. I don't have the names of the businesses who kept putting them off.

What does the industry say?

I happened to have a conversation with someone in the building trades today. He knows my GC and expressed sympathy for me. He said explicitly that my GC is a liar. My GC also happens to owe the guy money.

Better business

I discovered today that the GC's website has a great big BBB logo on its home page. I had been thinking about calling the BBB anyway, so I checked the BBB site. The GC is not registered with the BBB! So I squealed on him. I still can't bring myself to take actual action by filing a complaint about his construction practices. But that might change.

A word about the timber framer

He is the only person in this whole deal who hasn't overpromised and underdelivered. He started cutting the timbers on good faith that he would be paid in a timely manner, and that didn't happen, and now his small business is stuck with a pile of timbers that haven't been paid for. I gave the GC the money to pay for them, but got only a verbal promise from him at the time that that's where the money would go. Later I paid more because the timber framer was complaining about not being paid, and he said that would go to the timberframing. That was weeks ago, and the poor fellow hasn't gotten a cent as of this writing. My checks have all celared the bank. I talked with the timber framing guy today. It has gotten to the point where he needs the space in his yard, so he's going to deliver and assemble next week. And deal with the GC some more to try to get his money. He feels that I'm an innocent bystander in this because I paid the money for the timbers to the GC, and that's who he has his contract with.

a bit of history

My irritation isn't recent. Here's an email I sent out in mid-August. I've already stopped using the architect, but that's another story.

We got another bunch of rain in our foundation trenches last night, and the forecast is for more rain this evening until tomorrow (Sat) morning. But next week is forecast to be sunny all week! Yay!

Saturday afternoon I'm going to drain the trenches again, dig out the mud, and blow dry the rest. I'll also assume you folks manage to get the seals, permits, and other aspects of your acts together so we can pour soon. Mario, I can still provide info on the small batch cement supplier's name if you don't have it, and if you still think it'll speed things up to start on the garage before we pour the foundation. I'd like to see actual movement on Monday morning.

I'd really like to see more action and fewer reasons why this isn't moving ahead. I'm upset with the delay, but I'm interested in solutions, not blame, and no one believes any of the delays are their fault anyway, so let's don't go into why we have delays. Let's go into what we're doing to eliminate them. Make me glad to be shelling out this money--you have a sales job to do, and I'l telling you what to sell: progress, action.

Send me a daily (M–F) emailed update, even if it's short. That's progress report, not inaction report. Tell me what you have done, do not tell me why nothing is happening.

 I got maybe two emails. 

about the workers

My experience with the workers has been uniformly good. The do good-quality work, are polite, and don't waste time. They even sweep up at the end of the day, even though I told them it wasn't necessary. I have no complaints about the work crew.

First post

At the beginning of the project I asked the GC about effort, specifically about being on site every day. He assured me in the presence of my wife that someone would be there every day.

As a general rule, my GC tells me what I want to hear, but he doesn't follow through. He has made many promises that he hasn't kept. For instance, he even used the word "promise" when he promised to bring me a financial statement. He finally showed a day or two late, and the statement was clearly thrown together.

He bragged once that he has a reputation for answering his phone calls, not putting people off when he doesn't want to talk to them. He hasn't answered any of my daily calls for over a week, and he frequently hasn't answered in the past.