The framer and his kin folk are finally out of the backyard and all that is left now is the cleanup of hundreds of staples and nails and bits and pieces of plywood hammered up 2 x 6's and various food and drink wrappings dropped helter skelter by up to seven kin at a time with never more than two working and the rest either in slumber, play,eat or stun mode.
If I ever take another contract on I will stipulate no one on the worksite except those named in the agreement.
I have extra everything now it seems as the framer could not or did not keep track of his materials.
They managed to open three extra bags of insulation so that none of those can be returned and there is an additional 6 more over the requirements. ( Say $30.00 a bag)
I have holes dug for footings in the wrong places and left open for me to fill and the framer even thought I should pay him a day extra for digging them! My wife and I put 13 in in the space of 3 hours with a power auger.
Some how having his teenage sons lumbering around for 8 hours seems a fair trade for* 4 holes* , 2 of which where usable and two remain empty as they were sited wrong! He had already billed me in the estimate $150.00 to get cement which he did not as he had no truck!
I supplied the cement, the wheelbarrow, the mixing tools and handy forms while he and his crew stumbled around the lot mixing ready mix with dirt and whatever as they could not seem to hit the holes in the tubes with any consistency.
I gathered up piles of tree branches that his teenage sons cut off with gay abandon and left scattered around the site.
I repaired the TV cable to the house 4 times and each time one of them managed to either cut it with a shovel or stepped on the cable where it traversed the ditch for the electrical and gas line.
I finally had to go and get two, 2 x 6 planks and put them over it to stop them from disconnecting it again.
I must have picked up at least 50 big gulp pop containers scattered where they dropped , lids here straws there!
In addition, he took over the mixing of cement for the sonotubes and ended up 6 inches short on one and 2 "
on another. ( He left for the weekend and let me make the corrections.) I had to get more cement and bonder plus build up new forms to add on the error- 4 hours of my time plus additional materials)
This, is after I rented a siteing laser and marked the height for each post to within 1/8".
I had instructed him to fill the bottom and sides of each hole with gravel which apparently he only did when it suited him or when I was looking.
The next weekend he took off to go out of town and get more of his kids who were subsequently parked in the backyard while he continued working on this shed. There were so many nails and 2" staples dropped around I was afraid that they would step on one and get infected. (I picked up more than 2 lbs last night with a magnet and there are still more to get.)
After he started working for me he announced that he had no truck as it was layed up with a broken rear end and he rented a sub compact so could not get his tools to the job site. Again, I pressed my vehicle into service and dragged his compressor hoses and nail guns to the job where he promptly informed me that he had no nails.
I was soon to find out that he also had no ladder, no scaffold, no shovels, no prybars, no nothing. Just and old compressor and some old nail guns. (not exactly as he described himself to me at the outset)
Off to the Home Depot for nails and despite my asking, he told me that the nails I got were the wrong ones.
*Back I go again.*
This crap continued throughout the job with him making last minute demands on my services having just ordered him supplies within hours.
There is a huge pile of plywood - now scrap where he didn't bother to fit any off cuts anywhere but just grabbed a new sheet. I ordered 6 sheets extra for the inside and they are all used plus! What a mess to deal with as well.
He took on a couple of additional jobs during the build and as such was absent for periods of 2-3 days preventing me from moving forward and or bringing more supplies to the site or getting my sub trades in to finish wiring and gas fitting.
He voluntered to set the two windows and hang the door then when the time came he quickly showed me that he had no clue and didn't even have a screwdriver on the site. I noticed them that he cut the opening for the door 2" too high as he didn't bother to measure the door and casing which were sitting in the garage the whole time.
I told him to leave it and I would hang it for fear of more "donkey kongs" on the door or frame.
The window are nailed on but not without a great slurp of soda pop splashed down the front of one.
I hired him on May 28 and paid him out on June 18 for a 3-5 day job.
It June 20th today and when I left for work his tools were still scattered around the yard in my shed and in the tool shed. I have no idea where he is now???
I was glad to see him go.
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