Dang Carpenter's!

I spent a lot of time yesterday and today scrambling to work out details with the h/o, sign him up, set up the job, have materials delivered, etc. so my crew could start this job as soon as we finished the house we were already working on. And "thought" i had accomplished this until today when i received a call from the h/o's carpenter who informed me they would be tearing down the front porch roof and building it larger and up onto the main roof, interfering with an existing valley and creating a "dead" valley with some type of so called cricket to try and help out said "dead" valley. The h/o told me just last night he would be installing some kind of awning for a front porch roof ( that would be lower down and not interfere with the main roof ) because in the near future he wanted to create an end to end front porch and roof. I had to cancel everything and make a dozen or so phone calls to do so. This was also our only remaining job on the boards for now. Plus it lead to the h/o wanting me to make another visit to the site ( its a fairly long drive ) and meet this carpenter there to see what i think about his proposal to Phuck up the roof! lol Which i can Never recommend someone to create a "dead" valley on a roof. Thus i didn't. But these guys have already ripped off the h/o's wife ( he's always at work making the money to pay for all this ) and shes dealing with all us contractors on her own with the exception of some telephone calls with her husband. I did my best to strongly discourage her, him and them not to build a dead valley but they are not going to listen because this carpenter guy simply isn't going to let go of the profit he milked her out of to build this porch roof. He told the h/o that he could have this thing built in a day and then told me 4-5 days. Anyways i guess in the end its not the end of the world but im just tired of all this type of b.s.! lol Just needed to vent i guess! :woohoo: :woohoo:>>>

OLE Willie - Your last post was really great. Sometime I find myself doing the same thing. I take a deep breath and try and look at things from an outsiders perspective.>>>

Well after some time has passed now and i have read all the reply's i have to admit that what i really didn't like about the guy was just the same thing he didn't like about me. He was standing in my way of proceeding with the job plus having to renegotiate an already signed contract and i was standing in his way of the nice little profit porch roof he had already sold thus he would have to redesign and renegotiate as well. lol So basically i guess we saw ourselves in each other and didn't like what we saw if that makes any sense to anyone! lol It was just one of those unexpected not so pleasant surprises that come along from time to time. Really not a big deal but it threw my whole day out of whack and stirred up some emotions which is my problem for me to fix for myself. In the end the best possible result for each party is what should be accomplished. Which is he maxes out his sale/profit and i do the same! He was working on the site before i came along but this is an existing client of mine that i have worked for in the past. As far as i know so has he. I just hope they don't goof up the roof beyond us being able to do what i consider to be a proper job! Alls well that ends well! :side:>>>

One thing I have learned in this business when dealing with builders and homeowners, especially as a subcontractor....and that is....something I learned from the movie " Glengarry Glen Ross" I don't open my mouth until I know the whole story. I never criticize the other guy to the customer, period. In front of him is even worse. Customers come and go.... but GC's that appreciate your skill, dependability and willingness to work with them for anal retentive customers, are your best ally.

It's not the GC's fault that the customer made changes, and it's not his problem that it's your only ongoing project. I'm sure that if you had someplace else to be, and work was plentiful, you might even be sitting side by side down at the local Hooters laughing about what a moron his customer is....>>>

Willie, At some point before this project is over i am sure you will have the time to throw a cheap dig right back at him. For right now take a deep breath and think about how much of a better person you are.>>>

I have a situation now along these lines willie. Mine concerns a handyman around the house and his ability to talk and make no sense. I'll preface this with what I do now days is mostly repair work due to the insurance gig I have going. The guy is trying to tell me what I need to do . He has no idea what the problem is and has caulked and glued , tarred etc everything. I was finally able to get him out of the way and deal directly with the homeowner . I explained to the homeowner what needed to be done and how. It is not a cheap repair but will solve the problem. It also concerns another poster on this site who botched it up. I don't feel obligated to them . I won't call them to come fix their mess . I have a strong ability to know who's work it is I'm fixing . I can , most of the time name the company who screwed it up . Same mistakes same companies. Doing this for as long as I have in this community you learn. Now it is my time to shine . Thanks egg :) ;)>>>

I'm not disagreeing, but at the same time it gives you an opportunity to shine by guaranteeing that the finished product will work properly. I would never leave it up to the carpenters to hand it over to me roof-ready because if you do that they will end up having to tear things out and it makes everybody feel bad. When they lay back onto an existing structure, they never allow for proper interface. I'm not bragging, but after all these years I now have them asking me how I need it to be instead of the old days when they would tell me to just make it work. Make them make it work. They'll come begging you for approval because they can't make it work. I have no idea why, but they just can't. Even the good ones can't. All they understand is glue, caulk, and how to put dry material together so it looks good and doesn't break apart. Water-proofing they just simply do not get. They don't think that way.>>>

When i went this afternoon and met with the carpenter he had about 4-5 guys over there. He was fully prepared to intimidate and downplay what i had to say in front of my, his, our customer. I just recommened they not create a dead vally nothing more. He didn't wanna hear it. The button head talked down to me saying ok you can leave now willie unless you just wanna hang out here and keep us company! I wanted to smash his nose ( he was about a foot shorter and 40 pounds lighter than me and it looked like someone already smashed it before) but i handled it the professional way and just ignored his comments for a few more minutes while i talked small talk with the h/o and then shook all their hands and said let me know whatever you guys decide and we will figure out how to make it work. Grrrr!!! I think i chipped a tooth though i was gritting my teeth together so hard! lol>>>