Dealing with a crappy contractor.

[freeflorider]

So I ran into a problem with my stucco contractor, his guys were slapping mud onto the house last Friday. little did I know they were drunk as sh$t as I found 27 beer cans on site the next morning, there were 3 of them.
finding this totally unacceptable I told the owner he need to deal with this and advise him to come see me. Long story short… I said in order to move forward he will need to provide a wcb clearance letter and sign a contract and provide a timeline to finish. He got a attitude and pulled out.
very poor business guy, now he has $8k of my money and I have a wall partly done and a mess in my yard.
looking to hang this jackass out to dry, any ideas what to do or how to burry this guy.
lawyers, BBB, Wcb for starts

Ideas.

 

[ABMax24]

Talk to a Lawyer, ideally you'd want your money back first. At this point I can't imagine you want this company back, just get your money back and move on? Do you have any form of contract?

OH&S (Alberta) or WorkSafeBC would be the ones to contact about impairment, although I'm not sure if they'd even arrive the same week, never mind the same day.

Social media would get the word out quick, but chat with the Lawyer about that as well, the contractor could try to sue you for Libel if they claimed the allegations were false and detrimental to their business (which is exactly the result you'd want).

 

[lilduke]

How does the wall look? Maybe you could buy them some more beer and theyd finish the job for you

 

[Lightningmike]

I have a motto.... only pay for work that is done. So many fly by night contractors. If you are an employee at a 8-5 job dies that person get paid in advance for 2 weeks work... want money up front ...sorry, next contractor please

 

[maxwell]

Your pretty much SOL. Been through this before. Zero accountability or recourse in the residential construction industry. Especially for 8k it’s just not worth putting up the fight. As the saying goes, can’t get blood out of a stone.

There’s some functioning alcoholics that are really good at what they do. Maybe they would have done a good job! Kidding of course, drinking on your property is not acceptable


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[maxwell]

I have a motto.... only pay for work that is done. So many fly by night contractors. If you are an employee at a 8-5 job dies that person get paid in advance for 2 weeks work... want money up front ...sorry, next contractor please

Yea, any contractor that asks for money up front other than for materials on-site is a guaranteed red flag. Even then, if they are good at what they do they should be able to float the material costs too


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[Lightningmike]

My brother git took for 40k. About a year later he heard the guy was in Calgary hospital within inches of death. Karma caught up to him and he got the beating of his life

 

[Lightningmike]

Yea, any contractor that asks for money up front other than for materials on-site is a guaranteed red flag. Even then, if they are good at what they do they should be able to float the material costs too


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Yes for sure. I have told them I will pay for materials and you get paid for work done!

 

[Zrock]

What i have found that works better than anything is posting up on your local social media. No business wants bad publicity

 

[freeflorider]

How does the wall look? Maybe you could buy them some more beer and theyd finish the job for you

Not very good, they forgot to ad the colour for the final skim. At this point thinking I should get drunk and do it myself…then call myself a professional contractor. Anyone need a house built lol.
totally unbelievable what is out there for good quality people.
still need a guy so I’ll be looking in Kelowna I guess.

 

[freeflorider]

Talk to a Lawyer, ideally you'd want your money back first. At this point I can't imagine you want this company back, just get your money back and move on? Do you have any form of contract?

OH&S (Alberta) or WorkSafeBC would be the ones to contact about impairment, although I'm not sure if they'd even arrive the same week, never mind the same day.

Social media would get the word out quick, but chat with the Lawyer about that as well, the contractor could try to sue you for Libel if they claimed the allegations were false and detrimental to their business (which is exactly the result you'd want).

I’m pretty well connected with Wcb around here, may not get my money back but this will not end well for this guy. All I asked is for him to show up and talk…basically told me to pound sand and left.
I have some F -you money so we’ll see how long it takes to drown him in litigation paperwork and costs.
oh and hire a few kids to hit the social media thing Too.

 

[lilduke]

Not very good, they forgot to ad the colour for the final skim. At this point thinking I should get drunk and do it myself…then call myself a professional contractor. Anyone need a house built lol.
totally unbelievable what is out there for good quality people.
still need a guy so I’ll be looking in Kelowna I guess.

Stucco is hard. We use to do some commercial stucco contracts, but all the guys we got were drunks and crackheads. So got out of that lol


Mexicans are usually the best at it.

 

[ABMax24]

I’m pretty well connected with Wcb around here, may not get my money back but this will not end well for this guy. All I asked is for him to show up and talk…basically told me to pound sand and left.
I have some F -you money so we’ll see how long it takes to drown him in litigation paperwork and costs.
oh and hire a few kids to hit the social media thing Too.

Sounds like throwing good money after bad to me, but this guy will also just continue doing this until stopped.

Sh!tty part about this is the guy can just close the business and reopen under a different name or company number and start all over.

 

[freeflorider]

Very small towns around here. Word gets out, just like a divorce we pay good money after bad but in the end it’s the best money spent to clean up a messy deal. Unlike Mexico where they just SSS we have little choice Lol.

 

[freeflorider]

D

Stucco is hard. We use to do some commercial stucco contracts, but all the guys we got were drunks and crackheads. So got out of that lol


Mexicans are usually the best at it.

Do you know a guy? No Covid shots required on this site lol.

 

[lilduke]

D

Do you know a guy? No Covid shots required on this site lol.

Nobody that id recommend.

 

[drew562]

Yea, any contractor that asks for money up front other than for materials on-site is a guaranteed red flag. Even then, if they are good at what they do they should be able to float the material costs too


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25 years in construction I’ve never taken one dime up front.

 

[snoflake]

I'm pretty sure it wouldn't much to have few of the "fellas" to go get your 8g back. Might only be 5g when they give it to you, and buddy would also have been warned not to F$%k around again. It been proven useful in the past.

 

[Cyle]

Your first mistake was giving money upfront. Never ever ever unless it's justified from ordering custom material from a reputable place for like cabinets, windows, etc and always do it on a credit card. In Alberta to take deposits you need a license for it, you could check if they have that assuming it applies in B.C also. I don't know what it is about stucco guys and deposits and being shady, they always seem to want to deposits because they have no money to finance the job. The company likely has nothing and they will fold it if you go after them, even if you try to make the guys life hell with WCB he might have a buddy, wife, child who will put the new company in their name. Or even not bother with WCB, very very few contractors in residential ask for it, as I have no employees I didn't care it for years because no one cared. Honestly WCB is about useless, they have no real power. BBB is totally useless. Lawyer is a waste of money. The best case would be small claims after his company and himself personally, that way you're not spending a fortune going after them when you have a good chance not collecting.

 

[Cyle]

25 years in construction I’ve never taken one dime up front.

That's the way any decent company is run, if you can't afford to carry the cost of the job you shouldn't be doing it.