Pithed

[Fla._Deadheader]

 Pay him 1 check per week or two. That way, he will know YOU didn't forget.

[CHARLIE]

I've done just that Ernie.  One time it was a flooring guy that actually held up the finishing of a kitchen remodeling job.  He finally came and did the job and billed us the same day. I waited 6 weeks to pay him.  Another was a plumber that stopped midway in installing a pedestal sink in the bathroom.  After several weeks he came back and finished the job. Within a day I had a bill. I shelved it.  Got bill #2 the next month with a late payment charge.  I shelved it.  Got bill #3 the following month with another late payment charge. I shelved it.  Got bill #4 the next month with another late payment charge.  I then sent him a check for the work he did with a note telling him I took no longer to pay him than he took to finish the job and that I was not going to pay the late payment fee.

[Furby]

I wouldnt make a good Contractor. Its taken us two months to build a shed.

Well it's gonna take me four weeks to do a roof I planned to do in under two.

[Patty]

The bummer of this whole thing, is that you hire these yahoos with good intentions, of wanting to get a job done right, of wanting to find a contractor that you can hire again and again over the years. Then when they leave you high and dry in a bad situation, they don't understand why you are all mad and cranky. Being nice to them doesn't make any difference at all, I have found. It just hurts your feelings even more when they blow you off...
And I don't care if a job takes longer than planned if you actually SHOW UP! It is when you don't come back for days or weeks and the job drags on and on.   Guess I need to learn how to pour cement and get some popeye arms like Linda, and do it myself. 

[beenthere]

Patty   Are you 'invitin' Linda over for a 'concrete' party? 

I have to tell about a good experience with a contractor. An 'older' fellow, age 74, named 'Bud' had a crew of three and was asked if he would be interested in adding us on a 'great' room the fall of '01. He said "sure". I had a local architect take my plans to for drawings, and Bud said he used the same 'arch' to help him with his work. I asked for a 'quote' and he just said "$75,000".  (gulp). I wanted to know what I could do to get ready, and what he planned to do in the process. He just said he would do it for $75k. No details.  So I made a list of what I expected, and gave it to him. He glanced at it and said he would do it for $75k. No details or clarification. Then he said, We'll start next week Monday.  That was 4 days away.  We said, "go ahead" (been wanting to do this for about 30 years!).

Long story short, Bud and 3 man crew showed up Monday, and they never missed a day for nearly three months straight. Here every morining at 7 am, worked to 3:30 without a glitch. Fantastic, and they let me work along with them, as I enjoy that kind of stuff. We made some changes and added some things that I knew would bring the price up, but Bud never batted an eyelash. When I saw things I wanted done a certain way, he did it my way. At the end, come final check time, Bud said the balance was $__k and I said there were some additional items we added. He said he figured that, and it came to about $4k more, but because I helped, he 'paid' me $4k and the total job was still $75k.  Blew me away. That was about $10 an hour for watching, passing pieces, being a critic, and making sure they had fresh rolls (from my wife) and fresh coffee for break. It was a great building experience. Wish there were more 'Bud's around 

[Frank_Pender]

Patty, you might well think of creating a bill for the cleaning and all of the lime from inside your home.  Let's say that it would run around $100 a day.

[OneWithWood]

Patty, obviously you have not been treating Norm properly.  I would think he could have poured that concrete and had it finished in half a day. But he would have wanted to do it. 

[Patty]

Now this is a Popeye Arm! I need two of these....either Linda can bring hers, or I need to do about a million arm excersizes!

[Fla._Deadheader]

 Patty, it's not so much having muscles, it's mostly about endurance.

  If yer mixing yer own batches, THAT takes muscle and fortitude. If yer using a truck, once ya start, there's no rest = endurance.

  Not really difficult to get a good job done, just no rest breaks. 

[Norm]

Patty, obviously you have not been treating Norm properly.   

Boy I know I had it bad but for Robert to be able to see it all the way from Indiana it must be worse than I thought.

[Patty]

Oh Plllleeeeease, Norm doesn't know how good he has it. I have to keep reminding him daily.   

I have endurance, lots of it, I can nag on somebody 'til the cows come home, and still have enough breath to nag somemore. 

[SwampDonkey]

 

Ok 

[Roxie]

Patty!    Have ya lost yer mind posting a picture of a woman's arm with that kind of muscle?  What if Cowboy Bob were to see that picture?   What do you think would happen then???  Geez oh wheeze!!  He might expect me to lift stuff if he knows women can grow arms like that!!  My only consolation is the odds of him finding this thread ... 

[submarinesailor]

Patty,

On the nagging thing - HAVE YOU BEEN GIVING MY WIFE LESSONS???

Bruce/subsailor

[Patty]

Roxie, the person that belongs to that arm is Linda...Electric Al's wife. She is just a speck of a gal....thin and lithe, with arms like a sailor! Popeye the sailor that is!


Sub; I don't need to teach your lovely wife, we women are taught this wonderful art of nagging at a very young age. You remember in 5th grade when they separated the boys away from the girls to teach us about "stuff", well you thought we were learning about the birds and the bees! NOT!   

[Minnesota_boy]

You remember in 5th grade when they separated the boys away from the girls to teach us about "stuff", well you thought we were learning about the birds and the bees! NOT!   

We were! 

[SwampDonkey]

I think I missed that class.  To be honest I remember one class and the teacher was so embarrassed it became a closed subject. Then in college....we had this Sociology course and for some reason this intellectual type professor got onto this rage about letting her son watch whatever he wanted on the tube and the movies. Next thing I know , she anounces next week she was going to be showing a soft porn movie as part of her next lecture segment on norms and values and such.    Next week came and I noticed most all the females were absent , those that attended were pretty much discussed and left.  The whole course had nothing to do with the birds and bees, and I could never figure her out. She was way out there. I think everyone got an A in the course just for showing up.