We have got one for you

[randb]

Check out our story. http://www.randbhomes.org

Stay away from Reynen and Bardis

[Rich]

:shock:
It's amazing how little respect and care is given to clients anymore. Although the same can be said by contractors to homeowners - but not too often. I'm fairly anal about what I build for myself and probably more anal for what I build others.
One of the main reasons for me disbanding my company was because of poor competition. I would enter a bid for a home and be underbid by 5 other contractors. The homeowner would pick one of those 5 and never look my way. Then the homeowner would call me in 6 months or I would see them somewhere in town and I would get an earful about how they should've went with us because it ended up costing them more than what my bid was. In light of that it was very difficult to compete with someone that has a low bid and then change orders or provides shoddy workmanship.
Of course the 5 shoddy contractors wouldn't be in business more than a few jobs but there are 5 more to take their place. Frustrating..

[utahcutter]

There's a contractor in this area that likes to slip things onto customers tabs for his own projects. My sister unforunatly had the pleasure of dealing with him. He even totally left their site after she made him show her the reciepts for all her materials. She found several doors, joists, etc. that were being charged to her tab that were not a part of her house. He never came back to the job, leaving her out what money she had paid him, paying twice for several things, and stuck in a construction loan. He continues to do business, and her efforts to get his license revoked were futile, and small claims court didn't work either. It's always very important to do your homework and find some second opinions, but most people seem to think the price tag says it all. I tend to think you get what you pay for. And when making a major purchase you should have a good idea of approximately what the cost should be before you start considering bids. Down from my soap box now.

[grumpydasmurf]

Amen, Utah! You get what you pay for. I'm sorry to hear about your sis' situation but if it's just small claims chalk it up to experience. If he left in the middle of the job she can find another contractor.

Rule of advice to customers: Always make sure you owe them until the job is done.

[Rich]

There is a fine line between an owner funding a job and a contractor. No contractor wants to fund a project while building it so they will typically bill ahead a little bit. Of course an owner also doesn't want to pay for something that hasn't been put in place yet. So there has to be some give and take on both parties to have a succussful project. The best way to accomplish this is to hold retainage of 5-10% on all draws. The contractor gets to bill a little more while the owner still has some power over the final outcome.

[randb]

Any advice to getting a bad foundation fixed?

[Rich]

Like what are we talking "bad"? Not straight, not plumb, cold seams, air pockets, etc, etc, all of the above?

[randb]

cracked and uneven due to expansive soils.

[Rich]

:shock:
The best way to deal with expansive soils on the front end is to construct a structural slab on void form and caissons as well as foundation walls on void form and caissons. But - it's too late for that.
Short of (I can't believe I'm going to say this) shoring the house and pouring a new foundation wall. Your options are very limited.
One is live with it and put some type of bentonite tube material into the cracks to keep water out. This is best if done from the exterior side - the farthest away from the interior surface of the wall
The other is find your contractor and sue him for all his equipment.. sell it off.. and then build a new house the right way. Like I said - very limited.

[grumpydasmurf]

In response to CR's reply about owner funding vs. contractor funding I have a split opinion.

From a consumer point of view I don't want to pay for anything until it is complete. This includes progress payments. If I were making progress payments I would want my invoice very detailed so I know what I am paying for and to make sure I am not pre-paying so my contractor can make his mortgage payment on time. Sure it balances out in the end but what if he dissapears?

From a contractor point of view, I've never built a house but I've done some projects that last weeks each. Typically how I handle that is in phases. The roof pahse 1, windows phase 2, siding phase 3, etc... I request a 1/3 downpayment which is then applied to each phase. For billing purposes I treat each phase like a seperate contract. After phase 1 is complete I bill for the entire phase and don't start phase 2 until it is paid. I'm still holding down payments for phase 2 and 3. Once phase 1 is paid I begin phase 2. When phase 2 is done I bill for the work, and apply the downpayment. I'm still holding downpayment for phase 3.

Sometimes customers are not comfortable with this method since I am in essence collecting interest on their money :) If that's the case we treat each phase as a seperate contract and take downpayments for each phase and let the customer hold the 2nd and 3rd downpayment until we are ready to begin. I think this is fair because they know what they are going to spend and when. In the beginning I am ahead, when it comes close to the end they are ahead, when I get paid we are all even.

[Rich]

That's a good system Grumpy - for quick jobs like that. In a perfect world it would hold true for all projects. But contractors don't have unlimited funds and at the same time homeowners shouldn't have to pay for what's not in place.
Another way around this, that contrators do, is charge a mobilization fee. This fee isn't really for anything other than a downpayment on services. This gets the contractor off to a good start while the owner is still not out much.. as well as they are holding a 5% retainage. Consider the retainage a bond on all payments.
Where problems begin is when a bad contractor will front load their bid. Where they markup everything that's going to be done first.. clearing, excavation, foundation, etc. This is wrong in most cases. Some jobs are actually front loaded out of necessity. But for the most part frontloading is not a good practice. Under a monthly billing schedule where the progress payment is done on a percent complete basis the contractor ends up being way overbilled not long into the project. Not good practice.