abrogator? Post driver!#%@&

[ddbackhoe]

re: abrogator? Post driver!#%@&

I wouldn't give free materials to a contractor ever. The stuff they steal from jobsites is insane (steal = saying job requires 42 4x4, use 38, keep the other 4 but charge customer for 42). Masons seem to be the worst at it in my area, you watch them load the block/brick and take it to the next job. Some bricks must have been paid for 10 times.

Sounds like you hook up with very shady type contractors. It is unfair to apply that label to all. Did you count the material/brick and block when it was delivered and compare it to the invoices or are these “hand shake” deals where you’re paying flat rate?

 

[Fuddy1952]

re: abrogator? Post driver!#%@&

Lot's of good advice and thanks. I'm never too old to learn. It's water under the bridge, good thing Bob is the worker. His boss and the company owner are really great guys.
Today I'll be working with trench I put in, water and electric which wasn't in contract. I'll wait and see if he says anything, I won't bring it up.

 

[Ford850]

re: abrogator? Post driver!#%@&

Lot's of good advice and thanks. I'm never too old to learn. It's water under the bridge, good thing Bob is the worker. His boss and the company owner are really great guys.
Today I'll be working with trench I put in, water and electric which wasn't in contract. I'll wait and see if he says anything, I won't bring it up.

That's the right attitude. Moving on.

 

[4570Man]

re: abrogator? Post driver!#%@&

I've helped out a few contractors working on my place before. I do it for several reasons, 1) it lets me watch their work and see what is going on with their crew 2) sometimes I learn stuff that I didn't know and 3) it generally gets them off my property faster.

As for the other issue, as I see it the OP was a bad negotiator. I've left jobs to go with a contractor or laborer to their home to buy tools. When I know that they are selling because they hit a "tough" spot, like didn't get paid for several jobs, I offer to let them buy the tools back off me at the same price (with more use). If I know that they are selling because they want money for booze or drugs, I don't offer to let them buy it back at the same price, and I normally don't give what they are asking. In the instant case, when I hear barn full of equipment, man that gets my heart racing and we need to leave now. Sometimes it doesn't pan out, but when it does .... Sweet Christmas!

I would imagine the crew left because of a reason he didn't want to discuss, maybe they weren't getting paid. I wouldn't give free materials to a contractor ever. The stuff they steal from jobsites is insane (steal = saying job requires 42 4x4, use 38, keep the other 4 but charge customer for 42). Masons seem to be the worst at it in my area, you watch them load the block/brick and take it to the next job. Some bricks must have been paid for 10 times.

What are they supposed to do with it? I’d rather have a little extra material vs paying a crew to sit around while more is delivered. Would you rather pay them to to haul it back for a return in the event that’s even offered? Most people don’t want the extra material laying around.

 

[Diggin It]

re: abrogator? Post driver!#%@&

^^ Depends on the material and if I think I'll have a future use for it. If I bought and paid for 500 bricks as part of a job contract and they only used 450, I'd rather they leave the 50. I can always use bricks for something and it would save me paying retail price and hauling them. I had the guys that built my garage leave the extra vinyl siding and I've used it for a few other small projects.

 

[Industrial Toys]

re: abrogator? Post driver!#%@&

I have had lousy contractors steal my material in a different way. Cuts sheet of plywood, ooops, wonder how that happened? No offer to pay for a ruined sheet. That would have been the second thing out of my mouth, after sorry. Not to mention me paying to do it twice!

I too thought the OP was maybe too "NICE". I help on all my projects but mainly to make them go smoothly, because if I don't, no one else cares or gives it the attention to detail, I demand.

Maybe, just maybe, there never was a post driver. My BEST friend LIES to me continuously! It has NEVER hurt or even inconvenienced me. There are people like that out there. MOST of it is driven by insecurity. The price seemed way too low. Why is this guy working with one hand and giving money away with the other?

 

[buckeyefarmer]

re: abrogator? Post driver!#%@&

I dont see where a contractor is obligated to leave leftover material, unless you pay for the material outside of his contract. I.e., if i pay a bricklayer to build my chimney, and he furnishes all material, and he brings 2000, and has 50 left over, that 50 is his. I paid him to have enough to do the job. If you say ill pay for 2000 brick, then it's yours.

 

[Industrial Toys]

re: abrogator? Post driver!#%@&

The kicker sometimes is, that they take full sheets, intact lumber and leave the garbage. Then, take everything! Probably, the odd piece would no longer be worth their time to take and dispose of everything.

 

[Steppenwolfe]

re: abrogator? Post driver!#%@&

I dont see where a contractor is obligated to leave leftover material, unless you pay for the material outside of his contract. I.e., if i pay a bricklayer to build my chimney, and he furnishes all material, and he brings 2000, and has 50 left over, that 50 is his. I paid him to have enough to do the job. If you say ill pay for 2000 brick, then it's yours.

You sort of have a point. As a contractor, it is maybe we leave it, maybe we don't. In all honesty, I have made that decision based on how nice my client was to work with, did they pay as required and quickly, and what exactly are we talking about that is left over. Just this morning I was on the phone with one of our major clients who supplies a special type of flooring we use for their projects. The rule is nothing is left behind when we finish so we bring the leftover back to the shop. After three years I realized we have enough for one new project and they were thrilled they would save over 10k on the cost of the next job. To me that is just good business.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Re: Indian giver? Post driver!#%@&

I managed a contract once where the contractor didnt have the necessary tools ( yea, i know) so he bought them, billing the cost to the project (contract allowed this). At the end of the project, the contractor wanted to keep the tools. Nope, you billed us for them, they're our tools now.

If the contractor intended to keep the tools, he needed to purchase them outside the contract. Now if he bid the job with enough overhead to buy the tools, and didn't charge extra for them, they would have been his.