Insurance/House people - HUGE claim...

Some of my best friends are stone(d) masons.

 

Wow, sorry to hear that man sounds absolutely horrible!

I had a similar situation, a lot less severe tho. Had a bad rain storm leak through what used to be a skylight patched up, went through my roof, into my brand new kitchen, ruined my freshly sanded/stained oak floors, into the apartment on the first floor...it was contained tho didn't ruin more than one room on each floor. State Farm was great, they paid to fix everything, even paid for a whole new roof. I did have to get a few estimates for them and then they paid somewhere in the middle. The whole process took about a month.

Hopefully this gets resolved for you quickly...

 

What about mudders (not drywallers, separate trade.....). Show up to work about 0900, sit in your van smokin' oilers for an hour, head inside lay a coat of mud, then break for lunch. Come back about 2-2:30 smoke more oilers, lay another coat, go home. Rinse repeat.

 

Ya'll are about to give Chaotic a heart attack.

 

Keep us updated. Hourly status reports are expected.

 

With pictures!

 

Thats because Livengood is a professional that does not need that level of supervision. There are alot of good people in the building trade that are excellent but there are also a bunch of twatwaffles that I would not trust to put together a lemonade stand. I wish I would have been around and more like Chris with a reno I had done because there are a few obvious flaws that piss me off every time I walk in to the room. Even the higher end builders have clowns doing the framing and other stuff that will be hidden at the end of the job. The only difference is they hire better finishing people. I do agree that updates every few days would be more reasonable though. That would be some incentive for the builder not to put off permitting until the last minute and ensure that their shit together as far as supplies go.

I used to work with a guy that a builder took out a restraining order on and he could not go anywhere near his new house until after it was completed. He walked in to the building site and saw a bunch of 1/2 assed cobbed together shit and asked the guys to redo it correctly. They refused so he came back that evening and removed all of the cobbed together shit for them.It cost him some money but damn was it funny! Too many people get away with too much shitty work in the building industry.

 

That's hilarious, but the moral of the story is that the builder won anyway.

 

If I were you, I would contact omatter stat. You just said you're ignorant, nothing wrong with that, you needn't stay that way. You have preconceived notions about how things should be based on your industry, where if you fuck up it's potentially front page news. There is plenty of middle, realistic, ground between daily and weeks.

 

I know you won’t agree and I won’t chnage your mind, but as someone who framed houses for 5 years I can tell you the way you’re approaching this is a recipe for disaster and frustration. Asking questions? Of course, your house. Demanding shit and second guessing every move is a sure way to get decent crews and contractors to not even bid on that shit. You’re gonna end up with crews that have no other options so they’ll take this job. And then, you’ll be frustrated with the work because you had to hire a shit crew because decent crews that can be choosy aren’t gonna deal with that shit. You may not like hearing it but the best way to go about getting a good crew doing great work is if they like the homeowner. Can you get the foreman or the owner to comply with what you want? Sure. But his guys are gonna be like ‘fuck this asshole’ and work as fast as they can to get the fuck out of there and on to the next job.

I’m not trying to give you shit, I’m trying to help you find the best way to get your house done with the quality you expect.

If you think I’m full of shit, ask Eddie. He’s still in the industry.

 

We keep this shit up and Br0oM3 is just going to buy all the construction firms.

 

Chris, just saw this.

Sorry for your loss, and hope it`s going well.

Al I have to add is like others said, watch your resto/contractors and insure they do the work .

Had a business fire a few yrs ago, and it was an eye opener.

 

Been called to rescue more than a few jobs that guys walked off of under similar circumstances. It happens.

Chris, I was about half serious with the donuts comment, from a flies/honey/vinegar standpoint.

Asking for progress reports is not a problem. Even daily. It doesn't have to be a 5000 word essay. A simple text or email works. Both are sufficient. If your contractor is worth a shit, he won't mind. Pictures go a long way.

I just finished a year long, 7 figure project for a client, and we spoke daily. Numerous times usually. Nights, weekends. He liked getting pictures of the project, so I gave them to him. Some days there was more progress to show than others, but I always communicated this to him. Good news, or bad news. Always the truth, tho.

BUT, and this is a big but, my projects are usually cost plus, yours won't be. That gives me a lot of freedom to spend whatever I want to make things happen as quickly as possible. I'm not sure who's paying your contractor, but if the insurance company is, his position is going to be a bit more difficult. You probably need to select a contractor, and get together with him, your insurance adjustor and yourself, and ask very pointed questions.

You don't have to be rude, or standoffish, but you definitely need to iron out what is expected of all parties, including yourself.

If you're paying the contractor directly, make sure he knows you guys leave for long periods of time, and may need to set up payment via wire transfer, or another method. No money is a good way cause heartburn.

Good luck, and relax. This could potentially be very enjoyable for you and the wife.

 

I can get a valuation done, if he'd like to write an offer.

 

If you are expecting daily updates from your contractor.
I hope you are prepared to be on call daily for all the selections that he will need from you... Colors. Styles. Quality.

 

There is a HUGE difference between micro-managing, and expecting periodic progress updates.

Micro-managing would be like “don’t use an air grinder, use an electric one” or “you should have cut that 1/2” shorter”, so on and so forth.

I have no intentions of micro-managing. I don’t know enough about their job to tell them how to do it.

But they will end up being paid approximately $200k when it’s said and done, so they can provide some fucking progress updates.