Sunday, July 18, 2010

Day 11 - Now they want money

Can you believe the nerve?! Even athough they know I am on midnights and that I haven't slept much since they have been banging on my roof, those f*****s were knocking on my door at 10:30 AM. To get their money no doubt. They will get it when I feel like it.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Day 10 - Finally!

I think the roofers are as fed up with me as I am with them. They had a whole crew here today. There were even a couple of little kids and a pregnant lady. I never did find out who the kids belonged to but their job was to clean up. They picked up every shingle and roofing nail they could find. The very pregnant chick was the girlfriend of the head roofer. Why she would choose to sit in a hot truck all day when she should have been somewhere cool, I don;t know. But they finished. It is done. And although I will say horrible things about they from now until the end of time, I can say they did a good job. Or at least it appears that way now, time will tell.

Friday, July 16, 2010

Day 9 - here by noon

So today I think is the last day. I guess they feel the same way. They didn't bother to show up until noon.

A knock on the door is the owner to let me know about the price for replacing the addition deck.

And the fight is on. I tell him I intend to hold back money for non-productive work days. He gives me excuses about rain and ankles and the weather network. AND threatens to tell the guys to stop and start tearing the roof down.

I tell him all I expected was a call telling me what is going on. He doesn't feel that is necessary. "That is just roofing" he says. Problem. (By the by, and I'm sure it the same for all of you. If I have to be at work on a Thursday and I don't show up and don't phone, I don't get paid.)

Anyway, I tell him fine, whatever, I just want to be done with him and his slack ass band of delinquents. But I want it in writing. There will be no handshake deals since he can't be trusted. He gets on the phone to talk to the wife about writing something up.

I go upstairs to take a quick shower as I anticipate a trip to the bank. I come down 15 minutes later and he is gone (the workers are still here). He is gone home to deal with some personal business - on my f****** time. Nice.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Day 8 - about 2/3 done

Back to work again. They are almost done the east side. Tomorrow is the addition. And then they are done. The deck on the addition is almost all rotten. I want them to replace it all and start from fresh.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Day 7 - rain

It rained all last night. So far today is the only day they have had a legitimate reason for not showing up.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Day 6 - back to this again

Didn't show. Didn't phone. I didn't bother to call.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Day 5 - finally

For those of you keeping score, that is 4 non-productive work days. Write this down folks. You can keep between 10% and 15% up to 30 days after completion of the job. The theory is that in that month, anything that you notice wrong will be fixed by the company if they know you still have some of their money. Once you have paid the total bill, they may disappear. At least if they do disappear, you have some of your money. I recommend 15%.

So the roofers did show up today and they set to work. I was pretty sure I could sort of block out the pounding but then they turned on a stereo blaring hard rock. That ended my sleep at about 1 PM. And I was pissed. One because the job should have been done by now and two because they screwed up my sleep.

They do good work once they show up. It is a more difficult job than most. There are two layers of shingles and then cedar shakes underneath. The west side of the house is basically done. So it was worth not getting any sleep.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Day 4 - no new roof

I wake up again today to silence. No one is walking or pounding on my roof. And I lose it. I do notice that there are packages of shingles on my roof but I think they put those there to keep me hanging on for another couple of days. I go over to the guy's house and give it to him with both barrels. Buddy's ankle is still sore. And now it is my fault nothing has been done because I didn't want one of their workers anywhere near my home but of course he is readily available to work.

But they will be here first thing tomorrow. Well great. I go back to work tomorrow - midnights. So if they arrive - yeah right - they will be banging around while I am trying to sleep. The roofers comment to me "isn't there somewhere else you can sleep". Are you kidding me, really. I resist the urge to punch him the throat and just leave.

I am hooped because I gave him half the amount as a deposit because I felt I could trust him. Take a lesson kids. You are only obligated to give 10% to 15% as a deposit. If the company you are dealing with demands more, something is wrong, go with someone else. I don't think buddy has enough money to buy the materials and pay the roofers so he is stringing me along until he can afford to finish the job.

If I had known that at the beginning, I would have paid for the materials myself and just hired them to do the work. Lesson learned.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Day 3 - no roof

Third day, roofers didn't show. Company didn't phone to tell me what was going on. I phoned and the injured guy's ankle is still sore and another roofer feels it is going to rain. Now the roofer is a f****** meteorologist. But they will be here first thing tomorrow.

Friday, July 9, 2010

Day 2 - no new roof

So second day, roofers didn't show. Company didn't phone to tell me what was going on. I phoned and apparently one guy twisted his ankle. But they will be here first thing tomorrow.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

One More Day

The roof was supposed to start today but because of all the rain we have been having they are a day behind on the job before me which pushes me back a day. Crap, I was all excited about getting this started.

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