u/overthishereanyway

I know this isn't something solely related to being female or over 60. But those of us this age are the most likely to have built or remodeled a home and because we're women.. we probably were responsible for the work!

So I'm just wondering.. have any of you done a build or a remodel and left it still liking your contractor?

we've never built or remodeled until this year. Which is amazing considering how many times we've moved and homes we've owned. We started the job with a GC and his designer wife whom we "just lovvved" at the start. three months in not so much and now.. not at all lol.

I'm just kind of assuming that if you've done either you started the work with a good relationship with your GC. maybe even a fun and happy one. So how was it when the work was over?

We recently remodeled and full disclosure: left to a tropical island while it was being completed. With that said, it turned out really well.

Came home to virtually no big problems. Just some little things left undone and the contractor is now bored and likely not going to get them done any time soon. Things like: he didn't order the bathroom hardware on time and therefore there are no towel racks etc hung. One of the master vanity cold water faucets isn't lined up properly. He didn't rehang a shelf and the hardware is lost. Little things.

But the big thing was this:

The remodel was not a gut. And they worked inside like no one lived here. They cut boards AFTER the paint was done and the amount of sawdust on the walls, in vents, everywhere was ridiculous. Our son is a woodworker and he was blown away they didn't use a vacuum system. Not even drop cloths. when they cut outside they left all the sawdust on the textured painted patio and it's stuck to it.

They did drywall without even throwing protection over cupboards or showers or anything. they removed the floor protection for some reason before they cut boards and did some big drywall work.

The GC and I agreed that because I have a woman that works for me who has done contraction clean up for years he would remove the cleanup costs from his bid (which was 2200ish) and I'd just pay the woman I know. And she's good. very very good. very efficient.

I ended up having to pay her for roughly 50 hours of work. She had to buy a special machine for the floors. I also had to pay a guy who specializes in working up high (modern industrial condo with 30 foot ceilings). So the cleanup cost was 3500 dollars.

would you let that extra 1200 go or would you make an issue of it with the contractor?